Air Vistara conducts first two proving flights, AOP expected on 15th December

05 Friday Dec 2014

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Air, AOP, Delhi, Flight, Mumbai, Proving, Vistara

Air Vistara, the newest Indian airline working towards an AOP, conducted its first two proving flights on 4^th and 5^th December, 2014, as officially confirmed by the airline. The first flight took off from Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport at around 22:10IST (16:40UTC) on December 4^th and landed at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport at 5 minutes past midnight (00:05IST/18:35UTC) on 5^th December. The return flight took off at 01:10IST (19:40UTC) and landed at Delhi at around 02:50IST (21:21UTC).

Proving flights are the last stage of a lengthy process involved in securing an Air Operator Permit (AOP). Considering that the proving flights may wrap up by 7^th December, the AOP may be awarded on 15^th December, after the completion of the FAA Audit of DGCA, which is hoped to be completed on the 12^th December 2014. The airline may start operations early January.

When operations start, it will be the first full service carrier to be launched in a decade. Kingfisher airlines commenced operations in 2005 and no full service, pan-India carrier has since been launched.

The airline was awarded its NOC from the aviation ministry on the 3^rd of April, 2014, and applied for an AOP on the 22^nd of April, 2014. The eight month period between AOP application and approval is similar to the period taken to award AirAsia India’s AOP.

Vistara has two Airbus A320-232SL aircraft (A320/IAE V2527-A5 engines/Sharklet equipped) in its fleet, of which one is completed in the airline’s livery. The liveried aircraft performed the proving flight.

The airline plans to have six flights between Delhi and Mumbai in the first year of operations. Other destinations planned in the first year of services are Goa, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Srinagar, Jammu, Patna and Chandigarh. The DGCA’s Civil Aviation Policy CAP 3100 stipulates that the airline ‘will be required to conduct a minimum of 5 flight sectors on intended routes, with total duration of not less than 10 flight hours’. The Delhi – Mumbai route contributes to around 1hr 40 minutes one way, adding to 3:20hrs for both ways. The airline will have to fly another 6:40hrs. Should the airline fly Delhi-Bangalore and back, it will add around 4:40hrs. The balance 2:00hrs may be picked up by flying either to Ahmedabad or Patna and back.

The liveried aircraft, registered VT-TTB, is the first aircraft that the airline received on the 24^th of September, 2014, at Toulouse. The second aircraft, registered VT-TTC, was handed over to the airline five days later, on the 29^th of September, 2014. The first aircraft got its livery at Singapore, and landed back at Delhi on the 15^th of October, 2014, coinciding with the 82nd anniversary of JRD Tata’s first commercial flight from Karachi to Mumbai.

Three other aircraft, registered VT-TTD, TTE, and TTF are at Toulouse, reportedly not delivered in the light of the uncertainty associated with the DGCA’s delay in granting the new airline company its Air Operator’s Permit. The fifth aircraft recently flew to Hamburg, Germany, where the cabin interiors are fitted.

The airline plans to have a fleet of current engine option (CEO) and new engine option (NEO) A320 aircraft. The first 20 Airbus aircraft are to be leased from BOC Aviation – a Bank of China company that has its origins in Singapore Airlines. The duration of the lease agreement is six years for the A320-200 CEO aircraft and twelve years for the A320-200NEO aircraft.

AirAsia India’s Proving Flights Take Off

01 Thursday May 2014

Posted by theflyingengineer in General Aviation Interest, Operations

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A320, Air, Airbus, AOP, Asia, Flight, Proving, Route

AirAsia India’s first and only Airbus A320 (-216SL), registered VT-ATF, took to the skies on its maiden proving flight at 0708hrs GMT (1238hrs IST) [32 minute pushback delay]. The routes flown today will be Chennai-Cochin, Cochin-Bangalore, and Bangalore-Chennai: all planned with a 25 minute turn around time. Another proving flight is scheduled tomorrow (May 2nd, 2014), but in the interest of the airline, the route will not be revealed by The Flying Engineer at this point in time.

A proving flight includes a representative selection of the destinations intended to be serviced. Proving flights can be flown on any sector, even if those sectors do not make it to the airline’s schedules. Further, actual flight schedules and routes are subject to DGCA’s approval.

The proving flights of AirAsia India make use of the ground support available at those destinations where AirAsia Berhad (Malaysia) flies. AirAsia Bhd presently flies into and out of Bangalore, Chennai, Kochi (Cochin), Kolkatta, and Tiruchirappalli (Tirchi).

The proving flight follows the successful conclusion of the Main Base Inspection (MBI) on the 19th of April, 2014, and the “Table-Top” exercise (Proving flight readiness check) on the 29th of April, 2014. The MBI was conducted at Chennai, and the “table-top” at Delhi.

