Category Archives: Aviation

Virgin Atlantic has announced the introduction of their new Indian flying icon- Aria, which will feature on the side of their aircraft from 2020. Aria is the name of Sir Richard’s Great, Great, Grandfather’s wife who was from India. This forms part of a series that have been created to showcase the diverse range of men and women that represent modern Britain. Virgin Atlantic’s use of the Flying Lady was inspired by figureheads that have decorated ships since 16th century and the original version was inspired by the pin up girls made famous by Alberto Vargas in the 1930’s and 40’s and this move represents the changing face of one of Britain’s most loved brands. Sir Richard Branson, Founder, Virgin Atlantic, said, “India holds a very special place in our hearts and we are excited to be celebrating 20 years of flying here in 2020. We thought that the best way to celebrate this milestone would be by adding more choice of routes for our customers to fly directly between Mumbai & Delhi to London. We are committed to this market and will continue to invest and grow our operations at the same time as offering an unrivalled service for those choosing to fly with us to the UK and onto the US.’’ With the additional daily flight to Delhi and the newly launched Mumbai service, Virgin Atlantic will offer more choice to India than ever before. Together with Delta Air Lines, Virgin Atlantic will offer seamless connections between Delhi and New York JFK, Boston, Detroit and Atlanta via Heathrow.tgers

The Centre recently has initiated the process to setup six more airports in the new state of Telangana. Telangana’s only airport in Hyderabad is also used by Andhra Pradesh since both the states jointly share the capital for 10 years. Andhra Pradesh on the other hand has six operational commercial airports out of which three are international airports. The greenfield airports will be built by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) although the timeline for the same has not been decided yet. The state government has been pressing the issue of more air connectivity in the state. Last year, it has identified sites for setting up three airports and sought upgradation of three existing airstrips which have not been operational.

Uttar Pradesh Cabinet has approved Zurich Airport International as developer for Jewar airport and its construction is expected to begin in February. The formal nod from Uttar Pradesh government comes after a bidding process in which Zurich Airport beat Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL), Adani Enterprises and Anchorage Infrastructure Investments Holdings on November 29. This will be NCR’s third airport after Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport and Ghaziabad’s Hindon. The winning bid was then put up before the project monitoring and implementation committee (PMIC) of the state government, before being forwarded to the Cabinet. “The Cabinet has approved Zurich Airport International as developer for Jewar airport,” UP’s Additional Chief Secretary (Home and Information) Awanish Awasthi confirmed after the meeting here. The Swiss firm offered a premium of Rs 400.97 per passenger to the government, the highest among the bidders.

The Kempegowda International Airport has commenced operations on the new South Runway with the landing of the first flight on the 4,000-metres long and 45-metres wide airstrip. The South Runway will begin with limited landings and take offs before gradually scaling up flight operations. This makes the BLR Airport the first in the country to operate independent parallel runways, enabling aircraft to land or take-off simultaneously on both runways.

Lufthansa and Vistara has started offering its customers codeshare flights. This new partnership will add 126 weekly flights to ten key Indian cities. This will be in addition to Lufthansa’s current schedule of 56 weekly international flights to and from the major Indian hubs of Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai with aircraft like the Airbus A350. It is planned to subsequently add more destinations of Vistara’s network under the umbrella of the codeshare agreement in 2020 and beyond. Connecting Vistara‘s strong domestic network with Lufthansa‘s global reach gives European airline customers immediate access to many more Indian cities than ever before. At the same time this partnership offers customers from ten key Indian cities like Kolkata, Goa and Pune unlimited access to the Lufthansa Group’s worldwide network, including top-tier destinations in Europe, Canada and the United States. Further, Lufthansa and Vistara are in the final stages on enabling customers being able to earn miles flying Vistara or Lufthansa. Vistara joins Air India as the second Indian airline having a codeshare agreement with Lufthansa. George Ettiyil, Senior Director Sales for the Lufthansa Group Airlines in South Asia emphasises the strategic importance of taking the existing interline agreement with Vistara to the next level. “This marks Lufthansa’s commitment to offering its Indian customers world-class international travel experiences and will enable them to use their preferred mileage program on codeshare routes. By teaming up with Vistara, we will strengthen and expand our position as the leading and most popular European airline in India – a country all set to become the third-largest aviation market in just a few years’ time.“

Over last four years, domestic aviation traffic has grown at a CAGR of 18.6 per cent rising from 89.6 million to in FY2015 to 137.6 million passengers in 2019. International CAGR has grown at a CAGR of 8.1 per cent during the same period. CAPA India total traffic to grow only marginally during FY2020. (Approximately 2-3 per cent). In the first 7 months of FY 2020, total airport traffic has increased by just 0.7 per cent year on year.

South Africa is going to place its state-owned flag carrier, South African Airlines into a local form of bankruptcy protection in a last-ditch effort to avert a full collapse. The airline has incurred huge losses and has availed state bailouts as well in last 10 years. The airline will now work on a bankruptcy alternative to avoid closure. The airline is the first South African state company to enter business rescue since the end of the apartheid in 1994. The South African Airlines, which also owns Mango, a budget carrier, and has stakes in local airlines of South Africa, has struggled to compete internationally with resurgent African state-owned rivals. It has been unable to release financial results for the past two years.

Alliance Air flights will connect Guwahati-Dimapur & Dimapur-Imphal from December 7, 2019, revealed Hardeep Singh Puri, Union Civil Aviation Minister. The Guwahati-Dimapur flight will be twice-a-week, while the Dimapur-Imphal flight will operate thrice-a-week. He further mentioned that the new connection would enhance aviation connectivity to prominent cities of Northeast region. “Instead of the nearly seven hour bus ride between Guwahati & Dimapur, people can now fly between the cities in just 50 minutes. I will also provide connectivity with Imphal for the first time,” read his Tweet.

In a bid to boost untapped tourism in the state, MP Tourism will be organising a new festival in Orchha to celebrate cultural diversity, natural beauty and architectural heritage in the state. The Madhya Pradesh Government has identified tourism as one of the leading sectors for development and will be taking multiple initiatives to promote the state for both domestic and international travellers. The festival will showcase Madhya Pradesh in Orchha bringing it alive with music, dance, heritage tours, workshops, local cuisine, arts and handicrafts.

Somon Air has started regular non-stop once-a-week flights from Dushanbe (Tajikistan) to Delhi. The new direct service will reduce the flying time between the two destinations to 2.5 hours from 10-12 hours. The flight currently flies on Sunday, and a second frequency will be added on Wednesday soon and would eventually be increased to thrice-a-week service. The flights are operated by a Boeing 737 aircraft. Speaking at the launch, Hallam, said, “India is a potential market and we are hoping that Indians discover the tourism potential of Tajikistan, which is a destination that will appeal to Indians a lot.”