Category Archives: Aviation

Etihad Airways and TravTalk are all geared up to host an ‘Agent Connect’ webinar, a live journey of flying through COVID, on Thursday, 9th July, 11 am onwards. Agents will get the chance to learn about Etihad Airways and UAE’s capital city – Abu Dhabi. To register, please email to jaspreet.kaur@ddppl.com or call +91 9650196532.

Addressing a webinar organised by CAPA India on ‘Reinventing the Airline Business Model in India’, Kapil Kaul, CEO, South Asia, CAPA, said that there is a need to structurally reshape the Indian airline industry – both internally and externally. He also said that post-COVID, the industry may see another round of market exits, this time inflicting more permanent damage on the industry and economy. In the past, the system was largely aware that Kingfisher and Jet Airways were likely to fail, but there was no visible course of correction or action.

Hahn Air has signed contracts with seven new airlines this year, namely Air Century (Y2), Cambodia Airways (KR), Divi Divi Air (3R), Eastern Airlines (2D), Eastern Airways (T3), Emetebe Airlines (ET) and Thai Smile Airways (WE). These airlines have joined the Hahn Air partner portfolio which includes more than 350 airlines. By using one or more of Hahn Air’s solutions, the seven new partners generate incremental revenue in additional markets. “Hahn Air offers solutions for airlines of any business model. For example, US carrier Eastern Airlines and Thai Smiles Airways from Thailand opted for our HR-169 product. They can sell their flights under their own two-letter-codes in the GDS while unlocking their non-BSP markets for indirect ticket sales. Our new X1-Air partners Emetebe Airlines, Eastern Airways, Air Century and Divi Divi Air outsourced their complete indirect distribution to Hahn Air Technologies. They can now sell their flights in Amadeus, Sabre and Travelport under the code X1. And finally, Dual Partner Cambodia Airways is combining the HR-169 and H1-Air products, thereby exploiting the full potential of primary and secondary markets,” said Alexander Proschka, Executive Vice President Commercial. With its ticketing and distribution solutions, the German airline Hahn Air facilitates global business between travel agencies and airlines. Hahn Air holds contracts with all major GDSs and is a member of the IATA Clearing House, almost all IATA BSPs as well as the settlement systems ARC and TCH. With this extensive technology infrastructure, Hahn Air enables its partner airlines to sell tickets through more than 100,000 travel agencies in 190 markets. Alexander Proschka adds, “Our products are cost efficient, effective and quickly to implement and therefore particularly interesting for airlines looking to kick-start …

Malaysia Airlines has introduced an enhanced Economy Class flexible fare options across its entire network for all passengers to enjoy, offering unparalleled safety, security, flexibility and a completely hassle-free, premium experience based on the needs of each customer. Earlier limited to domestic, ASEAN and South Asian destinations, passengers will now have access to three unique fare options (Lite, Basic, Flex), to all destinations except Malaysia to Japan and Japan to Malaysia, Jeddah and Madinah, beginning 22 June 2020. Malaysia Airlines Group Chief Executive Officer Captain Izham Ismail said, “With the world slowly recovering from the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic, and as our passengers begin to travel again, Malaysia Airlines seeks to take them to the skies without the burden of worry, with a truly hassle-free experience. Putting their needs as priority, we took the time to listen and gain invaluable insight to our passengers through extensive feedback, and from there we redesigned, redefined and are proud to introduce our enhanced fare family, providing our dear customers with a comprehensive product that caters to their every need, no matter the nature of travels. As the first airline in the Asia Pacific region to fully introduce flexible fare options across our network, these fares will allow greater personalization for our passengers, balancing a simple and intuitive booking experience, alongside unforgettable Malaysian Hospitality onboard and on the ground, creating a stress-free and seamless travel experience. This reaffirms our commitment to putting our passengers first, especially in these uncertain times where passengers may be apprehensive to travel. With this we hope to instill a sense of confidence and trust in them to Fly Malaysia once again.” Regardless of your travel needs, all passengers …

Hardeep Singh Puri, Union Civil Aviation Minister, has said that he has never been more confident and hopeful about Air India’s divestment plan as he is now. Speaking at a press conference, he said, “Air India is a first-class asset. It has excellent engineers, excellent pilots, covering various destinations, or be it the evacuation of people from Wuhan, Air India has been at the heart of it. I think, we need to make some decisions on nationalisation. We may have lost two or three months because of the pandemic, but we have gained a lot of experience in terms of the value and how to take this forward.”

