HC asks Jet, Sahara to move AT

In a setback to Jet Airways, the Bombay High Court on Wednesday asked the airline to approach the arbitration tribunal for resolving the dispute over the bank guarantee given to Air Sahara for the failed takeover deal.

Jet Airways had last year submitted a bank guarantee of Rs 500 crore for a share-purchase agreement (SPA) to acquire Air Sahara, but the deal went sour. The companies had earlier approached an Arbitration Tribunal (AT) in London to resolve the matter related to the failed takeover deal, but the issue of bank guarantee was not included.

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New flights may lower US fares

The India-US sector is likely to witness a price war with Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines planning to introduce non-stop daily flights to the US. While the two domestic airlines are studying the market before finalising their pricing for the sector, US carriers Delta Airlines and Continental Airlines have already announced price cuts and other attractive discounts.

Delta recently lowered its Mumbai-New York roundtrip fare from Rs 40,000 to Rs 29,000. The average fare on other carriers on this route is still around Rs 40,000. Continental Airlines, on the other hand, is augmenting its seat capacity and offers an attractive travel package.

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Air Sahara in talks with Bombardier to buy aircraft

The President of Sahara Airlines Ltd, Mr Alok Sharma, thinks that there is a big opportunity for turboprop planes and regional jets in India. He made this point during his presentation on the first of the two-day South Asia Aviation Finance Conference being held in Mumbai.

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IA, Air Sahara spreading wings to augment regional connectivity

Domestic air travel boom in the country now has the government indulging in promotion of regional air connectivity, Air Sahara and public sector carrier Indian Airlines (IA) are already gearing up to make the most of it. Air Sahara is planning to purchase 25 regional jets while IA has decided to take 6 regional jets on lease to augment is smaller sector connectivity.

Air Sahara president Alok Sharma said the airline is already in talks with Bombardier for their 75-seater aircraft, but will also look at other options from Embraer. “If the government brings down the sales tax on ATF for regional jets to 4%, then flying tier-II cities to the metros will easily become more profitable than operating metro to metro routes,” he said.

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Jet, Sahara want to keep ground handling work

The government’s new ground handling policy has left the airline industry divided. While established full-service carriers Jet Airways and Air Sahara, are keen to manage ground handling on their own, low-cost carriers are in favour of outsourcing and want adequate competition among service providers to keep their costs down. Jet has close to 5,000 employees involved in various ground handling activities while Air Sahara has around 2,000 people on their rolls.

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Jet plea for refund rejected by arbitration panel

Jet Airways, which is involved in a tussle with its failed takeover target Air Sahara, today failed to get respite from an Arbitration panel on its plea for refund of Rs 500 crore paid as advance.

Jet had sought refund of Rs 500 crore paid by it as advance to Air Sahara along with interest after a takeover deal was reached in January last year, but the Arbitration Tribunal declined the plea in its hearing here, sources said.

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Air Sahara launches new fare scheme

Air Sahara on Tuesday announced the launch of a new scheme that would see passengers being charged a minimum rate of Rs 2.40 per kilometre travelled, on select flights operated by the airline.

Sources indicated that the airlines’ latest scheme could see air fares rise on those sectors where they are currently below Rs 2.40 per kilometre.

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Duty evasion charge on corporates

The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) has booked cases against Jet Airways and Air Sahara. The cases are for non-payment of customs duty on aviation turbine fuel (ATF) for flights getting converted into domestic operations after completion of an international operation, minister of state for finance SS Palanimanickam said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha. While airlines do not have to pay taxes and duties when they operate to international destinations, taxes are applicable on domestics routes.

Jet and Sahara have paid differential duty amounting to Rs 67 lakh & Rs 21 lakh respectively, in cases booked against them in Mumbai.

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Airline industry in a flutter as Patel grounds congestion levy

The domestic airline industry appears divided on the just imposed Rs 150-congestion cess by some carriers even as civil aviation minister Praful Patel on Tuesday ticked off carriers for levying the new surcharge.

Vijay Mallya’s Kingfisher Airlines, which had first come out with the surcharge, said it had no plans to rollback the cess. At the same time, government-owned Indian aligned itself with the minister’s views by emphasising that it will not impose a congestion surcharge.

Other full-service carriers, Jet Airways and Air Sahara, seem to be adopting a wait-and-watch approach. Low-cost players like Air Deccan and SpiceJet, on the other hand, are not keen on this new levy. Mr Patel’s outright rejection of the surcharge means that it is likely to be phased out even if not scrapped immediately by all airlines.

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Air Sahara in talks with Indus Air for alliance

Air Sahara on Friday said it is in talks with upcoming low-cost carrier Indus Air, promoted by Kapil Mohan of Mohan Meakins Group among others, for a strategic tie up, including providing pilot, engineers and maintenance support.

“We have been approached by the Indus Air for certain support. They need some help,” Air Sahara President Alok Sharma told PTI here.
He said Air Sahara is open to such strategic alliance, which could be operational or marketing support.

“We could provide pilot, engineers and maintenance facility to the Indus Air. They need support for the CRJ aircraft of the Bombardier,” Sharma said.

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