Category Archives: Aviation

After resuming departure operations at 18.30 hours UAE local time (8PM IST), Dubai Airports commenced arrival operations at Dubai International Airport (DXB) under restricted capacity following an operational incident involving an Emirates flight EK521 from Trivandrum (India) on August 3. According to a Dubai Aiports spokesperson, DXB is operating with one runway, with arriving flights being given priority over departures. While all 282 passengers and 18 crew on board were brought to safety, one member of Dubai Airports’ firefighting team succumbed to injuries sustained whilst responding to the incident. Paul Griffiths, CEO, Dubai Airports, said, “I am deeply saddened to confirm that a member of Dubai Airports’ firefighting team succumbed to injuries sustained whilst responding to the accident of flight EK 521 earlier this afternoon [August 3]. We are doing all we can to support the family of this member of our team and others affected by the incident.” The Emirates Airline confirmed a network wide delay and cancellation of 21 flights from Dubai on August 3 to various destinations such as Mumbai, Kolkata, Medina, Doha, Geneva, Tehran, Muscat, Multan, Bahrain, Dammam, Basra, Karachi, Kuwait, Amman, Riyadh, and Hong Kong. Emirates flight EK521 travelling from Trivandrum International Airport in Thiruvananthapuram, India to Dubai on August 3 was involved in an operational incident upon landing at DXB. The Boeing 777 aircraft, departed at 10.19 AM from Trivandrum International Airport and was scheduled to land at 12.50 PM at DXB.

SriLankan Airlines has signed on board Bollywood actor Jacqueline Fernandez as their brand ambassador. The letter of agreement was signed between SriLankan Airlines Chairman Ajit Dias and Jacqueline Fernandez on July 30, 2016, at St. Regis Hotel, Mumbai. With this collaboration it made her, the face of SriLankan Airlines and the brand continues to strengthen its presence in India. Speaking on the occasion, Ajit Dias, Chairman, SriLankan Airlines, said “We are delighted to have Jacqueline Fernandez as the Brand Ambassador for SriLankan Airlines. Jacqueline’s strong connect, passion towards Sri Lanka and being an iconic profile in Sri Lanka aligns her naturally with the brand, just like our other two brand ambassadors, Mahila Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara.”

London to Delhi and London to Mumbai were among the top five most popular origins and destinations between Europe and APAC for Gulf carriers, according to the data analysed by Amadeus IT Group’s Travel Intelligence team. They came third and fourth, respectively. The report also said that Gulf carriers saw exponential growth of first and business class passenger volumes in 2015. Between 2014 and 2015, first class passenger volumes for Emirates, Qatar Airways and Etihad Airways on the top 10 Origins & Destinations between Europe and Asia Pacific increased 67 per cent, whilst business class traffic increased by 47 per cent. This staggering growth in premium classes was complemented by healthy overall growth, with a seven per cent increase in passenger volumes across all cabin classes for these routes. Airports in the Middle East also noticed a shift in traveller habits: passenger traffic for flights between Europe and APAC going through Doha, Abu Dhabi and Dubai increased by eight per cent. This data takes into account all bookings in the Amadeus system made via traditional and online travel agencies from across the globe. The figures come on the heels of Emirates and Etihad Airways both renewing their distribution agreements to sell their full range of fares to travellers worldwide through travel agents using Amadeus. Qatar Airways has had such an agreement in place since 2014.

The Delhi International Airport Private Limited (DIAL) has included construction of a new fourth runway parallel to the existing runway in the just concluded Master Plan 2016 of IGI Airport, New Delhi with features to handle large wide body aircrafts, navigational aids and lighting to permit operation in low visibility etc. This information was given by the Minister of State for Civil Aviation, Jayant Sinha in Rajya Sabha.

In a first-of-its-kind initiative SpiceJet announced the launch of Smart Check-in facility using BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) and NFC (Near Field Communication) technologies. This feature is available for all SpiceJet customers who have booked their tickets through the SpiceJet Mobile App. The customer does not require to carry the itinerary printouts nor has to Key-in the PNR number to initiate Check in if using this App. Ashok Gajapathi Raju, Union Minister for Civil Aviation inaugurated the Smart Check in facility at GMR Hyderabad International Airport. The service has been initially introduced at Hyderabad Airport in close coordination with GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd. (GHIAL) and will soon be available in all airports supporting e-boarding facility. The airline has set a new benchmark in the country by launching a slew of customer-friendly and innovative products and services using latest technology. This is set to relieve customers from standing in long queues, thus further enhancing their travel experience and offering a seamless journey. Near Field Communication enables passengers to receive their boarding pass on their smartphone when they check-in through NFC-enabled smartphones with SpiceJet’s mobile app. Customers who have booked their tickets using the mobile App will have to simply open the app and touch the mobile device on the NFC Check-in Poster available at the airport to retrieve their mobile boarding pass on their smartphones. Customers can also avail a touchless beacon based check-in to receive their boarding pass on the smartphone. Customers who have booked their tickets through the SpiceJet mobile app will receive an alert as they walk towards the SpiceJet Check-in area provided their Bluetooth and SpiceJet Mobile App are activated. Post acknowledgement of the notification, the customer …

