Category Archives: Aviation

Singapore Airlines’ regional wing SilkAir has launched a new mobile App which offers travellers greater travel convenience from booking to boarding. Designed to be fast and intuitive, the mobile App aims to provide users with a functional and seamless user experience. Key features of the mobile app include flight booking, exclusive fares and itinerary management. Users can personalise the SilkAir mobile App home screen to show relevant flight updates and information, while push notifications can be enabled to receive prompt check-in reminders for upcoming trips. Travellers flying from Singapore Changi Airport can also enjoy the Mobile Boarding Pass feature which allows for more efficient flight check in. Additionally, the mobile app will allow KrisFlyer members to view their membership details such as miles and tier information in an easy-to-read design. To celebrate the launch, SilkAir is offering special “App-clusive” deals starting from all-in fares of SGD 159 to Langkawi, SGD189 to Phuket and SGD 229 to Yogyakarta, amongst other destinations. These exclusive mobile app fares are available for a limited time only, until 17 October 20162. In addition, bookings paid with MasterCard on the mobile app entitles the customer to free Resorts World SEA Aquarium Passes. “SilkAir is constantly improving and enhancing our various digital touch points to keep up with the changing landscape of the travel industry. With the SilkAir mobile App, customers can expect greater control and convenience when it comes to planning their travel itineraries.” said SilkAir’s Vice President Commercial, Ryan Pua.

The Ministry of Civil Aviation, Puducherry Government and Airports Authority of India have signed a tri-partite Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the Regional Connectivity Scheme thereby initiating the collaborative partnership. The MOU was signed at New Delhi in the presence of Jayant Sinha, Minister of Civil Aviation for State; V. Narayanasamy, Chief Minister of Puducherry, and Malladi Krishna Rao, Minister of Tourism and Civil Aviation of Puducherry,. Under the MoU, the State Government of Puducherry has formally agreed to provide the concessions required from the State Governments in the Regional Connectivity Scheme. The MoU is signed by Manoj Parida, Chief Secretary, Puducherry; Usha Padhee, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation and A.K. Dutta, Member, Airports Authority of India. Speaking on the occasion, Sinha said that he hoped the subsidies would attract airlines which also needed to find the appropriate aircrafts and pilots to service the regional sector. Narayanaswamy said that he was happy to cooperate in promoting the Regional Connectivity Scheme as it would improve the connectivity to Puducherry. The Ministry of Civil Aviation had earlier released the draft Regional Air Connectivity Scheme (RCS) for stakeholder consultation, with the twin objectives of promoting balanced regional growth and making flying affordable for masses. The RCS is the key component of the National Civil Aviation Policy which was released by the Ministry on 15th June 2016. The scheme, which would be in operation for a period of 10 years, envisages providing connectivity to un-served and under-served airports of the country through revival of existing air-strips and airports. This would be achieved through a financial stimulus in the form of Central and State government concessions, as well as Viability Gap Funding to the …

Mahan Airlines operated its inaugural direct flight from  Mashhad to Delhi on November 4, 2016. Mehdi Shiri, Station Manager, Mahan Air, India, informed that to cater demand of Indian passengers for direct flight to Mashhad, this flight has been launched. The aircraft and crew was given warm welcome at IGI Airport, Delhi. H S Duggal, Managing Director, Minar Travels India Pvt. Ltd., GSA for Mahan Air in India was upbeat and mentions, “with lifting of sanctions in Iran, Mahan has extensive plans to connect more Indian cities with Iranian cities to facilitate business and tourism traffic to grow.