Turkish Airlines has been the busiest operator in Europe last week after successfully restarting domestic and international passenger operations. On 17th June, 2020, Turkish Airlines had 400 flights in Eurocontrol area, which was the first time an airline recorded that number since 24th March 2020. EUROCONTROL is a pan-European, civil-military organisation dedicated to supporting European aviation. They confirmed that Turkey’s national flag carrier operated 359 flights during the first week of June from its home at Istanbul Airport. On 14th June three aircraft were able to take off simultaneously with the opening of Istanbul Airport’s third independent runway, a momentous occasion for the future of Turkish aviation. M. Ilker Ayci, Chairman of the Board and the Executive Committee, Turkish Airlines, said, “It is our firm belief that once the world overcomes the crisis, air travel will bounce back stronger than ever and Turkish Airlines will be more than eager to welcome you aboard with our trademark hospitality as we connect continents, people and cultures. We fully adapted our customer touchpoints according to new normal standards.” With the resumption of services, Turkish Airlines also announced new ‘Guidelines for Safe Travel’ and two new inflight services to protect the health of its guests. Prepared with scientific data in mind, the flag carrier is distributing ‘Hygiene Kits’ containing a face mask, disinfectant and antiseptic tissue to its guests, while ‘Hygiene Expert’ cabin crews were appointed to flights to enforce all on-board hygiene and social distancing measures for the healthy travel of passengers. Turkish Airlines’ aircrafts are disinfected prior to every flight via thorough cleaning methods. Hygiene in the cabin is ensured as all contact points in the aircraft are comprehensively cleaned using chemicals …

Videh Kumar Jaipuriar, CEO, Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL), has said that after the resumption of flights from Delhi Airport, the percentage of business and Visiting Friends & Relatives (VFR) travel is same as pre-COVID levels. Elaborating further, he said, “According to pre-COVID data, 15-20% of travellers from Delhi were business passengers and 34-35% were VFR, while the balance were passengers travelling for holidays. In the current scenario, we have seen that ‘holidaying’ has been replaced by people who are doing ‘distress travel’, which means those who are stranded are travelling. A good sign is that business travel is back at the percentage level at which it was in the pre-COVID era, and VFR is also back at that level. That shows the confidence that passengers are showing in the SOPs that MoCA has come out with after consulting with all stakeholders.”

Union Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri has said that the decision on resumption of international passenger flights in the country will be taken in July, if COVID-19 behaves in a predictable manner and various stakeholders came on board with a plan.

Ajay Singh, CMD, SpiceJet, has said that flying is currently the safest way to travel and there is no reason to feel that the air inside the cabin can be contaminated. “The air in an aircraft flows from top to bottom, and doesn’t really circulate in the cabin. Once it flows out of the cabin, it goes through HEPA filters which, according to manufacturers, clean 99.99 per cent of all contaminants in the air. Hence, we believe that flying is by far the safest way to travel. In buses, metros and trains, having this kind of pure air is not possible. We are providing a controlled environment with a set of tools and safeguards, making sure that it is the safest mode of travel,” he said while speaking at the GMR webinar recently.

Low cost carriers IndiGo and SpiceJet have started charter flight service for providing safe and private experience to flyers travelling to both domestic and international destinations. Charter services will be conducted in line with prevailing government regulations. SpiceJet claims to fly even a group of less than 6 passengers, up to a group as large as 212 passengers.