Singapore Airlines has announced special Economy Class and Premium Economy Class fares to eight key Australian gateways, namely, Adelaide, Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Cairns, Canberra1, Darwin and Perth. Economy Class customers travelling on Singapore Airlines or SilkAir can avail of all-inclusive, return fares starting from Rs. 63,000 per person for travel from Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Kochi, Trivandrum, Coimbatore and Visakhapatnam to Australia; while customers from Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru and Ahmedabad can purchase tickets starting from Rs. 66,000 onwards. In addition, travellers can experience extra comfort in the Premium Economy Class with all-inclusive, return fares starting from Rs. 100,000. These fares are available on sale till August 31, 2016, for the travel period starting August 01, 2016 till April 30, 2017. Furthermore, travellers can redeem a complimentary S$40 Changi Dollar Voucher for use at all participating shops, restaurants and lounges when they transit at Singapore Changi Airport till March 31, 2017.

Effective September 26, 2016, IndiGo (6E) will operate its new daily non-stop flight between Chandigarh and Dubai at an all-inclusive return fare of Rs. 10,000. The airline also announced additional daily non-stop flight between Chandigarh and Delhi.Speaking on the launch to Dubai, Aditya Ghosh, President, IndiGo said, “We are very excited about the introduction of new launch from Chandigarh to Dubai. Chandigarh has been promising for us at IndiGo. We are excited to provide an international connection from Chandigarh which has been a long standing request from the people of city. The new service connecting Chandigarh with Dubai will reinforce our commitment to the State of Punjab & Haryana. This will also provide increased convenience for customers travelling from Himachal Pradesh & other adjoining cities of Punjab & Haryana.”

Passengers carried by domestic airlines during January-June, 2016, were 475.79 lakhs as against 388.33 lakhs during the corresponding period of previous year thereby registering a growth of 22.52 per cent, according to the statistics released by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). SpiceJet ruled with the highest Passenger Load Factor (PLF) of 93 per cent. However, overall the PLF in the month of June 2016 has slightly decreased compared to previous month primarily due to the end of tourist season. The overall cancellation rate of scheduled domestic airlines for the month of June 2016 has been 0.96 per cent. During June 2016, a total of 788 passenger related complaints had been received by the scheduled domestic airlines. In terms of On Time Performance (OTP), Vistara emerged as a clear winner with a score of 86.5 per cent.

In a bid to offer convenience to its passengers, Air India has set-up two specialised check-in counters at the New-Delhi metro station of airport express line. The counters that will provide enhanced facility to the passengers were inaugurated by Air India CMD, Ashwani Lohani and became functional on July 27, 2016 at 1600 hours. The newly introduced counters shall allow the Air India passengers flying on international and domestic routes to book tickets, get desired flight information and also check-in the extra luggage. The flight check-in facility shall close two hours before the departure of the scheduled flight. With the inception of this facility the airport passengers can obtain their boarding pass, check-in at the city check-in counter and can enjoy sightseeing in the national capital. These counters shall remain open from 4am in the morning to 11:30pm in the night. Lohani, said, “We are pleased to extend the facility of city check-in on both the domestic and international flights operated by Air India. Earlier, city check-in was available only for domestic sector flights and on a few gulf countries only. But to supplement the efforts, we have set up this Air India flight information cum excess baggage cum ticketing counter at each of the two stations. The objective of this is to enhance the overall travel experience and make it less hassling for passengers.”

Effective August 15, 2016, Air India’s existing Ahmedabad-London service will be extended across the Atlantic to Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey. With the new schedule, the national carrier’s flights from Ahmedabad to London Heathrow will continue to Newark every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The flight will depart Ahmedabad at 0530 and arrive in London at 1015 and then it will take off again at 1230 and arrive in Newark at 1500. The returning flight will leave from Newark at 2230 every Monday and Friday and land at Heathrow at 1015 the next morning and then it will again depart London at 1230 and reach back in Ahmedabad at 0200 the following morning. However, on Thursdays, the return flights will leave Newark at 0200 and arrive in Ahmedabad at 0330 the next morning, including the stop in London. The flights are now available for booking, and will be operated using Air India’s two-class Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft.