Category Archives: Aviation

SpiceJet has launched a daily direct Delhi-Surat-Delhi flight on March 26, as part of their summer schedule. The flight was inaugurated by Jayant Sinha, Minister of State, Civil Aviation. In an official statement, Ajay Singh, Chairman, SpiceJet, said, “SpiceJet is proud to connect Surat, one of the fastest growing cities of the country with the national capital. Our twice daily flights will offer immense flexibility to the corporate and leisure travellers on the SpiceJet network.”

Vistara has inaugurated service from Delhi to Leh and will operate direct flights between the two destinations on Saturdays and Sundays from March 25, 2017. The airline will increase the frequency to daily flights during the summer peak season, starting from May 10, 2017. Vistara celebrated the launch of this service with a traditional Ladakhi folk performance by a Ladakhi troupe in the departures area of Delhi T3, as well as with a similar performance in the arrivals area of Leh airport. Vistara also presented gifts to all passengers on the inaugural flights. Elaborating on the launch of the new destination, Phee Teik Yeoh, CEO, Vistara said, “Leh is on the bucket lists of millions of travellers from all over the world, who want to experience the unique culture of this region and its incredibly beautiful landscapes. We’re very excited to add this beautiful destination to our network, and provide connectivity to its residents. We are confident that this new route will further delight our customers, who will now be able to explore the breathtaking beauty of Ladakh while ‘flying the new feeling’ with Vistara. Furthermore, with convenient same-terminal connections between domestic and international flights at Delhi Airport’s T3, our new flights will open up Leh to more foreign visitors as well.”

Emirates has introduced a new service to enable customers to use their laptops and tablet devices until just before they board their flights to the US. Emirates customers travelling to the US via Dubai will be able to utilise their laptops and tablet devices on the first part of their journeys, and also during transit in Dubai. They must then declare and hand over their laptops, tablets, and other banned electronic devices to security staff at the gate just before boarding their US-bound flight. The devices will be carefully packed into boxes, loaded into the aircraft hold, and returned to the customer at their US destination. There will not be any charge for this service. Passengers on US-bound flights starting their journeys in Dubai are encouraged to pack their electronic devices into their check-in luggage in the first instance, to avoid delays. Customers should be aware that there will be a detailed search of all hand baggage on non-stop flights to the US from Dubai. They should therefore declare their devices before the search, or ensure their electronic devices are packed into their check-in luggage in the first instance. Sir Tim Clark, President Emirates Airline said: “Our aim is to ensure compliance with the new rules, while minimising disruption to passenger flow and impact on customer experience. Our new complimentary service enables passengers, particularly those flying for business, to have the flexibility to use their devices until the last possible moment. Once on board they can still stay connected on their mobile phones. Our historical data shows that on Emirates’ US flights, 90% of passengers using our onboard mobile and Wi-Fi connectivity services do so via their smart phones. Only …

SpiceJet has launched its latest international route—Kolkata to Dhaka— which would fly daily. Kamal Hingorani, Senior Vice President & Head Inflight Services and Customer Experience, SpiceJet, revealed that they have started their seventh international route to Dhaka. He also said, “We are very proud about it. There is another international route — Delhi-Bangkok, which is going to start on April 14 and will be a non-stop daily flight. There is a lot more on the cards for us.”

US government has announced restrictions on the type of electronic items that could be carried onboard flights to the US from certain airports, reveals a statement from IATA. Even the UK government has announced changes in its aviation security measures on selected inbound flights to the UK that restrict the size of electronic items that may be carried by passengers in the cabin. In a statement, the UK government has said that flights from Turkey, Lebanon, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Tunisia would be affected by these restrictions. A Q&A and factsheet available on the US Department of Homeland Security website reveals that passengers flying to the US directly from the named airports—Queen Alia International Airport (AMM), Cairo International Airport (CAI), Ataturk International Airport (IST), King Abdul-Aziz International Airport (JED), King Khalid International Airport (RUH), Kuwait International Airport (KWI), Mohammed V Airport (CMN), Hamad International Airport (DOH), Dubai International Airport (DXB) and Abu Dhabi International Airport (AUH) – should allow extra time at the airport. IATA calculations show that this ban will impact about 393 scheduled passenger flights per week, equivalent to about 2.7 % of the total international scheduled passenger flights to the UK. In the US, it would affect 350 scheduled flights a week, equivalent to about 2% of total international flights.

