The New Bangalore International Aiport was open today at 00:01 AM for business with the first flight taking off to Singapore at 00:15 AM today. Earlier the first flight to land was Ai609 from BOM-BLR which landed at 22:35 Yesterday.
This is a proud and momentous day for the people of Bangalore and the country. The Airport is a real Beauty.
Go Air has scrapped the Mumbai-Chennai route with effect from next week in accordance to its route rationalization plans. The real reasons for this remains a mystery as to why the carrier is withdrawing on a high density and high profit route.
Speculation is rife that Go Air is cutting its flights gradually and wants to eventually exit the business given its very tough prevailing operating scenario. Add to that USD 135 oil, Airlines across the world are in a tizzy rising prices and cutting frequencies citing slack in demand.
This is the beggining of the end of true LCC in India and beginning of comprehensive consolidation and even M&A activity in the Aviation space in India
Beginning June 15th Oman Air will commence 5 weekly services to BLR from Muscat (MCT)
WY 811 MCT – BLR 2100 0150 Mo,Tu,We,Sa,Su
WY 812 BLR – MCT 0250 0440 Mo,Tu,We,Th,Su
Flights will be operated by a B737-700.
This is further proof that airlines have already planned and implemented capacity additions to the new BIAL. Go BIAL
American Airlines will cut jobs, retire old planes and start charging passengers to check bags in a move to counter record fuel prices and a weak U.S. economy, the company said on Wednesday. American would reduce domestic capacity by 11 percent to 12 percent in the fourth quarter, its biggest service cutback since the attacks of September 11, 2001.
The company plans to charge $15 for many passengers’ first checked bag starting in mid-June, an unprecedented move by a major U.S. airline as it tries to claw back more of its extra fuel costs. Rivals are considering following suit.
Is this for real???? Air passengers are in for a rude shock!!!
The inaugiration of the Bangalore airport scheduled for tonight has been postponed to tomorrow night. On a notification by the Civil Aviation Minsitry to BIAL, no reasons were given for this unscheduled delay in the opening of the airport.
This delay could however be attributed to the vacation bench of the Karnataka high court which has a PIL hearing scheduled tomorrow about the closure of the old HAL airport. I sincerely hope there are no more delays without proper reasoning. Similar issues were faced by HIAL (Hyderabad International Airport) when they had to force the postponement of their inauguration just 2 months back.
Air India Express, has announced the launch of a new flights from Chennai to Dubai via Hyderabad from June 5. The flights will use Boeing 737-800 equipment and will be operating on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.
Better and increased connectivity for the new Hyderabad International airport has well and truly begun.
On the back of soaring crude prices, the domestic airlines in India are planning for 3 tier fuel surcharge based on the distance flown. The current 2 tier system of INR 1950 and INR 2350 for short and long haul will be phased out soon. While the exact details are being worked out, this time it could be — below 750, 750-1,000 km and above.
Get ready for further increases in prices soon. This will badly hurt the growth of the Indian aviation sector ass the sector posted single digit passenger growth for the previous year. This will slow down further this year expected to be below 5% in passenger numbers.
The new Bangalore International Airport will be thrown open officially at midnight May23 2008. All airlines landing at Bangalore after 8pm on May 22pm, can use the new facilities. The first takeoff will be Air India IC 957 to Singapore.
This will be a red letter day in the aviation infrastructure story in Bagalore with the phasing out of the old HAL airport and ushering in the new airport inspite of several protests and debates on the poor but improving connectivity to the airport.
Delhi will get its third runway by July 2008. Around 90 per cent of the work on the third runway at the Indira Gandhi International Airport here has been completed and it will be commissioned this year.
The 4,430 metres runway will be one of the longest in Asia and feature CAT IIIB ILS at both ends. This will allow landings in visibility as low as 50 metres, This Code F runway will also cater to new generation large aircrafts such as the A380.
Hopefully this will help lessen air traffic congestion in and around the Delhi area.
Air Inda is all set to hike fares by 10% on domestic sectors. The company may also raise fuel surcharge on international routes. This comes on the back of a sharp increase in the cost of jet fuel. The oil companies have increased the price of jetfuel by 9% the past month.
Low cost is really no longer lo cost anymore in India with surcharges, taxes and the fare skyrocketing.
Finnair is expanding its India schedules by converting its 6x Helsinki-Delhi to a daily flight. Its other service to Mumbai remains 6x weekly. Finnair has seen very strong loads on both destinations owing to its convinient location as a hub and short transfer times.
The new Bangalore International airport is expected to be open in the third week of may. No dates have been specified yet, but the May 11 date that was set earlier will not be happening. Hopefully once the new airport opens, all the airlines can think and implement their expansion plans that have been delayed time and time again because of the airport opening delays.
