Category Archives: Aviation

Jet Airways is all set to commence its third daily non-stop service between Mumbai and London Heathrow with effect from the forthcoming weekend. This makes Jet the only Indian airline to operate thrice daily services between Mumbai and London Heathrow – one of the world’s busiest airports. The latest frequency to London Heathrow – 9W 116, will depart on Sunday, October 29, 2017, from Mumbai on board Jet Airways’ Boeing 777-300 ER. The addition of the third flight from Mumbai to London Heathrow complements the airline’s existing operations to the English capital from its hubs in Mumbai and Delhi, aboard its flagship B777-300 ER aircraft. Jayaraj Shanmugam, Chief Commercial Officer, Jet Airways said, “Jet Airways is delighted to offer a third non-stop service between Mumbai and London Heathrow. Our latest offering will enable us to capitalise on the demand and popularity of this sector, and together with our codeshare partners, allow us to offer convenience and seamless connectivity to travellers to 14 destinations in North America” The third frequency enhances onward connectivity over London Heathrow to North America. With partners Delta Air Lines and Virgin Atlantic it will allow Jet Airways to offer guests improved connection times to 14 destinations over London Heathrow to North America including Atlanta, Boston, Detroit, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, Newark, New York, Philadelphia, Portland, San Francisco, Seattle, Salt Lake City and Washington.

In an attempt to boost connectivity between Jammu and Doda, especially during the winter season, the Government of Jammu and Kashmir plans to begin a chopper service between the two destinations from Tuesday, October 24. Pawan Hans helicopters would be used for this service and will operate twice a week on Tuesdays and Fridays between the two districts. The one-way fare for a traveller has been fixed at Rs. 2,500. The service is likely to help promote tourism and provide an alternative means to communicate between the two districts during the winter season when parts of the region remain cut off. Source: Financial Express

Air India plans to start a direct flight from Chandigarh to Bangkok from December 11, 2017, which will operate thrice a week, informed R K Negi, Local Manager, Air India. He said, “The direct flight from Chandigarh to Bangkok will commence on December 11 this year and the round trip initially will cost Rs. 22,000, while the rest of the cost will depend on the demand.” Negi also added that the airline’s latest aircraft – Airbus A320 Neo, will operate on this route and will offer 12 Business Class seats and 150 Economy Class seats. This aircraft will operate every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The Chandigarh-Bangkok flight will be the third international flight operating from the Chandigarh International Airport. At present Indigo’s Chandigarh-Dubai and Air India Express’ Chandigarh-Sharjah flights are the only two international flights operating from Chandigarh. Source: Hindustan Times

Emirates, the world’s largest A380 operator, is set to receive its milestone 100th A380 aircraft on November 3, 2017. Over 80 million passengers have flown on the superjumbo in the nine years since it first joined Emirates’ modern fleet. Today, Emirates flies the A380 to over 45 destinations spanning Africa, Asia, Australasia, Europe, the Middle East, and the Americas. Everywhere it operates, the Emirates A380 attracts consumer demand for its industry-leading inflight experience in all cabin classes and is welcomed by local economies as a contributor to tourism and visitor growth. Sir Tim Clark, President Emirates Airline said: “The A380 has been, and continues to be hugely popular amongst our customers, many of whom deliberately plan their travel so that they can fly on it. But we don’t rest on our laurels and continually invest to enhance our product so as to continue offering our customers the best possible in-flight experience. “Our frequent flyers will have noticed countless improvements onboard over the years, ranging from minor updates such as the addition of in-seat USB and HDMI ports, to bigger cabin overhauls where for instance we relocated the central overhead luggage bins to create more spacious cabin on the upper deck, and when we introduced bigger and better in-flight entertainment systems, amongst many other initiatives.” On the ground, Emirates had also worked closely with stakeholders to launch and operate an A380-dedicated airport concourse with 20 gates offering direct boarding from the airport lounge, and one of the world’s most advanced engineering centres which include six heavy maintenance hangars, paint shops, and the capability to completely overhaul an A380. With its inaugural A380 flight in 2008, Emirates introduced several industry firsts including …

