IA plans more jets for Alliance Air's fleet Byas Anand [ 4 Oct, 2006 2340hrs ISTTIMES NEWS NETWORK ]
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NEW DELHI: The state-owned Indian Airlines is now planning to add more power to the planned image makeover of its feeder subsidiary Alliance Air.
The airline, sources said, is considering adding 70-seater regional jets to Alliance Air's fleet as part of a plan to turn it into a low-cost, low-frills airline.
The proposal was taken up at a recent meeting between airline officials and civil aviation minister Praful Patel.
"The regional jets would improve the airline's profile and also help it cruise faster into the profit zone,"a government source said.
Though a final decision on the internal configuration for these regional jets is yet to be decided, sources said these aircraft would most likely be ordered in a single-class configuration in keeping with airline's low-cost avatar.
"The idea of inducting these aircraft is to have low operating costs. At present a team is evaluating the option and a firm decision can be expected very soon,"a government source said.
In a bid to keep its operational costs low, the airline is planning to outsource the engineering and maintenance work for the regional jets to private players, while keeping the handling activities within the airline.
"In the Alliance Air set-up, it would be easier for the airline to outsource maintenance work, rather than build an engineering capacity and thereby add costs. Outsourcing work would also result in a huge wage bill saving,"the source said.
Alliance has already invited tenders to induct six new ATRs as part of its turnaround plan, and this new low-cost avatar is set to take to the skies by 2006-end or early 2007.
This is getting to be very strange. Alliance Air was supposed to be merged with Air India Express after the main merger between IA and AI.
Thats seem to be doubtful as well. Think that IA and AI will go there separate ways.
Latest news also is that IA is among a list of89 under-performing public sector companies that may be referred to the Board for Reconstruction of Public Enterprises (BRPSE) for examination. (Others in the list include Konkan Railway. Wonder how Air India has been allowed to escape.).
There is gonna be no merger and CD will be continue to be flying: however not as a pure LCC. It will continue to operate as a full-service subsisdiary of IC although with a much lower cost base.
CD will continue to operate with ATR's for the time being. However they will be severely handicapped once the 737-200's are phased out (and that day is close) as some of the longer routes need jets.
The Embraer 175 is a perfect fit for the routes in question, especially bcoz the cockput commonality with the A320's. The jungle jets will allow for longer ops like NE-DEL non-stop and the Gujarat routes currently operated by CD's 732's. This will also help free some A320's.
Aizawl, Nov. 10: Alliance Air is back to full operational strength in the Northeast after a period of crisis, managing director Deepak Brara said today. He said the airline, a subsidiary of Indian Airlines, has finally overcome the shortage of pilots. “The crisis that was there 10 days back is over,” Brara said.
Alliance Air has lately been recruiting pilots from Argentina and Africa. “We are now operating daily flights between Aizawl and Kolkata and Aizawl and Guwahati,” the managing director said.
While Indian Airlines operates between Kolkata and Aizawl with its Airbus 300, Alliance Air flies between Guwahati and Aizawl with its fleet of ATR 42 aircraft.
Brara said Alliance Air had introduced low fares for Guwahati-bound flights and the lowest fare available — applicable for eight to 10 seats per flight — was Rs 2,005.
On why the special fare was still higher than those offered by private airlines such as Air Deccan, which operates between Aizawl and Kolkata, Brara said the Indian Airlines and Alliance Air fares were “competitive”.
Brara said Alliance Air had taken initiatives to improve its services. The number of cancelled flights is low and there has been a distinct improvement in flight timings, he claimed.
“These days flights are cancelled only because of inclement weather, ” he said.
The airlines will stabilise its existing services within six months but there is no plan to connect Aizawl with other Northeast states, he said.
Brara was accompanied by Alliance Air general manager G.C. Biswas and director of civil aviation Ranjit Bansai. Brara said as long as there were passengers, additional flights would not be a problem.
NEW DELHI: Alliance Air is finally cruising forward on plans to turn itself into a low-cost airline. Alliance, the feeder airline subsidiary of Indian Airlines, has floated tenders to induct six regional jets that would operated under this new business model on non-metro routes.
In addition to the aircraft, Alliance Air has sought around 20 pilots and as many engineers to operate and maintain these aircraft in India. "Since it is a totally new aircraft type that will be inducted in to the Alliance Air fleet, we have sought to induct some pilots and engineers for operating these jets," an airline official said.
The airline plans to induct only those aircraft which are less than five years old as part of an effort to reduce the average age of its fleet. Alliance, officials said, will outsource any major maintenance work on these 70-seater aircraft rather than build an engineering capability.
"In the Alliance Air set-up, it would be easier for the airline to outsource maintenance work, rather than build an engineering capacity and thereby add costs. Outsourcing work would also result in a huge wage bill saving," the official said.
The aircraft are being sought on a lease of up to seven years with deliveries due to commence from April next year. Alliance today has a fleet of ATR turbo-prop planes and Dornier aircraft, besides a couple of Boeing 737-200 jets that are now being converted into freighter planes.
This is part of a turnaround plan for Alliance Air presented to the civil aviation ministry. Under this strategy, no hot meals will be served on board and even the cabin crew numbers would be reduced to just a single person. Also, the airline plans to shift to web-based reservation system as against the current practice of having travel agents, in a bid to reduce costs.
Talk is that it might be between the Embraer or Bombardier.