Latest news with #regionalairlines
RNZ News
4 hours ago
- Business
- RNZ News
Air Chathams considers cutting services
Air Chathams chief executive Duane Emeny said regional airlines were struggling. Photo: Sharon Brettkelly Regional airline Air Chathams is considering cutting back services because of mounting cost pressures hitting the aviation sector. The state-owned traffic controller Airways announced on Wednesday that it would charge commercial airlines 17.7 per cent more over the next three years. Air Chathams chief executive Duane Emeny told Nine to Noon regional airlines were struggling. "We fly from Auckland to Kāpiti and with the Airways provision service there with the new pricing in year one we're going to be paying $862 to Airways per sector, that's at least five passenger seats just for that one charge," he said. "In our case the most important thing is we've got to maintain connectivity to the Chathams, they don't have a road over there, so lets just focus on that and then look at everything else we're doing and say what makes sense, what doesn't and what are we going to be doing in the long term. Sadly, the net result of that could mean further regional cutbacks." In a statement, Airways said it consulted with customers and stakeholders on service prices every three years. It acknowledged the ongoing challenges facing the New Zealand aviation industry post Covid-19. In setting prices, Airways said it had balanced cost management with its obligations to provide safe, efficient and reliable air traffic control services. Emeny said regional airlines were crucial for rural and regional links to bigger centres so people could rely on them for healthcare. Cutbacks would be a huge shame and ultimately it would be the customers suffering, he said. "Now you're just expected to get in your car and drive to a larger regional airport to fly a larger turboprop aircraft or jet aircraft to connect to these places," he said. "More of the damage is actually done when the visibility of these regions - the Westports, the Whakatānes, the Kaitaias, the Mastertons- they just fall off the map because from a global perspective if you're looking to travel to New Zealand and do business and visit these places they don't exist, they don't exist on the Air New Zealand website so they do lose out as a result of that." Emeny said his company was considering leasing planes to other operators. "We have an aircraft right now in the Kingdom of Tonga serving that country and those people, and we're doing that because we actually spent five years operating an airline in Tonga and now we've been asked to come and help and support and someone is prepared to pay for it," he said. "We may do more of that which means we're doing less of it in New Zealand and ultimately the losers are the regional communities that rely on our services." Emeny said the user pays model was crushing smaller players in the industry. "It's really serious. It would just be amazing if government and local government could come together on this and say enough is enough these things are important it's really important connected that these regional airports can be viable and maintained in some way because if you don't have airlines flying into them they will ultimately close," he said. Sounds Air this month [ announced it was cutting its Blenheim to Christchurch and Christchurch to Wānaka services, having earlier stopped its services to Taupō and Westport. Board of Airline Representatives chief executive Cath O'Brien told Nine to Noon the impact of rising costs were being felt through the entire aviation sector. "It is more difficult for those regional airlines and I would that their suggest operating costs across their business will be a real challenge, but I do think this systematic problem we have of cost to deliver the aviation system as paid for by airlines is being felt by the larger players too. Airlines have not returned to New Zealand as they had done pre-Covid," she said.
RNZ News
21-07-2025
- Business
- RNZ News
Sounds Air cut flying routes as costs surge
Sounds Air managing director Andrew Crawford says aviation has been severely hit by escalating costs, supply chain challenges and a weak New Zealand dollar. Photo: RNZ / Rebekah Parsons-King Sounds Air is cutting two regional services, saying it's facing 'out of control' costs. The airline will no longer fly Blenheim to Christchurch or Christchurch to Wānaka from the end of September. Last December, it stopped flying Wellington to Taupō and Wellington to Westport. Sounds Air managing director Andrew Crawford told Nine to Noon aviation has been severely hit by escalating costs, supply chain challenges and a weak New Zealand dollar that's threatened the viability of all regional airlines. He said the irony is that bookings have never been better, but they've exhausted all other options and need to reduce regional services. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
Skift
19-06-2025
- Business
- Skift
Trujet to Return to Indian Skies: Eyes November Launch
