India needs to upgrade its airports. And quickly. The country's crowded airports handled more than 220m passengers during the most recent fiscal year, an annual increase of nearly 20%. Traffic is expected to double over the next two decades, propelling India past the UK to become the world's third-largest aviation market.<br/>But there's a major obstacle to sustaining that growth: Less than 20% of the country's airports are in regular use. The shock figure was cited by Ajay Singh, chairman of Indian budget airline SpiceJet, at the CNN Asia Business Forum in Bangalore on Monday. According to Singh, only 75 of the country's 400-odd airports are fully operational. Singh said the poor infrastructure will make surpassing the UK a "huge challenge." "Typically capacity always lags demand in our country," he said. "There are another 325 [airports], we need to upgrade them." India's aviation ministry suggests the problem is even worse: It says only 75 out of 450 airports and airstrips in the country have scheduled operations. Poor planning has contributed to the huge number of unused airports. Successive central governments have commissioned new airports, but there's not always demand for flights in the chosen locations. Many existing airports languish while new runways are built elsewhere. The current government is trying to reduce the number of "ghost airports." It recently announced a scheme to boost regional connectivity by reinvigorating 43 airports. <br/>
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Airlines cancelled 1.17% of scheduled domestic flights last year, the best performance in the 22 years the government has been tracking the issue, the US DoT said Tuesday. The department also said air carriers are losing or misplacing luggage at the lowest rate since 1987, when the government began collecting data. Airlines are also bumping passengers, or involuntarily preventing ticketed passengers from flying, at a record-low rate. The cancellation rate was a significant improvement over the 1.5% of flights cancelled in 2015 and fell below the previous low of 1.24% in 2002. Cancellation rates vary with weather and other issues. In December, carriers canceled 1.6% of their scheduled domestic flights, compared with 0.3% in November. In 2016, the carriers had a mishandled baggage rate of 2.70 per 1,000 passengers, down from 3.13 per 1,000 in 2015. Air carriers bumped 0.62 per 10,000 passengers in 2016, compared with a 0.73 rate in 2015. It was the lowest annual rate since 1995 when the government began tracking the issue. Airlines reported an on-time arrival rate of 81.4%, up from 79.9% in 2015. A flight is counted as "on time" if it is operated less than 15 minutes after the scheduled time.<br/>
Boeing said Tuesday it plans to fly its new 737 MAX-9 aircraft for the first time in April, a further sign the company will start delivering the large version of the workhorse plane in 2018. Delivery of the single-aisle 737 MAX models, which replace the current 737 "NG" introduced in 1997, is crucial for Boeing to hit the financial targets it has promised investors and to offset slowing output of some of its largest jets such as the 777 and 747. Airlines want the MAX because it burns significantly less fuel than current models. The world's largest plane maker is creating up to five MAX versions, while planning to increase output to 57 planes a month in 2019, from 42 a month at present. The first MAX model in production, known as the MAX-8, is on track to reach customers by mid-year. "We are anticipating our certification of the airplane within a matter of days-weeks," Keith Leverkuhn, 737 general manager, said at a Monday briefing embargoed until Tuesday. The stamp of approval by the US FAA would come about a year after the MAX-8's first flight and allow Boeing to begin delivering the $110m, 162-seat jetliner in Q2, he said. Deliveries trigger the bulk of airline payments. <br/>
France honored the A380 superjumbo with a place in its national aerospace museum on Tuesday, granting it equal status with the Boeing 747 even as questions pile up over the future of the industry's biggest jets. The A380 test plane, the fourth to be built and the second to actually fly in 2005, flew to Le Bourget near Paris from Toulouse with 50 technicians who will spend months adapting it for public view. It is the first time Airbus has transferred one of its test planes to a museum and a victory for curators who for years have coveted the world's largest jetliner, designed to carry up to 853 people in all-economy seating or 544 in standard layout. The plane will see out its retirement alongside a vintage 747 once flown by Air France and is expected to become a popular tourist attraction when it goes on display in 2018. But after fewer than 10 years in service, the A380's double-decker design is less successful commercially than designers hoped. Air France recently swapped its remaining order for two A380s for three smaller Airbus A350s, symbolizing the shift in demand to a new generation of lightweight jets. "Museums are not just about preserving the past; they are also a window on the future," said Jacques Rocca, president of the Airitage association, set up to preserve Airbus artefacts.<br/>
Aero engine maker Rolls-Royce reported a net loss of GBP4.03b for 2016 as it suffered from a post-Brexit vote currency fall and the settlement of bribery allegations. The pre-tax loss was GBP4.6b, with underlying profit of GBP813m, down from 2015’s GBP1.43 billion, both pre-tax. In January Rolls reached agreements with the UK, US and Brazil over bribery investigations. Total cost of the payments to the three countries was £671 million, spread over a number of years. The post-Brexit drop in the pound led to a GBP4.4b hedging charge for the year. Rolls said its US dollar hedge book increased by 31% during the year to $37.8b, or over 5 years of net exposure. The company reported revenue for 2016 of GBP14.96b, up 9% from GBP13.72b the previous year. “2016 has been an important year as we accelerated the transformation of Rolls-Royce,” CE Warren East said. “While we have made good progress in our cost cutting and efficiency programmes, more needs to be done to ensure we drive sustainable margin improvements within the business.”<br/>