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| News |
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| Simply
vibrant |
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| September
27, 2006 |
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| The
Times Of India, Bureau, Mumbai: The
Go Air business card has different colours,
just like their planes do! The colours are
neon vibrant like blue, green, pink, and orange.
“The one thing that comes across strongly
from our cards is the sheer vividness of the
colours. Small things make big impressions.
Also, the business card stays with people
for a long time a constant reminder of the
brand,” says Jeh Wadia, Managing Director,
GoAir. |
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| GoAir
to launch 3 new routes... hopes to break even
next year |
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| September
20, 2006 |
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| New
Delhi |
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| GoAir
inks $150-m deal for CFM engines |
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| September
20, 2006 |
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The
Hindu Business Line, UNI, Mumbai:
GoAir has signed a deal for CFM56-5B
engines to power GoAir's fleet of 10 firm
and 10 option Airbus A320 family aircraft.
Deliveries are scheduled to begin in mid-2007
and the firm engine order is valued at over
$150 million at list price. The low-cost
airline had earlier announced its intention
to purchase these engines in April. CFM
International is the world's leading jet
engine supplier and its engines are the
most popular ones for the A320 family aircraft.
There are more than 15,500 CFM56 engines
powering aircraft worldwide. GoAir began
operations in late 2005 with two leased
A320s and now has four aircraft in operation
on 37 flights covering 13 cities. It will
have seven aircraft in operation by November-end
and is looking to grow its fleet to 18 aircraft
by the end of 2007 and to 33 by end 2008.
The airline currently operates flights to
13 cities across the country with 37 flights
daily. |
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| GoAir |
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| September
19, 2006 |
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Business
Standard, Bureau, Mumbai: Low-cost
carrier GoAir has signed a deal with aircraft
engine manufacturer CFM for CFM56-5B engines
to power GoAir’s fleet of 20 Airbus
A320 aircraft. Deliveries are scheduled
to begin in mid2007 and the firm engine
order is valued at over $150 million at
list price. GoAir had earlier announced
its intention to purchase these engines
in April. |
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| GoAir
inks $150 mn deal for engines |
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| September
19, 2006 |
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The
Free Press Journal, Agencies, Mumbai:
Budget carrier GoAir has
signed a $150 million deal with CFM, a JV
between US aeroengine major General Electric
and its French counterpart Snecma Moteurs
for engines to power its to be acquire Airbus
fleet of aircraft. GoAir had earlier signed
an agreement with Airbus to buy 10 A-320
aircraft with an option to buy another ten |
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| GoAir
signs $150 m contract |
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| September
19, 2006 |
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The
Financial Express, Bureau, Mumbai:
Wadia promoted airline
GoAir has signed a $150 million deal with
CFM for its CFM56-5B engines to power the
GoAir's fleet of 10 firms,10 options Airbus
A320 family aircraft. The deliveries are
scheduled to begin in mid-2007. GoAir manag-ing
director Jeh Wadia said, "We considered
the CFM56-5B engines looking at their quality,
reliability, support and high level of cost
savings that it affords us. The CFM56-5
B engine is an ideal match for our A320
fleet." |
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| One-to-One |
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| September
16, 2006 |
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The
Financial Express, Mumbai:
The aviation
industry compromises of three kind of players-
full cost, low cost carriers and many start
–up airlines that are making/ planning
an entry. By 2010, I believe the aviation
industry will have consolidated significantly.
– Jeh Wadia, Managing Director, GoAir. |
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| Indian
aviation: gaining tailwind |
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| September
12, 2006 |
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| The
Financial Express, Bureau, Mumbai |
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The
article in text format:
As I write this,
my first article for the Financial Express
so close to 9/11, let me first say that
air transport is the most modern, the quickest
and statistically still the safest mode
of transport. The civil aviation industry
in India has changed dramatically over the
last decade. Until 1991, the Indian civil
aviation industry was a state monopoly,
dominated by Air India and Indian Airlines.
