Tag Archives: Indian Sub-continent

Air France-KLM has appointed Jean-Noel Rault as the new General Manager of the Indian Sub-Continent. Noel, who will assume his office on August 1, 2018, will be responsible for accelerating the growth and strengthening the presence of Air France-KLM in the Indian Sub- Continent. He will also drive the consolidation and extension of the company’s partnerships in the same geography. Prior to being appointed the GM – Indian Sub-Continent, Jean-Noel was heading Air France-KLM’s business in Canada as the Vice President and General Manager. During his assignment he opened two routes, Amsterdam to Edmonton for KLM and Paris to Vancouver for Air France. He also reinforced the company’s joint venture with Delta Airlines and partnership with West Jet. Jean-Noel started his career with KLM in 1987 and joined Air France in 1989. Over three decades of his career, he has held decisive positions as Station Manager, Commercial Director, Country Manager and General manager in Constantine, Bucharest, Prague, Riyadh, Noumea, Abidjan and Montreal. While he was stationed in France, he was assigned the role of Route Manager for the Middle East and Africa, Head of Direct Sales and Services Policy, as well as the Director of Customer Contact Centres and Social Media Servicing. Succeeding Max Smits, who was at the helm of Air France-KLM’s business in the region since 2015, Jean-Noel will be a part of a strong and successful India team that has provided seamless service to its customers and partners.

To promote the flights to Amsterdam, together with CSIA Mumbai, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines has installed an experiential activity at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport targeting the international flyers. The installation is made so thematically that the flyers can have a taste of ‘Mini Amsterdam’ during their transit time and before they board the flight from Mumbai. As Holland is known to be the biking capital of the world, KLM India has installed a cycling activity, which is a nice way for passengers to spend time while waiting to board their flights. The activity also gives a chance to the flyers to win goodies, airline discount vouchers, food coupons and much more. It is communicated via social media and will be live until end of June. From Mumbai, passengers fly on KLM’s latest Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, which has 30 World Business Class seats, 45 Economy Comfort seats and 219 Economy Class seats. Speaking about this activity, Max Smits, General Manager, Air France – KLM, Indian Sub-Continent said, “We are happy to collaborate with MIAL (Mumbai International Airport Limited) regarding this activity to boost the KLM presence out of Mumbai and inspire flyers to choose KLM for travel to Amsterdam and beyond. KLM started its direct service from Mumbai to Amsterdam last year during winter 2017 with three weekly flights. For the winter schedule of 2018, we will be adding another flight making it as four weekly flights from Mumbai.”

Ethiopian Airlines is all set to launch Africa’s first and the airline’s youngest and modern operating fleet B787-9 Dreamliner operation in to Mumbai. The aircraft made its debut flight to India’s capital city of Delhi on October 28, 2017. The Dreamliner fleet which is an integration of design and technology with unique features of biggest windows in the sky, high ceiling, less noise, distinctive lighting, and higher air humidity, has further redefined passengers’ travel experience on board Ethiopian. Tadesse Tilahun, Regional Director, Indian Sub-continent, Ethiopian Airlines, remarked, “Ethiopian was the first airline to introduce Dreamliner 787-8 to India in 2012 and Airbus A350 -900 XWB in April 2017. Once again, we are proud to celebrate yet another first with the introduction of the cutting-edge Africa’s first 787-9 into Indian market. India is a strategic market for Ethiopian that has been served for more than 46 years and in line with our expansion strategy in Indian market, we are pleased to deploy our latest fleet and adding capacity on the existing route to better serve our esteemed customers and to further strengthen the growing trade and commercial ties between the booming economies of India and Africa.”

Air France celebrates 50 years of its operations on the Paris-Mumbai route ever since it added Mumbai to its historic Far East network by launching flights from Mumbai to Paris on September 7, 1967. The airline now operates a daily service between Paris-Charles de Gaulle and India’s economic capital by Boeing 777-200 equipped with the latest long-haul travel cabins. On this occasion of completing half a century, Max Smits, General Manager, Air France-KLM, Indian Sub-Continent said,  “We are proud to celebrate 50 years of service between Mumbai and Paris. Air France has been present in Mumbai since 1967 and has been investing continuously with the aim to provide a great product and excellent connection opportunities to the Indian passengers from its hub at Paris, Charles de Gaulle. We take this opportunity to thank our loyal customers and partners in reaching this great milestone and are absolutely thrilled to celebrate this occasion with our passengers taking the flight 07 Sep from Mumbai to Paris with a small surprise celebration at the Mumbai airport”.    

Ethiopian Airlines has announced that it will launch Africa’s first Ethiopian Airbus A350 -900 XWB on the Addis Ababa-Mumbai route during the month of April 2017. Passengers on Ethiopian’s twice daily non-stop services between Mumbai to Addis Ababa, will be able to enjoy the extra features of this latest flying machine: amazing cabin interior features with the latest high-definition touch screen, personal monitors with a higher selection of movies, wider seats and windows, the lowest twin engine noise level, advanced air conditioning technology, full LED mood lighting, which  enhance comfort and reduce jet-lag after a long flight are few to mention. Tadesse Tilahun, Regional Director, Indian Sub-continent, remarked, “The A350 is a game changing fleet that has proven exceptional levels of luxury and reliability for a totally unique passenger experience. We are glad to be the first airline to serve our Indian customers with this latest aircraft from Mumbai. Currently, we are operating 28 weekly passenger flights to India’s major cities, Mumbai and Delhi. Moreover, to further strengthen the growing trade and commercial ties between the booming economies of India and Africa at large, we have started weekly freighter operation to Ahmedabad, our fifth cargo destination in India, since March 28. ” It is to be recalled that Ethiopian has been the first in Africa to own and operate the A350 in African skies. Among a total of 14 orders, Ethiopian currently has three of them in operation.