As family patriarch Ratan Tata takes back the controls at his Indian conglomerate after a boardroom coup this week, one sector is cheering his, albeit interim, return: the group's airline ventures, both lagging competitors in India's cutthroat market. Industry executives and analysts say they expect loss-making Vistara and AirAsia India, both part-owned by Tata, to enjoy fresh cash and expansion plans as low fuel prices and Indian government policy drive a boom in air travel. "Now he's back, we'll see him taking aggressive steps," said Mark D Martin, CE at Martin Consulting, adding this could include growing other ventures such as Taj Air, a charter company also owned by the Tata group. Vistara and AirAsia India declined to comment. Tata Sons, the parent controlling Tata's listed businesses, has said Ratan Tata's return from retirement is temporary, and denied the move would mean any extra focus on the airlines - other than for business reasons. "Both businesses are completely focused on enhancing their market positions," a spokesman said. But analysts say the move will have a longer-term impact, with the family reasserting its influence in day-to-day operations. Tata agreed to invest an estimated $60m into the two airlines when they launched, mostly into Vistara. The two airlines have a combined India market share of around 5% - dwarfed by more established carriers like InterGlobe Aviation's budget airline IndiGo. The Tata family has a long history with aviation. Story has further details.<br/>
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Eurowings flight attendants, represented by the UFO union, have planned a two-day strike next week if continued negotiations scheduled for Oct. 30 fail. The union did not clarify which days could be affected if the strike goes ahead. Eurowings confirmed in an Oct. 28 statement that it welcomed the union’s offer to resume negotiations. Eurowings flight attendants went on a 24-hour strike Oct. 27, resulting in 393 flight cancellations out of 551 scheduled flights for the day, affecting 40,000 passengers. UFO had said last week that strikes could be possible at any time for two weeks from Oct. 24, after management negotiations failed. Eurowings said in a statement that it could not agree on a solution in the tariff conflict. However, management said it offered all Eurowings Germany flight attendants not only substantial increases in remuneration, but also a conciliation of all open-wage agreements at Eurowings.<br/>
Bags will continue to fly free at Southwest Airlines. For now. Under pressure to generate more revenues, the CE of the carrier rejected suggestions that the airline start charging customers to check luggage, even though bag fees have generated billions of dollars for other airlines. Southwest is the only major airline in the United States that doesn’t charge passengers to check their first two bags or to change flight reservations. During a quarterly earnings conference call with analysts this week, Southwest CE Gary Kelly said he won’t consider instituting such fees, as some industry analysts have urged. “We have a unique and beloved position in the industry with this approach and we would be foolish to squander it, so no thought whatsoever on charging bags,” Kelly said. Southwest’s net income declined to $388m in the three months ended Sept. 30, compared to $584m in the year-earlier period. Kelly blamed part of the decline on a technology outage in July. Kelly said the airline is considering other money-making ideas. When asked to elaborate, he declined.<br/>
Bangkok Airways' planned launch of regular services from Samui to Guangzhou and Chongqing are stalled by aircraft capacity constraints. The inauguration of Samui-Guangzhou flights has been put off to sometime in December, one month behind the original date, while the Samui-Chongqing service is now scheduled to launch at the end of March instead of December as previously planned. The SET-listed full-service airline blamed the late delivery of its 13th Airbus 319, the jet specified for those Chinese routes. Bangkok Airways wants to open In July of this year, the airline began the link with the start of Samui-Chengdu flights four times per week. This marked the relaunch of its China service for the first time in seven years. Bangkok Airways wants to develop Samui, where it owns the sole airport, as a Thai destination of choice for Chinese, allowing it to avoid intense competition from the capital to destinations operated by an assortment of legacy and budget carriers. The airline will commence its Samui-Guangzhou service with four flights per week in December before ramping up to a daily basis in January. <br/>