India worst performing domestic air travel market globally: IATA
 

NEW DELHI:From being the fastest growing aviation market in the world, India is now the "worst performing" domestic air traffic country globally. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has termed the 12.4% plunge in domestic air travel recorded here in October 2012 over same month a year ago — highest fall anywhere — as a reflection of "the weakening economy and struggles" within the domestic airline industry . "Weakness in India, Japan and the US, stands in stark contrast to the strong growth experienced in China and Brazil ," IATA's report on global traffic results for October says.

Senior officials of Indian carriers warned that unless the government does something fast on rationalizing jet fuel prices and lowering landing and parking-charges and steep airport user fees on passengers, especially in Delhi, the cost of flying would get prohibitively high and kill the fabled Indian aviation story. Domestic air travel in November 2012 has fallen by 15.7% over same month last year, IATA said.

"Operating cost for an airline is among the highest in India globally. High price of jet fuel — caused by a high base price set by oil PSUs and then the 20%- 40% sales tax levied by states on that high base and steep private airport user charges in Delhi are the biggest threat to airlines' survival. Forget the mismanaged Kingfisher or Air India, even the well-run airlines are finding it hard to survive. Despite this scary situation, the government is simply refusing to act on the cost front," said a senior airline official. Official of another airline said such a costhostile environment, allowing FDI by foreign carriers won't help much. In this backdrop, BRIC partners are leaving India far behind in the field of aviation . IATA says Brazil experienced the strongest growth — 9.8% — in domestic air travel in October.

"The healthy result supports indications of an economic recovery in Brazil," it says. China "continued to rebound from the slowdown earlier this year with growth of 7.5%." IATA DG and CEO Tony Tyler said: "Slowing world trade and weak business confidence are affecting demand for air travel, while Hurricane Sandy delivered a concentrated punch to US domestic and North Atlantic travel. And its impact was felt globally. Airlines are managing the softer passenger demand environment by limiting capacity growth to keep load factors high."

India worst performing domestic air travel market globally: IATA - The Times of India

Worst airspace in the world, worse controllers, worse infrastructure

A challenging place not meant for the faint-hearted.

I expect concessions in aviation only after the budget.

Worst ATC??? not even close, worst environment for Indian carriers to do business?? Probably!!!

You know everytime I read posts on the so called Indian growth story etc I laugh to myself.Everytime I hear monkeys like Vijay Mallya and Gopinath jumping up and down about the so called potential the Indian domestice market has I wish someone could throw some water on their faces to help them wake up.What almost no one talks about is the macro economic conditions on the country.There is no way the government is going to reduce the fuel prices and there is no way the charges in Delhi and Mumbai are other places are going to come down.Have you seen the kind of money invested so my advice to all potential investors in the Indian airline industry is to get a real expert to do the research and maybe then you can get a realistic picture.:ok:

You mean like how the Indian government is not going begging to the IMF for a bail-out? Or maybe you were referring to how the Indian government is not itself bailing out wealthy people with tax-payers' money? Yeah sure, no one talks enough about that.

Since you seem to know much about the macro economic environment in India and are already "advising" any potential investors to get an "expert"; why don't you drop in your CV with them? :rolleyes:

Worst ATC my :mad:. Half the world doesn't even talk English half the time.India has some 25 languages and another couple of 100 dialects but I never heard anyone using native language except the ocassional greeting.Thats professionalism --the hallmark of India :}

Better still I think you and Capt.Apache are suited for the job.I'd prefer that you guys run the show with your ideas , I'll come in when the **** hits the fan after you pea brained professionals have done your job:ok:

^No substance. Just name calling. The hallmark of..........??(wherever the Dancer is from)

Indian ATC is nowhere near worst, try flying over China,Japan,Korea and East European countries

Can't leave Spain or Italy out of the mix.

not to forget France AND G R E E C E :ugh::mad:

Oops. I forgot Indonesia.

Ooops. Sorry to launch a home grown Indian ATC / RT fact into the debate:

ATC asks pilot to `shut up', triggers mid-air spat - Times Of India

From leaving Yangon ATC till hitting the US controller at the Afghan border, I ensure the crew is at attention and scanning TCAS vigilantly. Non standard RT is but the cusp. "I am telling you......!!!" shrieks over the radio all too often. Have heard it all too often coming into Mumbai & Delhi of a near panicked controller untrained & in standards and required RT, not to mention procedures.

French ATC? Not the best due their insistence on speaking French to French aircraft reduces situational awareness immensely. Koreans? Good luck daring to ask them to "say again" as their arrogance at the perceived challenge to their believed superiority..... China? Up there with France but they will control and will reply, as opposed to Indian ATC at times.

And America? No badges of honor to throw there. "Check'in witch-ya on twenty-one nine...!". Give me a break! And the absolute misuse of the term "heavy" is sad.

Indian ATC is the worse in my opinion. Like the general standards all over. The ability is there but the backbone is made of jelly. It lets down so many dedicated and passionate airman to believe that those standards are OK.

Poor RT and standards have lead to far too many accidents. Non standard RT was a huge contributor to Tenerife. We all say in the annual CRM briefings from the crashes & exercises we watch & discuss of how we'd never do that, yet the standards do not improve, no one refers to Doc 4444 for the correct RT, etc... You all go to work with a box ticked but willing to repeat the same garble that we thought was in the category of "I'd never do that" in the classroom the day before.

Doc 4444. Read it. "Professional" is what professional does. How can we know what the real standards are let alone comment on them when an overwhelming majority have never read the correct standards anyway.

PS: polite greetings are not standard RT. In busy FIRs and airports the attempt at being nice actually detract from safety.

There are some people so addicted to exaggeration that they can't tell the truth without lying.

Very Very true, ahh for the joys of CPDLC.
Personal SOP, get the level you want before entering any Indian FIR, then just keep telling them "unable" and get radar vectors :ok:

What sort of a pilot waits 20 minutes before asking again is beyond me, but I believe you now.

Criticism mixed with "name calling" forces one to think about the intentions behind such criticism. If people want any improvement, it would help if the criticism is not accompanied with some nasty language.

If ATC in India is really so bad, then it begs the questions, "how did we get into such a situation?" I thought AAI recruits only engineers for the job. One would expect them to at least have the ability. Is it the attitude then? I heard that there is a continuing shortage of ATCs caused due to untimely recruitment by the authorities. What other issues are there?

The main issue is EXAGGERATION --on everything from Indian pilots to Indian ATC to the macro-economic situation and corruption in India.Thats all there is.Take one instance and blow it all out of proportion.

this discussion started with how Indian aviation sector is struggling and quickly degenerated into mud slinging and defensiveness on quality of atc in India.
Expats and experienced pilots, we know you've been there, seen it all, done it all. but please be gentle. we know the problem exists but it hurts when you all just dump on us so quickly and forcefully. things aren't totally hopeless. :ouch:
Locals, its OK to be a little defensive, but there's no point turning it around on the poster and making it personal. that just escalates the fight and ruins it for everyone here.

not saying that ATC is not an issue, but its not the main problem. the powers that be are just in it to squeeze the sector and line their pockets. policy inaction is a problem faced by the entire economy and not just the aviation sector.

coming back to ATC ineptness, the problem in my opinion is the lack of a real world practical training curriculum for the controllers. they are trained only in theoretical aspects before getting behind the mike.
secondly there are just not enough smaller, regional airports that could be used as farms to train new controllers and bring them up to international standards. not enough time in the minor leagues before the majors i say.

just my $.02