Well good to see S2 is trying to get back on tracks

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1967597.cms
For non-metro, Sahara plans to fly all-economy
Byas Anand
[ 8 Sep, 2006 0142hrs ISTTIMES NEWS NETWORK ]
 
 
NEW DELHI: The born-again Air Sahara is cruising towards a major belt-tightening exercise. The airline — in a bid to cut costs and boost yields — has decided to convert around five of its existing jets into an all-economy fleet to be deployed on non-metro routes.

Despite following a predominantly low-cost model of a single configuration aircraft, Air Sahara intends to retain the on-board frills of flying.

"Our idea is to cut costs, but we will not be turning into a no-frills airline. We will continue to have on-board catering of hot meals and the cabin crew numbers will remain at the present level,"Air Sahara president Alok Sharma told The Times of India.

The all-economy fleet, Sharma said, would be deployed at some non-metro to non-metro routes where demand for a business class product is either neglible or does not even exist. The routes include some non-metro sectors connecting metro cities like Kolkata.

"This will help us reduce costs and improve yields as we will get more economy class revenue seats. These are sectors where demand for a business class product is very low. So, we decided to convert five of our existing 20 aircraft into an all-economy fleet to cater to this market,"Sharma further said.

This, he said, is the latest in a series of initiatives planned to take on increased competition in the market and claw back its share of the domestic market pie.

The airline had recently unveiled a new scheme, offering passengers unlimited flights to any destination on their network, including international ones, on payment of a fixed sum.

Under this initiative, passengers can fly unlimited on the Air Sahara domestic network for a year on depositing Rs 2.55 lakh — which works out to Rs 699 a day for 365 days.

"The scheme is aimed at frequent fliers and traders who can now choose to fly in and out of a city on the same day and any number of times, thereby saving on hotel expenses for overnight stays,"Sharma said.

"A number of other special schemesare being worked out. The coming days would see us getting aggressive all over again in the domestic market,"he added.

IMO observing the cosmetic changes taking place on airlines in India, it seems these indian Chairman of pvt airlines are still under the impression that air travel is a luxury and passengers have to feel like maharajas, the sooner they come round to the thinking that this is another transport service, no more glorified and to keep it simple, at this rate most of these airlines will be in the red. 

Vabby to add to your point,

 Its the growing purchasing power of the Indian middle class and the growth of the middle class itself that is basically fuelling the aviation growth. Not so much price. Even if the carriers were to increase their fares, the growth would still continue. What Gopinath basically did was said to the Indian mass. "Look guys we are not in the 70s anymore, you guys are a lot better off than what you used to be. Flying isnt all that expensive as compared to train travel on AC class. Flying is just a better, quicker and safer mode of transport. Just give it a try."

And thats basically what has happened and what will continue to happen.

Growth potential is absolutely immense if the infrastructure can catch up, but thats another story.

Cheers

S2 at the momemt has a single B767 for operations to Guanghou. Is a single a/c sufficient for daily flights? What if the a/c is grounded? S2 does not have a spare a/c.

S2 needs to acquire 4-5 wide bodied a/c if it wishes to have an international presence. The US market is also available as it is unlikely that 9W is going to get permission from the US authorities in the near future.

Guangzhou as also told in the press statement is also within the reach of B737-800 which actually they had intended to use. But S2 seems quite bullish about its Delhi-Guangzhou flight and with this chinese city being the most important production and business hub. Lets see if they can fill these seats of their 767..

Regarding US indeed they can cash on the american dream if they get some widebody on lease and deploy it on US routes rather than just depending on AA in terms of codeshare

Air Sahara hires E&Y for bounce-back plans

Stung by its abortive merger attempt with Jet Airways, born-again Air Sahara is set to undertake a major expansion exercise that involves enhancing its fleet strength to 75 aircraft by 2011, nearly three times the current 27, its president told Hindustan Times.

Global consulting firm Ernst and Young ( E&Y) has been hired to prepare a five-year revival plan, Alok Sharma said, adding the plan was expected to be ready within the next two weeks.

"Any decision on fresh infusion of funds would depend on the five-year roadmap which is being finalised by E&Y. The specific instruments for injecting funds would also depend the stage of the expansion plan for which we would need the money," he said.

The airline will also undertake a major brand restructuring exercise. "The airline's brand has suffered immensely during the merger crisis. We will undertake a brand-building exercise with new brand ambassadors," Sharma said.

