Overview of Airlines industry in IndiaThe aviation industry in India is one of those sectors that saw a constant pace of growth among the other industries in the world over the past many years. The open sky policy of the government has helped a lot of overseas players entering the aviation market in India. From then, it has only been growing in terms of players and the number of aircrafts. At present, private airlines account for around 75% portion of the domestic aviation market.

The 9th largest aviation market in the world is India. Taking the help of the statistics from the Ministry of Civil Aviation, approximately 29.8 million passengers traveled to/from India in 2008, showing a surge of 30% from 2007. The prediction stated that international passengers will touch 50 million by 2015. More opportunities in the aviation industry in India are likely to make way for about 69 foreign airlines from 49 countries.

Growth of Indian Aviation industry The Indian Civil Aviation market grew at a CAGR of 18%, being valued round US$ 5.6 billion in 2008. Further statistics revealed that the air traffic in August 2009 was a double digit figure. The domestic airliners flew 3.67 million passengers in August 2009, as against 2.92 million in the corresponding period of 2007, up by 26%. The Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA) has estimated that the domestic traffic will go up by 25% to 30% till 2010 along with a surge in the international traffic by 15%. There would be more than 100 million passengers by 2010. Then again by 2020, Indian airports will in all probability handle over 100 million passengers every year. The investment plans to the tune of US$ 9 billion has been made by the Aviation Ministry for modernizing the existing airports by 2010.

In terms of domestic passengers' volume, US have always been the leader with followers in the league like China, Japan and India. The number of domestic flights went up by 69% from 2005 to 2008, with the domestic aviation sector growing at 9-10%.

Market share of key players in the Indian aviation sector

Name of the players Market ShareKingfisher Airlines and Kingfisher Red (previously Air Deccan) 28%Jet Airways and Jet Lite (previously Air Sahara) 25%Air India and Indian (previously Indian Airlines) 16%IndiGo 14%SpiceJet 12%GoAir 3%Paramount Airways 2%MDLR Airlines 0.004%

Future of Airlines industry in IndiaThe challenges of the Indian aviation industry are cited below:

Passenger traffic is estimated to grow at a CAGR of over 15% in the coming few years.

The Ministry of Civil Aviation would handle around 280 million passengers by 2020. US$ 110 billion investment is envisaged till 2020 with US$ 80 billion solely for new

aircraft and US$ 30 billion for developing the airport infrastructure.

Aviation Industry in India is one of the fastest growing aviation industries in the world. With the liberalization of the Indian aviation sector, aviation industry in India has undergone a rapid transformation. From being primarily a government-owned industry, the Indian aviation industry is now dominated by privately owned full service airlines and low cost carriers. Private airlines account for around 75% share of the domestic aviation market. Earlier air travel was a privilege only a few could afford, but today air travel has become much cheaper and can be afforded by a large number of people.

The origin of Indian civil aviation industry can be traced back to 1912, when the first air flight between Karachi and Delhi was started by the Indian State Air Services in collaboration with the UK based Imperial Airways. It was an extension of London-Karachi flight of the Imperial Airways. In 1932, JRD Tata founded Tata Airline, the first Indian airline. At the time of independence, nine air transport companies were carrying both air cargo and passengers. These were Tata Airlines, Indian National Airways, Air service of India, Deccan Airways, Ambica Airways, Bharat Airways, Orient Airways and Mistry Airways. After partition Orient Airways shifted to Pakistan.

In early 1948, Government of India established a joint sector company, Air India International Ltd in collaboration with Air India (earlier Tata Airline) with a capital of Rs 2 crore and a fleet of three Lockheed constellation aircraft. The inaugural flight of Air India International Ltd took off on June 8, 1948 on the Mumbai-London air route. The Government nationalized nine airline companies vide the Air Corporations Act, 1953. Accordingly it established the Indian Airlines Corporation (IAC) to cater to domestic air travel passengers and Air India International (AI) for international air travel passengers. The assets of the existing airline companies were transferred to these two corporations. This Act ensured that IAC and AI had a monopoly over the Indian skies. A third government-owned airline, Vayudoot, which provided feeder services between smaller cities, was merged with IAC in 1994. These government-owned airlines dominated Indian aviation industry till the mid-1990s.

