Category Archives: Aviation

Air India (AI) has announced that the Indian national carrier will commence flights between India and Israel by May this year. The airline is planning to open the New Delhi-Tel Aviv route with three weekly flights. Commenting on the commencement of the new flight, Ashwani Lohani, Chairman and Managing Director, Air India, reportedly said, “Air India is looking forward to the opening of the direct route to Israel in a few months’ time. I believe that this will have a positive effect on the tourism traffic between our two countries.” Yariv Levin, Minister of Tourism-Israel, reportedly said, “Air India Chairman Lohani was deeply impressed with his visit to Israel and, in his own words, is convinced that the many Indian tourists who will visit Israel will find it an exceptional tourism destination. There is no doubt that the opening of the route, combined with our marketing efforts in India, will generate a significant increase in incoming tourism from India.”

Singapore Airlines (SIA) and regional subsidiary SilkAir have signed an agreement to codeshare on Indian domestic flights operated by Vistara, with effect from March 14, 2017. Under the agreement, SIA will add its ‘SQ’ designator code to Vistara-operated flights beyond Mumbai and New Delhi to 10 destinations within India. SilkAir will add its ‘MI’ designator code to Vistara-operated flights beyond Bengaluru and Kolkata to six destinations within India. The codeshare agreement is Vistara’s first with another airline group, as well as SIA’s and SilkAir’s first with an India-based domestic carrier. As a result of the agreement, four new destinations will be added to the SIA Group’s India network, namely Bhubaneswar, Goa, Guwahati and Port Blair. SIA Group airlines currently serve 15 destinations in India from Singapore. Members of SIA’s and Vistara’s frequent flyer programmes, KrisFlyer and Club Vistara, will also enjoy additional tier benefits as a result of the new codeshare partnership. PPS Club and KrisFlyer Elite Gold members will enjoy lounge access, increased baggage allowance, and priority baggage handling, check-in and boarding when travelling on Vistara-operated flights. Likewise, Club Vistara Platinum and Gold members will enjoy the same benefits when travelling on SIA- operated flights. PPS Club and KrisFlyer members will also earn Elite miles when travelling on SIA codeshare flights operated by Vistara. “We are very pleased with our first codeshare agreement with Vistara, which represents a strengthening of our already strong partnership,” said SIA Senior Vice President Marketing Planning, Tan Kai Ping. “Through the new codeshare agreement, both SIA and SilkAir are able to expand our network reach in the important India market, providing our customers even more travel options and enhanced KrisFlyer benefits.” “We are delighted …

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan opened Cochin International Airport Limited’s new integrated international passenger terminal for commercial operation. The Chief Minister lauded the CIAL, the country’s first airport built under PPP model, which has scripted a new chapter in aviation history by becoming the first in the world that completely operates on solar power. The Chief Minister received passengers and crew who arrived at the new airport Terminal 3 via a Jet Airways flight from Muscat to Kochi in the evening. The first flight which arrived at the new terminal was received by ‘water salute’ as per tradition. The foundation stone for the project was laid in Februrary 2014 by then Chief Minister Oommen Chandy in view of growth in passenger traffic through CIAL.  The terminal, having a built up area of 15 lakh sq ft, was inaugurated in February last year. It is having a peak hour capacity of 4000 passengers, according to a CIAL release. Vijayan also inaugurated the the 4.3 km long four-lane road connecting the airport and National Highway at Athani near Aluva and also the expansion of the CIAL’s solar power capacity from 15.5 MW to 21.5 MW. (Source: PTI)

Jet Airways will increase its daily flights to 650 from 600 starting end of March. The airline informed that it will launch new, direct services to Madurai and Bagdogra from Mumbai from March 26. Jet will also connect Jaipur with Chandigarh; Dehradun with Srinagar, and Bengaluru with Kozhikode with non-stop flights apart from its services linking Bengaluru with Lucknow via New Delhi and Mumbai with Srinagar via Dehradun. The carrier will also add 12 additional frequencies on its existing routes across its network which include a 7th daily flight between Mumbai and Goa as well as Delhi and Lucknow. Apart from this a fourth frequency between Chennai–Tiruchirappalli and a second frequency between Delhi and Bhopal is also expected to begin operations soon. The airline will also introduce two additional services on the New Delhi–Patna route. “Our planned network enhancements this summer will offer our guests much more by way of choice, connectivity and convenience. We look forward to welcoming all our guests to experience the joy of flying to brand new city pairs like Mumbai and Madurai,” said Jayaraj Shanmugam, Chief Commercial Officer, Jet Airways.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced global passenger traffic results for January 2017 showing demand (revenue passenger kilometers) rose 9.6% compared to January 2016. This was the strongest increase in more than five years. Domestic air travel climbed 9.9% in January year-on-year. India led domestic all markets in year-to-year growth for the 22nd month in a row; January traffic soared 26.6%, marking the 15th consecutive month of 20%-plus annual growth. Demand is being stimulated by strong flight frequency. Capacity increased 8.7% and load factor was 80.1%, up 0.9% percentage points. January international passenger traffic surged 9.3% compared to the year-ago period. Capacity rose 7.5% and load factor climbed 1.3 percentage point to 80.3%. All regions recorded year-over-year increases in demand led by the Middle East and Asia Pacific. Asia Pacific carriers recorded an increase of 10.9% compared to January 2016, helped by the impact of Lunar New Year-related travel and solid growth on routes within Asia. Capacity rose 8.9%, pushing up load factor 1.5 percentage points to 81.4%. “2017 is off to a very strong start, with demand at levels not seen since 2011. This is supported by the upturn in the global economic cycle and a return to a more normal environment after the terrorism and political ‘shock’ events seen in early 2016,” said Alexandre de Juniac, IATA’s Director General and CEO. IATA estimates the holiday-related travel contributed up to one-half a percentage point in extra demand growth. January capacity rose 8.0%, and load factor climbed 1.2 percentage points to 80.2%. IATA (International Air Transport Association) represents some 265 airlines comprising 83 per cent of global air traffic.