Air Sahara is trying to bounce back after losing the initiative in a battle for the skies, where it lost an early advantage built on aggressive branding, an early adoption of Internet auctions to sell tickets and fancy schemes like on-board auctions for passengers at attractive prices. However, a slew of no-frill and low-cost airlines have since entered the market, crowding the competition for Sahara.

Last month, Air Sahara had announced it would purchase ten 737-800 Boeing aircraft worth $700 million and set itself a target of cornering a 20 per cent market share within five years from the current eight per cent. The company currently flies 20 Boeing 737-400s and seven 50-seater aircraft, referred to in the industry as Canadian regional jets.

Last January, Jet Airways had announced that it would acquire Air Sahara at a valuation of $550 million (about Rs 2,300 crore) and paid an advance of Rs 500 crore as part of the buy-out process. But the deal fell through after Jet failed to meet a deeadline to complete the acquisition by June.

Sharma said Air Sahara's valuations would undergo a change after it unveils its five-year plan. "Valuations would be done again and it would be inappropriate to comment at this point on whether we would be divesting equity in favour of anybody," he said.

tayara mechanici wrote:

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Air Sahara hires E&Y for bounce-back plans

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suitors while struting around being a nuisance to the serious players.

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Can u really enlighten me as to who are the serious players in the market. With a serious cash burn ratio who has actually got the willingness to blow up their cash in running an airline.

AI & IC being govt controlled i guess there is no point discussing them.

9W everyone knows how successfull they were in not allowing Tatas and SIA group from entering the airline business because if they would have come Jet would have been wiped out. Now if we talk they are proffessionals and have done wonders which is great for the indian aviation industry. but if the whole funding pattern of an airline is in doubt it doesnt qualify them for a good airline.

KF everyone knows how VM was bullish about his airline and how he had planned to approach the stocks to offload his stake and cash on the sensex boom. But with the DN saga the guy is keeping quite atm though it doesnt stop him from making public statements half of them which might be crap...

Sahara true is not as ambitious as other airlines and also have its fair share of shady funding pattern. But then u cant force the owners to burn their money in it. Besides the airline is not being run for profit at all.

Overall i personally i feel the industry standard in domestic aviation has decreased from what it was 10 years back. During those era metropolitan routes were served by A300 widebody jets we dont hav them anymore all we see is single aisle aircraft.

There is an old saying that people with new money always try to show off more. This thing is applicable in here also. Everyone running an airline belongs to a breed of people who became millionares in the last decade and tend to talk more and do less..


I wish somehow the genuine rich cream of India start a full service airline tata,s or Birlas...

karatecatman wrote:

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Found the item. 

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2003237779_webboeing31.html
Air Sahara intends to buy another 30 Boeing planes
By The Associated Press

SINGAPORE — India's Air Sahara plans to order another 30 Boeing aircraft on top of the 10 Boeing 737-800s it has already ordered this year, the airline's president, Alok Sharma, said today.

"We hope to have them ordered and delivered by 2009," he said in an interview.

The carrier would consider 737-700s, 737-800s and 737-900s but "most should be 737-800s", he said.

This week Boeing named Air Sahara as the customer behind a previously unidentified order finalized earlier this year for 10 737-800 airplanes, valued at more than $700 million based on published sticker prices. They will be delivered from mid-2009.

The Chicago-based U.S. aircraft major has projected a $72 billion commercial plane market in India over the next 20 years.

Air Sahara plans to boost its fleet to 70-75 planes from the current 27 in the next five years, Sharma said.

Air Sahara is India's fourth-largest airline in terms of passengers but its market share has fallen to around 8 percent from 13 percent in the last six months as a result of the turbulence from the failed merger with India's Jet Airways Ltd.

 

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Today we see another 30 Unidentified 737NGs added to Boeings order book. S2s original order for 10 was placed as Unidentified and carried for sometime on Boeings order book. I've no doubt that pending talks of the merger with 9W may have delayed the announcement to some extent.

If, as stated in the report above, is it possible that the recent 30 Unidentified orders could be for Air Sahara? The report states they want them delivered by 2009 and the earliest available delivery slots for the 737NG, with the exception of cancellations or deferrals, are now Q2 2008 which would indicate that they would need to place an order promptly to meet their requirement. 

Does anyone believe this may be the case pending finance approval as they have the money to cover the deposits for such an order.

Regards,

PanAm_DC10