SHOWCASING AIRLINE OF THE WEEK !!

SpiceJet Airlines is one of India's preferred low cost airlines, delivering the lowest fares and still maintaining the highest levels of performance. The Airline takes pride in the fact that it offers the cheapest airfares and has a vision to fill every Indians dream of flying. Today, Spicejet has a strong fleet of 36 aircrafts connecting more than 17 major domestic destinations and 2 international destinations. It provides fast grace services thus making Spicejet one of the Best airliners in Asia. Spicejet airlines brings down its air fares substantially in the face of weakening demands.Spicejet flights offers fares that are inexpensive and significantly lower than most airlines (Kingfisher Airlines booking and Jet Konnect are close competitors). Lower fares does not stingy that the line compromises on the comfort of the travelers, Spicejet offers high-end in-flight services to turn your travel into an persistent experience.

SpiceJet's new procreation fleet of aircraft is backed by selection edge technology and infrastructure to secure the maximal standards in operating efficiency. SpiceJet Airlines maintains a very high performance in every areas, Be it ground staff, spicejet baggage, or gathering or the high-end aircrafts. SpiceJet Airlines offers daily flights to almost every important husbandly destinations like Mumbai, New Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Goa, Colombo, Kathmandu, Kolkata, Pune and many more. An online www.spicejet.com offers travellers special amenities and privileges including scheme check-in, grace updates, PNR lookup and great discounts.
Spicejet Airline is committed to the safety and well- being of its passengers. For business and leisure travellers SpiceJet now offers travel insurance at extremely baritone welfare rates. Another unique offer is the Spice Card with which you can acquire quick reward miles to avail liberated Spice plane expose tickets.

SPICEJET ON THE PAPERS !

SpiceJet net down 13% on high fuel costs

Just when it looked like airlines were flying out of the turbulence zone, budget airline SpiceJet sprung a negative surprise on Thursday by reporting a 13.3% dip in its net profit in the quarter ended December 31 at Rs94.45 crore against Rs108.94 crore in the same period last year.
Analysts said the decline in the net was on account of higher fuel costs and flat yield.
“While we had factored in higher fuel costs, the stagnant yield has come as a negative surprise because December quarter, which is a strongest quarter in a year, always has a higher yield than September quarter,” said an analyst with a domestic broking house, who did not want to be named.
He said the yield derived on the basis of revenue per passenger kilometre (RPKM) in the third quarter was Rs3.45 compared with Rs3.46 in the second quarter.
In fiscal 2010, the yield in the third quarter had moved up to Rs3.50 per RPKM from Rs2.76 in the previous quarter. Ankur Bhatia, executive director of travel conglomerate Bird Group, said it was difficult to pinpoint a reason for the flat yields.

SpiceJet to Boost Capacity 40% This Year After Maran Investment

SpiceJet Ltd., the Indian discount carrier, plans to boost capacity about 40 percent this year after winning investment from billionaire Kalanithi Maran.
The airline will focus expansion on domestic routes and may add one or two international destinations, Chief Commercial Officer Samyukth Sridharan said today in an interview in Singapore. The carrier will boost its fleet to 40 planes this year from 25 now and almost double it by 2013, he said.
The airline earlier today fell the most in a month in Mumbai trading after reporting a decline in quarterly profit because of higher fuel costs. Passenger numbers in the three months ended December surged 33 percent as rising wages boosted travel and the carrier added its first overseas flights.
The airline will receive 15 Bombardier Inc. Q400 turboprops in the 13 months beginning June, Sridharan said. It will also add seven Boeing Co. planes this year, he said. The airline ordered 30 Boeing 737s and 30 Q400s last year. There “are good signs” that the market can continue growing at rate of about 18 percent in terms of passenger numbers, Sridharan said.

