Category Archives: Aviation

Thai AirAsia has announced the first ever daily direct flights from Kochi to Bangkok Don Mueang starting from May 17, 2016. The inaugural fares to Bangkok are available starting from RS. 2999 per way, and can be booked until 27 March 2016 for travel from May 17, 2016- May 22, 2017 on www.airasia.com. Tassapon Bijleveld, CEO, Thai AirAsia, said, “India is a very important market for us and we are very committed to making air travel affordable and accessible from Kochi to Bangkok and beyond. As the first airline to launch a direct flight between Kochi and Bangkok, we are pleased to offer more convenience with a short 4 hour flight so travellers can have more time to enjoy our wonderful country. Beyond Bangkok, Thai AirAsia’s amazing connectivity allows for travellers to connect to over 20 destinations in Thailand including world famous beaches in Phuket and Krabi, and lush green mountains in northern Thailand’s Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai, among many other amazing cities. Beyond Thailand, passengers can also easily hop to other international destinations including Hong Kong, Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Siem Reap, Myanmar, Mandalay and Luang Prabang among many other cities”. Soraya Homchuen TAT Director of Mumbai said, “We are very excited to welcome Indian visitors to Thailand. In 2015, a total of 1,069,149 Indian visitors arrived in Thailand making Indian travellers the 6th largest group of travellers to our country. Apart from our delicious Thai cuisine, we are also very proud to showcase our Thai hospitality and various attractions nationwide. Beyond Bangkok’s temples, shopping malls and night life, there is still much to explore and we invite you to visit our famous beaches in southern Thailand …

Jet Airways has launched its new flight from Delhi- Muscat starting March 21. The inaugural fare for the new flight to Muscat is Rs 13,105 one way and Rs 29,466 for the round trip in economy class. The daily flight was launched to strengthen the airline’s network in the Gulf region. Alok Sawhney, Head – North India & Nepal, Jet Airways, said, “We are expanding our operations in the Gulf region with the addition of a new daily flight to Muscat from March 21. We are adding another flight to Dubai, making the Delhi-Dubai frequency to three flights a day. Also, we are growing our operations from Mumbai to Dubai, which would make it six flights a day. With this addition on the gulf routes, we are looking forward to an encouraging response from our travel partners.”

Air India has launched an Air Pass for pilgrims to major Buddhist cities in India, Myanmar and Sri Lanka. This coupon-based scheme for journeys originating in Yangon and Colombo, and is applicable to all types of journeys in economy class, except group travel. Under this scheme one can combine destinations Myanmar, Sri Lanka and India in a single journey. The fares are divided into four schemes—two for flights originating from Myanmar and two from Sri Lanka. Under scheme one can avail ex-Yangon six flight coupons for US$600, while scheme two offers eight ex-Yangon coupons for US$800. Schemes three and four are for flights from Sri Lanka, which offers six coupons for US$450 or eight coupons for US$800. Tickets can be booked at Air India offices or through travel agents, and are valid for 60 days from the start date of the journey.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) forecasts that India will be the third-largest aviation market in the world within 10 years. Referring to the draft National Civil Aviation Policy (NCAP), Tony Tyler, Director General of IATA, says, “India should develop its aviation policy to try to realise the huge potential of this market. Clearly it’s a good thing that the government has put together an aviation plan that will help make this happen. Certainly having an aviation plan like this is a step in the right direction but I do have to say that I am concerned about some aspects of it. Particularly where it’s going to ride cost to the industry or in some cases deviate from what are well accepted, tried and tested global principles. I have written to Ashok Gajapati Raju, Minister of Civil Aviation and Choubey, Civil Aviation Secretary about these issues.”

Vistara has announced a 25 per cent increase in flights at the start of its summer 2016 schedule, including the launch of new services to Jammu, Srinagar and Kochi. Its network will now cover 15 cities as the airline increases its weekly flights from 317 to almost 400 weekly. With the induction of four new Airbus A320 aircraft during the course of the year, the airline will introduce additional new destinations and further increase frequency on its existing routes. By the end of October 2016, the total number of flights would have increased by 85% relative to the current schedule. Starting April 7, 2016, Vistara will offer direct daily return flights from Delhi to Srinagar and from April 9, 2016 daily same-aircraft flights from Delhi to Jammu via Srinagar. The direct daily return flights from Mumbai to Kochi, and daily same-aircraft flights from Delhi to Kochi via Mumbai will commence from April 14, 2016. The new summer schedule has 17 city pairs connected through direct (non-stop) flights; 16 additional city pairs connected through ‘via’ flights such as Mumbai to Varanasi, Lucknow and Bhubaneshwar and Bengaluru to Guwahati; and over 40 additional single-stop travel options through connecting flights such as Srinagar to Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bhubaneshwar; and Lucknow to Pune and Hyderabad (all via Delhi). Flights and connections on the new schedule will be open for sale through all channels this week. With a focus on enhancing its connectivity in key metros, Vistara will also be increasing the frequency of its existing Delhi-Bengaluru service.

Etihad Airways has announced that it will start operating Airbus A380 between Abu Dhabi and Mumbai from May 1, 2016. With this flight, India’s commercial capital would join the carrier’s other A380 destinations of London, New York, Sydney and from June 1, 2016, Melbourne. The new daily A380 India service will connect over the airline’s Abu Dhabi hub to key A380 destinations of New York and London, and many other cities around the world. With 496 seats comprising The Residence – the commercial airline industry’s only three-room suite in the sky – 9 First Apartments, 70 Business Studios, and 415 Economy Smart Seats – the A380 is a great addition to the wide body fleet.

India’s domestic air travel soared 22.9 per cent in January compared to a year ago. Growth is being propelled by the comparatively strong domestic economy and increases in air services. The Indian market overtook both Australia and Japan during 2015 and is currently level with Russia at around 1.2 per cent of global revenue passenger kilometers (RPKs). The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced global passenger traffic results for January 2016 showing demand (RPKs) rose 7.1% compared to January 2015. This was ahead of the 2015 full year growth rate of 6.5%. January capacity rose 5.6%, with the result that load factor rose 1.1 percentage points to 78.8%, the highest load factor ever recorded for the first month of the year. Domestic air travel rose 6.8 per cent in January year-on-year. Capacity rose 5.1 per cent and load factor was 78.9 per cent, up 1.3 per cent percentage points. “January maintained the strong traffic growth trend seen in 2015, showing the resilience of demand for connectivity despite recent turmoil in equity markets.The record load factor is a result of strong demand for our product and airlines making the most productive use of their assets. Underlying conditions point to another strong year for passenger traffic, with the latestdecline in oil prices likely providing additional stimulus for air travel growth,” said Tony Tyler, IATA’s Director General and CEO. Domestic RPKs accounted for about 36% of the total market in 2015. It is most important for North American airlines as it is about 66% of their operations. In Latin America, domestic travel accounts for 46% of operations, primarily owing to the large Brazilian market. For Asia-Pacific carriers, the large markets in India, China …

Air India operated the longest all-women crew flight from New Delhi to San Francisco on March 6, to celebrate International Women’s Day. The “historic” New Delhi – San Francisco flight had 14 crew members and four pilots, all women. The flight left on March 6 and will return on March 8, reports PTI. Besides, the national carrier today said it would be operate over 20 all-women crew flights in domestic routes on March 8 to commemorate International Women’s Day. Air India CMD Ashwani Lohani had said that the flight to San Francisco on March 6 will be a symbol of “women empowerment”. “It will be a historic flight and the longest to be operated by all-women crew,” Lohani had said. The state-run airline has around 3,800 women workforce of the total 27,500 people with 20,500 of them regular. Duration of the flight would be more than 15 hours. According to him, the airline has immense respect for women and everyone associated with the flight, including pilots, engineers and those at the gate would be women. Every year, Air India operates all-women flights to celebrate the international women’s day.

The Minister of Civil Aviation Pusapati Ashok Gajapathi Raju welcomed the budget provisions aimed at reviving the unserved and under-served airports in the country for increasing regional connectivity. The Union Budget 2016 provides that the Central Government will partner with the State Governments to develop some of these airports and airstrips in the country. The Minister shared the action plan for revival of such airports. In the financial year 2015-16, Airport Authority of India (AAI) proposes to revive 10 non-operational airports. These airports are initially unviable and would require budgetary support from the Government. He said that Service Tax exemption under Deen Dayal Upadhyay Grameen Kaushalya Yojana will enable, firstly, training providers to set up training institutes across the country. Secondly, it will attract youth for cargo and ground handling from rural areas of the country. Exemptions for assessing bodies empanelled centrally by Directorate General of Training will also promote setting up of training institutes and attracting youth towards civil aviation sectors. About the increase of Excise Duty on Air Turbine Fuel from 8% to 14% the Minister said that the decrease in ATF base price over the last 13 months is around 25.04%. The increase in ATF prices due to increase in excise duty from 8% to 14% comes to around 6.56%. He said that the Budget 2016-17 has paved the way for developing India as a Maintenance, Repair and Overhauling (MRO) hub of Asia.

Following in the footsteps of Air India, Jet Airways will also relocate its domestic operations to the Terminal 2 at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA) from March 15, 2016. This will lead to the integration of domestic and international flight operations at one terminal. Flight 9W 484 from Mumbai to Kolkata departing at 02:25 hrs will be the first Jet Airways domestic flight to operate from T2 on March 15, 2016. The first arriving flight will be 9W 628 at 00:10 hrs from Kolkata. Gaurang Shetty, Sr. Vice President – Commercial, Jet Airways, said, “The integration of domestic and international operations at Mumbai’s Terminal 2 will enable Jet Airways to transform Mumbai into a critical international transit hub.”