India's aviation space is bustling with increasing number of regional airlines, aided by government's support. But in a change of pace, a defunct regional airline is now returning as a full-fledged national carrier to meet the growing demand. The Indian government has approved the revival of regional airline TruJet, formerly known as Turbo Megha Airways. The airline is set to operate as a national-level scheduled carrier. The airline is looking to resume service using an Airbus A320 plane with Visakhapatnam as its primary hub. The airline earlier had its hub in Hyderabad. It plans to launch its first flight by November this year connecting Visakhapatnam to one of the following cities — Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, or Hyderabad. The decision follows extensive discussions between officials from the ministry of civil aviation and the airline's leadership. TruJet began operations in 2015 as a regional carrier but ceased services in 2022 due to pandemic-induced financial challenges. At the time of its shutdown, the airline primarily served smaller towns in South India and had plans to expand to 18 additional Tier-2 cities in the region. In February, Indian aviation company WinAir had announced it is acquiring a 79% stake in TruJet for INR 2 billion ($23 million). With the acquisition of the majority stake, WinAir had said it will take over the management control and operations of the company. TruJet's Plans: TruJet has now secured the approval to operate as a national carrier, a significant upgrade from its earlier regional carrier status. TruJet would need to get its Air Operators Permit renewed from Indian aviation watchdog Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) before it can resume operations. Need For Indian Carriers: Among the top 10 airlines in India in June this year, five are carriers operated by other nations, including Emirates, Etihad Airways, and Qatar Airways, according to aviation analytics company OAG. IndiGo held the largest share in the Indian aviation market, with over 12 million seats this month, up 12.4% as compared to June 2024. Among the top 5 airlines, 3 were low-cost carriers, including Air India Express, Akasa Air, and SpiceJet. Last August, IndiGo Promoter Rahul Bhatia said that India deserved more than just two major airlines - IndiGo and Air India. While international carriers seek more bilateral rights to operate in India, Indian airlines are increasing capacity to gain more share in the country's aviation market. Air India CEO Campbell Wilson last year said that granting more bilateral rights would feed the economies of those countries instead of India's as they would take traffic from India and transfer about 80-90% of it to other parts of the world. OAG noted that in June this year, the domestic and international capacity in the country increased by over 7% year-on-year. However, the share of mainline carriers in the Indian aviation industry declined in June 2025 as compared to the same month last year. In June 2024, mainlines accounted for nearly 35% of the total seats in the country at nearly 8 million. This figure has now come down to 30.85%. MakeMyTrip to Cut China's Group Stake Indian online travel agency MakeMyTrip said it is raising over $2.6 billion to buy back shares from its long-time investor China's Group, Skift has reported. 'The interests of and its affiliates may be different from or conflict with the interests of our other shareholders,' MakeMyTrip said in a stock exchange filing on Monday. "Their influence may result in the delay or prevention of a change of management or control of our company or other significant actions affecting our company, even if such transactions or actions may be beneficial to our other shareholders," it added. For this, MakeMyTrip has announced two big fundraising efforts: it's issuing 14 million new shares, with an option to add 2.1 million more, and it's also raising up to $1.25 billion through convertible bonds. This will reduce Group's stake in MakeMyTrip to under 20%, down from over 45% today. This decision also comes at a time when Indian authorities are scrutinizing Chinese investments in companies more closely, especially in sectors like tech, travel, and finance. Calls to reduce Chinese influence have grown louder since the border clashes between India and China in Ladakh in 2020. During that period India banned TikTok in June 2020 along with 58 other Chinese apps, citing national security concerns. The recent India-Pakistan military standoff has also added to the pressure, with China and Turkey seen by some as aligned with Pakistan. DCGA Says 'No Major Safety Concerns' in Air India Fleet The surveillance of Air India's Boeing 787 fleet has not revealed "any major safety concerns" so far, Indian civil aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said Tuesday night. DGCA added that "the aircraft and associated maintenance systems were found to be compliant with existing safety standards." Air India flight AI 171 from Ahmedabad to London Gatwick crashed shortly after take-off last week killing 241 of the 242 passengers and crew onboard. Post this India had ordered safety checks on the 787-8 and 787-9 aircraft last week. The airline has 26 Boeing 787-8 planes in its fleet. It also has seven Boeing 787-9s that were added through its merger with Vistara. DGCA had asked Air India to conduct a one-time inspection of these planes before any departure from India, including checks on the aircraft's engines, cabin air compressors, take-off parameters, and more. The safety checks are not yet complete. DGCA said that as of Tuesday afternoon, the required check was completed on 24 planes. It added that four aircraft were undergoing 'major checks' at various maintenance-repair-operations (MRO) facilities. DGCA also held a high-level meeting with Air India and its low-cost arm Air India Express to review the 'operational robustness' of the airlines. It discussed the delays in operations due to maintenance procedures and the disruptions caused by recent airspace closures over Iran. Dehradun Leads India's Hotel Boom Amid the boom in branded hotel rooms India, Uttarakhand's capital Dehradun led this growth between fiscal years 2023 and 2024. According to data from consulting platform Hotelivate, the number of rooms in the city increased by 67.5% year-on-year during the period. It noted that cities like Navi Mumbai, Agra, Jaipur, and Udaipur recorded double-digit growth. Further, while the average occupancy rates in Tier-1 cities remain the strongest at over 73%, Tier-2 and 3 cities