Covid-19: GoAir is third airline to cut salaries, all staff to take hit

GoAir will cut salary of all its employees for month of March following grounding of all domestic flights in the country.

GoAir is the third airline to announce a pay cut after IndiGo and Air India which have slashed salaries to tide over Covid-19 crisis.

"Under the current conditions we find ourselves in we are left with no choice but to extend salary cuts for all of us for the month of March. We will ensure that lowest pay grades suffer the least," the airline's chief executive officer Vinay Dube wrote in an email today. The letter did not reveal the extent of pay cut for each category.

The pay cut comes even as domestic airlines seek urgent funding from government to pay 50 per cent of staff salaries for the next three months. Domestic flights were shut from midnight of March 24 and closure will remain in place till April 14.

The Wadia group airline had earlier implemented leave without pay for a section of its staff and fired foreign pilots to cut costs. Later the one month leave without pay was extended to Indian pilots under training or to those not released for active duties.

"In GoAir's 14-year history we have never cut employee salaries or deferred salary payments. When the tide turns once again -- and it will -- GoAir will find a way to compensate all of you for the sacrifice you are being asked to make at this juncture. Given the strong business fundamentals of GoAir, I believe that moment is not so far away," Dube said.

"How can the airline cut March salaries when we have worked for 24 days," an employee asked. Experts however said pay cut is a sensible thing to do in the current situation to preserve cash.

Janta Curfew: GoAir to suspend flights on March 22, IndiGo trims operations

Commercial airline GoAir has announced that it will voluntarily suspend all flights on Sunday, in support of the 'Janata Curfew' proposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a measure to check the spread of coronavirus.

In a statement, GoAir said, "Goa Air is responding to the clarion call given by the Prime Minister of India to lead the nation in stemming the spread of coronavirus. GoAir will voluntarily suspend all flights on Sunday, March 22, in support of the Janata Curfew proposed by the Prime Minister."

"GoAir will protect all the PNRs dated March 22, 2020 in view of the Janata Curfew for a period of one year under the "Protect Your PNR" scheme. Passengers can contact GoAir at any time over the next one year to redeem their ticket on ANY GoAir flight on any date with no charges being levied, the statement said.

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Meanwhile, IndiGo airlines has reduced its domestic schedule to match market demand over the next few weeks. It said the services are being maintained to cater to those with urgent travel requirements.

ALSO READ: Coronavirus in numbers: Latest Covid-19 cases and deaths in India and world

"On Sunday 22nd March, in line with the Janata Curfew announced by the Prime Minister on 19th March, the airline will be operating approximately 60 per cent of its normal domestic schedule, in order to accommodate those with urgent travel requirements on that day," a press statement from IndiGo said.

"Going forward, responding to the various travel restrictions imposed worldwide, most of our international flights are suspended and additionally, given the reduction in domestic demand, we are trimming our domestic India operations by approximately 25 per cent for now. In this fluid situation, IndiGo will continually review operations to match capacity to demand," the IndiGo's statement further said.

Economic environment in aviation sector has deteriorated: IndiGo official

Economic environment in aviation sector has deteriorated significantly and it has become necessary to initiate some tough decisions over the next few days and weeks, said IndiGo's flight operations chief Ashim Mitra to pilots in an email on Thursday morning.

With countries sealing their borders partially or fully across the world due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, aviation sector has been hit extremely hard as most airlines globally have drastically curtailed their flight operations. Mitra stated in his email: "Economic environment has deteriorated significantly and no airline is insulated from this severe downturn."

"It has become a necessity to initiate some tough calls and we are working on a string of measures that will be shared and implemented over the next few days and weeks," Mitra said.

"Please keep taking all the precautions against Covid-19 and we shall overcome any challenge as long as stand strong and tall against these headwinds," he said.

GoAir on Wednesday said it has terminated contracts of expat pilots amid curtailed operations due to the pandemic. Citing "unprecedented" decline in air travel, the budget carrier announced it was suspending international operations and offering leave without pay programme to its staff on a rotational basis.

GoAir's Mumbai-Doha service hits turbulence, shuts bookings for flight

GoAir's plans to launch its maiden service to Qatar has hit a roadblock. Earlier this month, GoAir announced Mumbai-Doha service beginning March 19 with an inaugural return fare of Rs 14,000.Customers lapped up tickets as it made travel between the two cities cheaper. But now the airline is facing a hurdle and has now shut reservations for this flight.

The reason for this suspension is inability to secure traffic rights for Qatar in summer. Governments exchange traffic rights between themselves and allocate them to their respective airlines to enable the launch of new flights. Last November, GoAir secured 1,300 seats per week for Qatar which allowed it to start a daily service. But this was a temporary allocation for the winter schedule from Air India's unused entitlement. GoAir applied to the Civil Aviation Ministry for an extension and subsequently announced the Mumbai - Doha flight. But it has now been forced to put its flight on hold as Air India wants to use all its balance traffic rights and launch more services to Doha for the upcoming summer schedule.