Air Asia India will now be flying to Kolkata and Ranchi. The airline added these two new destinations and will be making Kolkata its third hub after Bengaluru and Delhi. With the new additions, Air Asia India will now be flying to a total of 15 destinations in the country. The airline acquired its 9th A320 aircraft this year, after which it launched these connections.

IndiGo has appointed Cindy Szadokierski as Vice President – Airport Operations and Customer Services. With a career in aviation spanning over 30 years, she has held senior leadership positions primarily in the areas of airport operations as well as several other roles in operations, reservations and sales at United Airlines. She brings with her the experience and expertise through a proven record of operational leadership and delivering customer services at a large scale. She will take on the role of Vice President – Airport Operations and Customer Services effective April 17, 2017, and will be reporting to Executive Vice President, Sanjeev Ramdas.

Oman’s national carrier will reportedly start a new daily direct flight between Salalah, a southern Omani city and Kozhikode in Kerala from next week, in addition to Oman Air’s flight service between Muscat and Kozhikode which is the latest destination in the airline’s fleet and network expansion programme. “Oman Air is committed to support the economic development of the Dhofar region, which is a key market for us. We are extremely happy to announce this new direct service between Salalah and Kozhikode,” Oman Air CEO Paul Gregorowitsch said. The daily service will be operated by a Boeing 737-800. Existing frequencies between Muscat and Kozhikode have also been increased from once daily to twice daily since February this year. Oman Air is growing its weekly capacity to India with frequencies increasing on five of the airline’s key Indian destinations. Mumbai, Delhi and Hyderabad increase from twice daily to three times daily. Kozhikode increases from once daily to three times daily and Lucknow increases from once daily to twice daily. The growth in capacity follows the revised flight agreement Oman and India in December 2016, when the number of weekly seats was increased to 27,405 seats for both countries, compared to 21,145 seats, an increase of 6,258 seats per week.

Jet Airways has signed a code-share agreement with Jetstar Asia for flights from Singapore. Jetstar, the Singapore-based low-cost carrier, will offer further connections for those flying from India on Jet Airways to Singapore. An official release has said that under the code share, Jet Airways will place its marketing code ‘9W’ on Jetstar Asia flights operating from Singapore to 11 destinations across in the Asia Pacific region: Bangkok and Phuket in Thailand, Perth and Darwin in Australia, Jakarta, Denpasar Bali and Surabaya in Indonesia, Ho-Chi-Minh City in Vietnam, Kuala Lumpur and Penang in Malaysia and Hong Kong. The release also says that under this agreement, Jet Airways will extend its code share footprint to three brand new destinations: Darwin, Phuket and Penang. Most importantly, the latest code share will not only strengthen traffic flows via Singapore, but will also offer guests the advantage of twin/tri-city itineraries options through Singapore, either via Bangkok or Hong Kong, owing to code shares on both sectors. The new agreement would make the passenger experience even more seamless and convenient, since one can now fly from India to Singapore with Jet Airways, and further to Hong Kong or Bangkok on a code-shared Jetstar Asia flight, returning to India on Jet Airways directly from Hong Kong or Bangkok, all on a single itinerary.

Rwanda Renaissance, an organisation mandated to promote trade, tourism and investments into the country, has announced plans to take a MICE group on RwandAir’s first-ever direct and nonstop flight from Mumbai. The flight will depart Mumbai on April 5, at 0145 hours, getting into Kigali the same morning at 0515 hours. The group, under the banner ‘Rwanda Calling 2017’ will see over 30 persons travel to Kigali. While the majority will be attending a Religious Meeting at KIBEHO, there will also be investors and businesses looking at opportunities in the country . Ivan Mugisha, Country Manager, RwandAir, remarks, “We are indeed, delighted to fly this group to Kigali, on our first-ever direct and nonstop flight from Mumbai. RwandAir is committed to provide passengers from India a unique experience , while they fly the dream of Africa, not only to Kigali, but to the very many destinations on the African continent, within our vast and expanding network.” Clarence Fernandes, Chairman, Rwanda Renaissance, affirmed the fact that RwandAir will not only offer a superior product, but will also avoid the hassles of having to transit and change flights at other airports to reach Kigali , whether one is travelling on business or on leisure. “We welcome Rwanda’s national carrier and are confident passengers not only to Kigali but even beyond, will enjoy the airline’s world class service,” he adds.