Aviat Financial News

By Sophie Yu and Valerie Insinna

Indian air traffic control is in the midst of a major change. Due to a significant increase in surveillance capabilities by Airport Authority of India (AAI), from 1 January, air traffic controllers will be able to halve the lateral separation between two aircraft leading to more efficient use of airspace from 10 nautical miles (18.5 km)to 5 nautical miles.

₹65 apiece. However, the shares jumped to ₹68.25 apiece within minutes of hitting the secondary market, indicating a premium of 5% over the issue price. The ₹24.6 crore SME (small and medium enterprise) IPO was open for subscription between December 14 and December 18, at a price of 65 per share.

SMBC on Wednesday said the Tata Group-owned Air India has borrowed USD 120 million from it for purchasing a wide-body aircraft from Airbus. The transaction has partly financed Air India's purchase of an A350-900 aircraft from Airbus, which was delivered in October 2023, according to an official statement.

By David Shepardson and Valerie Insinna

₹106,155.67 per kl on 1 December, marking the second reduction in a month after a nearly 6% decrease on 1 November. Despite these cuts, prices remain over 80% higher than in 2019. This consecutive reduction offers some respite to Indian airlines, which had added a fuel surcharge in October to offset the soaring costs.

SpiceJet for 19% stake in the company. Aries Opportunities Fund will hold 3% while Elara Capital will hold 8%, after conversion of warrants, according to a detailed funding proposal reviewed by ET. Last week, the cash-strapped airline announced that it got a lifeline as a clutch of funds and high net worth individuals will invest Rs 2,254 crore through the issue of up to 130 million convertible warrants and 320.8 million fresh equity shares. Promoter Ajay Singh’s current shareholding in the airline will reduce from 56.49% to at least 38.55 % once the shareholders approve the issuance of equity and warrants.

American air-traffic-control facilities are short on controllers, leading to delayed flights and adding potential safety risks. Nearly every U.S. air-traffic facility needs more fully trained controllers to help orchestrate thousands of takeoffs and landings of commercial and private aircraft each day, Federal Aviation Administration staffing data show.

Go First has remained grounded since May. The airline has a fleet of 54 Airbus SE A320neos.

SpiceJet jumped nearly 8% to hit a fresh 52-week high of Rs 69.20 on Tuesday after the budget carrier expressed its interest to acquire Go First. The company plans to submit its offer after carrying out due diligence on the bankrupt carrier. Go First, which stopped flying on May 3 amid financial woes mainly triggered by Pratt & Whitney engine issues, is undergoing an insolvency resolution process, PTI reported. In a regulatory filing, SpiceJet said it «has expressed interest with the resolution professional of Go First and wish to submit an offer post diligence, with a view to creating a strong and viable airline in a possible combination with SpiceJet». The stock has been rallying on multiple triggers including the company's plans to consider fundraising options and also getting the stock listed on NSE. The no-frills airline, which is grappling with financial headwinds, last week announced raising around USD 270 million from various investors.

Squid Game: The Challenge" victor Mai Whelan, also known as Player 287, was besides excelling in the intense series, has a distinguished career as a navy veteran. Although Mai briefly mentioned her 20-year service on the show, the humble 56-year-old has complete array of prestigious military awards she has earned.

Top M&As in 2023: In 2023, the Indian business landscape underwent a radical metamorphosis fuelled by a record-breaking M&A spree. The year witnessed a staggering 72 per cent increase in deal volume compared to 2022, according to Deloitte's findings. The total value exceeded a colossal USD 150 billion, according to Bain & Company.

Jeff Bezos heads back into space. The launch window from the pad in west Texas opens at 8:30 am local time (14H30 GMT), said Blue Origin, which plans to livestream the event. This mission known as NS-24 will not carry a crew but rather equipment for scientific experiments, more than half of which Blue Origin has developed in conjunction with NASA.

NEW DELHI : Nasdaq-listed Honeywell is open to acquisitions in India’s energy transition technology sector, said Ashish Modi, president for India operations. In an interview, Modi said Honeywell recently restructured its operations into three segments: automation, aviation and energy transition. Battery storage and green hydrogen will be key areas of immediate focus in energy transition, he added.

Nirupesh Joshi and Mercy Amalraj were high-flying technology consultants, earning handsomely, with successful stints in Boston, Seoul and Hong Kong until 2018. One fine day the couple gave it all up, got into entrepreneurship in an entirely alien area: the world of mechanical watches the couple had all along been fascinated by.They landed in Bengaluru, the ground-zero of wrist watches and startups. “A watch carries memories through generations.

New Surat airport: In a significant development for Surat Airport, Sanjeev Kumar, Chairman of the Airports Authority of India (AAI), has announced that the airport's overall capacity will see a threefold increase with the inauguration of its new terminal building. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to unveil the terminal during his day-long visit to Surat on December 17.

The Treasury Department is spelling out the rules for tax credits designed to stimulate production of sustainable aviation fuel

By Stephanie Kelly, Jarrett Renshaw and Leah Douglas

Should airplane mechanics be responsible for checking their own work? The question is the subject of a long-simmering feud between workers and executives at major aircraft manufacturers. The debate has intensified as the aerospace industry deals with a series of costly manufacturing defects. Workers say having a separate inspector sign off is critical for quality control in an industry with no margin for error.

Civil Aviation Ministry has discussions with airlines over the airfares and these were advised to self-regulate and keep passengers' interest in mind while fixing the fares. After deregulation of the aviation sector decades ago, the Indian government does not regulate airfares. The fares, Scindia explained, are also dependent on a number of factors such as the number of seats already sold on a particular flight, prevailing fuel price, capacity of the aircraft operating on the route, competition on the sector, season, value of INR against US dollar, holidays, festivals, long weekends, special events (sports, fairs, contests) etc. That's true of the airlines in India as well as elsewhere, but India's aviation sector has a peculiar problem — a strengthening duopoly — which does not augur well for fares, quality of services or punctuality. Many have linked recent incidents of delays and flight disruptions to the duopolistic nature of the market. A big chunk of India's aviation market is owned by just two airlines. Historically, due to various factors, the Indian aviation market has proved to be a graveyard of airlines. Very few have remained afloat beyond five years. The latest to nosedive was Go First which was grounded in May.

Himalayan states within a fixed time frame in the wake of landslides and glacial lake outburst floods. In an Action Taken Report tabled in the Lok Sabha, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Water Resources said that well laid down procedures or regulations for land use planning or zoning in the Himalayan states, especially in those areas that are more prone and susceptible to landslides, landslide lake and glacial lakes outburst floods, would go a long way in mitigating the eventualities that arise in the event of disasters.