In April 1990, the Government adopted open-sky policy and allowed air taxi- operators to operate flights from any airport, both on a charter and a non charter basis and to decide their own flight schedules, cargo and passenger fares. In 1994, the Indian Government, as part of its open sky policy, ended the monopoly of IA and AI in the air transport services by repealing the Air Corporations Act of 1953 and replacing it with the Air Corporations (Transfer of Undertaking and Repeal) Act, 1994. Private operators were allowed to provide air transport services. Foreign direct investment (FDI) of up to 49 percent equity stake and NRI (Non Resident Indian) investment of up to 100 percent equity stake were permitted through the automatic FDI route in the domestic air transport services sector. However, no foreign airline could directly or indirectly hold equity in a domestic airline company.

By 1995, several private airlines had ventured into the aviation business and accounted for more than 10 percent of the domestic air traffic. These included Jet Airways Sahara, NEPC Airlines, East West Airlines, ModiLuft Airlines, Jagsons Airlines, Continental Aviation, and Damania Airways. But only Jet Airways and Sahara managed to survive the competition. Meanwhile, Indian Airlines, which had dominated the Indian air travel industry, began to lose market share to Jet Airways and Sahara. Today, Indian aviation industry is dominated by private airlines and these include low cost carriers such as Deccan Airlines, GoAir, SpiceJet etc, who have made air travel affordable.

Airline industry in India is plagued with several problems. These include high aviation turbine fuel (ATF) prices, rising labor costs and shortage of skilled labor, rapid fleet expansion, and intense price competition among the players. But one of the major challenges facing Indian aviation industry is infrastructure constraint. Airport infrastructure needs to be upgraded rapidly if Indian aviation industry has to continue its success story. Some steps have been taken in this direction. Two of India's largest airports-Mumbai and New Delhi-were privatized recently. Two greenfield airports are coming up at Bangalore and Hyderabad in southern India. Investments are pouring into almost all aspects of the industry, including aircraft maintenance, pilot training and air cargo services. The future prospects of Indian aviation sector look bright.

Aviation Industry in India traces back its History to 1912, with first flight from Karachi to Delhi started by Indian State Air Services and Imperial Airways UK collaboration. Actually it was just an extension of the London-Karachi flight by imperial airways. 

However the actual instigation of India Aviation Industry was in the form of Tata Airline by JRD Tata in 1932. He was also the first Indian to get an A-License. In 1946, Tata Airlines was transformed into Air India. At the dawn of independence, India had nine air transport companies providing both cargo and passenger services. 

In 1953, the Government of India nationalized all existing airline assets and formed Indian Airline Corporation for domestic air services along with Air India International for international air services. Until, 1991, these two companies played monopoly in India. It was only in this year that private airlines were allotted the 'air taxi scheme', under which they could operate chartered and non-scheduled services for uplift of Indian tourism. In 1994, as a result of a repeal of the air corporation act, private airline companies obtained permission to operate scheduled air services. 

Indian Aviation Industry witnessed a major change in 2003, when Air Deccan introduced budget flying by lowering down the fares to mere 17% of what the other airlines were charging. Now the list includes Spice Jet, Go Airways and Kingfisher Air. 'All-business class airline' Paramount Airways also belongs to this group. These budget airlines have taken up the major Indian Aviation Industry market share. They have established newer trends in the aviation industry. 

Indian Aviation Industry 2009

 

Indian Aviation Industry 2009 takes names of some of the leading airlines in the aviation industry world over. Aviation industry statistics have shown a growth curve that establishes the emergence of a new world leader. The latest Aviation Industry news shows airlines launching newer flights everyday with very low fares to attract the maximum number of customers.

An Overview of the Aviation Industry of India gives us three main categories for the Aviation Industry analysis. These include:

o Airlines in India

: Aviation Industry of India and airlines in India are managed by the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Government of India. All domestic and international airlines are supposed to obtain license from

the ministry. Ten major domestic airlines came together to form FIA (Federation of Indian Airlines) to deal with Indian Aviation Industry challenges in domestic segment and establish newer trends in the aviation industry of India.

o Airports in India

: In order to establish international standards in operational, terminal and cargo services, the International Airports Authority of India was fused with National Airports Authority to ascertain Airports Authority of India (AAI). The airports authority is responsible for all infrastructure related and aviation industry market related tasks. All airports in India are managed by the Airports Authority of India.

o Aviation Schools in India

: The aviation industry India provides highly lucrative careers and thus is a major attraction amongst the youth of India. For professional training of these enthusiasts, various aviation schools and aviation academy are present in different parts of the country. They provide commercial pilot training. For this you need to obtain Student Pilot License (SPL) and after the completion of your training, a Commercial Pilot License (CPL) is required.

