Members Login
Username 
 
Password 
    Remember Me  
Post Info TOPIC: What's the latest on S2?


Member

Status: Offline
Posts: 2289
Date:
RE: What's the latest on S2?
Permalink Closed


Sept 3.


BBC BusinessNews Asia says that Air Sahara is planing to add another 30 Boeing aircraft in addition to the 10 it has just ordered.


Wants to have a fleet size of 70 aircfrat by 2009.


Planes under consideration aare the 737/700/800/900 but Sahara may settle for the -800. Planes ahould be in by 2009 end.


Also Sahara may be going in for a low cost model as it is converting 4 of ots 737 into all economy seating.


Boeing shares have gone up after this news.


  



__________________
KCM


Member

Status: Offline
Posts: 2289
Date:
Permalink Closed

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.


 



__________________
KCM


Member

Status: Offline
Posts: 2450
Date:
Permalink Closed

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

__________________
Light travels faster than sound...thats why people appear bright, until you hear them talk!


Member

Status: Offline
Posts: 83
Date:
Permalink Closed

Why are they waisting resources oredering 737NGs , when those can be easily leased from multiple lessors,


They should capitalise on their International Rights and start frequencies to the money maker market between US-INDIA, especially since 9W has also not been able to obtain clearance for it yet and IC seems keen on flying to LGW.


They should do what DL did decrese their domestic flights and concentrate on international ones and since they are in a financially better position than DL they can acquire a couple of wide Bodies from somewhere or the other.


 


Karan



__________________
I AM HERE NOW;


Member

Status: Offline
Posts: 2289
Date:
For non-metro, Sahara plans to fly all-economy
Permalink Closed


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.



__________________
KCM


Member

Status: Offline
Posts: 168
Date:
RE: What's the latest on S2?
Permalink Closed


About time somebody filled the full economy configuration with full service/meals/interline space. (like Kingfisher was when it started out, and like Jet as well as Kingfisher still have with a few of their aircrafts - some of the A-319 at IT and the B-737-800 at 9W are in full economy configurations and used on a variety of routes . . . )


Good luck to Sahara. Always liked their approach to things - keep changing!!


 



__________________
Starboard Side emergency reclining window please, thank you, and the lounge card, if you don't mind?


Member

Status: Offline
Posts: 312
Date:
Permalink Closed

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. 

__________________


Member

Status: Offline
Posts: 298
Date:
Permalink Closed

tayara mechanici wrote:

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. 



Tayara to be honest it depends upon what kind of operater u are . Either a full service carrier or an LCC and secondly wat is your target. Sorrie for bringing a bit of economics in the Sahara thread but just penning a small thought. Full service carriers do try to woo customers thru service and luxury while LCC,s make it appear that flying is within the reach of common man.

Prices due to competetion do have gone down upto a certain level but we see more people flying is primarily because the value of INR is decreasing so its the growing middle class which fuels the growth. Besides flying is not cheaper even today Rajdhani ac 2 tier tkt is cheaper than LCC ticket in most of the cases.

As far as S2 is concerned i believe they indeed have one good marketing dept who really come up with awesome ideas which make them favourites for atleast few of the pax including me . But yeah as someone previously quoted its common operational sense not to have biz seats on planes flying to small cities or non metropolitan cities. anyways best of luck to them. I hope they rise from the ashes like pheonix

__________________
Friend in need is a Friend indeed


Member

Status: Offline
Posts: 160
Date:
Permalink Closed

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



__________________
I have nothing to declare but my genious. --Oscar Wilde to a US Customs officer


Member

Status: Offline
Posts: 2289
Date:
Air Sahara advances plan for expansion
Permalink Closed


http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1975808.cms


Air Sahara advances plan for expansion
Byas Anand
[ 11 Sep, 2006 0007hrs ISTTIMES NEWS NETWORK ]
 
 
RSS Feeds| SMS NEWS to 8888 for latest updates


NEW DELHI: The born-again Air Sahara seems to be turning aggressive by the day. As part of attempts to claw back lost market share, Air Sahara has penned a new flight path read expansion strategy that includes pulling ahead its plans to fly past the Great Wall.


The airline, which was earlier planning to debut in the Chinese skies close to the yearend, has now decided to operate its first flight to Guanghou on October 9. That's not all.


The airline has also decided to deploy a wide-bodied Boeing 767 aircraft on this route as opposed to the previous plan to use the single isle Boeing 737-800. "Even Delhi-Colombo-Male flight has been advanced to October 29. We want to be ready to take winter travel rush," said Air Sahara president Alok Sharma.


The wide-bodied aircraft is being deployed on the China route in view of the high level of enquiries that the airline has received as projected travel potential. The aircraft will offer 189 seats in three-class configuration Economy, Business and First class.


The airline, Sharma said, is in talks with Chinese local carriers to ink deals to offer connections to whole of China.


