Jet Airways to begin Hyderabd-Dubai Service

Jet Airways is on a expansion spree to the middle east destinations of late. Following its launch of Chennai-Dubai, Mumbai-Jeddah and Mumbai-Riyadh, Jet AIrways has announced yet another international destination to add to its growing list of middle east services from India. Jet will launch Hyderabd-Dubal Services beginning August 16 2009 on its Boeing 737-800 NG planes. The timings are as follows

Flight                             DEP   ARR    Total time

——————————————————

9W 550 HYD – DXB 0840 1120 4hrs 10mins
9W 549 DXB – HYD 1200 1710 3hrs 40mins

Mumbai Airport shut due to rains and poor visibility.

Mumbai Airport is shut on account of very heavy rain and visibility of less than 500 meters on the runway. Incoming planes are being diverted to Pune and Ahmedabad airports.

Stay tuned to more news…

Jet Airways to Join One World Alliance

Jet Airways is likely to join the One World Alliance, sources told the website. Jet officials were also spotted meeting the alliance representatives in London.
Membership of the alliance will give Jet access to 500 airports across 140 countries with Jet passengers enjoying common baggage handling and mileage points.  This will help improve load factor and revenue for Jet Airways. Earlier, Jet had resisted becoming a member of any alliance as yield per seat goes down with alliance partners since passengers come with discounted tickets.
One World is an alliance of 10 biggest airlines. In the fourth quarter of FY09, Jet’s earned over half of its operating revenue from its international business.

Air France reducing capacity to India

Air France has revealed that it will cut capacity to India in its upcoming Winter schedule. Chief amongst them is the reduction of capacity to Mumbai where the flights will not be served on an Airbus A330-200 instead of an Boeing 777-200 ER. Delhi also sees a reduction from a daily Boeing 747-400 to a 4 weekly service on A340-300 and the remaining 3 days on Boeing 747-400. This is expected to correct some of the current over capacity in the Indian skies leading to major loss of revenue and profit.

Jet Airways Launches Second daily flight to Bangkok

Jet Airways has announced that beginning 16th August 2009, it will introduce a second daily direct flight between Mumbai and Bangkok. This comes on the heels of a increasing international network for Jet Airways and strong load factors on the route. The timings are as follows

9W 068 BOM – BKK 1245 1840

9W 067 BKK – BOM 2040 2230

The new flight will be operated by a Boeing 737-800.  This new flight connects well to its London flight both ways.

Air India Express launches Trichy-Abu Dhabi

Air India Express launched twice a week service ( Thursday and Saturday) connecting Trichy and AbuDhabi . This is the third overseas destination being served from Trichy.

The flight will depart Chennai at 12.50 p.m. and arrive here at 1.40 p.m. It would leave for Abu Dhabi at 2.30 p.m.

In the return direction, the flight will arrive at Tiruchi from Abu Dhabi at 11.55 p.m. and depart for Chennai at 12.50 a.m. It will reach Chennai at 1.40 a.m.

The airline offers attractive one way fare starting from Rs.6,439 from Tiruchi to Abu Dhabi.

Flight Operations in Chennai to be hit from July 2009

With the Airport Authority of India (AAI) all set to start work on runway expansion from July, flight operations are expected to be crippled in Chennai for over two months when the main runway will be closed between 11 am and 5 pm.
After much deliberation over the issue, AAI chairman and his committee decided to stick to its original plan, which was highlighted in the Express issue dated March 16.
According to the plan, AAI had decided to close the main and secondary runways alternatively. The main runway 07/25, will now be closed to facilitate work on linkways and taxiways that connect the main and secondary runways for over two months from July, a senior AAI official said.
“There is no other option as connectivity between the main and secondary runways at various points is crucial. And if the secondary runway is to be made functional before the main runway, there must be proper exit and taxiways to minimise the flight occupational time on the operating runway. In this case, it would have not been feasible,” an AAI source said.
As per the current plan, work on link taxiways 1 and 2 will be taken up simultaneously and the main runway will be completely closed between 11 am and 5 pm. Airlines have been given a few options of closure time before the NOTAM (notice to airman) is issued. During this closure time, the secondary (RWY 12/30) will be available for operation and wide-bodied aircraft will have to reduce their payload – called payload penalty – for landing and take-off,” said a senior AAI official.
As none of the wide-bodied aircraft will be able to function at full capacity, most international airlines like Singapore Airlines, Air India, Emirates, Lufthansa, British Airways and Jet Airways will be affected. “On the international routes, the damage will be minimal because they operate mainly in the wee hours, except for some of them who have to take a penalty and flights have to be rescheduled,” an airport source said. Airlines are now trying to minimise their damage by rescheduling flights.
However, since all cargo flights operate on wide-bodied aircraft, they will struggle to find slots along with the passenger flights.
The entire runway expansion and modification plan is expected to cost Rs 500 crore. “To go ahead with the plan now is crucial as the parking bays are becoming a necessity for all the flights that have a night halt. We already have 20 parking bays between the two runways and about 11 more will be built now along with the link taxiways,” an AAI source said.

