Airlines

Remi Maillard, President and MD, Airbus India and South Asia, believes that domestic traffic in India will fully recover by the middle of the current year while international traffic will rebound by the next year. "The Covid crisis has had a massive impact on the industry and air traffic in India. We see traffic recovering on the back of strong demand," he said and welcomed the decision of the Civil Aviation Ministry to reopen to international traffic from March 27.

The airline signed a Letter of Intent with De Havilland on the sidelines of Wings India 2022, the civil aviation show which began in Hyderabad on Thursday. These 19-seater aircraft will help in serving small and remote communities that are not accessible by air, the airlines said. Twin Otter 400 Series has a proven track record of safe, dependable operations, as well as versatility, which includes the ability to land on land or water.

Aircraft maker Airbus has forecast that India will require 2,210 new aircraft over the next 20 years when the country's air passenger traffic is expected to grow at 6.2 per cent per annum, the highest in the world. The fleet could comprise 1,770 new small and 440 medium and large aircraft.

In recent days, fares have risen by around 20-25 per cent on most domestic routes on a month-on-month basis. With ATF prices being hiked to over Rs 1 lakh per kilolitre, fares are expected to rise further. "This time the industry had already braced for an ATF price hike, with most of the airlines hiking fares on certain legs by about 20-25 per cent in the past couple of days," said Aloke Bajpai, Co-founder and Group CEO, ixigo.

According to a source, discussions have reached the closing stages and the deal is all set to be inked in taking over the building, which is presently a functional one. Incidentally, the Adani Group is already engaged in building the Vizhinjam Port, which is located about 15 kms from the airport.

The company has pegged the tickets at a whopping $450,000 each, the Verge reported. To secure their seat, customers must pay a $150,000 deposit and then pay the remaining $300,000 before the flight. Virgin Galactic has an application that individuals can fill out on the company's website. Virgin Galactic successfully flew its founder, Branson, to space in July last year.

At the newly-constructed arrival hall for the upcoming terminal, Rao said: "After T3, we felt a need to have more capacity. The integrated Terminal 1, under phase 3A of the expansion plan, will add the needed capacity. It will be ready by next year." The newly developed Terminal will have passenger handling capacity of 40 million per annum.