Category Archives: Aviation

Saudi Arabian Airlines (SAUDIA), the national flag carrier of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, is the first airline in the Middle East and Africa Region to receive the International Air Transport Association (IATA) Level 4 New Distribution Capability (NDC) certification. The ‘New Distribution Capability’ is a functionality used by the travel trade for booking air travel for individual and group bookings. It enables travel professionals to access content such images of the inflight cabin; add ancillary products, such as WiFi packages, excess baggage, and more. SAUDIA has deployed the Offer and IATA One Order Certified Order Management Solution from the vendor TPConnects, along with NDC enabled distribution to Travel Agents and Online Travel Agents. TPConnects OfrMS is integrated on top of the assets (Passenger Service System, Frequent Flyer Programme etc) as part of SAUDIA’s strategy in pushing offers including air and non-air ancillaries along with flights, both bundle and a la carte. SAUDIA Vice President, Sales, Mr. Richard Nuttall commented on the recent certification: “Level 4 is the highest NDC certification that includes adoption of additional servicing messages to support reshopping and changing orders. The airline provides the ability to execute Offer and Order Management, which means that Travel Agents integrated with SAUDIA are directly able to easily access the products that are available on the airline’s website, thereby providing a consistent shopping experience for the guests from the travel trade, similarly to the way guests book on the saudia.com website. Continued Mr. Nuttall: “With the support from a number of aggregators and travel agencies, the NDC initiative at SAUDIA is on a path from the early days of experimentation to presently operating full-scale in full force. We are targeting …

Air India will launch direct flights from Kolkata and Indore to Dubai next month. Praveen Bhatnagar from Corporate Communications at Air India, said: “The non-stop flights to Kolkata will be launched on July 16. They will operate on all days of the week except Sundays. We will be adding another flight to Indore from July 17.” On its website, Air India is already offering ‘attractive deals’ on the non-stop flights to Kolkata and Indore. The introductory fares, it says, are on offer till July 31, for travel between July 15 and July 31. Source: Gulf News

In a statement issued through its Twitter handle, Directorate General of Civil Aviation stated, “All India operators in consultation with DGCA have decided to avoid the affected part of Iranian air space to ensure safe travel for the passengers. They will re-route flights suitably.” As the majority of Pakistani airspace has remained closed for Indian airlines since the Balakot strike on February 26, the decision to avoid affected Iranian airspace on Saturday is going to further disturb the routes of their international flights towards middle-eastern and European countries, and the US. They will be rerouted and take more time to arrive or depart. However, Air India CMD Ashwani Lohani said, “There will no substantial effect on Air India flights. Details are being worked out for rerouting on incoming flights.” While DGCA advisory does not bar Indian airlines from transiting Iran over-land, the latter are seeing if that also can be avoided. Airlines have indicated to the regulator fares of affected flights could see a rise by Rs 500. With rising oil prices due to the tension and higher fuel burn due to extra distance, operation costs are going to hurt airlines flying to Europe. The Etihad Airways has also suspended operations through the Iranian airspace over the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman

Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) released its statistics for domestic carriers in the month of May 2019, according to which GoAir scored highest in terms of On Time Performance (OTP) with 91.8 per cent, which was followed by Air Asia at 89.1 per cent and IndiGo at 87.4 per cent respectively. Vistara was at the fourth spot with 86.6 per cent and SpiceJet at fifth with 74.4 per cent OTP. Air India was at the sixth spot with 70.3 per cent. The report revealed that domestic air passenger traffic increased by 2.96 per cent in May as compared to last year, after a significant slump in April, owing to Jet Airways ceasing its operations.

IndiGo in an attempt to grow its global presence, will launch its new route, Chennai-Kuala Lumpur. The service will commence on 15 July on Airbus A320 aircraft and will connect KL twice everyday from Chennai. The first flight of the day will depart at 05:05 and the second will depart at 17:45. The reservations are now open.

Atlas Travels Online and OYO have come together to provide the hotel brand’s worldwide inventory on the Atlas Travels Online platform. Together, they will offer 10 per cent cash back on booking any OYO hotel on Atlas Travel Online portal This offer is valid for 30-days starting from June 25, 2019. The offer is extended only to Atlas Travel Online’s network of 20,000 travel partners. The two companies will conduct joint roadshows across the country to showcase the benefits of this promotion to the travel partners. Hussain Patel Director, Atlas Travels Online, says, “We have predominantly been known for our Air deals and offers, however in the past year we have experienced great momentum in our hotel booking segment. Almost 40 per cent of our business comes from hotel bookings and we have direct relationships with our suppliers. OYO is undoubtedly the largest and the fastest growing hotel chain and we are excited with our partnership as our travel partners have a great deal to benefit from.” With regards to the partnership, Gaurav Ajmera, COO, India and South Asia, OYO Hotels & Homes comments, “Our single-minded focus is to make standardised and trusted quality accommodation at affordable prices accessible to travelers across the globe. We are pleased to partner with Atlas Travel Online, a renowned travel portal, to extend our offering to the portal’s customers and together provide guests across geographies memorable travel experiences. We strongly believe that this partnership will be extremely beneficial for the modern day traveller.”

Royal Air Maroc, Morocco’s national carrier, is offering 5 per cent commission to agents on Billing and Settlement Plan (BSP) India. Earlier the IATA commission that the airline was offering was only 3 per cent. The airline is represented in India by APG India, and does not have a any direct connection from India as of now.

Air India is expanding its Delhi–Colombo network, with the new 2nd daily service scheduled from 15 July. Operated by A320, the new flight will operate overnight. Airbus A-320 will be deployed on this route. The flight will depart at 22:25 and will reach Colombo at 02:00.

Alitalia & Air Vistara have entered into a Special Prorate Agreement (SPA) that offers travellers more connectivity and schedules across India. Customers can now book Vistara flights from various destinations in India to New Delhi (DEL), in turn connecting to Rome (FCO) and onward on Alitalia network. The routes include flights between Delhi to Amritsar, Mumbai, Chandigarh, Lucknow, Varanasi, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Goa, Pune and Kochi.

The Finance Ministry is gearing up to come up with a fresh proposal for the sale of national carrier, Air India incorporating issues like crude oil prices and currency exchange rate volatility. The government had failed in its attempts to sale the assets of the airline last year. The proposal to be placed before Air India Specific Alternative Mechanism (AISAM) will also include option of selling either 100 per cent stake in the airline or government’s 76 per cent stake in Air India. The AISAM, which is basically a Group of Ministers, generally constitutes the Finance Minister, Civil Aviation Minister and the Transport Minister. After the government failed to find any buyer for the debt-ridden carrier last year, it decided to infuse more funds into the airline and take steps to lower debt of Air India by selling its subsidiaries and non-core assets. The government has already asked Air India to finalise its accounts for 2018-19 by June 30.