Category Archives: Aviation

Lufthansa Group (LHG) airlines, Lufthansa, and SWISS will be the first to use the new Star Alliance Biometrics for elected flights in Frankfurt and Munich from mid-November. The new system is available via the app and Lufthansa Miles & More members will be able to pass through boarding and security without contact and have a touchless experience at airport.

Air India will operate additional flights between India and the UK from December 11, 2020 until March 27, 2021. Also, the national carrier will operate additional flights between India & France from 3rd January to 22nd March, 2021 under the air bubble agreement. The UK flight will be Delhi-Amritsar-Birmingham every Friday and Birmingham-Amritsar-Delhi every Saturday. Bookings are now open. These flights are in addition to the existing flights operating between India and the UK.  The new Delhi-Paris flights will be operating four days a week in the new year – from Delhi to Paris on Thursdays and Sundays, and from Paris to Delhi on Mondays and Fridays

According to data received from Cleartrip, flight booking volumes have doubled since July-August due to significant amount of pent-up demand and have reached around 50% levels of the last year.

Aloke Singh has taken charge as the new CEO of Air India Express with tenure of three years. The former Senior Advisor- Airline Consulting, CAPA South Asia who has also worked with Oman Air as Chief Officer Network Planning takes over from K Shyam Sundar, who was leading the airline since March 2014. The profitable low-cost arm of Air India reported its highest-ever net profit of Rs 412.77 cr in financial year ending March.

In India, regional aviation has always been a great business proposition on paper, says Varun Kumar, Team Leader – Consulting & Research at CAPA India. “In reality, it is extremely difficult to create a long-term sustainable business model for regional aviation in our country. Carriers such as Air Mantra, Air Pegasus, Air Costa and Air Carnival ceased operations within a span of few years, with some not lasting beyond a year,” he adds.

Air China has been rated 4.1 out of 5 on the Safe Travel Score for the Asia Pacific region by Safe Travel Barometer. Air China, among Asia Pacific’s largest airlines, emerged as the leading airline in the region with a Safe Travel Score of 4.1 out of 5, having carried out various traveller health and safety initiatives. Air China was among the first carriers globally to resume domestic services after the COVID-19 outbreak grounded its fleet earlier in 2020. While the airline had basics covered such as mandatory face masks and sanitizers for passengers, it also initiated fogging of aircraft before or after every flight.

Rupsi airport in Assam has been redeveloped at an estimated cost of Rs69 crore, and is ready to commence flight operations under UDAN, said AAI, providing direct connectivity to cities like Guwahati in Assam and Kolkata in West Bengal. Its runway is suitable for landing ATR72 type aircraft. The terminal building has 10 check-in counters.

IndiGo has become the first Low-Cost Carrier (LCC) to have started IATA -Billing and Settlement Plan acceptance in Overseas Point of sales using  IATA Financial Gateway (IFG) Currently, this facility is being offered in point of Sales at the United Arab Emirates, Qatar & United Kingdom and soon will be opened in 8 more overseas markets.

Sharing the results of their latest survey, Vinod Kannan, CCO, Vistara, revealed that 2 out of 3 (almost 67%) of customers have said that flying is the safest way to travel from one city to another. Only 13% have disagree. The survey titled, ‘Flyer behaviour and trends in the times of COVID-19’ also revealed that customers’ confidence to fly is increasing, with lesser fear of exposure during the journey or fellow Pax not following protocols.

Alitalia has announced that they will restart the flights from Rome (FCO)-Delhi (DEL)-Rome (ROM) on 2nd March, 2021. The non-stop flights between Rome (FCO) and Delhi (DEL) will resumed and will operate 3 times a week ex Delhi on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday and ex-Rome on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.  Starting March 27, Alitalia will resume with daily operations.