Bengaluru International Airport

As A380 continues to be restricted in India, Lufthansa to deploy 747-8 to Delhi and Bangalore

Two of the first destinations for Boeing 747-8 launch operator Lufthansa will be Delhi and Bangalore, notable as the 747-8 will have the largest capacity in Lufthansa's fleet after its A380, which India has not yet permitted foreign airlines to operate with. Lufthansa serves Delhi with daily 747-400 and A340-600 service while Bangalore sees daily 747-400 service. With Lufthansa utilising 46 of the 50 weekly frequencies available to German carriers (Lufthansa is currently the sole operator to India) and the Germany-India bilateral unlikely to be expanded in the near future, the deployment of larger aircraft is Lufthansa's main mechanism to expand in the growing Indian market.

Europe-India services will grow in the near future with British Airways (BA) likely to expand in India following International Airlines Group (IAG), its parent company, acquiring bmi, which has bestowed IAG with 42 London Heathrow slots. The Lufthansa Group of airlines is the largest European airline group serving India while IAG is a distant second and Air France-KLM third.

Rapidly expanding Kenya Airways charts growth with plan to serve every inhabited continent by 2017

Kenya Airways plans to launch its first services to North America, South America and Australia by 2017, making it one of the few carriers to serve every inhabited continent. While these three continents will give Africa's currently fifth-largest airline by seats a global presence, its future is pegged on Asia, with the carrier over the next 10 years planning to launch seven new routes into China, six in the Indian Subcontinent and three across North and Southeast Asia as well as having a growing presence in Europe and the Middle East. It is poised to become Africa's largest carrier.

Growth will be fuelled by Africa's status as a burgeoning market, as well as reliance on partners: Kenya Airways will open routes to SkyTeam member hubs in Xiamen (Xiamen Airlines), Hanoi (Vietnam Airlines), Seoul (Korean Air), Moscow (Aeroflot) and Prague (Czech Airlines). The intercontinental focus follows Kenya's strong emphasis on regional Africa, with the carrier aiming to serve every African nation by the end of 2013. 

Kingfisher to join oneworld in Feb-2012 becoming first alliance-affiliated carrier in India/SAARC

Kingfisher Airlines will become part of oneworld from 10-Feb-2012, becoming the first carrier from the Indian subcontinent to join any of the global airline alliances. Air India’s application to become a member of the Star Alliance was rejected at the end of Jul-2011 while Jet Airways is yet to announce its alliance plans but is said to be in discussions with both Star Alliance and SkyTeam (SkyTeam is reportedly in discussions with a number of Indian airlines, including LCCs). Kingfisher Airlines will also be the first of three airlines to join oneworld in 2012, in its largest membership expansion drive for five years, with airberlin set to follow shortly after Kingfisher and Malaysia Airlines joining later in the year.

Joining oneworld will give Kingfisher Airlines, currently facing considering financial pressures, global visibility, brand awareness and scope to improve revenue. According to reports in The Business Standard, Kingfisher is expecting at least a 5% increase in revenue through codeshare agreements with partner airlines. There will also be cost savings through common use of inventories and joint purchases. oneworld’s continued confidence in the struggling carrier is also a positive boost for the carrier, which has significantly reduced capacity and is currently seeking INR6.7 billion (USD127 million) in short-term working loans.

India: the world’s fastest growing domestic aviation market

India was the fastest growing domestic market in the world in Sep-2011 with 18.4% year-on-year growth. Traffic growth in the India market exceeded the growth rate seen in China (9.7%) and Brazil (7.5%) in Sep-2011, and was considerably more robust than the global growth rate of 3.8%. India's domestic aviation market expansion has been the strongest in the world, tripling in the past five years, according to IATA, to become the ninth largest aviation market in the world.

Given the strong market fundamentals, the robust rate of growth is expected to continue. IATA forecasts that the Indian civil aviation market will register a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of more than 16% during the period 2010-2013. Looking further ahead, the Indian Ministry of Civil Aviation’s Vision 2020 statement envisages a compound annual growth rate of around 15% in the next five years. Investment opportunities of USD120 billion are envisaged up to 2020 with USD80 billion on new aircraft.

India's domestic aviation market shows rapid growth in first half

On the surface, India's aviation industry looks to be in rude health, but behind the strong headline traffic figures is growing financial pain. India's airlines reported continued strong domestic passenger growth of 22.3% in Jul-2011 following on from an 18% expansion in the first half of the year. India is now the ninth largest and fastest growing domestic market in the world. The Indian government anticipates that India would become one of the three largest markets in the world by 2020.