Airport tanker on fire, close shave for 268

Two hundred and sixty-eight passengers on board a Singapore Airlines flight had a narrow escape at Kolkata airport late Wednesday night when a tanker caught fire seconds before it was to start refuelling the plane.

Thanks to a quick-thinking Indian Oil driver, who put his life at risk, no one was hurt.

The plane had touched down at 10.30 pm. Passengers were disembarking via an aerobridge when a truck carrying 14 kilolitres of aviation turbine fuel rolled under one of the plane’s wings. It was about to link up with the fuel ports when flames suddenly erupted from the tanker at 10.50 pm, possibly due to a short circuit.

An Air India technical staff in the apron area was the first to spot the fire and alerted the tanker driver, who did not hesitate a second before clambering on to the flaming vehicle. He drove it to a safe distance from the plane. Eyewitnesses said the driver managed to jump out of the cabin a second before it went up in flames.

The passengers, who were unaware of the drama till then, were drawn by the fire. It was the aerobridge that provided them protection from the blazing vehicle. Had a step-ladder been used for disembarkation, the fire would have led to panic among passengers and caused serious injuries, airline staff said.

And, had the driver not risked his life to drive the truck away, the Boeing 777-300 aircraft would have caught fire, triggering a major disaster.

The fire brigade rushed to the spot and sprayed foam but the tanker had been completely gutted by then. “The fire in the tanker was out of control for several minutes but passengers were safe all the while as they were either in the aerobridge tunnel or inside the aircraft. The apron control alerted fire officials who brought it under control within 25 minutes,” an airport official said.

The incident delayed the return flight to Singapore by 30-45 minutes. “We had to requisition a new oil tanker to refuel the aircraft,” an Indian Oil official said.

Though a short circuit in the electronics system of the tanker seems to be the likely cause, the fire department at the airport will investigate the incident and submit its report to the airport authority and Directorate General of Civil Aviation

AirAsia to launch direct flights from Penang to Chennai

Malaysia’s low cost airline, AirAsia, will start direct flights from Penang to Chennai by October.

AirAsia chief executive officer Tony Fernandes said Malaysia’s Transport Ministry had approved the plan, and currently the airline is ironing out the details.

“We hope to have a daily flight there. It will take us three to four months to finalise the details,” he said after a ceremony to mark the inaugural of Singapore to Penang direct flight at the Penang International Airport (PIA) yesterday.

Air India, Jet flights escape disaster at Mumbai airport

An aviation disaster was averted at Mumbai airport Sunday when two aircraft got clearance to take off simultaneously from two runways but the pilots stopped the planes in the nick of time, an airport official said.

The incident occurred at 7.27 a.m. when Air India’s Mumbai-Delhi and Jet Airways’ Mumbai-Kolkata flight were scheduled for departure.

While the Air India aircraft with 119 passengers was awaiting take-off on the main runway 927, the Jet plane with 120 passengers awaited at the cross-runway 1427, the official said.

After clearance from the Air Traffic Control (ATS), both aircraft started moving and came almost opposite each other before their pilots aborted the take off.

This is the second major instance of a near-collision at Mumbai airport in the past four months.

On Feb 9, a near-collision between a helicopter in the president’s air entourage and an Air India flight was averted.

Mumbai airport, among the busiest in the world, has two runways running across each other (in X formation). While the main runway is used round-the-clock, the cross-runway (1427) is used for six hours daily.

There is generally a few minutes gap between every take off. The runways are alternatively used for take-off and landing.