The proving flight will have non-revenue passengers and cargo on board, including DGCA personnel and airline staff. Of the airline staff on board, one set of flight crew (2 pilots and 4 cabin crew (two male two female)) will conduct the flight, while the rest will act as passengers. During the course of the flight, DGCA officials will check for the airline’s demonstration of handling of normal and non-normal events (such as dealing with disabled passengers, passenger incapacitation, cabin fire, encountering unexpected turbulence), in accordance with airline’s approved Operations Manual. The airline’s manual was approved, earlier, by the DGCA.

At the end of the proving flights, if the DGCA team finds deficiencies in the airline’s compliance with the approved Operations Manual processes, and procedures or regulatory requirements, then another set of proving flights will have to be taken up to prove that the deficiencies have been addressed.

Airline’s timelines

If the proving flights are successful in the first attempt, then the AOP is expected by the second week of May, 2014. Once the AOP is awarded, the airline must get its flight schedules approved by the DGCA. That is expected in the second half of May. Following the approved schedules, fares are decided upon, and the airline is formally launched, with the start of the sale of tickets. This is expected in the first week of June. The airline will need to sell sufficient tickets and undertake various marketing and promotional campaigns, which is expected to last for a month or two.

With these timelines, AirAsia India is expected to commence scheduled air transport flight operations only in July or August 2014.

Interestingly, AirAsia India has applied for a scheduled passenger air transport operator’s permit, and not a scheduled regional air transport permit, but may keep off the Tier I routes, and fly only those routes that are recognized by the DGCA as regional.

This May Day will be viewed as a “mayday” for some airlines in India, which have openly shown their discomfort with the arrival of AirAsia India.

Edit: Changed “Route Proving Flights” to “Proving Flights” based on a clarification to The Flying Engineer by Mittu Chandilya, CEO AirAsia India.

Air Asia India: Ready to earn its AOP, and learn from Air Asia Japan

23 Wednesday Oct 2013

Posted by theflyingengineer in Operations

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Air, AOP, Asia, Certificate, Fleet, Flight, India, Indonesia, japan, Operations, Permit, Philippines, Proving, Thai

Highlight: AirAsiaIndia to receive AirAsia Japan’s aircraft; First aircraft expected in a few days, in India, for proving flights; Air Operator Certificate to be awarded soon; AirAsia Japan: The cause for its failure and why AirAsia India may not follow the same downpath.

AirAsia Japan

On the 21st of July, 2011, 2 years and 3 months ago, ANA Group, Japan’s largest airline, and AirAsia, the world’s best low cost airline, announced that they were teaming up to form AirAsia Japan, a new low-cost carrier.

ANA was, for a while, seeking opportunities to launch a new low-cost business based at Narita. The Japanese are known to enjoy the finer, more expensive things in life, and to offer the population a new product: low cost, no frills air travel, while still managing to draw the crowds wasn’t, singlehandedly, going to be an easy thing to do. After much study, ANA concluded that partnering with an existing low-cost carrier was the most efficient, strategically advantageous option.

With the Air-Asia partnership, and success almost guaranteed, the joint venture established Air Asia Japan Co. Ltd. in the August of 2011, with ANA holding 51% and AirAsia 49% of the capital. However, Air-Asia’s voting right share was only 33%. The schedule was to apply for the Air Operator’s permit in September-October of the same year, with the first flight planned for the August of 2012, almost a year after applying for the AOC, also known as the AOP (Permit).

In June 2012, the airline took delivery of its first new A320: MSN 5153, followed by another new A320 in July. True to its word, the airline commenced operations on the 1st of August, 2012. 3 more new A320s followed over the next few months, of which 2 are equipped with fuel-saving Sharklets.

11 months after starting operations, Air Asia called off the joint venture, and ANA acquired AirAsia’s entire stake in Air Asia Japan for 2.45 billion yen.

The downfall

AirAsia Japan booked an operating loss of about US$ 36 Million, for the financial year ending March 2013. This was a shock for Air Asia, as quoting Tony Fernandes, CEO of AirAsia Berhad, “All our other affiliates have made money”. The other affiliates are Indonesia AirAsia, Philippines AirAsia, and Thai AirAsia.

AirAsia had a meek voice in the joint-venture, with only 33% voting share, with the decision making power in the hands of a full-service, world class yet inefficient airline: ANA. Two other low cost carriers (LCC) that kicked off in 2012 are Peach and Jetstar Japan, both of which are run by the larger voice of partner airlines that have been solely in the LCC Business.

AirAsia couldn’t implement the strategies that have proved successful in other JVs. This resulted in load factors not more than 70%, and as low as 56% in April 2013. Japanese aviation is known for its sky-high landing fees and fuel taxes, and this would have only resulted in Break Even Load Factors (BELF) that are high, making AirAsia Japan bleed with its poor load factors.

