Indian airlines are turning to the international market in search of better returns as the intensifying fight for a bigger share of the world’s fastest growing domestic market - where price is king - drives down profits. While global airlines’ profits have been strong since 2015 - though with wide regional variations - Indian carriers are struggling to remain profitable, despite filling nearly 90% of their seats and benefiting from a more than doubling of domestic passenger numbers over the last four years. “It is an incredibly tough domestic market, very price sensitive,” said Stephen Barnes, CFO of Singapore Airlines, which operates an Indian carrier, Vistara, in a joint venture with the Tata Group. “Commanding a premium for a premium product is hard to do. From our perspective we invested in order to see the business grow internationally. If you look at the results of Indian airlines their performance is better internationally.” Promotions such as $50 one-way tickets on the two-hour flight from Mumbai to Delhi are easy to find and, with airlines expected to take delivery of more than 500 aircraft over the next five years, pressure on fares and profits is increasing. India is one of the cheapest domestic airline markets in the world.<br/>
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Fraport Greece, a Fraport-led consortium, will slash airport fees by 50% during this year’s low season to attract new international flights to 14 Greek airports, it said on Wednesday. Fraport Greece, a consortium of Germany’s Fraport and Greek group Copelouzos, has operated 14 airports including those at popular tourist destinations such as Santorini and Rhodes since April last year. “We are confident that this incentive will help increase passenger traffic in the winter months as well as extend the tourism season, which is the biggest challenge for both local communities and us,” Fraport said. Low-season months are typically November through to March. The 14 airports handled 27.6m passengers last year, a 10.3% annual increase, and Fraport has said it expects a similar rise this year.<br/>
London’s Gatwick airport plans to spend GBP1.11b on expanding the capacity of its two terminals by 7m passengers within five years. The world’s busiest single-runway hub will devote much of the cash to lengthening one of the piers at its North Terminal, used by airlines including EasyJet and Virgin Atlantic Airways, to accommodate eight more aircraft, according to a statement Wednesday. The northern site’s departure lounge will also be enlarged to accommodate more restaurants and will trial biometric auto-boarding technology. The South Terminal, which houses BA, will get a new domestic arrivals hall and baggage claim area, as well as extended hotels and parking. Gatwick is seeking to boost the capacity of its existing infrastructure to almost 53m travelers a year by 2023 from close to 46m passengers in 2017 after losing out to Heathrow in a contest to win government backing for the construction of a new runway.<br/>