SriLankan Airlines has inducted the first of its latest Airbus aircraft—A320neo. The aircraft arrived on March 6 and will be the first of the A320neo and A321neo family aircraft in its fleet. Ajith Dias, Chairman of SriLankan Airlines, said: “Our airline realigned its strategic focus during the last quarter of 2016 to capitalize on market opportunities in the rapidly growing travel and tourism industry in Asia, which included the launch of services to 11new destinations throughout the Indian Ocean and Middle East regions. The arrival of the A320neo and A321neo aircraft will better align our fleet to this objective, as these aircraft are more suited to our medium-haul operations, while we already possess an excellent fleet of A330 aircraft for our long-haul routes.”

Jet Airways and Fiji Airways, Fiji’s national airline, have announced a codeshare partnership which offers guests travelling on both carriers seamless connectivity between India and Fiji via Singapore and Hong Kong. The codeshare agreement, a first-of-its-kind between the airlines of the two countries, will address the growing demand for travel between India and Fiji. Codeshare bookings are now open for sale for travel effective March 09, 2017. Jet Airways will place its ‘9W’ code on Fiji Airways’ flights from Singapore and Hong Kong to Nadi, and Fiji Airways will place its ‘FJ’ code on Jet Airways’ services between Singapore and Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai as well as between Hong Kong and Mumbai and Delhi. All codeshare flights will allow through check-in to the final destination of any journey. What’s more, JetPrivilege members will also be able to accrue and redeem JPMiles on the codeshare flights operated by Fiji Airways flights; and the accrued miles will count towards their tier status as well. Gaurang Shetty, Whole-time Director, Jet Airways said, “Our codeshare agreement with Fiji Airways reflects our continuing commitment to the travelling public, to offer the best possible connections to more and more destinations around the world which now extends to the beautiful paradise of Fiji. Ties between the people of India and Fiji can be traced back over a 100 years and with the governments of both countries making focused efforts to further strengthen trade, tourism and cultural ties, we believe this codeshare partnership will play a pivotal role in these endeavours by enabling seamless connectivity between both countries.” Andre Viljoen, Fiji Airways’ Managing Director and CEO said: “This is a very significant achievement for both airlines. Demand for …

Air India scripted history by flying an all-women crew flight around the world. The flight AI 173 that took off from IGI Airport in Delhi on Feb 27 to San Francisco covering a distance of around 15300 km in 15 and a half hours over the Pacific route and on the return journey from San Francisco over the Atlantic. The flight was in the safe hands of Capt. Sunita Narula, Capt. Kshamta Bajpai, Capt. Indira Singh and Capt. Gunjan Aggarwal. The all-women cabin crew was led by Seema Baberwal and Nishrin Bandulwala. The entire flight was operated by the women staff of eight departments. These departments included Cockpit crew, Cabin crew, Check-In staff, Doctor, Customer Care Staff, ATC and the entire ground handling from operator to technician, Engineer and flight dispatcher and trimmer. Line operation safety audit was done by Harpreet A De Singh, ED Flight Safety, Air India. This is the first time that this audit was done by a female officer for around the world trip.

Singapore Airlines and its regional arm SilkAir will fold fuel and insurance surcharges into their base airfares. Both airlines have already been showing the full price payable in their airfare advertising, inclusive of taxes and surcharges, since 2008. With the removal of the fuel and insurance surcharges as a separate component, customers will be presented with a single base airfare when purchasing tickets. This will not result in immediate changes to “all-in” fares, which will continue to be determined by market supply and demand, but is intended to provide a more simplified fare structure for customers. The folding in of fuel and insurance surcharges into base airfares will be implemented progressively by region, starting from 28 March 2017. It is expected to be completed by May 2017. Fuel and insurance surcharges will also no longer apply to KrisFlyer frequent-flyer programme redemption bookings with effect from 23 March 2017. Other changes will be made to the KrisFlyerprogramme with effect from the same day, including the removal of a 15 per cent discount for redemption bookings made online rather than via the call centre.

Expanding its network in the Southern region, IndiGo has announced two new flights to Madurai. From March 1, 2017, IndiGo will operate a maiden flight from Delhi to Madurai via Chennai and return Madurai to Delhi with a touchdown in Chennai. Madurai has now become the 37th domestic and 42nd overall destination for IndiGo. The airline is also starting Madurai – Hyderabad daily flight from March 26, 2017. Aditya Ghosh, President and Whole Time Director, IndiGo, said, “Madurai being a pilgrimage spot and a flourishing cultural hub in Tamil Nadu attracts tourists from across the globe. It gives us pleasure to add Madurai as part of our growing network which will only help us serve the growing demand from the southern region. IndiGo’s domestic network expansion program renders special attention to non-metro cities aimed at unlocking the tourism potential in these cities. The new flights and frequencies – on national and international sectors – is a testament to the growing customer base and we are hopeful that these flights will prove to be popular and convenient for our business and leisure passengers alike.”