The ATC is now actively considering a proposal to use the cross-runway round-the-clock to ease air congestion over Mumbai.

American latest to try 757s on international routes

American Airlines has become the latest U.S. airline to begin flying Boeing 757 jets on international routes. AA yesterday unveiled a reconfigured version of its 757 that it says it will deploy on certain trans-Atlantic and Latin American routes. AA says it is reconfiguring 18 of its 124 757s for international service. AA’s 757’s “revamped interiors — which include new seats and updated in-flight entertainment systems — are expected to be completed by the end of the year. The 757 Business Class cabin, with a 2-2 seating configuration, features 16 lie-flat seats with drop-down armrests. The coach cabin has 166 seats in a 3-3 configuration.”

The first flight on one of those 757s took place yesterday, flying between New York JFK and Brussels.  AA will also fly the 757s between Miami and Salvador, Brazil, with continuing service to Recife.

AA “also has revamped 47 Boeing 777 airplanes to improve passenger comfort on flights performing on U.S. routes to the United Kingdom, Japan, China, India and Latin America.”Continuing upgrades of AA’s 767-200s are expected to be finished by mid-year.

Jet Airways to put freeze on new fleet addition

Jet Airways, the country’s second largest private carrier by market share, has decided to put a freeze on the addition of new fleet, apart from postponing future aircraft deliveries for two years. This is on the back of overcapacity for most airlines with a large number of aircraft lying unused. 

Jet Airways, which operates over 370 flights daily, operates a fleet of 86 aircraft that includes Boeing, Airbus and ATR. Out of these, 38 are owned by Jet with the other 48 being leased. The Jet-JetLite combine has a total fleet of 110 aircraft. 

Jet Airways chief executive officer Wolfgang Prock-Schauer confirmed the development to ET saying, “There will be no addition of fleet with the operating remaining the same in the current financial year. We will expand our fleet once operation stabilise.” 

Jet Airways had Rs 1,330 crore cash at the end of March 31, 2009 with a debt equity ratio 5:1. The debt on the books stands at $3.1 billion. The Naresh Goyal-promoted airline has reduced capacity by a fifth in the domestic market and is expected to reduce further. “We are evaluating the situation as the industry still has excess capacity of 20%,” Prock-Schauer said. 

In April, Jet’s domestic traffic was down 38% to 5.52 lakh passengers from 8.39 lakh a year earlier. It has cut back on flights through route rationalisation and has already wet-leased nine surplus aircraft. For the last quarter, it earned revenues of $34 million from leasing out its fleet. On airfares, Prock-Schauer said fares will be competitive in the coming weeks and as long as overcapacity remained, yields in the domestic segment will continue to remain under pressure. 

Jet and Kingfisher came together last October and formed an operational alliance to reduce capacity. “The alliance is still in progress and we cannot comment at this juncture,” Prock-Schauer said in a conference call with analysts. When queried on allowing foreign airlines to pick up equity in domestic companies, he said there was no need to change the rule. 

In a bid to contain losses, Jet has significantly cut down its fleet size and reduced flights on the domestic network. Loss incurred by domestic airline industry was about Rs 10,000 crore in 2008-09.

London Luton linked with India

London Luton Airport has been connected to South Africa, Asia and India thanks to a new route with EL AL to Tel Aviv. 

The launch of the service with the Israeli airline to Tel Aviv means that passengers can now use the service to take onward flights to other destinations such as Beijing, Johannesburg, Hong Kong, Bangkok and Mumbai. 

Flights between the Israeli city and Luton Airport will begin this weekend and are set to run six times a week. 

Glyn Jones, managing director of Luton Airport, said the launch was “very exciting” because it offered the possibility of onward connecting flights. 

“London Luton continues to offer more choice with new routes and more flight departures,” he added. 

More than ten million passengers use the airport each year and it employs 500 staff. 

The news of this new flight route comes after Wizz Air celebrated its fifth birthday at Luton Airport last week. 

Passengers were in for a treat when they were greeted with cupcakes at the check-in and were entertained by Heart FM.

Major robbery and heist at Mumbai airport, 1 injured

In a daring heist, three robbers decamped with about 100 kilograms of gold and silver from the Indian Airlines cargo terminal at Mumbai’s domestic airport on Monday. The robbers, it seems, had prior information about the cargo.

