Category Archives: Aviation

GMR Airports, the company that runs Delhi and Hyderabad airports, has won the bid to develop and operate a new airport in North Goa. “GMR Airports, a subsidiary of GMR Infrastructure has won the international competitive bid for development and operation of Mopa Greenfield Airport in North Goa,” as per BSE release. The company is going to built this airport on BOT (Build Operate Transfer) model and the concession period for the said project will be 40 years with a possible extension of another 20 years through a bid process. The letter of award is expected to be issued within 60 days, while signing of concession agreement will be done within 45 days from the date of issuance of award letter.

Air India Express will connect Sharjah with Chandigarh and Tiruchirapalli (in Tamil Nadu) from September. The airline will introduce three non-stop flights per week each from Chandigarh (IXC) and Tiruchirapalli (TRZ), to add Sharjah International Airport, bringing the total number of its routes between Sharjah and Indian destinations up to seven. India is one of the United Arab Emirates’ leading trade partners, accounting for some 9.8 percent of the country’s total non-oil trade, buying 14.9 percent of the Emirates’ exports and 8.7 percent of its re-exports. The total volume of bilateral trade between India and the UAE is expected to increase from $60 billion in 2014 to $100 billion by the year 2020. India is also the largest single origin of investors for Sharjah’s Hamriyah Free Zone and Sharjah International Airport Free Zone (SAIF Zone). Air India Express has been expanding its services to destinations in the UAE, including daily Mumbai-Dubai, Mumbai-Sharjah, New Delhi-Dubai and New Delhi-Abu Dhabi routes, which it added earlier this year. According to the airline, the number of its weekly flights between India and the UAE increased from 107 flights to 146 flights per week before the summer. The low-cost airline currently operates five routes with a total of 15 weekly flights to Sharjah International Airport. Air India Express now flies direct to Sharjah from Kochi (COK), Kozhikode (CCJ), Mumbai (SAHAR), New Delhi (DEL), Thiruvananthapuram (TRV) and Varanasi (VNS. India is well connected to Sharjah, with Sharjah-headquartered Air Arabia operating flights between Sharjah and 13 Indian destinations. Jet Airways, India’s second largest airline, operates direct daily flights on Sharjah-Kochi and Sharjah-Mangaluru (IXE) routes.

The Visakhapatnam Urban Development Authority (VUDA) and Sky Chopper Logistics signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to introduce helicopter tourism in the city from Dasara festival this year. Ganta Srinivasa Rao, HRD Minister of State, Government of Andhra Pradesh, informed that the company would be allotted 1.95 acres at VUDA park for construction of helipad and three rooms to operate the services on payment of Rs. 50,000 a month to the VUDA. There are two packages on offer which will cover Kailasagiri to Bheemunipatnam and another will cover the areas of Araku and Lammasingi. The fares will also be announced soon. The passengers will get an insurance cover of Rs. 10 lakh. (Source: The Hindu)

IndiGo has launched ‘Flexible Fare’ that allows travelers to change to another flight at no extra charge. With the regular fare, this change costs Rs 2250 per person per sector. Additionally, Flexible Fare offers them complimentary seat selection. IndiGo’s Super Lightweight Champion gives corporate travellers, who frequently make daily round trips with no check-in baggage, significantly lower fares that can be selected on bookings made at least 15 days before the date of travel. In case the traveller does land up having check-in baggage of up to 15 kgs, they can pay a fee of Rs 200 at the airport. Speaking about this initiative, Mr. Aditya Ghosh, President, IndiGo said, “These are exciting times for the flyers in India. It is our constant endeavour to empower our consumers to make informed choices. These new fares are a testament to our promise to always provide our flyers with low fares. We complete ten years of operation this year and the reason we have grown is that we have always been ahead of the curve. Initiatives such as this go a long way in strengthening our consumers’ trust in us and we hope we can continue to provide them with a hassle-free flying experience.”

The Union Ministry of Civil Aviation, Maharashtra Government, and Airports Authority of India have signed a tri-partite Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), kicking off the collaborative process for the successful launch of the Regional Connectivity Scheme. The MoU was signed in Mumbai in the presence of Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju, and Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. With this MoU, the State Government of Maharashtra has formally agreed to provide the concessions required from the State Governments in the Regional Connectivity Scheme, thereby becoming the first state in the country to do so. The agreement was signed by Chairman, Airports Authority of India, Principal Secretary Civil Aviation (Maharashtra) and Joint Secretary (Ministry of Civil Aviation). Earlier during the day, Raju and Fadnavis discussed various other aviation related issues in the State of Maharashtra at length. The meeting was attended by R. N. Choubey, Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation, Swadheen Kshatriya, Chief Secretary of the State and other officials. Amongst others, the subject of rehabilitation of slums (that have come up right next to the Mumbai International Airport) was deliberated upon in details.  Early operationlisation of several available airports and airstrips in the State (like Shirdi, Kolhapur, Nasik, Sholapur etc) also figured prominently in the discussions. Later, Raju undertook an aerial survey of the proposed airport site for Navi Mumbai and took a status briefing from the officers concerned. He laid emphasis on timely completion of the project and conveyed that this can be achieved only if timelines for all sub-activities are adhered to. Raju conveyed that he will be undertaking similar visits to several other states across the country to promote the Regional Connectivity Scheme and discuss other related issues …