The Indian government introduced the open
sky policy for domestic players in 1991
and partial open sky policy for international
players only in November 2004. The industry
is still highly concentrated with three
players controlling more than 50% of the
market.
However, increasing liberalisation and deregulation
has led to an increase in the number of
players. The industry comprises three types
of players—full cost carriers, low
cost carriers (LCC) and many start-up airlines
that are making/planning an entry. By 2010,
I believe the aviation industry will have
consolidated significantly. It is a phase
of rapid growth in the industry due to huge
build-up of capacity in the LCC space, with
capacity growing at approximately 45% annually.
This has induced a phase of intense price
competition with the incumbent full service
carriers (Jet, Indian, Air Sahara) discounting
up to 60-70% for certain routes to match
the new entrants’ ticket prices.
This, coupled with costs pressures (a key
cost element, ATF price, went up approximately
35% in recent months, while staff costs
are also rising on the back of shortage
of trained personnel), is exerting bottom-line
pressure. The growth in supply is overshadowed
by the extremely strong demand growth, led
primarily by the conversion of train/bus
passengers to air travel, as well as by
the fact that low fares have allowed passengers
to fly more frequently. There has, therefore,
been an increase in both the width and depth
of consumption. However, the regulatory
environment, infrastructure and tax policy
have not kept pace with the industry’s
growth.
I believe LCCs in the classic mould, like
GoAir, are likely to weather the conditions
better due to higher asset utilisation,
alternate revenue streams and focus on cost
cutting. We have seen LCCs like Ryan Air
and EasyJet derive up to 20% of their revenues
from ancillary sources like cargo, excess
baggage, on-board advertising and diversification
into related businesses like hotel booking
and car rentals. The belief in some quarters
about over-capacity is hogwash. But the
regulatory environment, infrastructure and
tax policy have not kept pace with the industry’s
growth.
A case in comparison is Ryan Air, Europe’s
original low fares airline and still Europe’s
largest low fares carrier. For an airline
that started in 1985 with a share capital
of just £1, a staff of 25 with a 15-seater
Bandeirante aircraft operating from Waterford
in the southeast of Ireland to London Gatwick,
Ryan Air now carries over 40 million passengers
on 379 low fare routes across 24 European
countries. It has 16 European bases and
a fleet of over 100 brand new Boeing 737-800
aircraft. Ryan Air currently employs a team
of 3,500 people, comprising over 25 different
nationalities.
EasyJet, another LCC in Europe founded by
Stelios Haji-Ioannou, began with 30,000
passengers in 1995 and rose to 30 million
in 2005 (more than the overall capacity
in India last year). AirAsia has expanded
its fleet from 2 to 35 and to it all, has
carried over 15 million passengers to date
since it began operations in January 2002.
Let’s compare India’s 1.1 billion
population to that of China’s 1.4
billion. We have 15 million seats as compared
to 140 million in China being serviced by
about 200+ aircrafts as against 800 in China.
The middle class—a major market for
LCCs—in India is about 300 million
strong and 400 million in China, yet India
has recorded a growth of 25% against China’s
17%.
At 0.01 trips per capita, India is said
to rank between Ethiopia and Nigeria, countries
with a much lower per capita GDP. Malaysia,
with a population of 28 million, has the
same number of air passengers. India’s
200 aircraft may be compared with US-based
LCC Southwest Airlines that alone has 417
aircraft. These figures clearly show that
India’s civil aviation industry can
only grow exponentially in the years to
come and the belief in some quarters about
over-capacity is plain and simple hogwash.
Enactment of the open sky policy between
India and Saarc countries, increase in bilateral
entitlements with the EU and the US, and
aggressive promotion of India as an attractive
tourism spot helped India attract 3.2 million
tourists in 2004-05.