 Confirming the development, Manish Kalghati, General Manager, Corporate Communications & PR of GVK Infrastructure, said: “Yes, the theft took place around 11 am at the Indian Airlines cargo section.” Kalghati, however, refused to provide confirmation on the quantity of gold and silver stolen.

 Sources said the robbers assaulted one of the guards who tried to raise an alarm. What has surprised many is the manner in which the robbers entered the heavily guarded airport and carried out the heist. The domestic airport has been undergoing major renovation work. Meanwhile, a meeting has been called by the Indian Airlines and Air India officials to probe into the security breach.

Jet Airways gets access to fly to Sharjah from India

India’s second-ranked airline by passengers carried, Jet Airways (India) Ltd, has been permitted by the aviation ministry to expand services to West Asia, connecting four Indian cities with Sharjah, raising concern among smaller rivals planning to fly to the region that their large peers are hogging limited, bilaterally negotiated rights. 

Jet entered the West Asia market in January last year on expiry of a rule that allowed only the national carrier—National Aviation Co. of India Ltd, or Nacil, that runs the Air India services—to fly to this region. With some six million Indians estimated to be working in the region, with about a quarter of them in the United Arab Emirates, Jet Airways expanded quickly into these lucrative routes as part of its first phase of international expansion that included connections to the US and Europe. 
Of the 18 cities it connects internationally now, six are in this region, including Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Doha, Kuwait and Muscat. It plans to add three more cities—Riyadh, Jeddah and Sharjah—to its West Asia network. 
Kingfisher Airlines Ltd, Jet Airway’s bigger rival by share of passengers carried, which flies to London, Dhaka and Colombo, does not operate flights to West Asia yet. 
A Jet Airways spokeswoman confirmed to Mint that her airline had received permission for flights to Sharjah but declined further detail. 
Outbound: Jet Airways chairman Naresh Goyal. Six of the airline’s current international destinations are in West Asia. Ramesh Pathania / Mint 
The permissions for Jet Airways from the outgoing government cover daily services to Sharjah from Kochi, Kozhikode (formerly Calicut), Thiruvananthapuram and Mumbai, according to a senior government official who wanted to remain anonymous. 
The airline earlier this year started flying the Chennai-Dubai and Mumbai-Kuwait routes even as it cut down on domestic routes. 
“The introduction of these new flights will serve to further strengthen our Gulf network, better enabling us to offer passengers seamless connectivity and a world-class product on the Indo-Gulf sector,” Wolfgang Prock-Schauer, chief executive officer, Jet Airways, said in an April statement while announcing the launch of Mumbai-Riyadh and Mumbai-Jeddah services. 
The ongoing expansion by large carriers to West Asia is likely to make it difficult for smaller carriers such as SpiceJet Ltd, which too is in the process of selecting routes to fly international next year when it completes flying the stipulated minimum of five years on domestic routes for eligibility to fly overseas. 
On routes in countries in West Asia or those such as China, the civil aviation ministry grants rights to carriers based on agreed bilateral rights with each of those countries, and several West Asian routes have already used up the maximum number of flights. 
SpiceJet may have to keep in mind the bilateral capacity while selecting the routes it chooses to fly, said Samyukth Sridharan, its chief commercial officer. “It is too early. We are still doing our study and will finalize (routes) by mid-July,” he said of the international operations from next year. “Obviously we will have to keep that (bilaterals) in mind.” 

An aviation expert said the ministry should check if the permission given to Jet Airways to fly on any overseas routes governed by bilateral agreements are utilized or not. “If not, other carriers should get an equitable share,” said Kapil Kaul, India CEO for the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation, an aviation consultancy. 
The permission given to Jet Airways comes at a time when the airline has been told by West Asian carriers to which it had leased four long-haul Boeing Co.-made 777 planes to that the aircraft will be returned by the end of this year. A Jet Airways executive, who asked not to be identified, said it was in talks with two SouthEast Asian airlines and one West Asian carrier to lease out these aircraft for six more months after December. 
The once profitable Jet Airways has seen its losses mount over the past three years, and analysts expect it to post a loss of Rs150-250 crore for the last quarter of fiscal 2009. 
If the airline is unable to clinch the new leases, this executive said, it could result in changes in its international operations or parking the planes on ground.