In a statement GoAir said " The rights for Doha were given to GoAir in November 2019 for operations upto winter 2019 (end March 2020) out of Air India's unutilised traffic rights. Diligently completing its requisite regulatory approvals for the new destination, GoAir was ready to operationalise the same in mid-March 2020. For meaningful period of these operations, GoAir made an application to the government for the extension of these rights for summer 2020. We understand that Air India has advised the government that they will be fully utilising their traffic rights to Qatar in summer 2020. In the meantime, GoAir has put the reservations/bookings on hold."

Air India and Civil Aviation Ministry spokespersons did not respond to emails.

Aviation industry executives however are skeptical about Air India's plans given its financial problems. Following the closure of Jet Airways last April, the centre allocated its traffic rights to Air India and IndiGo. The preliminary information memorandum on Air India's disinvestment reveals that as of last November the national carrier had 10,395 weekly seats for Qatar. It was using 5,562 seats to Qatar and had a balance of 4,833 seats. Since then it has added or announced new flights to Doha from Mumbai and Trichy. This includes a Boeing 787 service from Mumbai which it launched last week. But the national carrier would have to add another 13-18 flights per week to Doha in summer to fully utilise its traffic rights. The number of additional flights would depend on aircraft type deployed on the route.

"As of now Air India and Air India Express are operating only 32 flights per week and now the airline wants to use all its balance traffic rights in upcoming summer schedule. Is there a serious plan to add so many flights to Qatar given the airline's financial issues and non availability of aircraft," an industry executive asked.

In the past too Air India has objected to private airlines plans to launch services using its rights. In 2018 Jet Airways approached civil aviation ministry to start another flight to London using Air India's unused rights. Jet had secured slots at congested Heathrow airport from its partner airlines. But national carrier objected to Jet's plans and said it would use the rights to launch its own

flights.

Since then Air India has expanded frequencies to London and deploying higher capacity Boeing 777 aircraft on the route. It has also launched flights to Toronto and Nairobi, and is increasing capacity to Tel Aviv.

GoAir cancels flights for second day in a row amid pilot shortage

GoAir cancelled around twenty of its scheduled 330 flights on Tuesday because of non-availability of pilots caused by previous schedule disruptions and implementation of new regulations on pilot duty time.

GoAir will face action for not providing rest to its pilots in line with rules, said a senior Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) official.

The Mumbai-based airline has over 300 captains (including 65 expat pilots) and an equal number of first officers and is currently operating 48 of its 54 planes, sources said.

DGCA regulations specify the number of hours a pilot can fly in 24 hours, number of landings they can make and minimum rest period prior to a flight. The rules are designed to minimise pilot fatigue. "We are checking details of all the flights operated by the airline from November 1. We have found certain violations and we are checking whether these are administrative or safety-related," said a DGCA official. The regulator is also checking if software glitches contributed to the problem.

The amended regulations were to come into effect from May 1 and airlines were given time to plan their crew requirements. The actual implementation of new rules began from November 1.

GoAir sources said very little time was available for transition to new rules, for making software changes and sensitising pilots and operational staff as their operation manual was approved only in October last week. Some airlines, including GoAir and IndiGo, had also requested the regulator to allow a few weeks for validating changes, a request the regulator had denied.

A DGCA official said that an airline cannot give excuses for non-adherence citing it is first day or first week of implementation and added that action will be taken against those responsible.

"GoAir has been asked to set right its practices. We may carry out another audit to check implementation," he added.

On Tuesday DGCA officials held meeting with GoAir executives to seek an explanation on the issue. The airline has also informed the regulator about its flight cancellations.

Last month the DGCA had carried out an audit to check whether airlines were following the rules regarding duty hours. Checks were carried out at IndiGo, SpiceJet and Alliance Air but maximum violations were found in GoAir.

GoAir did not comment on the findings of the DGCA audit.

Earlier in a statement the airline said a combination of factors such as inclement weather and low visibility in certain parts of the country disrupted multiple flights across GoAir's network.

"This was further aggravated with flight duty time limitations (FDTL) of the crew. The airline has initiated all possible steps to minimize inconvenience to the passengers. Alternate flight arrangements are being explored to minimize the impact. Free cancellation and re-booking options have been offered to all those affected," the airline said.

GoAir cancels flights due to delayed aircraft deliveries by Airbus

Budget carrier GoAir, which cancelled multiple flights earlier this week, on Thursday said the delay in aircraft deliveries by Airbus has added to its operational challenge.

The Wadia group-owned airline cancelled as many as 40 flights this week on account of shortage of staff and inclement weather, among others issues.