One of AirAsia’s key strategies is the large reliance on online bookings. This was a sudden change in the way in which an airline works in Japan, contrasting the population’s familiarity and comfort with booking through agents. This was a contributory reason for the airline’s poor acceptance. Complicating the matter was an online booking system that wasn’t completely translated to Japanese.

In January 2013, to control damage, the airline introduced “Other Payment options available for flights departing from Japan”. “It means that you can make payment via selected Convenience Store, ATM and Internet Banking.” Such flexible options aren’t available in all countries.

The problems with partnering with a Full Service Carrier (FSC) was evident. For example, ANA needed the cabin door to be opened by an engineer, and not by a cabin crew member. This, like other practices only added to costs. Both the partners squabbled over the airline’s strategy: running a LCC in a non- low-cost mode.

What AirAsia Japan means for AirAsia India

AirAsia Japan, although now without AirAsia involved, is operating under the Airasia Japan brand, but only till the 26th of October, 2013. 1st November onward, the airline, rebranded as Vanilla Air, will take flight with Airbus A320s from ANA. AirAsia’s A320s will be returned to AirAsia.

Of the 5 Airbus A320s received by AirAsia Japan, one has been sent to Air Asia Indonesia. Of the remaining 4 new Airbus A320s, two will make their way to AirAsia India, probably MSN 5547 and MSN 5657, the ones with the Sharklets, a necessity for operations in a country with very high fuel prices.

One of these Airbus A320s is expected in India in late October 2013 for proving flights. (see next section)

AirAsia Japan possibly suffered from a de-focused Tony, who had too much in his hand, in the light of massive A320 orders and the launch of Air Asia Philippines, which commenced operations in March 2012. While one of the failures for AirAsia Japan was the high fuel prices, it does not mean that AirAsia India will walk down the failed joint-venture’s path.

AirAsia India is a three-member JV in which AirAsia holds 49% stake, Tata Sons hold 30% and Arun Bhatia holds the remaining 21% stake. This gives Tony and his team the much needed voice for the success of his airline, which, after his AirAsia Japan experience, is something he will not compromise on.

Even more essential for success is the co-operation required by partners to fall in line with most of AirAsia’s proven strategies, as demonstrated by its other profit making AirAsia joint ventures. Tweeted Tony, in late September 2013,“First AirAsia India board meeting. Superb cooperation between partners.”. Not having an airline in the joint venture will mean that AirAsia can pretty much run the show in the way it deems best.

Another lesson learnt is the limited distribution system that had impacted Air Asia’s performance. AirAsia has spent considerable effort with online and offline travel agents throughout India. Although the country is not new to website bookings, having ticketing agents boosts sales, roping the otherwise tech-shy or tech-challenged traveller.

Proving Flights

The DGCA (India) Air Operator Certification Manual, CAP3100 Revision 0 August 2013 stipulates that during the demonstration and inspection phase prior to certification (Air Operator Certificate), “the applicant needs to demonstrate to the DGCA that the applicant is in a position to conduct the proposed operations in accordance with the procedures detailed in the documents/manuals reviewed during the previous phase utilizing the personnel/facilities/equipment identified in the formal application.” If the DGCA is satisfied with the airline’s personnel, staff, equipment and arrangements, “proving flight(s) will be conducted to one or more destinations of intended operations, as determined by the DGCA.”.

A proving flight is a flight, for demonstration purposes to the authority, and must be treated as a scheduled flight and conducted in a manner similar to a revenue flight, with full services and personnel in accordance with the procedures spelt out in the airline’s Operations Manual.

A proving flight is the last stage before the review and award of an Air Operator Certificate / Permit.

Start of Operations: AirAsia India

AirAsia Japan took a year to start operations, after applying for the AOP. AirAsia India filed for its AOP on 6th October, 2013, and is expected to receive the permit by mid-November. On starting operations, Tony said, “I would anticipate maybe April or May next year (2014) but I don’t really know”. Going by AirAsia Japan’s timelines, Air Asia India may start operations no later than July 2014. Philippines AirAsia commenced operations almost 2 months after receiving its Air Operator’s Permit.

In control of the venture, Tony is “confident we will make profits in the first year and change aviation”. So confident is Tony that, “I know when we go in, it would be great and change Indian aviation forever”.

Although the team is sailing on choppy waters due to Tata’s decision to partner with Singapore Airlines to start an international airline, the outcome of a continued disagreement, which may witness Arun Bhatia buying out Tata’s stake, will not hamper operations and strategies of the airline due to the large share of Tony-controlled AirAsia Berhad. Arun Bhatia’s Telstra Tradeplace is neither an airline, nor was in the airline business, until now.

Said Tony, reflective of possibly never again partnering with an airline, “ANA looked like one sexy woman: really nice, said all the nice things. And when we got to bed, it was a horrible experience. So we had a quick divorce.”