One could argue that the title of this editorial says it all, after all both meddle with your wellbeing. In all seriousness though, I am left wondering – Just how are decisions made at the European Commission? The reality is that they simply do what they feel at any given time. They say no government funding to one country/company and then open it up to another. They say yes to one airline purchase and then no to another, which in reality has met all the EC criteria far more readily.
I do of course speak about Ryanair and its attempts to take over Aer Lingus and the fact that the EC is not being fair and it is not being consistent in its rulings, more or less across the board, not just in aviation. It could be said Ryanair management (no names) may well have brought it on themselves but business might be a personality contest at times but regulation should not be.
Meanwhile the UK has confirmed its second case of coronavirus, an infection reported here in November 2012 as being very similar to SARS. Thus far there are now ten cases globally with all originating from the Middle East. The death toll is five with two others critical.
There is no need to panic, at this time coronavirus is a far cry from the rapid spread of SARS in 2002. However there is thought that the bulk of cases might be going unreported at this time given that only westerners working in Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Qatar have been reported.
This is obviously a matter for all aviation companies to keep tabs on, especially so now that the huge hubs of Etihad, Emirates and Qatar are in the areas affected and air connections in the region are far advanced from 2002.
Also in the news is further confirmation that IndiGo is planning to start regional operations by launching a separate subsidiary company and is looking to place an order or lease up to 20 ATRs to serve the regional operation. Of course all this has been leaked before and will again. Indigo are leaking the news to try and gear-up the Indian government into relaxing regulations and push through a regional connectivity policy. Unfortunately the Indian government is pursuing an agenda that will force home airlines to run on less profitable regional routes. So it is likely that Indigo is readying to start regional operations in return for import clearance on aircraft deliveries. IndiGo has to obtain permission to import 16 A320s during 2013 because at the moment they only have import permits for only five of the 16 aircraft. IndiGo still has 209 aircraft on order with Airbus at an average delivery rate of 17 per year through 2025.
Of course the Indian market has a bit of a gap in services at this time with Kingfisher lenders today finally deciding to start the recovery process for Rs 7,500-crore of loans. The creditors acted as Kingfisher chairman Vijay Mallya promised to airline employees that he would clearing their outstanding salaries for 11 months and restart operations with a summer schedule announcement. The exposure of banks to Kingfisher Airlines runs into Rs 6,360 crore. Unpaid interest and compounded interest take it to over Rs 7,500 crore.
The banks all thought a foreign investor would come along and that Vijay would pour Diageo money into the airline are now in the salon taking a haircut on their bad loans – they are: SBI, with Rs 1,600 crore, followed by Punjab National Bank with Rs 800 crore, IDBI Bank Rs 800 crore, Bank of India Rs 650 crore and Bank of Baroda Rs 550 crore. Other banks like United Bank of India has Rs 430 crore, Central Bank of India (Rs 410 crore), Uco Bank (Rs 320 crore), Corporation Bank (Rs 310 crore), State Bank of Mysore, (Rs 150 crore), Indian Overseas Bank (Rs 140 crore), Federal Bank (Rs 90 crore), Punjab & Sind Bank (Rs 60 crore) and Axis Bank (Rs 50 crore). Lenders outside the consortium are Srei Infrastructure Finance (Rs 430 crore), Jammu & Kashmir Bank (Rs 80 crore) and Oriental Bank of Commerce (Rs 50 crore).
What a mess.