KALANITHI MARAN-CHAIRMAN

 SpiceJet declares a profit of Rs 94 cr during Q3FY11

SpiceJet, India’s only profitable listed airline, continues its successful record with yet another quarter in the black. The airline reports a net profit of 94.4 crores for the quarter ended December 2010 with a 10% improvement in EBITDA to 114 crores over the same period previous year. With this result, SpiceJet has now declared a profit for the last 5 successive quarters. Reflecting the robust growth in domestic passenger traffic, SpiceJet had their highest quarterly load factors of 87.8% during this period and closed with an all-time high market-share of 13.6% for the quarter against load factor of 80% and a market-share of 12.5% for the same quarter last year.
Neil Mills, Chief Executive Officer, said “In a sense, this has been a very crucial quarter for us. During these three months we have firmed up our future expansion plans with our fresh aircraft orders and have been preparing the ground for the rapid expansion planned over the next 3 years. In the backdrop of this, we are happy to have posted our highest quarterly load factor of 87.8% during this quarter. This clearly demonstrates the increasing consumer acceptance of the SpiceJet value-service offering. We are also pleased that the yields in the market remained stable despite an increase of 11% in the market domestic seat capacity.”

Kalanithi Maran raises stake in SpiceJet to 31%

Sun TV founder Kalanithi Maran and his unlisted aviation firm, Kal Airways Pvt Ltd , have raised stake in low-cost carrier SpiceJet by acquiring an additional 19.37 million shares, or 4.78 percent, the airline said in a filing to the BSE on Wednesday.

The shares were acquired on Oct 26 through an off-market transaction and Maran's direct holding in SpiceJet now stands at 30.98 percent.

Safety violation: SpiceJet sacks four senior officials

Low-cost carrier SpiceJet Ltd has fired four senior executives after receiving a notice from the aviation regulator for listing children as infants to accommodate more passengers, a violation of safety norms.

The airline deployed a 189-seat Boeing Co. 737-800 aircraft for the Delhi-Mumbai flight SG-103 on 2 June instead of the scheduled 212-seat B737-900, because of a delay.
After 15 passengers protested for being asked to deplane because of a shortage of seats, SpiceJet officials asked children to sit on the laps of the adults they were travelling with—even though safety norms prescribe that anyone above the age of 2 must be given a separate seat.
Mint reported on 21 June that passengers had complained against the airline. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) then said it would investigate the incident. Late last month, the regulator issued a show-cause notice to SpiceJet after concluding that safety norms had been breached.
A senior SpiceJet official official said four senior executives had been asked to leave, including the head of airports, and head of customer services. “We have also asked all station managers of airports to put passengers on a different flight in such a situation. The matter has been take very seriously.”
The airline has also sent its reply to DGCA’s notice, the official added.

Maran launches SpiceJet open offer

Delhi-based low-cost carrier SpiceJet’s new promoters SunTV chief Kalanithi Maran and his company KAL Airways has launched an open offer to acquire an additional 20% stake in the low-cost carrier on October 18. The offer will open on October 18 and close on November 6, said a filing on the Bombay Stock Exchange dated October 13.
In June, the Chennai-based industrialist had clinched a deal to acquire a 37.7% stake in the low-cost carrier for Rs 739.57 crore from American investor Wilbur Ross, his investment companies and the Kansagara family-promoted Royal Holding Services.
Recently, Maran increased his stake in the budget airline to 25.12% by acquiring 7.42% additional stake through off-market transactions.

India’s low-fare carrier enters Sri Lankan airspace

India’s low cost carrier Spice Jet entered the Sri Lankan airspace last week with Colombo being its second international destination. Spice Jet will operate daily flights to India, arriving in Colombo at night and an early morning departure to Chennai. The airline recently launched flights to Kathmandu.
Speaking to the Business Times on why Colombo was added to the network, Spice Jet Promoter and Director B. S. Kansagra said there is a lot of demand in India now for flights to Sri Lanka. He said Spice Jet offers the best fares across the board, and has now decided to extend this opportunity to the Sri Lankans who wish to visit India.
“Colombo is known as a good shopping destination. Here the fabrics are very competitively priced compared to India. There are also a lot of other attractions here in Sri Lanka. Tourists from both our countries can benefit especially from the special low cost fares offered by Spice Jet,” he said.
Commenting further of the future plans of expansion, Mr Kansagra said, “depending on the numbers we will be looking at another flight out of Colombo and hopping flights (two destinations in one package) by the end of the first quarter 2011. We are also looking at having direct flights to other Indian cities. We are looking at an average 80 % load per flight on this route.”