"GoAir has placed order of 144 Airbus A320Neo aircraft and experienced delivery delays during the month of November and December, adding to its operational challenge," the airline said in a clarification issued on Wednesday.

It also said that due to inclement weather in North India, the airline experienced extensive flight delays and diversions leading to cancellations of flights as its crew approached its flight duty time limits (FDTL) in the last two-three days.

The cockpit and cabin crew duty and rest norms are governed by the aviation safety regulator, Directorate General of Civil Aviation.

The anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protests wherein GoAir crew members were unable to report for duty further exacerbated the issue, the airline.

GoAir sticks to Pratt & Whitney engines in 70 Airbus A320neo it has ordered

GoAir has chosen Pratt & Whitney (P&W) engines to power the second set of 72 Airbus A320neo aircraft it ordered in 2016.

The selection gives a boost to the US engine firm, which lost out to rival manufacturer CFM International for IndiGo's 280 aircraft engine order in June.

GoAir has 144 Airbus A320neo planes on order. It selected P&W engines for the first 72 planes, which it ordered in 2011 and has already taken deliveries of 38 planes. GoAir has now opted for P&W engines a second time, as the company offered better commercial terms than CFM International, it is learnt.

Deliveries of GoAir's second set of 72 planes are supposed to start by mid-2021.

While the P&W engines are resulting in 15 per cent lesser fuel burn, recurring snags led to their early removal and grounding of planes. Network and fleet expansion plans of airlines, too, suffered, as engine modifications led to delivery delays. While many of the engine issues have been resolved, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation earlier this month ordered GoAir and IndiGo to replace engines in some of their A320neos. Operational problems surrounding the P&W engines was one factor that prompted the country's largest airline IndiGo to switch to CFM engines for 280 A320neos on order.

GoAir has, however, decided to stick to P&W engines. In a statement, the airline's managing director Jeh Wadia said: “We believe that the P&W geared turbofan engines are the best-in-class and most suited for our network and operations. Besides the P&W engines will permit GoAir to continue its aggressive growth strategy and at the same time maintain our cost advantage.”

"GoAir's decision indicates continued confidence in the value proposition, which these engines bring and also help P&W to boost its market share. However P&W also needs to allocate more resources to solve all issues surrounding the engines quickly,” said Devesh Agarwal, editor of aviation blog, Bangalore Aviation.

GoAir has doubled its fleet to 54 Airbus aircraft, including 38 A320neo. It operates over 325 flights daily and has plans to add one aircraft every month going forward. GoAir has been planning an initial public offering and has been in talks with merchant banks over the past few months. It has also strengthened its management and board ahead of possible listing.

Last month, GoAir appointed Ben Baldanza and Y P Thorat as non-executive directors on its board. While Baldanza served as a CEO of US-based Spirit Airlines, Thorat is former chairman of Nabard. The airline also raised Rs 98 crore from promoters earlier this month via rights issue to support growth plans.

GoAir chooses Pratt & Whitney engines for second lot of 72 Airbus planes
Deliveries from that order to begin in 2021
GoAir has strengthened its board, roped in Ben Baldanza and Y P Thorat as non executive directors
Promoters infused Rs 98 crore this month to support growth plans

GoAir inks pact with Dubai-based Emirates National Oil Co for ATF supply

Budget carrier GoAir said on Monday it has inked a pact with Dubai-based Emirates National Oil Company (ENOC) for the supply of jet fuel to the carrier.

GoAir currently operates to eight international destinations and half of them fall in the Gulf region.

A wholly-owned entity of the Dubai government, ENOC at present covers more than 200 airports across 25 countries, supplying more than three million US gallons (USGs) of jet fuel to a diversified portfolio of carriers in the UAE and internationally, with more than 300 fuellings each day, according to a release.

"GoAir is happy to partner with ENOC and Im confident that this partnership will provide the airline with a larger footprint in the MENA (Middle-East and North Africa) region by virtue of ENOC being the largest supplier," said Harjinder Singh Bhasin, vice president for airports, GoAir.

The pact was signed by Farid Al Bastaki, director, ENOC Aviation and Bhasin at the airlines headquarter in the city, the release stated.

"The partnership with GoAir will enable ENOC to help the GoAir operations in Dubai," said Saif Humaid Al Falasi, Group CEO, ENOC.

He said ENOC has been fuelling the aviation industrys growth locally in the UAE since 1995 and has always had a close association with Dubai airports.

GoAir currently operates over 325 flights per day to 25 domestic and eight international destinations, including Phuket, Male (seasonal), Muscat, Abu Dhabi, Bangkok, Dubai, Kuwait and Singapore.

GoAir invites bids from Airbus and Boeing for planes, plans expansion

GoAir has invited bids from Airbus and Boeing for 20 wide body and 200 narrow body planes as it prepares for the next phase of growth.

