Category Archives: Aviation

The Indian aviation sector is witnessing phenomenal growth and there could be 2,000 planes in a short time, Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said recently. He told the Lok Sabha that the country’s aviation sector is the third-largest in the world and there is an annual growth of 17%. “In 2008, the number of passengers stood at 117 million and now it is around 440 million. It is expected to touch 1 billion,” adds Puri. Source: PTI

The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) and partners welcomed passengers on board Vistara’s inaugural international flights from Delhi and Mumbai with a taste of Singaporean hospitality. The STB, together with tourism partners like Gardens by the Bay, Resorts World Sentosa, Sentosa Development Corporation, Trick Eye Museum Singapore and Wildlife Reserves Singapore (comprising the Singapore Zoo, Night Safari, River Safari and Jurong Bird Park) have put together value deals and discounts to popular attractions and experiences in Singapore. The discount vouchers are part of the welcome kits for Vistara’s passengers upon arrival in Singapore for the inaugural flights; and will continue to be distributed to passengers until 14 August 2019. Details of the discounts being offered can be found in the appended Fact Sheet.   Singapore received 1.44 million visitors from India in 2018, crossing the one million visitor mark for the fourth time in a row. India is also the third largest visitor source market for Singapore and has been able to retain its position as the top source market for cruise travel. The introduction of new flights from India will help more Indian travelers experience leisure, business and cruise travel to Singapore.   

Airlines across the world carried 4.4 billion passengers on scheduled services, an increase of 6.9 per cent over 2017, representing an additional 284 million trips by air, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), which released performance figures for 2018 in the IATA World Air Transport Statistics (2019 WATS).  Alexandre de Juniac, Director General and CEO, IATA, stated, “The world’s airlines safely carried around 4.3 billion passengers last year, on some 126,000 daily flights connecting over 21,000 city pairs.”

The scheduled international passenger traffic for the first quarter (January-March) of the year 2019 stands at 16.4 million while the international passenger traffic for the corresponding period in the year 2018 stood at 15.8 million thereby witnessing a growth of 3.8 per cent, according to International Air Traffic Statistics revealed by Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). It has been observed that all the three months of the first quarter of the year 2019 witnessed a positive growth in terms of the total number of international passengers carried as compared to the corresponding months in the first quarter of the year 2019

India recorded a total of 44,611 advanced bookings to the holy city of Mecca ahead of this year’s Hajj, which is the second highest in the world and the highest in Asia, according to Travelport’s global trends in flight bookings for Hajj 2019. Globally, Egypt recorded the greatest number of flight bookings through a GDS out of any country this year (49,477). The report stated that Advanced flight bookings to airports around the have increased from Asia, Europe and Oceania. Travelport’s analysis of available data , Asia recorded the greatest growth in flight bookings made through GDS to airports around Mecca this year in terms of volume, with bookings up by 11,284 (+5%). On a country level, the greatest growth came from Bangladesh, with bookings up by +171% (13,906).

Advanced flight bookings to airports around the holy city of Mecca ahead of this year’s Hajj have increased from Asia, Europe and Oceania, according to research by Travelport, a leading technology company serving the global travel industry. According to the analysis*, India (44,611) had the second highest number of bookings in the world, and the highest in Asia. As part of its study, Travelport analyzed bookings made through all global distribution systems (GDS) to King Abdulaziz International Airport, Ta’if Regional Airport and Prince Mohammed Bin Abdulaziz International Airport, as of Tuesday 21 July 2019, arriving from Tuesday 9 July 2019 to Thursday 8 August 2019. The company then ran comparable data for last year’s Hajj, so trends could be identified. According to Travelport’s analysis of available data*, Asia recorded the greatest growth in flight bookings made through GDS to airports around Mecca this year in terms of volume, with bookings up by 11,284 (+5%). On a country level, the greatest growth came from Bangladesh, with bookings up by +171% (13,906). The South Asian country is one of five (Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan, Malaysia and Tunisia) benefiting from the Mecca Route initiative, a new service offering immigration pre-clearance for pilgrims at their points of embarkation.

Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) is going to invest Rs 9,800 crore by June 2022 to upgrade the existing Terminal 1, build a fourth runway and to increase the airport’s capacity to 100 million passengers. The airport in the capital city currently handles 66 million passengers. According to the proposed plan, the entire Terminal 1 apron would be demolished and a new and expanded apron would be constructed to provide higher capacity layout with parking stand for 82 aircraft. Besides, the arrival and departure terminal in T1 would be integrated under one roof. The progressive completion of T1apron would be from July 2020 to June 2022. “We have arranged for funds. We have already gone into international bonds, The airport expansion project cost is met through combination of three components –internal cash accruals, real estate monetisation and borrowings. This includes $350 million FCB, equivalent to Rs 2,425 crore, raised as part of expansion funding and internal cash accruals of Rs 3,000 crore,” told Prabhakar Rao, Deputy Managing Director, GMR Group- which handles the Delhi airport. The DIAL stated that L&T has been entrusted entire engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) works of Phase 3A.

Lufthansa has announced a new flight on the Munich-Bengaluru route, which will connect Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru five times a week from Munich from 31 March, 2020. The aircraft to ply on the route will be A350-900 with a configuration of 48 seats in Business Class, 21 seats in Premium Economy Class and 224 in Economy Class. Lufthansa already operates a daily flight from Bengaluru to Frankfurt. The airline has also announced its plans to increase the capacity in the Business Class with a different seat configuration on its flights from Chennai and Bengaluru to Frankfurt from summer 2020. George Ettiyil, Senior Director Sales South Asia of the Lufthansa Group Airlines, said, “Bengaluru Airport connects India’s IT and tech hub, Bengaluru, but also many next tier cities from the rest of the South Indian Region. South India has a growing number of discerning travellers, who travel frequently abroad and increasingly demand a more premium travel experience whether for business or leisure purposes. We are confident that, with this expansion, Lufthansa is catering to the growing needs of this region to explore Europe for business but also leisure.” The flight will depart from Bengaluru on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 01:45 hours and would land in Munich at 07:30 hours. From Munich it will depart on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 11:55 hours and will arrive in Bengaluru at 00:05 hours the next day.

Addressing in Lok Sabha, Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri gave an assurance that the tourism industry’s long-pending demand for air connectivity between the Taj city and major destinations would soon be addressed. He said airlines are ready with plans to start flights connecting Agra with Varanasi, Bengaluru, Bhopal, Mumbai, Lucknow, Delhi and Jaipur. The Minister announced that four of these flights will begin in December. Source: IANS

Starting from September, Korean Air will increase the frequency of direct passenger flights between Delhi and Incheon, Korea, from five days a week to daily. Korean Air uses a 218-seater A330-200 on its Delhi route. The airline currently operates direct passenger flights from both Delhi and Mumbai to Incheon. The Mumbai-Incheon route is operated three days a week (Monday/Wednesday/Friday). Korean Air also offers flights to various Japanese cities including Tokyo, Osaka, Fukuoka and Nagoya, most efficiently for those travelling to Japan from Delhi. The Delhi-Incheon flights arrive early in the morning, and flights from Incheon to Japan are scheduled throughout the day.