NOW FLYING COLOMBO AND KATHMANDU

 SpiceJet appoints Neil Mills as CEO

Revamping its management team, leading low-cost carrier SpiceJet today said it has appointed Neil Raymond Mills as Chief Executive Officer.
"This is to inform that Neil Raymond Mills has joined SpiceJet as its CEO effective from October 11, 2010," the airline said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.
Prior to joining SpiceJet, Neil Mills was Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Dubai government-owned carrier (LCC) FlyDubai, the filing added.He had also worked with one of Europe's most successful low-cost airline, EasyJet, and has expertise in the budget airline sector.
Appointment of Mills as CEO is part of revamp exercise of the airline by its new promoter and media magnet Kalanithi Maran, who in June had clinched a deal to acquire 37.7 per cent stake in the low-cost carrier for about Rs 750 crore.

NIEL MILLS-CEO

Within two months of Chennai-based industrialist clinching the deal, several top officials including the then CEO Sanjay Aggarwal and founder director Ajay Singh, left the organisation, giving a free hand to the new stakeholder to revamp the management.

SpiceJet aims for international operations break even in 2 months

Low-fare airline SpiceJet is looking at over 80% load factor (which means more than 8 out of 10 seats on the flight being full) within the first month of commencing daily flights between Delhi-Kathmandu and a breakeven of international operations within the first two months.
The airline’s first international flight, between Delhi and Kathmandu, took off on October 7 and the daily Mumbai leg is slated to begin in March.
SpiceJet’s optimism on load factors is remarkable, since there are already seven flights a day between the Capital and Kathmandu by carriers such as Jet Airways, JetLite, Air India, Kingfisher and Nepal Airlines. Chief Commercial Officer Samyukth Sridharan claimed in a chat with DNA that SpiceJet will be offering the lowest fares on this sector.
Sridharan explained that SAARC is a hugely underserved market, particularly by low fare airlines. While domestically, 7 out of 10 fliers board low fare carriers, only three in 10 do so on international routes because of the absence of low fare options.

SPICEJET NOW INTERNATIONAL

Low-cost airlines on time in South

Low-cost airlines seem to be on time in the southern skies. Key low-cost airline players such as SpiceJet and IndiGo have given their best on-time perfomance (OTP) in the South.
IndiGo recorded an on-time performance of 90.63%, the highest among all flights that were operated from Chennai in September. The on-time performance of SpiceJet stood at 90%, its best ever.
Significantly, Kalanithi Maran-promoted SpiceJet, which recently started its Madurai service, is focusing on southern expansion plans, primarily holding on its multiple frequency approach.
SpiceJet chief commercial officer Samyukth Sridharan said, “On-time performance has always been the key area which help the carrier to have maximum load factor. We have recorded 84% OTP in August and 90% in September despite infrastructure constraints.”
The Airport Authority of India, in association with Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), has monitored the OTP of domestic carriers operating from Chennai from August 28- September 22, 2010.

THE AWAITED DASH FROM BOMBARDIER

SPICEJET - adding spice to Indian travel !

SPICEJET LOGO

In India the most common mode for long distance travel is the railways. The reasons include increased connectivity and cheaper in cost. It does have its disadvantages but today people opting to travel in higher classes of the railways of opting to fly! India is home to quite some Low Cost Carriers and amongst them Spicejet is a prominent member. High connectivity, on time performance and less burden for your pocket. Today's Airline of the week is Spicejet, a low cost carrier in India which primarily uses the Boeing 737 series of aircraft's for its operations.
SpiceJet is headquartered in Gurgaon, India. It began service in May 2005 and by 2008, it was India's second largest low-cost airline in terms of market share. SpiceJet was voted as the best low-cost airline in South Asia and Central Asia region by Skytrax in 2007. Below is a video highlighting the Spicejetters.