Vistara inaugurated operations to Port Blair, as its flight UK 747 took off from Delhi for Port Blair via Kolkata, at 0720 hours on Sept 30. With the addition of Port Blair, Vistara now serves 18 destinations across the length and breadth of the country. The new service to Port Blair offers a daily flight from Delhi and Kolkata (same aircraft service via Kolkata), with arrival and departure timings that allow for convenient connections to ferry and catamaran services between Port Blair and Havelock Island. Commenting on the launch of the new services, Phee Teik Yeoh, CEO, Vistara, said, “We are delighted to add Port Blair to our fast-growing network with a daily direct flight from Delhi via Kolkata. The Andamans are a beautiful part of India with rich history and breathtaking natural beauty. We are pleased to offer both the visitors, and the wonderful residents of this region, the chance to experience ‘the new feeling’ of flying Vistara, an airline that is setting new standards of service excellence, when they travel to and from Port Blair.” Sanjiv Kapoor, Chief Strategy & Commercial Officer, Vistara, added, “Delivering on our brand promise to provide seamless, thoughtful and personalized services, we are pleased to introduce a variety of attractively priced packages in cooperation with top travel entities to offer our customers the most convenient travel in the Andamans. While Port Blair itself offers a lot to see and do, including the historic Cellular Jail and an excursion to the neighboring Ross Island, we have also timed our flights to offer the most convenient connections to and from the most popular inter-island ferries such as to Havelock Island.” Vistara also announced the addition …

Air Canada has announced another direct connection between Mumbai and Toronto starting July 1,2017. India’ financial hub Mumbai and Toronto will now get a thrice a week direct non-stop service starting July 1, 2017 as part of the airline’s global expansion plan. The new announcement comes just after the news of its non-stop flights between Delhi and Vancouver beginning October 20, which too is a three-times weekly flight. Air Canada has also made its Delhi-Toronto flight a daily connection starting November 6, 2016. All these announcements from Air Canada have come within a year of launching the direct flights between Delhi and Toronto on the 3rd November 2015. “Customer response to our Toronto-Delhi service has been extremely positive and hence its becoming a daily service from 6th November 2016 . With the new Vancouver route we are strategically increasing our presence in the important Asia-Pacific market. “said Duncan Bureau , Vice President , Global Sales. The non-stop Dreamliner flights from the Vancouver hub will also offer the shortest elapsed flying time from Delhi to Calgary, Edmonton, Seattle, Portland and Los Angeles .Together with our extensive Western Canada domestic and western US trans border network combined with the seamless connection experience through Vancouver’s US in-transit pre-clearance facilities, position Vancouver to be the preferred gateway hub for trans-pacific travel to and from North America. Air Canada will be the only carrier to offer a direct non-stop service between Canada and Mumbai . These routes will operate year-round with Air Canada’s state-of-the-art Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner. The aircraft feature 29 International Business Class lie-flat seat suites, 21 Premium Economy and 247 Economy Class seats, with upgraded in-flight entertainment at every seat throughout the aircraft.

GMR Group’s Delhi Airport, managed by Delhi International Airport (P) Limited (DIAL), has become the first airport in Asia-Pacific to achieve Carbon Neutral status.  The announcement has been made by Airports Council International (ACI) during the Airport Carbon Accreditation certificate presentation ceremony in Montreal, Canada, where I Prabhakara Rao, CEO, DIAL received the prestigious certificate. The same body awarded Delhi Airport the world’s number one position (in 25-40 million passengers per annum category) twice in a row under the Airport Service Quality (ASQ) programme. The globally reputed Airport Carbon Accreditation has upgraded Delhi Airport to “Level 3+, Neutrality”, which is the highest level of achievement available to airports across the world. Carbon neutrality occurs when the net carbon emissions over an entire year is zero. This means the airport absorbs or offsets the same amount of emission that was generated. This achievement is accredited by ACI under Airport Carbon Accreditation that monitors the efforts of airports to manage and reduce their carbon emissions.

