Category Archives: Aviation

Expressing disatisfaction over the Budget ’16, Conrad Clifford, Regional Vice President, Asia Pacific, International Air Transport Association (IATA), said, “The budget had a minimal focus on aviation. We hope the government will do a better job with the National Civil Aviation Policy. While the NCAP is a step in the right direction, there are areas of concern, especially where it adds costs to the industry or where it deviates from well-established global standards. We hope the government will address three priority areas – retract the 2 per cent Regional Connectivity Fund levy, abandon the plan to auction traffic rights, and allow AERA to perform its functions independently by not enshrining any ‘Till’ for airport charges in the Policy document.”

Reacting to the Budget, Jayant Nadkarni, President, Business Aircraft Operators Association, said, Developing new airports is always good. But we already have many airports without much connectivity. For operations to commence, we need clarity on funding, taxation, duties, and incentives. These are yet to come together for the small aircraft sector in business aviation and in scheduled commuter flights to remote areas. The potential for growth clearly exists.

Jet Airways and Korean Air have entered into a codeshare agreement and a reciprocal frequent flyer programme. The partnership would allow guests travelling on both Jet Airways and Korean Air to connect from multiple points in India to Seoul over various gateway points in Asia. Under the codeshare arrangement, Jet Airways will place its marketing code on Korean Air operated non-stop flight between Incheon, Seoul and Mumbai, as well as flights between Incheon, Seoul and Bangkok and Singapore. Likewise, Korean Air will place its marketing code on Jet Airways’ operations between Singapore and Mumbai and between Bangkok and Mumbai and Delhi.

Jet Airways is expanding its operations to Bangkok with the launch of new daily flights from its hubs in Mumbai and Delhi. With the introduction of these new frequencies, the airline becomes the largest Indian airline flying between India and Bangkok. With effect from March 27, 2016, Jet Airways will launch a third daily frequency from Mumbai to Bangkok, making it the airline with the maximum number of daily frequencies between the two cities. Jet Airways will also launch a second daily service from Delhi to Bangkok from March 27, 2016, offering greater choice to guests travelling between the two capital cities. Gaurang Shetty, Senior Vice President – Commercial, Jet Airways, said, “Jet Airways is delighted to introduce additional frequencies from Mumbai and Delhi to Bangkok providing greater choice and convenience to our guests on these popular routes. Bangkok has been a popular destination for business and leisure travellers and demand on routes from India to Bangkok continues to grow. By adding more capacity to this key destination from our hubs in Mumbai and Delhi we aim to provide easy connectivity with convenient schedules linking to our wider domestic network.” Jet Airways will deploy Boeing 737-800 aircraft on the new services, offering Premiere and Economy guests, a best in class in-flight product, warm service, and award-winning in-flight entertainment and cuisine.

IndiGo has added additional flights on its Delhi-Jaipur and Delhi-Chandigarh routes to enable those stranded due to ongoing protests in Haryana to travel between the two cities. The airline operate two additional flights from Delhi to Chandigarh on February 23. On February 22, the airline operated two flights on Delhi-Chandigarh and two flights on Delhi-Jaipur routes respectively. These supplementary flights will allow stranded passengers to travel between these cities, as rail transport is not fully operational and roads have been blocked by protestors.

All Nippon Airways (ANA) has announced the launch of direct daily flights ex-Mumbai to Narita on its new Boeing 787 with effect from March 27, 2016. Till now, it was only servicing New Delhi to Narita flights. On the new route, the Dreamliner will have flat beds, 46 staggered seats in business class, 21 in premium economy and 102 seats in normal economy class. This will make ANA the only airline to operate direct flights to Japan with business class seating. The airline has also announced introductory fares as well as special fares for the travel agents.

The third terminal at the Cochin International Airport will be officially inaugurated on February 26 by Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy. According to reports quoting Cochin International Airport Ltd (CIAL) official, the new terminal is built in a record time of two years over an area of 15 lakh sq ft and will handle 4,000 passengers. Opened in 1999, CIAL is the country’s first greenfield airport built and managed in the public-private-partnership (PPP) mode. It is the biggest of the three international airports in Kerala. The total paid-up capital of the airport is Rs 306.06 crore of which the Kerala Government accounts for Rs 100 crore. The CIAL became the first airport in the world to operate on solar power last year when a 12 MW solar power plant was commissioned. The Kerala hub handles multiple Indian and international carriers, including Emirates, Etihad, AirAsia, Qatar Airways and SilkAir. (Source: Economic Times)

Come April 6, Air India will commence flights between Delhi and Vienna. This will be Air India’s eighth European destination. The flight will operate thrice a week on AI’s Boeing 787. It will leave from New Delhi at 1400 hours (IST) and land at Vienna at 18:45 hours(local time). On the way back, the flight will leave Vienna at 22.45 hours and arrive in Delhi the next day at 09.25 hours(IST). The national carrier is also in talks with Austrian Airlines for a code-share. Vienna drew a record number of 40,355 Indians in 2015, accounting for 89,628 overnight stays. While the number of Indians visiting Vienna increased by 49.5 per cent over last year, the number of overnight stays grew by 38.7 per cent, according to Vienna Tourist Board. As per the data, the growth in Indian visitors to Vienna was among the highest after the Arabic countries and Taiwan. During 2015 overnight stays crossed the 14 million mark for the first time, representing a healthy 5.9 per cent increase of over previous year.

The PHD Aviation Summit 2016 saw industry stalwarts stressing on regional and remote connectivity. Ashok Gajapathi Raju Pusapati, Minister of Civil Aviation, Government of India, said that it is important for connecting regional and remote destinations via air not only to make it easier for foreign tourists but also to promote domestic tourism. The event was inaugurated in the presence of Gajapathi Raju; K. Narayana Rao, Chairman, Civil Aviation Committee; Gopal Jiwarajka, Senior Vice President, PHD Chamber; Dr. Burak Akcapar, Ambassador, Embassy of the Republic of Turkey; and Anil Khaitan, VP, PHD Chamber. In a special session titled, Regional & Remote Connectivity: Key Drivers & Initiatives’, Sunil Kumar, President, Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI), said that India has more than 400 airstrips and only 127 operational airports. He further added that in order to boost remote connectivity, it is important to develop these airports and get more flights at such destinations. The summit also had panel discussions on ‘Cargo Sector- Vital Role in Economic Growth’, while the valedictory session was on National Civil Aviation Policy – NCAP2015- Impact on Industry & Tourism’.

With effect from March 1, Jet Airways will launch a sixth daily frequency from Mumbai to Dubai. With the introduction of this new flight, Jet Airways will offer the maximum number of daily flights between the two cities. Jet Airways will also launch a third daily frequency between Delhi and Dubai, starting March 27, offering guests a greater choice when travelling between India’s national capital and the Emirate. With the launch of the new frequencies, Jet Airways will operate a total of 11 daily flights between India and Dubai. This includes flights from Kochi and Mangalore. Gaurang Shetty, Senior Vice-President – Commercial, Jet Airways, said, “Jet Airways is delighted to introduce additional frequencies from Mumbai and Delhi to Dubai providing greater choice and convenience to our guests on these popular routes. Dubai is amongst our most popular destinations for business and leisure travellers and it was only fitting to increase capacity to this key market. The new frequencies will enable Jet Airways to offer guests a wide choice of departure times to/from Dubai and convenient domestic connections via our hubs in Mumbai and Delhi.” Jet Airways will deploy Boeing 737-800 aircraft on the new services, offering Premiere and Economy guests a best in class in-flight product, warm service, a choice of Indian and international cuisine and the latest in-flight entertainment.