Category Archives: Aviation

Senior IAS officer Pradeep Singh Kharola has been appointed as the new CMD of disinvestment-bound Air India,, an official release said. Kharola would take over as the chairman and managing director of the flagship carrier from Rajiv Bansal, who was given an extension only last week. A 1985-batch Karnataka cadre officer, Kharola would be steering the national airline at a time when the government has started the process for its strategic disinvestment. Kharola has been appointed as the CMD of Air India in the rank and pay of Secretary to Government of India. He has been the managing director of Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd since February 2015. Among others, Kharola has worked in various posts in Karnataka, including as the chairman of Karnataka Urban Infrastructure Development and Finance Corporation Ltd. He has also served as principal secretary to the Karnataka chief minister. Interestingly, Bansal — who is also additional secretary and financial adviser at the petroleum ministry — had got an extension as Air India CMD only last week after his initial three-month tenure ended on November 23. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) gave its in-principle nod for the strategic disinvestment of Air India in June this year. The carrier, which has a debt burden of more than Rs 50,000 crore, managed to eke out operational profit for the first time in a decade in 2015-16. Under a turnaround plan approved by the previous UPA regime, Air India is to receive up to Rs 30,231 crore from the government subject to meeting certain performance thresholds. The ten-year bailout package began from 2012. So far, the embattled carrier has received around Rs 26,000 crore under the package. (Source: …

Air Deccan is all set to start flight operations under the regional connectivity scheme, also known as Udan (Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik), from December 15 this year,Shillong airport officials reportedly said. Air Deccan will use Shillong as a hub and Udan flights from there will connect to other destinations in the northeast such as Agartala, Aizawl and Imphal, according to a top official of the Shillong airport. The airline will also operate flights between Kolkata and Agartala. Under the government’s Udan regional connectivity scheme, air fares are capped at Rs 2,500 per person for an hour’s flight to Tier-II and Tier-III cities in which the government will provide subsidy for flying with such low fares. “Air Deccan authorities have given the schedule saying that they would start operating from December 15 this year,” said M.K. Nayak, the director of Shillong airport. Air Deccan will use an 18-20 seater aircraft for the Udan flights, he added. Source: PTI

Travizuu has signed an agreement with Jet Airways as a direct travel vendor to its staff at Mumbai International Airport. The company had recently celebrated its two-year anniversary by launching its international reach in Dubai. This collaboration is designed to support Jet Airways growing fleet requirement, and the need to have a designated one point of authorised contact to operate seamless day to day travel. Headquartered in Mumbai, Travizuu recently added hundreds of newer models of car which are authorized and ply under the regulation of Transport Department. This partnership will allow them to service Jet Airway’s growing need of cars on the road, ensuring that vehicles are ready for their staff around the clock. “Our strict process of induction is not only confined to drivers but also to vehicles. We ensure that all the vehicles have valid official documents such as permit, registration certificate, insurance policy and fitness certificate before they are operational and in service,” said Amjadh Waghu, Director, Travizuu who heads Compliance and Vendor Relations. “We are excited to partner with Jet Airways, the fleet management companies are changing the mobility landscape in a profoundly transformative and beneficial manner,” said Juned Khan, Director, Travizuu who spearheads the Investor Relations and Strategy building for National & International Business. He further added, “Not only does this partnership enable us to leverage our current capabilities and reach, but it also allows us to extend our reach with key tie-ups with sub-vendors available in the marketplace across the country.” Travizuu will continue its reach in other cities. Mitteysh A. Rasaikar, Director, Travizuu who leads Strategic Business and Planning said, “We are on positive nods with other prominent brands too.” He further …

GoAir has announced new additional flights for the winter schedule, effective from November 23, 2017. The airline will operate 22 of these flights on new routes apart from increasing the frequencies by eight flights on existing routes during winters. With the new additions, GoAir would operate an average of 240 flights a day, strengthening its market presence at Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kochi, Kolktata, Lucknow, Nagpur and Patna. The airline is also inducting new A320 NEOs, taking its fleet strength to 31 aircraft. To commensurate its 12 successful years in the domestic skies, GoAir has also announced an exciting anniversary fare offer starting from Rs 1212 plus taxes on all new sectors. The booking period will be from November 18-21, 2017 for the travel period from November 24, 2017 to October 28, 2018. Jeh Wadia, Managing Director, GoAir said, “The induction of four new aircraft will cater to the enhanced seasonal demand whilst offering flexibility to customers with more flight options to choose from. It is our constant endeavour to provide more flexibility of choice for our customers and offer them seamless connectivity, hassle free and affordable flying experience.”

Passengers carried by domestic airlines during January-October, 2017, were 954.45 lakhs as against 813.70 lakhs during the corresponding period of previous year, thereby registering a growth of 17.30 per cent. In Oct, SpiceJet continued to lead passenger load factors at 93.7 per cent, closely followed by GoAir at 87.6 per cent and IndiGo at 87.3 per cent. Air Asia came close at  83 per cent while, Jet Airways and Vistara recorded 80.5 and 80.2 per cent, respectively. The passenger load factor in the month of October 2017 has shown slightly increasing trend compared to previous month primarily due to the onset of tourist season. During October 2017, a total of 656 passenger related complaints had been received by the scheduled domestic airlines. The number of complaints per 10,000 passengers carried for the month of Oct 2017 has been around 0.63.