are also recording strong occupancy numbers with 66% and 57.4% occupancy respectively. Skift reported earlier this year that India's hospitality boom was reaching untapped markets. Hotelivate said that as India's branded room inventory is expected to reach 250,000 by 2028-29 financial year, emerging markets such as Amritsar, Lucknow, and Noida are expected to contribute significantly to this growth. Tier-3 cities are projected to account for nearly half this growth. AbhiBus Renews Partnership With Actor Mahesh Babu Online travel company Ixigo's bus business AbhiBus is extending its long-standing partnership with Indian film star Mahesh Babu as its brand ambassador. The company said that for nearly a decade, the company and the actor have worked together to drive campaigns. Rohit Sharma, COO of AbhiBus, said, 'From 2016 to 2025, his presence has helped us build deeper connections with audiences across the South and beyond.' The company added in the statement that an all-new campaign is set to be launched this summer. In a recent Skift feature, Asia Editor Peden Doma Bhutia noted that Bollywood is a strong driver for travel among Indian travelers. Travel services aggregator Skyscanner also said in its 2024-25 horizons report that 52% of Indian travelers said they are largely influenced by television and films. Bottega Debuts Branded Residences in India Italian brand Bottega has announced its first international hospitality collaboration. The company has partnered with Atmosphere Living, the branded residences arm of hospitality company Atmosphere Core to launch luxury branded suites in India. While further details are awaited, Bottega said that the branded suites will provide residents with a neo-lifestyle experience designed around experimental wine culture. 'India is a thriving market with boundless potential and the partnership will bring the golden Italian sparkling life to India, redefining the hospitality landscape here,' said Giulia Pellegrino, global key accounts manager at Atmosphere Living. 'Our collaboration with Bottega is set on defining a new lifestyle movement.'
BBC News
18-06-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Aurigny fails to increase its slots at London airports
Aurigny has failed in its bid to secure additional slots at two of London's airports, according to Airport Coordination Limited (ACL). The Guernsey airline requested 1,232 slots at London Heathrow and an additional 862 slots, on top of the 1,838 it already has, at Gatwick but has been granted slots are needed to gain permission to use an airport's infrastructure.A spokesperson for the airline said: "Aurigny, like many regional airlines, routinely submits slot applications at capacity-constrained airports in the London catchment." They added: "This is a standard part of our network planning, demonstrating our ongoing commitment to evaluating all feasible options for serving the important Guernsey–London market."To our understanding, airlines operating smaller regional aircraft are not and have never been precluded from slot allocations at London Heathrow Airport."The spokesperson said the company was "pleased" to retain its long-standing portfolio of slots at London Gatwick.
Travel Daily News
09-06-2025
- Business
- Travel Daily News
ERA: Revised passenger rights ignore regional airline needs
ERA warns revised EU261 fails regional airlines, risking essential connectivity with stricter rules and insufficient exemptions for PSO and short-haul operators. The European Regions Airline Association (ERA) raises concern following the Transport, Telecommunications and Energy Council's agreement on its position for revising the Passenger Rights Regulation, EU261. While the update includes some long-overdue improvements, such as the introduction of a binding, non-exhaustive list of extraordinary circumstances, and brings much-needed legal clarity, it ultimately fails to reflect the specific realities of regional air transport and risks weakening Europe's essential air connectivity. Raising the delay threshold from three to five hours for short-haul flights, as originally proposed, was particularly vital for regional carriers. These airlines typically operate smaller aircraft on tighter schedules, without the flexibility of standby planes or reserve crews. The Council's limited increase to just four hours is a step in the right direction but ultimately falls short. Worse still, no exemptions have been granted for PSO (Public Service Obligation) flights. These routes are often the only link for remote or underserved communities and operate on extremely tight margins. Increasing compensation from 250 euros to 300 euros, while denying PSO flights any flexibility, places an excessive burden on the carriers delivering essential services. Other new obligations, including automatic reimbursement, the right to rebook after three hours on other carriers or transport modes, and potential self-rerouting of up to 400% of ticket value, further exacerbate the economic pressure on regional operators already stretched to maintain services. 'This was a chance to strike a fair balance between protecting passengers and safeguarding the regional air services that so many rely on,' said Montserrat Barriga, Director General, ERA. 'Yet regional airlines have been overlooked. The revision in its current form risks damaging the financial sustainability of regional operations and, by extension, the connectivity of Europe's regions.' As the European Parliament now examines the text, ERA urges policymakers to reconsider. A one-size-fits-all approach fails Europe's most vulnerable air routes. A fair and future-proof regulatory framework must support the economic realities of regional aviation and protect the connectivity that keeps communities and economies across Europe connected.