Cathay Pacific Airways and its subsidiary Dragonair have revised their baggage policies and will now be offering customers an additional 10kg of check-in baggage. The new policy will be valid starting September 15, 2016, and will be available to all passengers, whether they are travelling economy, business or first class. But, the revised checked baggage policy will have a limitation on pieces of baggage. Economy, premium economy and business class passengers will be able to check-in up to two pieces of luggage, while those in first class will be entitled to a maximum of three bags. On the other hand, Marco Polo Club silver, gold and diamond tier members would get an extra 10kg, 15kg and 20kg, respectively. Meanwhile, Dragonair has also revealed that it will increase its carry-on baggage allowance to match that of Cathay Pacific. From a set 5kg for all classes, the new allowance will grant economy and premium economy passengers a new limit of 7kg, while business and first passengers will receive 10kg and 15kg respectively.

A 1.92 per cent seats were sold on the Delhi-Leh route on Jet Airways earning a revenue share of 6.18 per cent in the highest fare bucket on select 20 sectors, as per data from the Ministry of Civil Aviation. Passengers carried by domestic airlines during Jan-Jul 2016 were 560.87 lakhs as against 455.95 lakhs during the corresponding period of previous year thereby registering a growth of 23.01 per cent. In July, SpiceJet recorded the highest passenger load factor (PLF) with 92 per cent, followed by GoAir with 90.3 per cent and AirAsia with 85.7 per cent.

Starting  October 4, SpiceJet to add new markets like Silchar, Gorakhpur and Aizawl and will operate new flights on routes like Kolkata-Silchar-Guwahati; Kolkata-Aizawl-Guwahati and Kolkata-Gorakhpur-Delhi. Kolkata-Visakhapatnam-Kolkata flights will also start from November 1. To celebrate the launch of the new routes, SpiceJet is offering tickets at an all inclusive introductory fares of – Rs. 2127 for the Kolkaka-Aizawl and Rs. 1899 for the Aizawl-Guwahati sectors; Rs. 3699 for the Kolkata-Silchar and Rs. 4188 for Silchar-Guwahati sectors; Rs. 3210 for the Kolkata-Gorakhpur and Rs. 3335 for Gorakhpur-Delhi sectors. The new schedule will also include additional frequencies with a direct flight on its existing routes of Kolkata-Bagdogra and Kolkata-Guwahati. Sarbananda Sonowal, Chief Minister, Assam thanked SpiceJet for enhancing its air frequency to Assam and other North Eastern States by starting new daily flight sorties connecting North East with other parts of the country. Shilpa Bhatia, Sr. VP, Commercial, SpiceJet, said, “Enhancing the country’s regional connectivity has always been a prime focus for SpiceJet. And with the new aviation policy in place, there is an added encouragement to enter the underserved markets.” SpiceJet intends to add the untapped markets in its domestic network and thereby, enhance regional connectivity. SpiceJet will deploy its Q400 fleet for the newly devised schedule.

SpiceJet continues to record highest passenger load factor (PLF) among Indian carriers with 92 per cent for the month of July 2016, according to statistics released by Ministry of Civil Aviation. SpiceJet has achieved above 90 per cent PLF for 15 successive months. The airline’s On-time Performance (OTP) for the month of July 2016 was recorded at 79.2 per cent, second only to Vistara with 80.30 per cent. OTP has been computed for its operations across the four metro airports of Bangalore, Delhi, Hyderabad and Mumbai. SpiceJet operated 298 daily flights and carried 9.94 lakh passengers during the month thereby registering a market share of 11.7 per cent. Flight cancellations have also declined steadily over the past few months for the airline, with the cancellation rate for July 2016 being just 0.28 per cent. The total passengers carried by domestic airlines during Jan-Jul 2016 were 560.87 lakhs as against 455.95 lakhs during the corresponding period of previous year thereby registering a growth of 23.01 per cent.

Vistara has launched its new multimedia brand campaign along with its first TV commercial that features actor Deepika Padukone. The campaign delivers on the brand  promise of “Fly the new feeling” through the eyes of the airline’s new brand ambassador. Through this campaign, Vistara wishes to reach out to its core audience of corporate and frequent flyers who are willing to pay a premium for the unique offerings provided by the full service airline. Phee Teik Yeoh, CEO, Vistara, said, “We believe the journey should be as enjoyable as the destination. Our new brand campaign with Deepika Padukone highlights the unique feeling of flying Vistara. Through this campaign, she has brought to life the special spark of happiness that people feel when they fly with Vistara, the airline that is proud to carry the remarkable heritage of Tata group.” Within 19 months, Vistara has expanded its network from its hub in New Delhi and now serves 17 destinations across the country with 11 Airbus A320 aircraft flying 475 flights a week. By end of this year, Vistara’s fleet will grow to 13 Airbus A320 aircraft and it will fly over 500 flights a week to 18 destinations.