Category Archives: Aviation

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.”

Vistara inaugurated its daily direct service to Amritsar from Delhi, making it the fifth destination in northern India on the airline’s network. Vistara will commence operations between Amritsar and Mumbai with daily direct flights, starting March 8, 2017, which would make it the only full service airline to connect the two cities. Commenting on Amritsar’s potential and congratulating Vistara on the launch of the new service, Prakash Singh Badal, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Punjab, said, “It is very heartening to see Amritsar expanding its air connectivity across the length and breadth of the country and to the world. Introduction of the new flights from Amritsar to Delhi by Vistara will definitely help not only the people of the state, but all countrymen who travel within the country and overseas. It will truly help Punjab harness its industrial, tourism, religious as well as business growth potential. I congratulate Vistara on the launch of this new service to and from Amritsar, and wish the airline great success.” Expressing delight at the launch, Phee Teik Yeoh, Chief Executive Officer, Vistara, said, “We’re very happy to add Amritsar to our network, and we sincerely believe in the city’s great potential for growth in several aspects, apart from only tourism. The launch of service to Amritsar is in line with our focus on customers, who have long desired to ‘fly the new feeling’ to the city, and it is also well aligned with our evolving international plans, as millions of NRIs travel to and from Amritsar every year. We’re confident that our customers will be equally delighted to fly these new routes with us.”

Lufthansa Group has announced that it will deploy its latest long haul aircraft, Airbus A350-900, to Mumbai during the summer schedule of 2017. From April 16 onwards, Mumbai becomes the third destination worldwide to welcome the state-of-the-art aircraft. Flying on Lufthansa’s Munich (MUC) to Mumbai (MUM) route, the A350-900 will offer Mumbai area residents travel choices and better connections to Lufthansa’s vast global network. Earlier this month, Lufthansa Group marked a key milestone in Indian aviation by starting the first commercial operations of A350-900 to Delhi.

Jet Airways and Hong Kong Airlines have entered into a codeshare partnership in a move that will help them significantly enhance connectivity between India and the Asia-Pacific region. As part of the reciprocal agreement, Jet Airways will place its marketing code ‘9W’ on Hong Kong Airlines’ flights operating between Hong Kong and Okinawa and Tokyo in Japan; Denpasar in Indonesia; Hanoi in Vietnam; Bangkok in Thailand; and Auckland in New Zealand. Hong Kong Airlines in turn, will place its marketing code “HX” on Jet Airways’ flights between Hong Kong and Mumbai as well as Delhi in India. The agreement will allow Hong Kong Airlines to offer its guests a daily service connecting the key business cities of Hong Kong, Mumbai and Delhi. The codeshare will provide opportunities for both airlines to expand their reach and cater to guests across the region. It will also enhance connectivity for Jet Airways guests from Mumbai and Delhi via Hong Kong to multiple destinations in the Asia-Pacific region including to first time codeshare destinations – Okinawa in Japan and Auckland in New Zealand thus enhancing the proposition for travelers who are increasingly seeking newer and more varied travel experiences. Guest can also enjoy the multi-gateway travel flexibility of travelling to/from India to Hong Kong in one direction and via Bangkok in the other direction. Additionally, Jet Airways’ Jet Privilege members will also be able to earn frequent flyer miles when they travel on Jet Airways marketed flights on these codeshare routes, which will not only be available for redemption but also count towards their tier status in the programme.

Hahn Air is expanding its network of over 300 air, rail and shuttle partners with high-speed rail operator Eurostar (9F). The UK-based train services are now available to travel agents worldwide for ticketing on Hahn Air’s HR-169 document with the exception of the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Belgium and the Netherlands. To issue tickets for Eurostar, travel agents can use the standard ticketing process in all major GDSs. “Eurostar is our third rail partner and the first to use our HR-169 product through an interline agreement”, said Steve Knackstedt, Vice President of Airline Business Group at Hahn Air. “We believe that we can support them in reaching new markets and unlocking new business opportunities. They can therefore position themselves towards travel agents worldwide as a means of transportation on par with air travel in Western Europe.” Eurostar is the only high-speed railway service connecting London with mainland Europe via the Channel Tunnel. Services operate between London St Pancras International, Ebbsfleet International and Ashford International to Paris, Brussels, Lille, Calais, Disneyland Resort Paris, Lyon, Avignon, Marseille and the French Alps. With a change in Brussels, passengers can also connect to any domestic Belgian station. Its trains reach a maximum speed of 300km per hour (186 miles per hour). Their new e320 trains feature more spacious carriages, free Wi-Fi and over 300 hours of entertainment which can be streamed to phones, tablets or laptops. Established in 1994, the company has to date carried over 170 million passengers between London and the continent.