SpiceJet, is a reincarnation of Modiluft. It is promoted by Ajay Singh and the Kansagra family. SpiceJet marked its entry in the Indian skies with Rs.99 (less than USD 2) fares for the first 99 days, with 9,000 seats available at this rate.

SPICEJET EX CEO-SANJAY AGGARWAL

This deal was followed up with a Rs.999 promotional scheme on select routes. Their marketing theme "offering low 'everyday spicy fares' and great guest services to price conscious travelers. Their aim is to compete with the Indian Railway passengers traveling in air conditioned coaches. Below we have a video taken at the cockpit of a SpiceJet 737, aint that intresting?

On 15 July 2008 Billionaire Wilbur Ross suggested he would invest Rs.345 Crore (US$ 74.86 million) in the low cost airline. The board of directors of SpiceJet accepted an offer in-principle from the US-based PE firm that would make available about Rs.345 crore (US$ 74.86 million) to SpiceJet, a joint statement issued by SpiceJet and WL Ross & Co.

SPICEJET B737 AT TAXI

Indian media baron Kalanidhi Maran acquired a major stake (37.7%) in this airline on June 2010. On December 9, 2010, SpiceJet made a firm order for 15 Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 and options for another 15.

SPICEJET B737 DURING LIFTOFF

SpiceJet flies to 22 destinations across India, Nepal and Sri Lanka. It commenced international operations with flights from Chennai to Colombo, Sri Lanka on 7th October 2010, and flights from New Delhi to Kathmandu, Nepal on 9th October 2010.

SPICEJET B737 CLIMBING

As of December 2010, the SpiceJet fleet consists of the following aircraft with an average age of 4.4 years:

SpiceJet fleet

Aircraft	In Service	Orders	Passengers (Economy)	Notes
Boeing 737-800	21	33	189	5 dry leased from GECAS
Boeing 737-900ER	5	0	212
Bombardier Dash 8 Q400	—	30	70	Deliveries from mid 2011
Total	26	63

Each aircraft in the SpiceJet fleet is named after a spice.
A TELEVISION COMMERCIAL FOR SPICEJET

SPICEJET DATASHEET

IATA SG ICAO SEJ Callsign SPICEJET
Founded	2004
Commenced operations	23 May 2005
Hubs	Indira Gandhi International Airport (Delhi)
Secondary hubs	Chennai International Airport Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (Mumbai) Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport (Kolkata)
Focus cities	Bengaluru International Airport (Bangalore) Cochin International Airport (Kochi) Pune International Airport Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (Hyderabad) Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport (Ahmedabad)
Fleet size	25
Destinations	22
Company slogan	"Get More When You Fly"
Headquarters	Gurgaon
Key people	Neil Mills, CEO
Website	SpiceJet.com

Type	Public (BSE: SPICEJET)
Industry	Transportation
Founded	2004
Headquarters	Delhi
Area served	India, Srilanka, Nepal
Key people	Kalanidhi Maran
Services	Airlines & Aviation
Revenue	$400.52 million USD (2009)
Employees	2,000+ (2009)
Subsidiaries	SpiceJet Cargo

I would be rather modest to say that opting to fly SpiceJet was worth the money you shell! So you too become a SPICEJETTER, pack your bags and take for the skies!
You could book or plan your itenarary for travelling Spicjet by CLICKING HERE - SpiceJet

Aviation For Newbies !

Always felt good when you saw your pilot walk around the airport in their uniform and sport those funky watches and sunglasses? I am sure, that soon you too would be doing the same. Before you could accomplish the coveted Captain tag against your name, you should well understand that the entire process is proceeded  step by step and is not an overnight miracle ! Therefore I would recommend a very nice book which I happened to enjoy reading during my initial stages. Its a neat book by Rod Machado and also happens to be a private pilot handbook used by many young aviators like you in the US. You could get your copy as well Rod Machado's Private Pilot Handbook: The Ultimate Private Pilot Book !
Take no worries, as you don't have to be a genius to crack your CPL (Commercial Pilots License) and you don't need to be a math genius (a ridiculous myth) to make you dream a reality ! This post is not an encyclopedia on how stuff works...its just a formal introduction to the world of aviation.
So let's begin...