GoAir has been slow in expansion in comparison to its peers but has grown rapidly in the past two years. It has doubled its fleet to 53 Airbus aircraft and now operates over 325 flights daily. The airline is evaluating various growth plans as it looks to widen its footprint. GoAir invited bids from Airbus and Boeing a month ago, it is learnt. “GoAir does not comment on market speculation,” a spokesperson said. An airline source, however, said discussions were on with plane makers and it was yet to firm up aircraft choice or the order size.

GoAir has 144 Airbus A320neo aircraft on order, which were booked in two tranches in 2011 and 2016. Currently, its fleet includes 37 A320neo aircraft and the rest consists of conventional A320s.

Plans of fleet expansion are being worked out ahead of a possible initial public offering by GoAir. The Wadia group-owned airline has been in talks with merchant banks over the past few months but has not formally announced listing plans.

Airbus said it did not comment on delivery schedule or procurement plans of its customer airlines. Boeing said it did not comment on customer discussions. Last year, GoAir's then chief executive officer Cornelis Vrieswijk had hinted at a wide-body order, which would allow the airline to start flights to Europe. GoAir’s current fleet of A320s has a range of six to six-and-an-half hours and now connects eight overseas destinations, including Singapore.

Last week, Managing Director Jeh Wadia had said the airline would continue with its rapid expansion. “Our plan is to add at least one aircraft on average every month. GoAir has flown 76 million passengers since inception and our aim is to achieve 100 million passengers in the next two years. Our daily flights have grown by 41 per cent to over 325, as compared to 230 daily flights same time last year,” Wadia said in a statement.

GoAir received its first A320neo and its 20th aircraft overall in 2016. Since then the airline has added one aircraft on an average each month. At this rate it would take 7-8 years for the airline to induct all the 144 planes on order.

“The 16 older A320s will be phased out on completion of their lease terms in next few years. GoAir will have to keep adding planes to grow its market share,” said an expert. GoAir had a market share of 11.8 per cent in domestic market in August and it increased from 8.7 per cent at the start of the year.

GoAir to expand flight network, connect Singapore with Bengaluru, Kolkata

Budget carrier GoAir on Wednesday announced plans to expand its flight network with the launch of a non-stop service to Singapore from Bengaluru and Kolkata and to Aizwal from Guwahati, starting later this month.

Singapore will be the airline's eighth overseas destinations, while Aizwal the 25 domestic one, GoAir said in a release.

Starting October 18, GoAir will commence operations to Singapore from Bengaluru with four services per week and a day later, October 19, it will start flying three times a week to the Island-city nation from Kolkata as well, it said.

Apart from launching flights on these international routes, GoAir will also connect Aizwal with Guwahati with a daily flight, starting from October 15, the airline said in the release.

"Singapore carries the distinction of being an important leisure destination as well as an established business hub. GoAir will work closely with Singapore Tourism Board and others for the promotion of tourism in both the countries," said Jeh Wadia, managing director, GoAir.

On the other hand, the launch of services to Aizwal is in sync with the governments vision for the seven sister states and it will certainly improve connectivity to one of the most underserved destinations in North-East India, he added.

The Mumbai-headquartered airline currently operates over 325 flights per day to 24 domestic and seven international destinations.

GoAir plans to add one aircraft a month, says managing director Jeh Wadia

Budget carrier GoAir said on Friday it will induct one aircraft every month as part of its aggressive fleet and network expansion plans.

Announcing the induction of two new A320neos, GoAir managing director Jeh Wadia, in a release, said the new planes will help it launch flight services to Singapore and Aizwal besides catering to the seasonal demand.

The delivery of the two aircraft, one from the European aviation major Airbus' Hamburg facility and other from its Toulouse plant, was taken in one single day, which is a record of sorts for any airline, he said.

"The induction of twin aircraft in the GoAir fleet is in sync with our strategy of aggressive growth and expansion of our network. Our plan is to add at least one aircraft on average every month," Wadia said.

The airline plans to start operation to its eighth international and 25th domestic destination--Singapore and Aizwal, subject to regulatory approvals, he said.

Industrialist Nusli Wadia-promoted no-frills GoAir have placed an order with Airbus for 144 narrow-body planes, in two tranches.

In June 2011, the airline placed an order for 72 new A320neo aircraft valued at about Rs 32,400 crore on the list price.

Then in January 2017, the airline firmed an order for another 72 A320neos worth Rs 52,000 crore.

GoAir is looking to fly 100 million passengers in the next two years, Wadia said adding the airline has doubled its fleet to 53 at present from 27 two years ago.

The number of daily flights has also grown by 41 per cent to over 325 as compared to 230 daily services in the same period last year, he said.