Category Archives: Aviation

LATAM Airlines, a South American airline, conducted workshops for the travel trade in Mumbai and Delhi on November 20 and November 22 respectively. Citing a double-digit growth, Marcio-Ma, Account Manager—Southeast Asia & India, LATAM Airlines Group, said that India market has been very important for the airline. “Through this workshop, we want the travel trade in India to get an idea about the LATAM product portfolio and the destinations we connect to. For next year, we want to grow further in the Indian market and will be taking required steps to do the same.”

AirAsia India has appointed Sanjay Kumar as its Chief Operating Officer (COO) with effect from December 03, 2018. In his new role, he will be responsible for commercial operations of the airline. He will be instrumental in shaping next phase growth at AirAsia India and will be reporting to the newly appointed CEO & MD, Sunil Bhaskaran. Kumar has over 25 years of experience in the airline industry across functions like Business Planning, Strategy, Network Development, Distribution and Sales, Marketing, Advertising and Public Relations. He comes with valuable experience in the low-cost airline business model and scaling-up start-up airlines to market leadership positions. His previous assignment was with IndiGo where he worked as Chief Commercial officer. S Ramadorai, Chairman, AirAsia India, said, “We are thrilled to welcome Sanjay to the AirAsia India leadership team. He joins us at a time when the airline is in a growth momentum with an aim to venture forward in international operations. I am confident that Sanjay’s experience and knowledge of this sector will prove to be valuable in steering the company forward.” Kumar said, “I am delighted to be taking on the role of AirAsia India’s Chief Operating Officer. The airline has the best constituents with the Tata Group’s credibility and AirAsia’s innovative, proven, cost-effective and sound business model with a keen focus on customer satisfaction and people-friendly practices. I am looking forward to be a part of the airline’s journey of growth and expansion in the Indian aviation industry.”

Jazeera Airways has announced the launch of its services to New Delhi from December 15. The airline, which commenced operations in India last year, currently flies to Hyderabad, Mumbai, Kochi and Ahmedabad from the Gulf nation. The airline has also announced special one-way fare starting from Rs 10,599 for an Economy Class journey and Rs 19,146 for Business Class travel on the new route. Rohit Ramachandran, Chief Executive Officer, Jazeera Airways, said, “The introduction of services to New Delhi and the expansion of network will bring more choice to travellers to and from India, connecting them to Kuwait and other cities in the Gulf and the Middle East that are served within the airline’s network.” Source: PTI

Beginning December 2018, Jet Airways will introduce 18 additional flights on select destinations such as Bangkok, Kathmandu and Singapore in ASEAN as well as Doha and Dubai in the Gulf. Further, it will soon add a third daily frequency to Bangkok and Singapore each from Delhi and a third daily service to Singapore from Mumbai. Additional frequencies will also be introduced to the Gulf, strengthening the airline’s status as one of the largest carriers to/ from the region. December will see the introduction of second daily services connecting Mumbai and Delhi with Doha respectively. The addition of a seventh daily frequency between Mumbai and Dubai will also make Jet Airways the only airline to offer unparalleled 24-hour connectivity to the Gulf’s favourite destination with maximum number of daily services. Apart from it, the carrier will offer a fourth daily frequency between Delhi and Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal. Jet Airways also continues to augment its domestic connectivity at these hubs, and will increase operations between Mumbai and Amritsar to daily frequencies, and add a fourth daily frequency on the Delhi-Amritsar route in December. These steps are in addition to new services already introduced at the beginning of winter schedule, including new flights on the Delhi & Bangalore-Vadodara routes, increased frequencies in the Mumbai-Guwahati and Mumbai-Patna markets and an enhancement of capacity from ATR to 737 operations on the Delhi-Jodhpur route. Raj Sivakumar, Senior Vice President – Worldwide Sales & Distribution, Jet Airways, said, “The strategy will enable Jet Airways to offer extensive connectivity via Mumbai to most of its network in south and west India. Similarly, new services to Delhi will offer seamless connectivity to the north and east of …

Brisbane Airport Corporation (BAC) is set to bring the game of cricket to the heart of Brisbane Airport’s (BNE) International Terminal on November 22, with former international superstars Brett Lee and Michael Kasprowicz making guest appearances to stage a world first cricket match inside an airport terminal. The match will be streamed live on Brett Lee’s own Facebook page to a global audience. The former Australian cricket players will captain two teams consisting of senior representatives from the India and Australia travel industries, in a twenty-over indoor exhibition style cricket match as part of Tourism Events Queensland’s ‘Queensland on Stage India’ event for 2018. Gert-Jan de Graaff, Chief Executive Officer, BAC, said it is an exciting world-first event that not only highlights the great mateship and friendly rivalry between Australia and India but also provides a unique opportunity to strengthen and celebrate tourism between the two nations. “India and Australia share a love of family, travel and cricket, so we thought we’d take the opportunity to celebrate these shared values with a bit of fun, whilst also showcasing Brisbane as an aspirational travel destination offering a wide range of experiences for Indian visitors. India is one of the world’s fastest growing outbound travel markets with more than 300,000 Indians visiting Australia last year and more than 33,000 of those visiting Brisbane, which was a 36 per cent increase on the previous year,” he said. “Being able to showcase Brisbane Airport as the gateway to Queensland and Australia will allow existing and new airline partners to reinforce the importance of this growing market. With rising travel demand, and our business and trade relationship showing further growth, BAC is very interested in …