This market is growing at 15% per annum
and India is expected to attract 6 million
tourists by 2010. Also, increasing per capita
income has led to an increase in disposable
incomes, leading to greater spend on leisure
and holidays. And business travel has risen
sharply with increasing MNC presence. Smaller
cities are also well connected now. Passenger
traffic has increased and over 21 million
seats have been sold, resulting in a growth
of over 50%. The Indian travel market is
expected to triple to $51 billion by 2011
from $16.3 billion in 2005-06.
In forthcoming columns, I’ll deal
with specific aviation concerns. I conclude
with the mission Rollin King and Herb Kelleher
had when they got together to start Southwest
Airlines (which flies more than 80 million
passengers a year), which still holds good
today—if you get your passengers to
their destinations when they want to get
there, on time, at the lowest possible fares,
and make darn sure they have a good time
doing it, people will fly your airline.
And you know what? They were right! |
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| Up,
up and away |
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| September
8, 2006 |
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| The
Financial Express, Bureau, Mumbai:
Jeh Wadia, the
youthful managing director of GoAir, does
live upto his firm's name. At a recent press
conference in Delhi, a reporter asked him
how airlines were managing the pilot shortage
and consequent poaching by competitors.
His reply: "As many pilot training
centers are coming up, I expect the salaries
to come down as low as the fares."
Clearly, an airline chief who soars beyond
the imagination. |
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| News
Glance |
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| September
2, 2006 |
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Asian
Age , Bangalore: GoAir
commenced its flights from Delhi to Goa,
Bangalore and Pune and would expand to South
after the delivery of three aircraft by
November said Managing Director, Jeh Wadia. |
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| GoAir
to roll out more facilities |
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| September
2, 2006 |
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Deccan
Herald, Delhi: Budget
Carrier GoAir, which on Friday launched
service on Delhi – Bangalore –
Delhi sector, has announced the opening
of a $30- million maintenance, repair and
overhaul (MRO) facility next month.
The location has not yet been decided yet.
The no-frills
carrier, which also announced flights to
Pune and Goa from Delhi, having taken delivery
of its fourth aircraft, said the MRO would
offer line maintenance to all types of aircraft
through it sjoint venture with the Singapore
Airlines engineering.
goAir will
also provide hangars for narrow and wide-
bodied aircraft at major airports.
GoAir managing director, Jeh Wadia, sadi
his airline would like to outsource several
facilities such as engineering, ground handling
and security, besidesgoing in fuel hedging
which could reduce the overall operation
cost by 35 percent.
About the proposed
air cargo service venture, Wadia sadi the
airline was still debating it.
Referring to
the cost factor involved, he said while
trucks and the railways were pricing Rs
5 a Kg, belly space in the air cargo would
be available only at Rs 24 per kg, which
would not be profitable. The best
price an air cargo service qwould ofer was
between Rs 6 and Rs 9 per kg, he added. |
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| September
2 , 2006 |
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The
New Indian Express, Bangalore: Jeh
Wadia, Managing Director, GoAir: GoAir announced
on Friday commencement of its new sectors
with the addition of the latest aircraft
to the existing fleet. The focus of the
news sectors would be Ex-Delhi and would
then expand to encompass the southern region
post the delivery of the other aircraft.
GoAir will have seven aircraft in operation
by the end of November. “We
are extremely delighted to announce the
commencement of new sectors and are proud
to announce that we have taken delivery
of our fourth aircraft,” said Wadia. |
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| No
Immediate Plans to dilute equity in GoAir:
Jeh |
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| September
2 , 2006 |
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Hindu
Business Line, New Delhi: The
low cost airline promoted by the Wadia Family,
GoAir, ahs no immediate plans of diluting
its equity, the airline managing director,
Mr Jeh Wadia said here on Friday.
“We are
not in hurry to go for equity or debt financing.
The airline is run by the Wadia Family and
not the group and we are happy funding it
ourselves,” Mr Wadia, said.
