Category Archives: Aviation

Zurich-headquartered global aviation giant, ExecuJet Aviation Group, is all set to expand into the Indian market for the first time, and has joined hands with The Bird Group in India. ExecuJet will develop, construct and operate India’s first fixed-based operation (FBO) and maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facilities at Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi, India. Mike Berry, VP, ExecuJet says, “This is a significant win for ExecuJet as we have had India on our radar for many years. It will provide us with the platform to expand our geographic footprint and service proposition, in line with our growth strategy. I would congratulate Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) for running a transparent process. Headquartered in New Delhi, with over 40 years of experience in India and expertise in aviation services, The Bird Group is our perfect partner for this expansion programme.” In an official statement, the Bird Group said, “ExecuJet has already established a leading global aviation business and we are delighted to be announcing partnership with them. In line with the “Make in India” programme we shall be creating state of the art world class infrastructure for Private Aircraft Operators.”

IndiGo has launched 10 flights across its domestic and international network. The airline will connect Delhi to Dubai from February 10; Bengaluru to Patna and Ranchi from February 15; and from February 18 flights will operate between Chandigarh to Delhi and Kochi (via Delhi); and Jaipur and Pune. Also, Delhi-Lucknow route will now have eight daily non-stop flights, with effect from February 18. The 3rd daily non-stop flight, effective Feb 10, from Delhi to Dubai costs Rs 6,980, while the Dubai to Delhi flight will cost Rs 7,025.The first daily non-stop flight, effective Feb 15, from Bengaluru to Patna will cost Rs 5,737, while the Ranchi to Bengaluru 1st daily non-stop flight will cost Rs 4,349. For flights effective Feb 18, the 1st daily non-stop flights from Delhi to Chandigarh will cost Rs 1,600; from Chandigarh to Delhi Rs 1478; Chandigarh to Kochi (via Delhi) will cost Rs 6,268; Kochi to Chandigarh (via Delhi) is worth Rs 6,313. Flights from Jaipur to Pune will cost Rs 3,933; and Pune to Jaipur Rs 3,730. The 8th daily non-stop flights from Delhi to Lucknow cost Rs 1,761 and from Lucknow to Delhi is for Rs 1,831. With the launch of these new flights the airline will operate 700 daily flights, connecting 39 destinations.

Garuda Indonesia, the national carrier of Indonesia, is reportedly planning to start flights between Mumbai and Bali, in order to tap the growing Indian honeymoon and Hindu pilgrimage markets. It is said that Garuda might operate charter flights in advance of plans for scheduled departures. According to Handayani, Commercial Director, Garuda Indonesia, the middle to upper classes of India are the ones who go on a religious journey to Bali. Currently, Garuda does not currently operate any flights to India, and no airline flies direct between Bali and India. Earlier this month Garuda commenced flights between Bali and Shanghai.

Air India has agreed to accept travel agents’ corporate credit card for booking, revealed Sunil Kumar, President, Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI). Speaking in New Delhi, at the UFTAA presentation for TAAI Northern Region members, he revealed that the team of TAAI had a meeting with Ashwani Lohani, CMD, Air India; Pankaj Srivastava, Director-Commercial, Air India, and other representative of the national carrier. “I am very impressed with the response from Ashwani Lohani, Pankaj Srivastava, and the entire team of Air India on allowing travel agents to use their corporate credit cards to do ticketing. We have been consistently talking to them on the airline having no objection if a customer uses his credit card, or the agent uses the customer’s credit card. However, the agent could not use his corporate credit card to make the booking. However, they listened to us, and we are highly obliged that may be within a week, the agent corporate credit card will be used by Air India as a form of payment.”

Air India Express will start flying from Kozhikode to Ras Al Khaimah four times a week from March 29 to October 24, 2016. The new flight has been added as part of the new summer schedule by the airline. On Wednesday and Saturday, it will fly directly from Kozhikode to Ras Al Khaimah and then go to Al Ain. However, on Monday and Friday, it will fly to Ras Al Khaimah via Al Ain. The timings are 10:40 am for all the four flights. The move comes as part of Air India Express’ plans to increase its frequency between Kerala and the Middle East to 119 flights per week from the present 96 a week in order to benefit Keralites working in Gulf countries. Acknowledging Kozhikode as its largest revenue centre, AIE increases its focus in this market by enhancing offered capacity to an all time high of 11,718 seats per week from the present 8,184 seats. The fare for the Kozhikode-Ras Al Khaimah flight is Rs. 11, 604.