Union Minister of Civil Aviation Suresh Prabhu and Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha have launched an upgraded version of AirSewa web portal and mobile app. The Ministry of Civil Aviation had earlier launched AirSewa web portal and mobile app in 2016 to address issues like flight delays, problem in refunds, long queues, inadequate facilities at airports and complaints of lost baggage by air passengers. Speaking during the launch, Prabhu said, “I would like to congratulate all the stakeholders for the launch of upgraded web portal and app of Air sewa. In a matter of few more months, we’ll be launching another upgrade for the same.” Sinha said, “AirSewa 2.0 upgrade came after two years of initial launch. And, I would like to thank and support all the stakeholders in the ecosystem as this wouldn’t have been possible without the support.” The upgraded and improved version of AirSewa operates through an interactive web portal as well as through a mobile app for both android and iOS platforms, and will offer people a convenient and hassle-free air travel experience. With around 30,00 app downloads and 75,000 web portal hits, AirSewa 1.0 was received well and helped significant number of air passengers to get their concerns resolved. The ministry felt the need for development of an upgraded version of AirSewa to provide a superior user experience with enhanced functionalities including features like secure sign-up and login with social media, chatbot for travellers’ support, improved grievance mangement, including social media grievances, real-time flight status and detailed flight schedule.

India’s airlines are expected to induct an unprecedented 124-130 aircraft in FY2018/2019, with IndiGo accounting for close to half of this number, according to CAPA estimates on South Asia Aviation Outlook 2018. All Indian LCCs, except AirAsia India, are profitable, and are expected to report a combined profit of USD450 million to USD500 million. In contrast, FSCs are projected to lose USD825 million to USD850 million, although most of this is accounted for by Air India. Vistara is also loss making, while Jet Airways will either report a modest profit or be closer to break even. In 2018, Jet Airways is expected to place an additional order for 75 narrowbodies and to make a decision on its wide body plans, including the 10 787s on order that it has repeatedly deferred. Vistara will likely order 50 narrowbodies, together with a modest initial order for less than 10 widebodies, which may increase later. IndiGo and SpiceJet could place orders to support international expansion, including widebodies, and we do not rule out the possibility of a turboprop order by GoAir. Air India’s fleet plans are currently on hold pending its proposed privatisation.

IndiGo has operated its inaugural flight to Allahabad from Bengaluru on November 15. The flight was welcomed at Bamrauli Airport by Nand Gopal Gupta Nandi, Minister of Stamp and Court Fee, Revenue, Civil Aviation with the Uttar Pradesh government, and team IndiGo at a ceremony. Allahabad-Bengaluru is the sixth RCS (Regional Connectivity Scheme-UDAN) route and the 60th destination on IndiGo’s network. William Boulter, Chief Commercial Officer, IndiGo said, “Allahabad is a key market for us and the fourth strategic launch in Uttar Pradesh after Lucknow, Varanasi and Gorakhpur on IndiGo’s network. We are strengthening our network from the state and hope to create more affordable, point-to-point connectivity for our passengers. IndiGo will continue to offer an on-time, courteous and hassle-free service and affordable flying experience always.” Both corporate and leisure customers who wish to plan their travel can book tickets via our official website. The introduction of these flights will bring Allahabad closer to the other cities of India with all-inclusive fares starting from Rs 2500.

Air India will introduce three-times-a-week non-stop service between New York’s JFK International Airport and Mumbai, effective December 7, 2018. The flights will depart at 11:05 am from JFK on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday on 777-300ER planes. They will arrive in Mumbai at 12:10 pm the following day. To celebrate the launch of the only non-stop flight between JFK and Mumbai, Air India is offering special fares on the new route, from December 9, 2018 to May 11, 2019. All flights from the USA feature first, business and economy class and a choice of Continental or Indian cuisine. With the current JFK-Delhi daily service, the new flights bring non-stop JFK-India service to 10 flights a week, while increasing total non-stop services from the US to India to 36, nationwide. These include daily non-stop services from Newark (EWR) to Mumbai and Chicago (ORD) to Delhi, thrice weekly services from Washington (IAD) to Delhi, and nine times weekly flights from San Francisco (SFO) to Delhi. All flights offer convenient connections from the US to major cities across India, including Bangalore, Amritsar, Hyderabad, Chennai, Pune and more. Bhuvana Rao, Regional Head- Americas, Air India, said, “The additional New York to Mumbai non-stop service reflects the growing popularity of India as a business and leisure destination. Our flights are also among the most convenient for passengers travelling beyond Mumbai and Delhi, with customs and immigration formalities completed at the final destination on select connecting flights to major cities across India.”

After Air India announced offering its inventory solely through its select GDS,  Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) along with Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI) has urged the airline to review its decision. In a joint statement, the two associations said, “For these agencies including those which do not have access or frequently sell the airline seats on the GDS preferred by Air India, it is quite evident that selling Air India would not be an easy proposition and thus thay may opt for other airlines for their customers. For several established agencies, usage of GDS is governed by global agreements they have entered into and thus switching over or training their staff to get used to this limited GDS access will be a difficult option to cope with.’ On November 5, both the associations had a detailed discussion with the Air India Senior Management and conveyed that this decision of going exclusive on a GDS would be detrimental to the airline and this must be urgently reviewed. The associations are keen that Air India must not suffer any losses that would further damage the health of the airline. The senior management promised to revert in a day and on November 6, the associations received a phone call from them to inform that there will be no change in Air India’s stand. The joint statement goes on to add, “Air India has been reeling under tremendous financial challenges and instead of finding ways to increase its seat sales via an easy access through GDS channels, this move by the national carrier is shocking. The response given by Air India is that this would save its distribution costs. It is a …