Tuesday, January 10, 2006
"Jet Airways" buys "Air Sahara?"
According to a news report in Rediff Jet Airways buys out Air Sahara. This is an interesting development in the Indian aviation sector, considering that Vijay Mallaya of Kingfisher Airlines was making a fierce bid for Air Sahara. Apparently, Mallaya withdrew from the bidding war, making way for Jet.
This acquistion maybe a harbinger of sorts and we can expect to see more action in the domestic aviation sector as well as the International sector. In the past India has been one of the underserved areas in the International aviation sector. The reasons for this state of affairs are numerous and some I suspect had to with protecting the Indian domestic players. But in the past few years things have slowly been moving in a new direction, and we can expect to see more action with the introduction of new technology, planes and players in India. One downside to this growth will be demand for aircraft crew and pilots, and I suspect the Indian aviation industry might face an acute shortage of trained pilots in the near future. The attrition rate of pilots from Indian Airlines and Air India might also increase significantly.
I hope that as end-users we don't end up shelling more money for our tickets. And, my other question is if Jet will improve the quality of service on Air Sahara. Sahara planes have a difficult time sticking to their schedule, and are quite inefficient in communicating the arrival and departure of their flight in a timely manner.
This acquistion maybe a harbinger of sorts and we can expect to see more action in the domestic aviation sector as well as the International sector. In the past India has been one of the underserved areas in the International aviation sector. The reasons for this state of affairs are numerous and some I suspect had to with protecting the Indian domestic players. But in the past few years things have slowly been moving in a new direction, and we can expect to see more action with the introduction of new technology, planes and players in India. One downside to this growth will be demand for aircraft crew and pilots, and I suspect the Indian aviation industry might face an acute shortage of trained pilots in the near future. The attrition rate of pilots from Indian Airlines and Air India might also increase significantly.
I hope that as end-users we don't end up shelling more money for our tickets. And, my other question is if Jet will improve the quality of service on Air Sahara. Sahara planes have a difficult time sticking to their schedule, and are quite inefficient in communicating the arrival and departure of their flight in a timely manner.