Following the success of the code-share agreement launched in March 2016, Delta Air Lines and joint venture partner Air France-KLM will enhance their existing cooperation with Jet Airways. The expanded agreement adds new convenient travel options for customers flying from North America via Paris-Charles de Gaulle to India, complementing the current service offered through Amsterdam Airport Schiphol. Effective October 30, and subject to government approvals, Delta customers flying from the United States and Europe will be able to connect onto Jet Airways’ flights to Mumbai from Paris; and to New Delhi and Mumbai from Amsterdam. From here customers can then fly to 20 destinations within India. Subject to government approvals, Delta’s customers connecting through Paris and Amsterdam to Mumbai and New Delhi will have codeshare access to 20 onward destinations in India served by Jet Airways.  After government approvals, new Delta codeshare destinations will include Calicut, Coimbatore, Goa, Indore, Jaipur, Lucknow, Mangalore, Pune, Trivandrum and Vadodara.  

Air India has signed a free flow code share agreement with Air Austral enabling the former to code share on Air Austral operated flights on the Chennai-Reunion-Chennai sector as well as beyond Reunion to/from Johannesburg, Seychelles, Mauritius and Madagascar. Reciprocally, Air Austral will put its marketing code on Air India operated flights beyond Chennai to/from Mumbai, Delhi and Kochi. Air India, member of the prestigious Star Alliance, will offer its passengers flights departing from India to Saint-Denis de La Réunion via Chennai with the Chennai/Saint-Denis flight operated by Air Austral. The passengers of Air India will be able to connect in Saint-Denis on flights beyond to/from Johannesburg, Seychelles, Mauritius and Madagascar operated by Air Austral. Air Austral will offer its customers flights from Reunion to Chennai and beyond to/from Mumbai, New Delhi and Kochi on flights operated by Air India. Air Austral has been operating on the route Reunion Island-Chennai-Bangkok since 19th February 2013. From the beginning of November 2016, Bangkok will be discontinued, leaving all the capacity available to the Reunion Island – Chennai service. The code share will initially be implemented on the Reunion-Chennai-Reunion sector from 16th September 2016. Code share on the other sectors is likely to be implemented subsequently.

GAA SpeedJet Aviation in association with Jet Airways recently provided on-ground training to its students from the current batch of cabin crew and ground staff at a leading flying club in Madhya Pradesh. GAA SpeedJet students got exclusive access to airplanes Cessna 152 and Cessna 172 along with hands-on experience of the Simulator. Jet Airways, on its part, offered students lessons in ground duties – including airport check-in, passenger and cargo handling. GAA SpeedJet Aviation is a partnership between Gulf Aviation Academy (part of Bahrain Mumtalakat Holding Company, the investment arm for the Kingdom of Bahrain) and domestic aviation training institute SpeedJet Aviation. Jet Airways is India’s premier international airline which operates flights to 67 destinations, including India and overseas.

Club Vistara (CV), the airline’s frequent flyer program has undergone a revamp and now offers faster earning points, redemption and elite tier upgrades. The program has also introduced a Platinum membership as its highest tier, in addition to the existing CV Gold and CV Silver membership tiers, and has launched a two-track scheme for elite tier qualification based on points accrued or flights flown. Phee Teik Yeoh, CEO, Vistara said, “In response to the evolving needs of our frequent flyers, we have enhanced our program and introduced new features that are relevant and important to them.” Elaborating on the revamp, Sanjiv Kapoor, Chief Strategy and Commercial Officer, Vistara, said, “When we set out to redesign Club Vistara, we started by asking frequent flyers of Vistara and other airlines what they would want to see in their ideal program. We asked them what they valued most, and also what were their key pain points across different loyalty programs. We then designed the program to reflect what we heard. Not only is it now the fastest rewarding loyalty program, it is also the most generous. Importantly, Elite level benefits can be enjoyed by customers regardless of class of travel or fare paid. It is truly a program by frequent flyers, for frequent flyers.” For existing members, Club Vistara’s new tier qualification criteria will be applied retrospectively which will result in automatic tier level upgrades for many members. With major expansion plans in pipeline, Port Blair, the airline’s 18th destination in India will be launched on September 30th while its fleet is expected to grow to thirteen aircrafts over the next four weeks.