Carlson Wagonlit Travel (CWT) has announced a multi-year distribution agreement with British Airways (BA) and Iberia Airlines (IB), enabling CWT customers to avoid the airlines’ proposed surcharge on bookings created within participating global distribution systems (GDS) that agree to these terms with IAG. The agreement, effective November 1, 2017, applies to CWT business travel and leisure clients. CWT continues to work with all key parties to provide further surcharge-free BA and IB content for its customers. “This agreement further strengthens our long-standing partnership with BA and IB and highlights our mutual commitment to the concept of new distribution capabilities (NDC) to drive improved product differentiation. While we believe GDSs provide the best technology platform available for CWT to enable best-in-market user experience and operating efficiency, we will continue to monitor and assess new technologies and capabilities,” said Brian Mogler, Senior Vice President, Global Supplier Management, CWT.” Ian Luck, Head of Distribution at British Airways, said, “We are delighted with this new agreement which will bring both immediate and longer-term benefits. We are particularly pleased with the strong undertaking CWT has made to work collaboratively with us, GDSs and other technology partners in delivering NDC content and other benefits to our customers.” In May 2017 International Airlines Group (parent company of BA and IB) announced it would add a US$10 ‘distribution technology charge’ on each airline fare component of a booking, effective November 1, 2017.

Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL) will start the operations at the revamped Terminal-2 of Indira Gandhi International Airport on October 29, 2017 and GoAir will be the first airline to shift its entire operations to Terminal 2 with effect from 00:01 hours of 29th October 2017. The move has come as a mutual decision between DIAL and Go Air to shift operations from Terminal 1 to Terminal 2 until the completion of the expansion of T1. However, it’s a temporary move to ease the pressure of fast growing traffic at Terminal 1, so that the expansion works can be carried out at Terminal 1 effectively and efficiently. The Terminal 1 is set to be expanded from the current capacity of 20 million to 40 million per annum with 22 aerobridges, and state of the art infrastructure. The expansion process will encompass all major areas of the airport i.e. Landside, Terminal and Airside and will be completed within four years. I Prabhakara Rao, CEO-DIAL said, “In view of the robust growth in passenger traffic and upcoming airport expansion works, DIAL has revamped and is recommissioning the Terminal 2 of the IGI Airport with effect from 29th October, 2017. We welcome GoAir in its new home terminal in Terminal 2. This will enable us to start the expansion works at Terminal 1 and carry it on seamlessly.” Jeh Wadia, MD, GoAir, said: “ in order to support the government and DIAL’s plans to upgrade and expand the airport facilities as well as continuously improve the customer experience and the seamless integration of international and domestic passengers, we are delighted to move into a newly furbished Terminal 2 at IGI Airport. The move …

Vistara and car rental company Avis India entered a partnership to provide a seamless car rental experience to Vistara customers. Customers booked on any Vistara flight can make their airport transfer, chauffeur-driven or self-driven car reservations at the time of booking a Vistara ticket, using the ‘Enhance My Booking’ option on the airline’s website. Members of Club Vistara (CV) will get to earn 10 CV points on every INR 100 spent on making bookings with Avis, using this option. Sanjiv Kapoor, Chief Strategy & Commercial Officer, Vistara said, “It is our constant endeavour to offer our customers a seamless and superior travel experience across all touchpoints, whether it is on ground or at 35,000 feet above it. In Avis India, we find a partner that shares our passion for delighting customers with a first-rate travel experience.” Sunil Gupta, Managing Director & CEO of Avis India said, “We are committed to providing a premium and a hassle-free car rental experience to consumers across the country. Our core values of providing a safe, reliable and comfortable transportation solutions resonate with what Vistara stands for in air travel.”