Kuwait-based low cost airline, Jazeera Airways, inaugurated its daily flights to Hyderabad. Kochi, Mumbai and Ahmedabad will follow in early 2018 as the airline expands its network to serve its Indian sub-continent targeting the nearly 1 million Indian nationals residing in Kuwait. Flight J9 608 departed November 16 at 18:40 hours from Kuwait International Airport and landed in Hyderabad at 01:35 hours. The return flight J9 608 will depart Hyderabad at 02.20 hours and arrive in Kuwait at 05.10 hours. The new evening route has a weekly capacity of 4,000 seats and allows passengers to conveniently enjoy a full day at their destination. To mark the special occasion, all 165 passengers flying from Kuwait to Hyderabad received a gift box of traditional Kuwaiti sweets. Rohit Ramachandran, CEO, Jazeera Airways, said, ‘This is a proud moment for us marking the expansion of our network in to India. We are delighted to start with Hyderabad, a 400-year old city and a technology hub, bringing more choice to Indian travelers, connecting them to Kuwait, Riyadh, Jeddah, Bahrain and Dubai. In addition, we offer for religious travellers connections to Taif in KSA, Najaf (Iraq), Mashad (Iran) and Amman. He further commented, “This new service will address surging travel demands with low cost fares at convenient frequencies for leisure, business or religious travel. India is a financial and tourist powerhouse and we are eager to capitalize on the enormous opportunities ahead.” SGK Kishore, CEO, GHIAL, said, “We welcome Jazeera Airways to Hyderabad and we are very happy to note that they have chosen Hyderabad Airport as their first Indian destination. We are confident that this will further boost the tourism potential between India and various …

Having completed 13 years of service between India to Kazakhstan and Eurasia, Air Astana plans to start a new connection to Mumbai in 2019. Currently, the airline operates 10 flights a week between Kazakhstan and India. This includes a daily service between Almaty and New Delhi and three flights between Astana and New Delhi, which started in July this year. Peter Foster, President and Chief Executive Officer, Air Astana, said, “India is an important destination for Air Astana and has connected both business and leisure passengers well between both the countries. The number of passengers carried between India and Kazakhstan in 2017 is 43,459, an increase of 43 per cent as compared to that in 2016. In fact, the number of transit passengers travelling from New Delhi via Almaty to other international destinations grew by 33 per cent in 2016.”

Air Canada has been on an expansion spree in India. The airline will make its Delhi-Vancouver-Delhi flight a daily service from December 1. Margaret Skinner, Director, Sales—EMEAI, Air Canada, said, “We are delighted with the response we’ve got from the Indian market, and we like that India is a growing market and the economy is strong. We are seeing business coming from all market segments—corporate, leisure and students, and it’s a good mix of business for us. Our Toronto-Delhi service went daily very quickly. Now our Delhi-Vancouver service will get daily soon. It’s four times a week currently and will go daily from December 1, 2017. Air Canada’s Mumbai-Toronto flight is four times a week and we would like to see all these services get daily year round.”

THAI Smile Airways has commenced its new flights on the Bangkok–Mumbai–Bangkok route. The airline has already been operating since last quarter of 2016 direct flights from Bangkok to Jaipur, Lucknow, Gaya and Varanasi. This new route will help all segments like – leisure, corporate and MICE travellers. THAI Smile operates its Bangkok-Mumbai flights five times a week under the flight no. WE335 Bangkok – Mumbai (BKK-BOM) on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday at 22.15-01.35 (+1), WE335 Bangkok – Mumbai (BKK-BOM) on Friday and Sunday at 23.55-03.10) and WE336 Mumbai – Bangkok (BOM-BKK) on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday at 02.40-08.55 and WE336 Mumbai – Bangkok (BOM-BKK) on Monday and Saturday at 04.40-10.55. All flights are served in full service of excellence with complete course of foods and beverages. The foods on board are divided into vegetarian (Vegetarian Jain Meal) and common foods (Non-Vegetarian Hindu Meal). Baggage loading is up to 40 kg for Premium Economy Class or Smile Plus and 30 kg for economy class passengers or Smile Class. Both classes have spacious seats that passengers can select seats without additional charges and can also earn mileages with Royal Orchid Plus (ROP).

After opening a direct flight connection between Brussels and Mumbai last March, Brussels Airlines has welcomed over 60,000 travelers on its flights. The airline now increases its flight offer from 5 to 6 weekly flights during the winter season, offering more flexibility and choice. This week, Brussels Airlines participates to the Belgian Royal State Visit to India and partners up with other Belgian organizations to organise a dance event at the Gateway of India. On March 30, Brussels Airlines inaugurated its direct flights between Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji airport and Brussels Aiport and has since seen its results on the route growing more and more. After a positive 7-month period with an average seat load factor of almost 80%, the airline has decided to invest even more in the route, by adding an extra flight on Saturday, bringing the total to 6 flights per week and additional flight frequency on Saturday. “Our new service received a warm welcome here in the Indian market and we are very happy with the results. Adding this 6th weekly flight confirms our investment in the Indian market. We are therefore, very happy to participate to the Belgian Royal State Visit here in Mumbai. With this spectacular event at the iconic gate of India, we are proud to bring the best of Belgium to India and to emphasize on the importance of the economic bonds between our two countries,” says Bernard Gustin, CEO of Brussels Airlines At the end of 2018, Brussels Airlines gradually renews its long haul fleet with the replacement of 7 of its 10 Airbus A330’s. On board of the entire long haul fleet, the airline will introduce a brand new product with …