Air India likely to order A380

But the fact still is that if 9W wants to market itself succesfully and also make some money it has to have high load factors up front . In a struggling buisness , with fuel prices so high only those airlines will make money internationally that will have high loads in buisness or first class and those that can see buisness class pax switching to economy (Buisnesses are also feeling the heat) and can provide them with an ECO+ category so that they still charge a preimium and not loose buisness PAX to the cheapest economy class service provider.

I think if marketed smartly, 9W can pick up good traffic from Shanghai to the US. As for the Indian passenger i don’t think they should have trouble. Majority of Indian passengers don’t care on what they are traveling and through where they are traveling. As long as they get to the destination in one piece and the ticket they paid for was economical for them.

Can 9W pick up customers from shanghai ? Also wont going through BRU to west coast US be quicker? I think the problem with 9W is that they really havent marketed themselves in belgium correctly because they have a far superior product to all american carriers flying to the US from BRU so they should really be looking to pick up more buisness from BRU . The only logical explainaition for using BRU would be that otherwise a hub in england or germany would have been much smarter specially for the long term.

Well now 9W has an Asian hub in Shanghai. MUN might goto AI as a hub.

I think it is a widely established fact that for most of India-US non stop routes their isnt money to be made unless you have a monopoly (For non stop) or a duopoly at most . This will change when more fuel eff. jets such as 787 and 350 come up which will definately make the routes more attractive but right now having a hub in EU or somewhere in SE asia is smart .9W have got it good however i think BRU isnt the best hub , even a a non LHR hub in England or Munich would have been better for them .

your concerns seem to be have heard upon bring_it_on 😉

Kingfisher relooks at US nonstop flight

NEW DELHI: The relentless rise of crude prices has led Kingfisher Airlines to relook at its proposed non-stop flights to US as the airline prepares to fly abroad on Deccan’s licence from August-end. It is now evaluating whether a one-stop flight that allows it to pick jet fuel at much cheaper rates and more passengers makes better economics than flying non-stop to US by tanking up expensive fuel from India.

An airline needs to lift nearly 150 tonnes of fuel for a 16 to 18-hour nonstop flight which at Indian airports will cost nearly Rs 60 lakh. But a stopover and filling up elsewhere could lead to nearly 25% saving in fuel bill on each flight. Kingfisher EVP Hitesh Patel said: “We are re-evaluating all our domestic and international flights. If there’s any negative route, we’ll look at it. We are also looking at the options of flying nonstop to US or with one stop. No final decision has been taken so far. The Airbus A-340 we are getting is capable of both these flights.”

It’s likely that the airline will have one or two nonstop flights like Bangalore-San Francisco that it had announced earlier. However, others may be via places like Hong Kong (for west coast) and Europe for east coast. While international flights get fuel at cheaper price than domestic ones in India, the base price of Aviation Turbine Fuel (even without taxes) is among the highest here.

Patel added that combine orders for aircraft placed by Kingfisher and Deccan individually before merger are being looked at. “It is being examined if that much capacity is required. If there is some excess capacity, we may postpone deliveries or think of other steps,” he said.

While Patel added the wide-bodied A-330s and A-340 deliveries are on schedule, the airline is closely looking at the order for single aisle A-320 family planes. Most of A-320s were supposed to be used on domestic routes, which are now fast witnessing a decline in traffic growth. A negative growth is feared now till mid-September.

I think it is also about brand economics . AI really need a brand make over , i dont know any corporate group that travels or likes to travel on AI , or even has them as second to third preference . What they would need is (for profitable A380 ops) would be very good load factors in Buisness and First , but that is not their best point , Do any big buisnesses use AI as their preffered carrier? That is the problem , stuffing huge no. of economy passengers in an A380 wont make anyone any money , it is the utulization of the Impressive and ample real estate to market a strong buisness and first product that will make money (as well as ECON+ becaue they can do that) . Airlines like SQ , EK , QR , Qantas etc that will make good money with the A-380 will do so cuz of their good premium products and good buisness/first customer base not because of those economy seats .

^^ good question. Air India will probably go for 5-6 A380s. They do not require anything more than that.

The Indian aviation market is bleeding anyway and feeder routes in particular are seeing big falls in passenger numbers since last year. The ATF prices were increased here yet again which has prompted even established airliens like Jet to cut on flights from 330 daily to 310. SpiceJet is already looking to sell (maybe) a majority stake to Reliance Industries.

Personally even 5-6 A380s seem alot to me, unless they improve there service drastically i do not know how they plan to fit in those numbers in an A380, even to destinations such as NY.

Are 15-20 A380’s really required for AI? Are they even making money? with Kingfisher cancelling 64 A320’s we are getting an indication that even in a booming market like india the airlines are bleeding , couple that with comments from jet that they are loosing something like 3 mill a day or something . Dumping 15-20 A380’s into the market isnt a good idea in my opinion . They should look for profitability first and the health of their aviation industry. In my opinion Air india should be looking to buy A340/350’s or more 787/777’s and downsize on the 747 and brace up for the bad weather that will surely hit with big players comming in fighting for market share .

Aaaah, but this is Air India. If I am not mistaken from first rumour to scheduled operations takes at least 20 years, no?

the reason why these things take time in India is because an order like this needs to pass through alot of coommittees including committees representing the peoeple. Clearing these committees is the big hurdle, not governmental approvals.

Aaaah, but this is Air India. If I am not mistaken from first rumour to scheduled operations takes at least 20 years, no?

Very good news. I reckon we’ll see more carriers following suit.