Jet Airways will introduce three new international services this winter, besides reinforcing six existing routes with additional frequencies. The carrier will introduce its first non-stop service between New Delhi and Riyadh. It will also deploy additional frequencies on the Mumbai-Riyadh, Mumbai-Kuwait, Delhi-Doha and Delhi-Dammam sectors. Effective October 29, new non-stop flights will commence connecting Bengaluru and Chennai to the airline’s gateways in Amsterdam and Paris, respectively, as part of the carrier’s strategy to connect more cities, especially in the South of the country to destinations in Europe and North America. The airline is the first to operate flights on these routes which, along with a third daily flight on the increasingly popular Mumbai-London sector, will give guests a greater choice of convenient connections to other European cities and destinations in North America. Jet Airways will deploy its Airbus A330 aircraft on the Chennai-Paris and Bengaluru-Amsterdam routes The new intercontinental services to Amsterdam and Paris will operate in codeshare with KLM, Air France and Delta Air Lines. Guests who are members of Frequent Flyer programmes of the codeshare partners – JetPrivilege (JP), Flying Blue and SkyMiles will also be able to easily accrue and redeem points on each other. Jet Airways is also adding new frequencies on certain select routes, including the extremely popular Mumbai-London Heathrow as well as Delhi-Singapore, further enhancing connectivity and choice for guests travelling between North India, United Kingdom and South East Asia. Jayaraj Shanmugam, Chief Commercial Officer, Jet Airways, said, “Jet Airways’ network will see new introductions, in Europe and the Gulf that will strengthen our commitment to provide our guests with wider choice, convenience and connectivity over our hubs in Mumbai and Delhi and onwards …

Indian airlines achieved a 36th consecutive month of double-digit domestic traffic growth as demand rose by 16 per cent, according to data released by the International Air Transport Association (IATA). The demand for domestic travel climbed 7.6 per cent this August as compared to August 2016, on pace with the 7.5 per cent growth recorded in July. Capacity rose 6.9 per cent and load factor increased 0.6 percentage points to 84.5 per cent. All markets reported demand increases with the exception of Australia. The international passenger demand for August rose 7.0 per cent compared to August 2016. All regions recorded increases, led by airlines in Latin America. Capacity climbed 6.1 per cent and load factor edged up 0.8 percentage points to 84.5 per cent. “Following the strong summer traffic season in the northern hemisphere, 2017 is on course to be another year of strong traffic growth. However, some important demand drivers are easing, particularly lower fares. As we head towards the end of the year we still expect growth to continue, but potentially at a slower pace,” said Alexandre de Juniac, Director General and CEO, IATA. The global passenger traffic data for August indicated that demand climbed 7.2 per cent as compared to August 2016. The total capacity increased by 6.3 per cent and load factor climbed 0.7 percentage points to 84.5 per cent, which was just below the record for the month set in 2015.

Vistara has completed the International Air Transport Association (IATA) Operational Safety Audit or IOSA, cementing its status as one of the world’s safest airlines. The audit confirms Vistara’s compliance with internationally approved aviation safety standards across multitudinous parameters in operational management and control systems, including corporate organisation and management, flight operations, operational control, cabin operations, aircraft engineering and maintenance, ground handling, cargo operations and operational security. Vistara joined IATA’s IOSA Registry on September 25, 2017. Commenting on the achievement, Phee Teik Yeoh, Chief Executive Officer, Vistara, said, “At Vistara, maintaining operational excellence is a business imperative, engrained in our DNA. Safety and security are the most important aspects of it, and so they remain our highest priorities in everything we do. Achieving this milestone in so little time in our journey of less than three years is a testament to our commitment to delivering a safe and seamless flying experience to millions of our customers.” Inclusion of the airline in the list of operators to have completed the IOSA means the recognition of Vistara by the global aviation industry as a safe and secure airline that meets the strictest international requirements. The total accident rate for IOSA carriers between 2011 and 2015 was 3.3 times lower than the rate for non-IOSA operators.