The airline
has joined hands with Singapore Airline
Engineering Company to form a joint venture
not only to carry out maintenance, repair
and overhaul (MRO) services in the country
but also provide line maintenance and heavy
maintenance for both Airbus A-320 and Boeing
B-737 aircraft in seven cities by next month.
“Besides,
we are also looking at greenfield heavy
maintenance facility for aircraft made for
both Boeing and Airbus. The MRO should
be operational by mid-2007,” he added.
Meanwhile,
the airline has started regular flights
from Delhi to Goa, Bangalore and Pune on
Friday. At present the airline is
operating three times a week between Delhi
and Goa and Delhi and Bangalore, while offering
a four times a week connection with Pune.
“The
flights will become a daily service by October
this year. Besides, we have laso launched
services between Mumbai and Chennai and
Mumbai and Hyderabad from today,”
Mr Wadia added.
The airline,
which currently has fleet of four Airbus
A-320 aircraft plans to increase the fleet
strength of 18 aircraft by December next
year which would increase the fleet strength
to seven by November this year. “We
are looking to have a fleet strength of
18 aircraft by December next year which
would increase to 33 aircraft by the end
of the following year,” said Mr Wadia. |
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| Wadia
to commission MRO facility in October |
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| 2nd
September, 2006 |
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Financial
Express, Bangalore: The
Wadia’s group’s proposed maintenance,
repair and overhaul (MRO) Centre in collaboration
with Singapore- based SIA Engineering company
will be commissioned in October this year,
GoAir MD, Jehangir Wadia said. An initial
investment of $30 million will go toward
developing the centre. With the establishment
of the facility, the airline company expects
to reduce its MRO costs by around 15%.
Wadia said that the facility, which would
operate initially with only one hanger,
would be capable of providing repair and
overhaul facility to two to three aircraft
in a month. Though the MRO centre is to
start from October, the decisions on the
locations, is to be taken. Sources said
that the facility may be set up in Maharashtra.
SIA Engineering Company is a subsidiary
of Singapore Airlines which is the second
largest airlines company in the world in
terms of Market capitalization. According
to Singapore Airlines General Manager BKOng,
the MRO Facility would be 49- 51% joint
venture between Wadia Group and SIA Engineering
Company. |
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| GoAir
rules out equity,debt financing plans |
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| September
2, 2006 |
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| Asian
Age/Business Standard/ Free Press Journal,
Delhi: The no frill
airline of the Wadia’s, GoAir on Friday
ruled out any equity or debt financing plans
in near future and announced expansion of
its fleet and new routes, besides plans
to launch a cargo carrier soon. “We
are not in a hurry to go for equity financing
or debt financing. GoAir is run by
Wadia family and not the group and we are
happy funding it ourselves.” |
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| GoAir
rules out equity, debt financing plans |
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| September
2, 2006 |
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Press
Trust of India / New Delhi: The
no-frills airline of the Wadias, GoAir,
today ruled out any equity or debt financing
plans in the near future and announced expansion
of its fleet and new routes, besides plans
to launch a cargo carrier soon.
"We are not in a hurry to go for equity
financing or debt financing. GoAir is run
by the Wadia family and not the group and
we are happy funding it ourselves,"
Jeh Wadia, MD of GoAir, said here.
Ruling out venturing into the share market,
he said the Indian institutional and retail
investors were "yet to understand the
aviation industry. That is why it is difficult
to justify a sound investment like Jet Airways
getting almost half its IPO share in the
sharemarket."
The airline, which inducted its 4th aircraft
on lease, would add another 3 by November
and raise the fleet strength to 18 by 2007-end
and to 33 by 2008-end.
Wadia also announced the launch of three
direct services from Delhi to Goa, Bangalore
and Pune and two from Mumbai to Hyderabad
and Chennai. GoAir currently flies to 13
destinations and operates 37 flights with 3
aircraft. |
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