What is Aviation ?

Aviation is the design, development, production, operation and the use of aircraft for personal or commercial purposes. It is a widely used mode of transportation of both passengers as well as freight. Anything ranging from airport's to aircraft's to airliner's to crew's all are a part of this unique industry. It is amongst the most respected and loved industries on this planet.

Are you ready to fly?

How did this all begin ?

It all began with humans thinking about a way to take for the skies after having chosen the sea, road and rail as a common mode for transport. Kites, boomerangs were part of early aviation which aroused curiosity in further study of aeronautics. The modern age of aviation began with the first untethered human lighter-than-air flight on November 21, 1783, in a Hot Air Balloon designed by the Montgolfer Brother's. The Wright brothers were the first to fly in a powered and controlled aircraft. For more details about the HISTORY OF AVIATION CLICK HERE

The Wright Flyer -13 second Flight

What are the aircraft manufacturer biggies in this industry ?

There are five major manufacturers or big daddies of civil transport aircraft :

• Airbus, based in Europe.
• Boeing, based in the USA.
  
• Bombardier, based in Canada.
• Embraer, based in Brazil.
• United Aircraft Corporation, based in Russia.

Boeing and Airbus concentrate on wide-body and narrow-body jet airliners, while Bombardier, Embraer and Sukhoi concentrate on regional airliners. These are only the airframe maker's and give us the aircraft, without its heart i.e Engines. The engine's are normally developed by other companies like Roll's Royce & General Electric.

Airbus Logo

Boeing Logo

Bombardier Logo

Embraer Logo

UAC Logo

What are the best airlines in the world ?

No one can predict or determine which is the best airline on this planet, but sure I can name a few airlines which I personally happen to like and also which also happens to be one of the finest airliners awarded by Skytrax (an airline & aviation community) in the year 2010.

1.  Asiana Airlines
2.  Singapore Airlines
3.  Qatar Airways
4.  Cathay Pacific
5.  Air New Zealand
6.  Etihad Airways
7.  Qantas Airways
8.  Emirates
9.  Thai Airways
10. Malaysia Airlines

Below we can see a couple of beautiful Airbus A380's taxiing its way to the parking bay.

SIA A380

Emirates A380

Which are the best airports in the world ?

According to Skytrax these airports were awarded as the finest in the year 2010.

1.Changi Airport, Singapore
2.Incheon Airport, Seoul
3.Hong Kong Airport, Hong Kong
4.Munich Airport, Germany
5.Kuala Lampur Airport, Malaysia
6.Zurich Airport, Switzerland
7.Beijing Airport, China
8.Amsterdam Airport, Netherlands
9.Auckland Airport, New Zealand
10.Suvarnabhumi Airport, Thailand

Suvarnabhumi Terminal

Changi Departure Terminal

Aviation is a broad subject and cannot be subjected to a small page, therefore I cannot conclude that this is it ! There is more to it . Hopefully you may have got a average to decent picture of what aviation is and what are its essential components which include airports & airliners. (It includes more but these are amongst the most important)
You could read more books on aviation like Flight: 100 years of aviation which is my personal favourite.
If you wish to read books on aviation business moguls and the heavy turbulence they went through to get thier birds on the air then I would recommend you to read Losing My Virginity: How I've Survived, Had Fun, and Made a Fortune Doing Business My Way, and Simply Fly ! Simply awesome books !! 
I would also recommend you a DVD which would catch your attention Birth of flight (Link Below).
As you learn more about this industry, in my blog I shall be sharing with you a new airline every week, therefore you could get to know about various airlines across this planet and how they function ! Aint that intresting?
I would appreciate if you could mail me your suggestion or questions or comments at my personal id: capt.prathik@gmail.com.
keep reading, keep flying! AVIATORS ARENA