Jet Airways to connect Mangalore – Mumbai – Riyadh from Jun 14

At a time when the efforts to directly connect the city with Saudi Arabian destinations like Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam are still on, Jet Airways, India’s premier private airline, has decided to connect Mangalore – Mumbai – Riyadh from Jun 14, 2009 on wards. 

There will be a daily flight. The connecting Jet flight will take off from Mangalore at 3.15 pm and arrive at Mumbai airport at 4.20 pm. The Mumbai – Riyad flight will take off at 7.30 pm and arrive at Riyadh at 9.05 pm Saudi Time. 

The return flight from Riyadh will take off at 10.05 pm every day and arrive at Mumbai at 4.30 am. The connecting flight from Mumbai to Mangalore will be at 9.20 am, which is set to reach Mangalore at 10.30am. 

Speaking to Daijiworld, Jet Airways official from Mumbai said that the airline is awaiting the final nod from the Central Aviation Authority, but added that they have already recieved booking instructions. As such, no hurdles are expected in the smooth operation of the proposed flights.

Jet Airways enhances connectivity into Europe

Jet Airways, India’s premier international airline, has expanded its code-share agreement with Brussels Airlines to add the European cities of Marseille, Toulouse, Geneva and Vienna to its existing international network. Additionally current services on the Brussels-Lyon sector have been enhanced from three to six flights weekly.
With this agreement, Jet Airways will further enhance connectivity between India and Europe by offering travellers convenient and seamless connections between Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai in India, and twelve European code-share destinations, including Birmingham, Barcelona, Lyon, Madrid, Berlin, Paris Charles De Gaulle, Manchester, Hamburg, Marseille Toulouse, Geneva and Vienna via Jet Airways’ European hub in Brussels. Jet Airways also offers European travellers unmatched pan-India connectivity with a 45-destination strong domestic network.
Jet Airways flies daily to Brussels from the three Indian cities of Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai. In addition, the airline also offers daily, direct services to London from Mumbai and Delhi.
According to Mr. Wolfgang Prock-Schauer, CEO, Jet Airways, “Besides widening Jet Airways’ presence in the European market, the code-share agreement with Brussels Airlines has enabled both airlines to leverage each other’s network strengths and service quality to significantly boost air travel on the Indo-European sector.”

Paramount Airways in expansion, to hire 1,000

Chennai-based Paramount Airways is set to hire over 1,000 people in phases over the next 15 months, even as big rivals prune staff and fleet size to cope with the effects of the economic downturn.
The personnel to be hired include cabin crew, technicians, pilots and ground staff as part of the airline’s fleet expansion plan. The airline, which now has 800 staff, plans to induct 15 new 80-seater Embraer planes into its fleet by the end of 2010.
The airline current has five Embraers and the new ones will come in under leases that will save on upfront investment.
“We are in the process of hiring and will employ 60 to 80 people per aircraft,” said 31-year-old M Thiagarajan, managing director, Paramount Airways, who is a pilot by training.
The staff addition works out to between 900 and 1200 people for 15 aircraft to be inducted in 18 months from now. The airline recently enhanced its route network to western and eastern India. It is planning to operate multiple flights to north India in the next quarter, Thiagarajan said.

Jet Airways Launches two routes to Saudi Arabia

Jet Airways has revealed that two new flights from Mumbai to Riyadh and Jeddah will be launched effective June 14, 2009. Both flights will be a daily flight and will be operated by Boeing 737-800 with winglets. The flight timings are as follows

9W 524 Dep BOM 1930 – Arr RUH 2105
9W 523 Dep RUH 2205 – Arr BOM 0430+1 

9W 522 Dep BOM 1900 – Arr JED 2130
9W 521 Dep JED 2230 – Arr BOM 0610+1 

Jet Airways doubles capacity on Mumbai-Dubai Route

Effective April 19 2009, Jet Airways will add another daily flight between Mumbai and Dubai. The flight is expected to be operated by a Boeing 737-800 Next Generation Jet. The timetable is as follows

9W 542 BOM – DXB 0930 1105 
9W 541 DXB – BOM 1235 1710

9W 546 MAA – DXB 1245 1530 
9W 545 DXB – MAA 1630 2215