04. January 2007


Date: 04. Jan. 2007
Kingfisher Airlines, India’s fastest growing airline and pioneer in introducing In-flight entertainment onboard its flights on domestic routes, today announces the induction of the world’s first and only ATR 72-500 aircraft facilitating In-flight entertainment system (IFE). The aircraft is the sixth ATR 72-500 delivered to Kingfisher Airlines. All ATR aircraft delivered to Kingfisher Airlines hereon will be equipped with in-flight entertainment system.
Now the Indian air traveler flying between smaller cities connected by Kingfisher Airlines’ ATR aircraft service can also enjoy unlimited in-flight entertainment. The new ATR aircraft being inducted into the fleet on 4th of January will have 17 LCD colour screens spread throughout the cabin. The TV screens operate on a drop down mechanism. No headphones or earphones are required since the audio comes through overhead speakers.
Adds Mr. Hitesh Patel, Executive Vice President, Kingfisher Airlines Limited, “Kingfisher Airlines has several firsts to its credit since its inception. We have always believed in providing the best to our guests. Kingfisher Airlines connects several smaller cities across the country with its ATR72-500 aircraft fleet. The initiative of facilitating IFE onboard our ATR fleet has also been made possible due to our conviction as well as the technical prowess of both the Kingfisher Airlines team as well as that of ATR. It is a landmark achievement, and we are proud to be the owners of the first ever IFE equipped ATR aircraft in the world. Now guests flying the Good Times with Kingfisher Airlines on the ATR routes also will be able to enjoy fabulous IFE service.”
The new IFE, proposed as an option both in ATR 42-500 and ATR 72-500, was certified last November and can be installed on new aircraft during production or also retrofitted on aircraft already delivered. Responding to the airlines needs, ATR will offer better standards of quality and service to passengers according to the ATR principles of high comfort.
Carmine Orsi, VP Engineering, stated: “IFE represents a new step forward in the continuous process of innovation and improvements developed by ATR and will allow our operators to offer an enhanced product to their passengers. Furthermore, the In-Flight Entertainment system, displayed for the first time in the Paris Air Show 2005, may be used as an additional source of revenue generation through advertising, promotion and services.”
About IFE
The In-Flight Entertainment (IFE), provided by France-based Vision Systems, will allow the guests to watch video and audio programs as well as receive commercial adverts and messages from the attendants or the pilot. Light weight LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) video screens (of 126,7mm x 92,7mm and 0,2 Kg weight) are installed in a case integrated into the PSU area. The screens are placed every two seat rows, along both sides of the guest cabin. As an optional feature, to be developed later, the system will be capable of displaying live-views from inside or outside the aircraft.
About ATR
Toulouse, Southern France-based regional aircraft manufacturer ATR is the world leader in the 50 to 74-seat turboprop market. ATR is an equal partnership between Alenia Aeronautica (Finmeccanica group) and EADS. ATR is certified ANSI/ISO/ASQ Q 9001:2000 and EN/AS/JISQ 9100, the worldwide quality standard in the field of aeronautics.
About Kingfisher Airlines
Kingfisher Airlines is India's first and only private airline to receive the prestigious, 'Best New Airline of the Year' award in the Asia-Pacific and Middle East region from the Center for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA). Kingfisher Airlines has also been voted as the 3rd Most Successful Brand Launch of the Year 2005, in the annual Brand Derby Survey conducted by India's leading business daily-Business Standard. In another Survey conducted by agencyfaqs.com and Brand Reporter, Kingfisher was voted as the 7th Buzziest Brand of 2005 amongst 2000 leading national and international brands. More recently, Kingfisher Airlines has bagged the "Service Excellence for a New Airline" award from Skytrax, a UK based specialist global air transport advisor. The latest recognition was where Kingfisher Airlines was voted “India’s Favourite Airline” in an independent survey conducted by a leading national daily.
Source: http://www.businesswireindia.com


Date: 04. Jan. 2007
Kingfisher Airlines will introduce a daily service in the Bangalore-Tiruchi-Bangalore sector from January 10.
The airline will be the second private operator to introduce operations from Tiruchi after Air Deccan, which is already operating in the Chennai-Tiruchi-Chennai sector.
Kingfisher Airlines has been given the clearance by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) for operating the service, airport sources told The Hindu on Wednesday.
The airlines will operate a 72-seater ATR72 aircraft on the sector. As per the schedule put up in the airlines web site, flight (IT2435) will depart from Bangalore at 1.30 p.m. and arrive Tiruchi at 2.25 p.m. on all weekdays except Sundays.
In the return direction, the flight (IT2436) will leave Tiruchi at 2.55 p.m. and reach Bangalore at 3.50 p.m.
On Sundays, flight IT 2435 will leave Bangalore at 10.30 a.m. and reach Tiruchi at 11.25 a.m.
In the return direction, flight (IT2436) will depart from Tiruchi at 11.55 a.m., and reach Bangalore at 12.50 p.m.
Meanwhile, the Airports Authority of India has put on hold the commissioning of the extended runway at the airport, pending glidepath calibration. The airport officials had earlier planned to commission the extended runway on January 1.
A trial calibration of the relocated Instrument Landing System (ILS) conducted a few months back identified certain obstructions. Airport sources said they were expecting the AAI special flight soon to carry out a fresh calibration.
Source: http://www.hindu.com