Delays have stemmed from contentious issues such as User development fees, keeping the old airport open etc…
If you are planning to catch a flight on a Friday Afternoon across the country, expect a delay in most flights. You can blame it all on the Mumbai Runway closure.When the country’s busiest airport has a pair of cross-runways, the mandatory closure for weekly repairs affects airline schedules across the country. “As per the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) norms, operational runways have to be periodically maintained. Accordingly, in Mumbai the main runway stays closed from 11.30am to 1.45pm and the secondary runway remains closed for 30 minutes from 1.15pm.
This is what happens every Friday afternoon. At 11.30am, the main runway in Mumbai is closed and maintenance work begins. It includes removing burnt rubber to correct the runway co-efficient of friction, checking runway lights, painting marked surfaces like the runway central line and so on. At 1.15pm, similar work on runway intersection begins and both runways are closed.
By 1.20pm flights start hovering overhead to land. This despite the airline knowing that the runway will be closed. By 1.45pm, when it is time to reopen, there are six to seven flights in the landing sequence. From there on, the cascading delays begin, Delay announcements get going by early Friday afternoon in airports across the country. About 90% of all aircraft that operate domestic flights land in Mumbai at least once in their day’s schedule. So a delay in Mumbai means a delay in every airport of the country. Thousands of passengers are affected by this.
The most important question in here is why dont the airlines and airports work out chaging schedules on Fridays to circumvent this issue.
Northwest Airlines announced today that it is resuming service to Taipei, Taiwan from its hub in Tokyo. This new service provides convenient connecting service to NWA’s West Coast gateway cities of Los Angeles, Portland, San Francisco, and Seattle.
Starting August 31, 2008, NWA flight 95 will begin daily non-stop service from Tokyo-Narita to Taipei, Taiwan. Flight 96 from Taipei, Taiwan to Tokyo will begin the following day, September 1, 2008.
Northwest will utilize its 757-200 aircraft on the route offering 20 seats in World Business Class and 160 seats in coach class. This service will complement daily 747-400 existing service from Taipei, Taiwan to Osaka, Japan.
If airline flights seem to be taking a little longer these days, it may be because the pilot is flying slower. To save fuel, a number of airlines are doing what drivers on the highway do: easing off the accelerator.
Southwest began two months ago. It’s projecting that by extending each flight by one to three minutes, it will save $42 million on fuel this year.Northwest Airlines added eight minutes to a Paris-Minneapolis flight earlier this week, saving 162 gallons of fuel and $535.
JetBlue’s director of flight operations said “it’s not a dramatic change,” but his airline saves about $13.6 million a year by adding an average of less than two minutes.
United has invested in flight planning software that helps pilots choose the best routes and speeds. The airline said it’s trying to fly “at a more consistent speed.” It estimates the software will save it $20 million a year.
So expect your flying experience to be even slower apart from the mad rush at the airports!!!
Virgin America, the California-based airline today announced an expanded summer flying schedule for 2008. With additional frequencies starting as soon as May 11, Virgin America will add flights between Washington Dulles (IAD) and Los Angeles International (LAX), IAD and San Francisco International (SFO), New York Kennedy International (JFK) and LAX, JFK and SFO, and SFO and Seattle-Tacoma International (SEA) airports. These schedule additions will be in effect through Jan. 6, 2009.
easyJet, The UK’s largest airline, unveiled plans to introduce another new route from Manchester to Alicante in Spain today.
The new route will launch on 29 September operating four times weekly throughout the winter. This is yet another route for the budget holiday traveller
Wizz Air Ukraine, the first low fare – low cost airline in Ukraine announced at a press conference in Kiev today that it would start operating an initial network of seven Ukrainian domestic routes from its operating base at Kiev Boryspil Airport on 11 July 2008. Wizz Air Ukraine will provide low fare air travel service from Kiev Boryspil Airport to Lviv, Odessa, Simferopol, Kharkov and Zaporozhye. Flights from Lviv and Kharkov to Simferopol, the popular Krym resort will also be available to the Ukrainian travellers.
Air travel is going to be dearer as major airlines have decided to raise the fares by at least 10 per cent besides increasing the fuel surcharge.
The move by Air India, Jet Airways, Spicejet and Kingfisher comes in view of rise in prices of aviation turbine fuel by over nine per cent in line with the increase in international crude oil rates.
Jet Airways has decided to increase the basic fare of economy and business class tickets by about 10 per cent from Saturday. It will also raise the fuel surcharge by Rs 150 on short-haul routes and Rs 350 on long-haul routes from the same day.
SpiceJet hiked fuel surcharge by Rs 150 on short-haul routes and Rs 350 on long-haul routes from today.
Air India has decided to raise the basic fare on all routes by 10 per cent and levy a fuel surcharge but has not yet announced the date from which it will be effective.
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