The Cathay Pacific Group has announced that its’ wholly owned sister airline Dragonair is to be rebranded as Cathay Dragon. The two will remain as separate airlines, operating under their own licences. The rebranding will see a new livery created for Cathay Dragon that features a Cathay-style brushwing logo. This livery will appear for the first time on one of Cathay Dragon’s Airbus A330-300 aircraft in April and will be progressively introduced to the rest of the airline’s fleet. By more closely aligning the two brands, this rebranding will capitalise on Cathay Pacific’s high international brand recognition and leverage on Cathay Dragon’s unique connectivity into Mainland China – one of the world’s fastest-growing business and leisure travel markets. The Cathay Pacific Group will launch a major international advertising and marketing campaign later this year to promote recognition of Cathay Dragon and the benefits this rebranding will bring to passengers. Ivan Chu, Chief Executive, Cathay Pacific, said, “We are very proud of what we have achieved together. Cathay Dragon is a brand that will be recognisably part of the Cathay Pacific Group for our customers from different parts of the world. The rebranding will enable us to capture the fast-growing passenger flows across the two carriers by creating a more seamless travel experience. We are building on what is a true Hong Kong success story that has made our city a leading international aviation hub and gateway to and from Mainland China markets. This rebranding will sharpen our competitive edge by offering an attractive Cathay-led brand package that carries the assurance of a consistently high-quality customer experience,” Algernon Yau, Chief Executive Officer, Cathay Dragon, said, “We can assure our customers that Cathay Dragon will …

AirAsia X has announced the commencement of its new direct flight connecting New Delhi to Kuala Lumpur. The inaugural flight will land at the New Delhi international airport on February 3. “As part of our efforts to expand our flight network and to provide enhanced connectivity for our guests in the region, we are pleased to announce that we have started operating direct flights connecting New Delhi & Kuala Lumpur,” a statement from the airline said. The airline will be celebrating the inaugural flight on February 4 in New Delhi. Benyamin Ismail, Chief Executive Officer, AirAsia X Berhad will be making this special announcement at the celebration of the launch of this sector along with H.E. Datuk Naimun Ashakli Mohammad, High Commissioner of Malaysia to India, in the presence of Dr. Mahesh Sharma, Minister of state for Culture and Tourism (Independent Charge) and Civil Aviation and Dato Fam Lee Ee, Board of Director, AirAsia X. To celebrate the recommencement of New Delhi from Kuala Lumpur, AirAsia X offered an all-in-fares from as low as INR 7990 one way for the booking period Nov 23-29, 2015, with a travel period from February 3, 2016 until February 5, 2017.

Starting February 1, Air India will enhance frequency on its Delhi-Surat sector from 4 days to 7 days. At present, Air India operates a, CRJ-700 aircraft four times a week. The flight AI 0607 departs from Delhi at 0745 hrs and arrives Surat at 0925 hrs. The return flight AI 0608 leaves Surat at 0955 hrs and lands in Delhi at 1135 hrs. Delhi-Surat-Delhi AI flight is highly popular among textile and diamond businessmen and provides seamless connectivity between two business cities. It also offers convenient connections to other international flights from/to Delhi.

IndiGo has launched eight new flights in its domestic network connecting Delhi to Chennai, Chennai to Kochi, Guwahati to Delhi and Hyderabad to Delhi, with effect from January 27, 2016. Effective January 27, IndiGo introduced second non-stop daily flight between Chennai and Kochi, third daily non-stop flight between Delhi and Guwahati, ninth daily non-stop flight between Hyderabad and Delhi and 10th daily non-stop flight between Delhi and Chennai. With 679 daily flights connecting 39 destinations, these new flights will further consolidate IndiGo’s position as the fastest growing airline in India. Commenting on the new flight schedule, Aditya Ghosh, President IndiGo said, “We are delighted to announce the take-off of our new flights from Delhi, Chennai, Kochi, Guwahati and Hyderabad. The increased flow of tourist and business traffic to and from these cities gave us the perfect opportunity to launch additional flights and serve more passengers on board. We are confident that these new flights will prove immensely popular and convenient to our travellers.”

GoAir has started to commercially operate night flights to Port Blair Veer Savarkar International Airport. Its maiden commercial charter flight G8 1291 took off from Bengaluru at 23:15 hrs on January 20, and landed at Port Blair airport at 01:50 hrs. As a part of its charter operations, GoAir will operate three night flights in this sector in January, five night flights in February and six night flights in March. All flights will arrive at Port Blair from Bengaluru at 1.50 am and depart for Bengaluru from Port Blair VSI Airport at 2.20 am. Effective March 27, 2016 and as per its new summer schedule, GoAir will also start operating its first ever daily direct flights to Port Blair from Bengaluru.