Date: 04. Jan. 2007
For Air Deccan, the fog seems to be lifting. Despite the scepticism surrounding the viability of the low-cost airline model in the country, Air Deccan is on the verge of doing something it has never achieved in its three-year-old history: it is close to breaking even.
When the Air Deccan board meets on January 25 to consider the quarterly results, the chances are that the airline could substantially pare down its losses and perhaps even turn in a modest profit during the October-December quarter, a vast improvement over the Rs 43-crore loss in the previous quarter, claim company officials.
In fact, had it not been for the dreaded fog, which forced the airline to refund nearly Rs 35 crore, it would have posted a far stronger financial performance. Says GR Gopinath, managing director, Air Deccan, “This proves that airlines selling tickets at Rs 9 can also make money.’’ Air Deccan had revolutionised air travel in India by drawing in large swathes of passengers who had never travelled by air. It had also connected several small cities across the country. But till date, most industry experts were convinced there was little to stop low-cost airlines from going belly-up.
Air Deccan officials are at pains to show this uptick in performance is no sleight of hand. In December, buoyed by a surge in passenger traffic and better margins, the airline showed an improvement on all the key performance indicators. For one, average yield per passenger was Rs 3,200 during the month, up from Rs 2,780 in the July-September 2006 quarter, Air Deccan finance director Mohan Kumar said. Mr Kumar claims that the airline starts to break even at Rs 3,100 per seat.
According to Mr Kumar, much of the turnaround was mainly on account of being able to control its costs. “Our cost per seat kilometre is now Rs 2.70 for the Airbus fleet, which is among the lowest in the industry with operations our size,’’ he said.
At the same time, with as many as 6.25 lakh passengers choosing to fly the airline in December, the airline’s revenues were up to Rs 171 crore in the month, compared to Rs 75 crore in December 2005. This had pushed up the average load factor to 85%. Some of the new routes that Air Deccan had opened up have also matured. For instance, Kandla, Kulu and Dehra Dun are few of the sectors which have now turned profitable. Better route planning has also ensured that the fleet is better utilised.
Sceptics have pilloried the Air Deccan model, which aims for higher marketshare and rapid expansion with a fleet of two types of aircraft. “It remains to be seen whether the airline can continue to show the same results over lean months,’’ airline sources who did not wish to be named said. Traditionally, most airlines go through a lean period from February to April.
The performance in December quarter is likely to be boosted by a tranche of $30m received from Investec bank from a sale-and-lease back deal signed earlier in the year. Air Deccan had signed a $100-million deal with the UK-based bank to improve liquidity in the near term.
The airline has eight bases across the country and operates the largest network covering 60 airports with about 300 flights daily. The Air Deccan stock went up 3.8% to close at Rs 140.4 on the BSE. The airline operates a fleet of 16 Airbus A320 aircraft, with an average age of 1.5 years and 24 ATR Turboprop aircraft.
Source: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com


Date: 04. Jan. 2007
The markets ended in deep red on account of selling seen in index pivotals. Leading the downtrend were FMCG, metal and IT stocks.
Among stocks to watch, technical analyst Rajat Bose sounds positive about Jet Airways and Deccan Aviation.
This is how technical analyst Rajat Bose views different stocks across the board:
On Mercator Lines:
It has to cross Rs 45 and sustain above that. Then the next two targets would be Rs 49 and Rs 53. And unless and until there is a major breakout above Rs 53, there would not be any sustainable upmove as such. But even in that case, it is up by about 25% from current levels, so it is good if it were to go up to Rs 53.
On Jet Airways and Deccan Aviation:
Jet has closed at Rs 648, but if you analyse the intra-day trading activity, one will see that it is more on the back of some kind of positive news that was there from Air Deccan. So Jet also shot up Rs 665 and finally closed at Rs 648.
Overall, the charts for Jet Airways and Deccan Aviation are positive, but Deccan Aviation hardly manages to stay above Rs 150 and around that level, there are quite a few sellers. It is unable to negotiate with that kind of selling pressure. Perhaps there are people who have subscribed to it in the IPO and whenever it goes to those levels, they come in and sell. So until those sells are absorbed, I don’t think Deccan is going to cross that Rs 150 in a hurry.
But overall, the medium-term chart of Jet and Deccan is looking positive.
On ITC:
It is not inspiring any confidence; it is more of a trading stock. I am not expecting any major fall in ITC, and this kind of fall is in line, sometimes it falls by 2-2.5%. Today it fell by 4%, but it hasn’t fallen as much to give a panic signal.
There has to be a clear breakout above Rs 180-185 range to give you any signal for a major buy.
Disclosures:
As an advisor to traders, I am have recommended all the stocks I have spoken of. So I would be having an interest in whatever I have spoken about.
Source: http://deccan-airways-news.newslib.com