Category Archives: Aviation

LOT Polish Airlines starting from March 6 introduces a free of charge option to postpone and change the date of travel for Passengers who have purchased LO tickets in individual tariffs only. A passenger with a LO (080-) ticket purchased on/before March 31, 2020, valid for journeys from March 6, 2020 to April 24, 2020, regardless of their destination, has the option of changing the travel date at no extra cost until December 31, 2020, provided that the same route and booking class are maintained. 1. REBOOKING A free change of the travel date can take place provided that the same route and booking class as used in the original ticket are kept. If the Passenger chooses a date and flight on which the original booking class is not available, Passenger needs to pay the fare difference. Change fees are waived. The rules apply equally to all types of PLL LOT individual fares. All changes must be handled on a voluntary basis. Whenever a change of itinerary is done in accordance with the above, it is necessary to add the OSI element in the following format: OSI LO WAIVER2020 In case of ticket reissue it is mandatory to add FE WAIVER2020 in the endorsement restriction box of the e-ticket. 2. REFUND In the event that the Passenger does not want to take advantage of the option of changing the date of travel free of charge, any refund of the ticket may only be made in accordance with the applicable fare conditions used in the original ticket. 3. ROUTING CHANGE Change of route is not allowed. Standard fare rules apply.

Hardeeep Singh Puri, Minister of State (I/C), Civil Aviation, has advised travellers to voluntarily get themselves checked for COVID-19, in case they have any symptoms. Addressing a press conference on the issue, he said, “My advice to everyone, whether they have gone as a tourists or have come in to India as part of a tour group, if they have symptoms, they should get themselves checked. While the numbers of cases of COVID-19 in India is not very high, we can’t afford to take chances. If someone came in before the universal checking of all passengers at airports started, they should come forward for a check in case of any symptoms. Some people have been identified already, and if they show any signs, they will be immediately tested. We are taking all external precautions needed, and the cabinet secretary is taking meetings every day. Under the overall control of PMO, and the PM personally, we have two groups—one is a group of ministers headed by Mr. Harshvardhan, of which I am a member. There is another group headed by the Cabinet Secretary. Each of these groups meet a number of times to take stock of the situation. It’s a case where all parts of the Government are active and in 24-hour contact with each other.”

IndiGo has announced that it will start operations to Agra with the launch of a direct non-stop flight from Bengaluru on March 5, under the government’s regional connectivity scheme UDAN, revealed William Boulter, Chief Commercial Officer, IndiGo. Agra will be IndiGo’s 63rd destination and 86th overall in its network, which also has flight services to 23 international airports. The airline already operates flights to and from Allahabad, Gorakhpur, Lucknow and Varanasi. “It gives us pleasure to announce Agra as the 63rd domestic destination in our network. Operating exclusively under the UDAN scheme, the new services will promote trade and tourism in the region through increased mobility,” said Boulter. With its fleet of over 250 aircraft, the airline offers 1,500 daily flights, connecting 63 domestic destinations and 23 international destinations.

V Ravindran, Regional Manager-India & Bangladesh, SriLankan Airlines, has revealed that they have plans to add Ahmedabad and Calicut to their list of destinations in India. Ravindran revealed, “We are focusing on M!CE from India. We also have some new destinations to be added as per the business plan, but subject to aircraft procurement. Ahmedabad and Calicut are going to be the latest Indian destinations to be connected via SriLankan. With that, we are going to fly to 11 destinations in India, and we will start a minimum of 4 flights a week. We also have plans to operate to Sydney. We are already flying to Melbourne 4 daily flights and we have plans to come start operations to Sydney as well. This will be a good product for the Indian leisure market specifically to Australia.”

Virgin Atlantic will be flying from Delhi to Manchester with services taking to the skies from October 2020 onwards. For the first time, Virgin Atlantic will fly from India to Manchester. Coupled with the airline’s double daily service from Delhi to Heathrow and daily service from Mumbai to Heathrow, the airline will now offer over 600,000 seats per year between India and UK. Juha Jarvinen, Chief Commercial Officer, Virgin Atlantic commented: “2020 marks our 20th anniversary of flying to India and as the destination continues to grow in popularity for both business and leisure travel, we’re thrilled to announce for very first time a new service flying three times a week from Delhi to Manchester, our home in the north.’’

In an effort to further promote the Rann Utsav, Gujarat state aviation infrastructure company limited has added direct flights between Bhuj- Ahmedabad and Bhuj- Delhi from 27th February 2020 till 12 March 2020. The flights connecting Ahmedabad and Bhuj will be operated by Air Deccan and the flights connecting Bhuj and Delhi will be operated by Zoom Air. These new flights and connectivity were promoted at a tour operators meeting in New Delhi.

AirAsia India leads in the On-Time Performance (OTP) metric of scheduled domestic airlines for the month of January 2020 as reported for four metro airports viz. Bangalore, New Delhi, Hyderabad and Mumbai, according to the latest statistics released by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). With a fleet of 29 aircraft catering to 21 destinations, AirAsia India currently operates over 200 daily flights and carried over 9 lakh passengers during January 2020. AirAsia India has been soaring in terms of offering its customers a mix of business and leisure destinations at pocket friendly prices. AirAsia India’s commitment to improving its guests experience has also resulted in witnessing one of the lowest cancellation and complaint ratios in Jan’ 20. Sunil Bhaskaran, CEO & MD, AirAsia India said, “We’re delighted that our efforts to streamline processes and our relentless focus on being guest obsessed have enabled us to achieve category leadership on the key industry metrics for on-time performance, complaint ratios and cancellation percentage. It has been our endeavor to provide exceptional service to our guests whilst also ensuring they reach their destinations on time, every single time”

In IATA’s recently released 20-year air passenger forecast, India will displace the UK to be the third largest aviation market with 278 million passengers in 2026. More passengers mean bigger crowds and more stringent security requirements, adding up to longer queues and greater potential for disruption. These factors could be why travellers are increasingly prioritising comfort over more functional concerns such as cost and efficiency.

Air India has resumed the biweekly flight operations from the Kozhikode to Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) after 5 years, revealed Ministry of Civil Aviation in a recent tweet. The flight between Calicut International Airport and Jeddah would be using a Boeing 747-400, to operate on a Monday and Saturday every week. The flight will land at Calicut at 7.05 a.m. and depart for Jeddah at 5.30 p.m. The flight will reach Jeddah at 9.15 p.m. From Jeddah, the flight will depart from Fridays and Sundays at 11.15 p.m. Regarding configuration, the jet will have 12 seats for first class, 26 for business and 385 for economy.

Jazeera Airways has announced a five per cent IATA commission for all the tickets that trade partners issue through its CRS partners, Amadeus and Galileo. This offer is with effect from 14 February, 2020 till 31 March, 2020. The code to avail  commission is 1A: FM05 and 1G: TMU1Z05.