For Aviation Industry Growth in the domestic airports infrastructure, Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA) was formed. The federation has the main aim of establishing a forecast of all time highest growth in the domestic Aviation Industry India. The future outlook of the Indian Aviation Industry depends majorly on the various aviation schools operational in the country. The aviation industry research undertaken by the Ministry of Civil Aviation can ensure technological advances. 

The airline was set up under the Air Corporations Act, 1953 with an initial capital of   32 million and started operations on 1 August 1953. It was established after legislation came into force to nationalise the entire airline industry in India. Two new national airlines were to be formed along the same lines as happened in the United Kingdom with British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) and British European Airways (BEA). Air India took over international routes and Indian Airlines Corporation (IAC) took over the domestic and regional routes.

Seven former freedom domestic airlines, Deccan Airways, Airways India, Bharat Airways, Himalayan Aviation, Kalinga Airlines, Indian National Airwaysand Air Services of India, were merged to form the new domestic national carrier. Indian Airlines Corporation inherited a fleet of 99 aircraft including 74Douglas DC-3 Dakotas, 12 Vickers Vikings, 3 Douglas DC-4s and various smaller types from the seven airlines that made it up.

Vickers Viscounts were introduced in 1957 with Fokker F27 Friendships being delivered from 1961. The 1960s also saw Hawker Siddeley HS 748s, manufactured in India by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, join the fleet.

The jet age began for IAC with the introduction of the pure-jet Sud Aviation Caravelle airliner in 1964, followed by Boeing 737-200s in the early 1970s. April 1976 saw the first three Airbus A300 wide-body jets being introduced. The regional airline, Vayudoot, which had been established in 1981, was later reintegrated.

By 1990, Airbus A320-200s were introduced. The economic liberalisation process initiated by the Government of India in the early 1990s ended Indian Airlines' dominance of India's domestic air transport industry. Indian Airlines faced tough competition from Jet Airways, Air Sahara (now Jet Lite), East-West Airlines, Skyline NEPC, and ModiLuft. As of 2005, Indian Airlines was the second largest airline in India after Jet Airways while Air Sahara controlled 17% of the Indian aviation industry.

Old red logo of Indian Airlines until the mid-2000s

East-West Airlines, Skyline NEPC and ModiLuft discontinued flight operations but the entry of several low-cost airlines in India, such as SpiceJet, IndiGo,GoAir and others like Kingfisher Airlines along with its low cost arm Kingfisher Red continued to give competition in its market, forcing Indian to cut down air-fares. However, as of 2006, Indian Airlines was still a profit making airline; in fact during 2004-2005 it made a record profit of Rs 65.61 crore.[3]

Indian Airlines Limited was partly owned by the Government of India (51 % of share capital ) through a holding company and has 19,300 employees as of March 2007.[4] Its annual turn-over, together with that of its subsidiary Alliance Air, was well over   4000 crores (around US$ 1 billion). Together with its subsidiary, Alliance Air, Indian Airlines carried a total of over 7.5 million passengers annually. [citation

needed]

In December 2007, Air India was invited to join the Star Alliance[citation needed].

On 26 February 2011, Indian ceased operating under its own brand and codes with the merger with Air India being complete.[5]

Indian

IATAIC

ICAOIAC

CallsignINDAIR

Founded 1953

Ceased operations 27 February 2011 (merged into Air India)

Hubs Chhatrapati Shivaji International

Airport(Mumbai)

Indira Gandhi International

Airport(Delhi)

Secondary hubs Chennai International Airport

Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose

International Airport(Kolkata)

Focus cities Bengaluru International

Airport (Bangalore)

Cochin International Airport (Kochi)

Rajiv Gandhi International

Airport (Hyderabad)

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel

International Airport(Ahmedabad)

Frequent-flyer

program

Flying Returns

Airport lounge Maharaja Lounge

Subsidiaries Air India Regional

Fleet size 72 excl.subsidiaries

Destinations 63 excl.subsidiaries

Company slogan Have you tried the new Air India?

Parent company Air India Limited

Headquarters New Delhi

Key people Rohit Nandan, CMD

Website www.indianairlines.in