Category Archives: Aviation

As part of its fleet and network expansion, AirAsia India plans to add 3 more Airbus A320 neo planes by the month of June next year. The airline currently has 32 aircraft, including 2 A320 neo planes inducted recently.

According to Pradeep Singh Kharola, Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation, domestic air travel in India has reached 65% of what it used to be before COVID-19. He further said the numbers will rise to 80-90% over next few months with lifting of restrictions & reopening of businesses. He said that it may even reach normalcy if everything goes fine.

Air India is planning to operate non-stop flights on the Chennai-London route from January next year. In addition, the national carrier is starting first non-stop flight between Bengaluru and San Francisco; to be operated twice a week from  January 9. Further Air India will also start flying to Chicago from Delhi starting January 13.

Air New Zealand’s new Christmas video, ‘Twas the Flight Before Christmas, comes with an exciting chance for Indian agents to win exclusive Air New Zealand hampers. To celebrate the release of this video and spread some cheer this festive season here in India, Air New Zealand is giving India based agents the chance to win exclusive Air New Zealand hampers, by simply filling in a form with their contact details on the airline’s website before 4 December, 2020. Released on 20 November and shot on location at the 14th Ave Dairy in Tauranga, ‘Twas the Flight Before Christmas sees Santa Claus and Air New Zealand teaming up to surprise some lucky families in New Zealand with a plane ride and the gift of free flights to visit loved ones anywhere in Aotearoa this Christmas. Air New Zealand’s Chief Customer and Sales Officer Leanne Geraghty says, “You have to get quite creative to deliver a campaign like this with less, and we’ve pulled out all the stops to achieve this – including bringing the ‘Sleigh320’ toy plane featured in the video out of storage to be upcycled and repurposed as a magical prop to surprise unsuspecting locals. Though this year’s video was made on a significantly smaller budget than our previous festive campaigns, the focus remains squarely on spreading Christmas cheer and magic.”

Vistara will operate special, non-stop flights between Mumbai and London Heathrow from 16 January 2021. The airline will operate these special flights thrice a week – on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. These flights are in addition to recently-launched service between Delhi and London Heathrow as part of the ‘transport bubble’ agreement between India and the UK.

Pradeep S Kharola, Secretary, MoCA, has said that the government will now focus on promoting Indian carriers. Speaking at a webinar organised by FAITH, he said, “We have realised the importance of tourism and aviation as an industry. Hence, as a matter of policy, the government would be giving more thrust on promoting Indian carriers.”

The Worldwide Airport Slot Board (WASB) comprising ACI World, IATA, and the Worldwide Airport Coordinators Group (WWACG) recommend regulators worldwide to temporarily adopt more flexible slot rules as quickly as possible in order to preserve essential air transport connectivity.

CAPA India recommends the development of 100 new low-cost airports by re-targeting of the planned $4-5bn of capital and other assets earmarked for investment in regional aviation over next 10 years.

In a written statement, Air Asia India has clarified with TAAI that they are not going out of business. The statement by Ankur Garg, CCO, Air Asia India, pointed out, “While the current pandemic has severely impacted the aviation sector and AirAsia India is no exception, we have remained adequately capitalized throughout these months by securing the funding from our majority shareholder as and when required.” He further said that they continue to grow their network and are already at ~55% of their pre-COVID capacity and looking to increase to 70% as per the recent relaxed capacity mandate from the government last week. They have also recently added a brand new A320 NEO to their fleet in Oct, adding a 2nd NEO in Nov and will add another 3 aircraft in as many months. Giving another evidence of the financial stability of AirAsia India, Garg reveals that they have been smoothly processing all refunds in the last few months and never forced a conversion of bookings during lockdown to “credit shells”. In the months of Sep-Oct, Air Asia leadership proactively engaged in regional meetings with travel agent partners across the entire country and addressed any questions on refunds, long term growth plans, etc. On the employee front, we have not retrenched any staff and have not done salary cuts for employees earning less than Rs 50,000 per month, and also no delay in salary pay-outs has happened for any month since the pandemic, he informed. Citing these points, Garg said that he hopes that it would dispel any doubts and provide enough confidence in the financial sustainability and growth plans of AirAsia India.

IATA is in the final development phase of the IATA Travel Pass, a digital health pass that will support the safe reopening of borders. The Pass will manage and verify the secure flow of necessary testing or vaccine information among governments, airlines, laboratories and travellers.