"Negotiations are underway with some airlines and a final deal will be inked in a few days." "Our idea is to promote Guanghou as the new shopping destination, as an alternate to Singapore and Dubai."


The airline, he said, is stepping up activities in the domestic skies with plans to star a direct flight between Delhi and Kochi, and to Thiruvananthapuram on October 10. "These destinations, along with new fare schemes will see us climb back to the 12% market share level by the end of this year," Sharma said.


 



__________________
KCM


Member

Status: Offline
Posts: 318
Date:
RE: What's the latest on S2?
Permalink Closed


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.

__________________


Member

Status: Offline
Posts: 1632
Date:
Permalink Closed

true.With 9W struggling to access the US.S2 should take max Advantage of the situation it has before other Airlines qualify for International ops.


With one B767 its not very assuring.


regds


MEL



__________________
Think of the Brighter Side !!!


Member

Status: Offline
Posts: 298
Date:
Permalink Closed


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

__________________
Friend in need is a Friend indeed


Member

Status: Offline
Posts: 168
Date:
Permalink Closed

It would be also very interesting to see what sort of connections to USA/Canada are available over Quangzhu/China, and by which airline.

__________________
Starboard Side emergency reclining window please, thank you, and the lounge card, if you don't mind?


Member

Status: Offline
Posts: 298
Date:
Permalink Closed

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.

__________________
Friend in need is a Friend indeed


Member

Status: Offline
Posts: 312
Date:
Permalink Closed


vabby wrote:






Air Sahara hires E&Y for bounce-back plans





Airlines like Air Sahara are the achilles heel of Indian aviation, they keep seeking suitors while struting around being a nuisance to the serious players. Ultimately the govt will have to allow some foreign equity partner to save this airline and In all probability the FInvester would be a mukhota for QR, EK or EY.



__________________


Member

Status: Offline
Posts: 298
Date:
Permalink Closed

tayara mechanici wrote:







Air Sahara hires E&Y for bounce-back plans





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





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...


__________________
Friend in need is a Friend indeed


Member

Status: Offline
Posts: 298
Date:
Permalink Closed



Finally the marketing and shock fares have started paying up with pax share increasing marginally. Bt anyways i am sure they can do it go on S2...

Sahara’s maket share increases marginally

After declining sharply in the aftermath of the failed merger with Jet Airways, the market share of Air Sahara has marginally increased. While the share of Air Sahara increased from to 8.8% in August 2006 as compared to 8.4% during August 2005, the share of Jet Airways declined marginally from to 31.1% from 31.7%, according to latest data on market share.
Private airlines cornered over three-fourths of the domestic aviation market this August, though the share of public sector carrier Indian rose by over 2% compared to that of last year. Private airlines including the low-cost carriers cornered as much as 77.7% of the total market share, with Indian retaining 22.3%.
The market share of Air Sahara, Kingfisher and Indian rose, while that of major players like Jet Airways, Air Deccan and SpiceJet showed a decline. Kingfisher's share increased from 8.2% to 8.7%, while Air Deccan's share fell from 20.2% last year to 18.3%. The share of SpiceJet declined to 6.3% as compared to 7.5% during the corresponding month of 2005.
The total number of passengers carried by all Indian carriers on domestic sector in August was 25.38 lakh, compared with 24.73 lakh flown during the same month last year.
The maximum of 7.91 lakh passengers was carried by Jet Airways, followed by 5.74 lakh by Indian and 4.64 lakh by Air Deccan. Air Sahara carried 2.25 lakh passengers during the month while Kingfisher and SpiceJet, flew 2.22 lakh and 1.61 lakh passengers, respectively.
The data showed that nearly 7% of the market was now being serviced by new carriers like Paramount, GoAir and IndiGo.

__________________
Friend in need is a Friend indeed


Recruit

Status: Offline
Posts: 9
Date:
Permalink Closed

karatecatman wrote:



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.


 





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



__________________
Ask the impossible to achieve the best possible


Member

Status: Offline
Posts: 106
Date:
Permalink Closed

Source: An email from COSMOS:


With great excitement we announce the start of our new flight to Indore from Delhi  effective 24th September 2006. It has always been our endeavor to offer you a network which is best & vast, giving you more reasons to fly Air Sahara. Most of our new flights are planned keeping in mind the convenience of your precious time which you have always wanted and are day return flights. You can do your business and get back home the same day!!


Whilst we have added new flights from Delhi, Lucknow and Kolkata we are connecting Indore from Delhi with two daily flights effective 24th September 2006.


aM



__________________
Buckle Up !
«First  <  1 2 3 4 5 6  >  Last»  | Page of 6  sorted by
 
Quick Reply

Please log in to post quick replies.

Tweet this page Post to Digg Post to Del.icio.us


Create your own FREE Forum
Report Abuse
Powered by ActiveBoard