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.

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.

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 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

Nepal Airlines to restart Bombay-Kathmandu

Nepal Airlines Corporation is reportedly planning to resume Kathmandu-Bombay service in Apr-09 – see Route Changes Table for more information (Himalayan Times, 01-Mar-09). The service was suspended two years ago.  The service is expected to be twice Weekly from 1-Apr-09 
on a Boeing 757 -200. 

The BOM flight details are as follows: 

RA-201 KTM/BOM 1400/1620 
RA-202 BOM/KTM 1720/2025

Virgin Atlantin Suspends Mumbai-London

Virgin Atlantic is to temporarily suspend its London Heathrow to Mumbai service with effect from early May. Passenger numbers to and from Mumbai have been falling for many months, a trend which started even before the global economic slowdown hit. Despite the drop in numbers, more airlines than ever are operating irrationally and servicing the route at a loss. Virgin Atlantic intends to begin flying again to Mumbai when it is economically viable to do so.

The last flight will be VS350 on Saturday 2nd May from London Heathrow and flight VS351 on Sunday 3rd May from Mumbai. Virgin Atlantic continues to operate its successful, daily service between London Heathrow and Delhi and will explore flying to other Indian cities in future, where there is much less capacity. 

Finnair Suspends Mumbai-Helsinki Route

Finnair will suspend its Mumbai-Helsinki  service from May until October owing to overcapacity and the economic situation.

In a statement, the airline’s VP network strategies Petteri Kostermaa says “Overcapacity has driven fare levels radically down and the cost level has not declined retrospectively. Market conditions for the entire summer period look bleak.”

The news follows hard on the heels of Virgin Atlantic’s decision to suspend Mumbai-London also from May onwards.

Delta to downgrade aircraft on AMS-BOM Sector

According to the latest DL/NW internal news circular, AMS-BOM is being downgraded from the current A332 to a 763 w.e.f. April 2009.

Jet Airways Suspends BOM-SFO from Jan13th

In light of very poor loads and high operational costs, Jet Airways has decided to suspend its Mumbai-Shanghai-SanFrancisco flights from 13th Jan 2009. No official word is out on the matter yet. Stay tuned for more updates

Jet codeshares with Brussels Airlines to fly Paris, Manchester

Jet Airways today announced expansion of its codeshare agreement with Brussels Airlines to connect Paris and Manchester from October 26, with the flights operating via the Belgian airline’s European hub in Brussels.

Manchester is Jet Airways’ second codeshare destination in the UK, after Birmingham, in addition to the airline’s direct daily services to London from Mumbai, Delhi and Amritsar.

With the expansion of its existing codeshare arrangement, the premier private carrier now offers connectivity between Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai, on one hand, and Birmingham, Madrid, Barcelona, Lyon, Berlin Tempelhof, Paris and Manchester, via Brussels, on the other, through its codeshare agreement with Brussels Airlines.

“With the expansion of its codeshare agreement with Brussels Airlines, Jet Airways now offers its passengers enhanced connectivity on the India-Europe sector, via its world-class, passenger-friendly hub in Brussels,” Jet CEO Wolfgang Prock-Schauer said in a statement and claimed that his airline was “fast becoming the carrier of choice for passengers on the sector”.

Jet flies daily to Brussels from three gateway points of Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai.

The private carrier, with a fleet of 85 aircraft, currently has codeshare agreements with Brussels Airlines, American Airlines, Air Canada, Qantas, ANA and Etihad, offering its passengers unmatched connectivity across Europe, the USA, Canada, Australia and Japan from India.

Kingfisher, SIA battle it for Singapore market

For decades, more than 70 per cent of the business and first-class passenger market between India and Singapore has been controlled by Singapore International Airlines (SIA).

But homegrown Vijay Mallya’s Kingfisher Airlines is all set to challenge that with daily flights to the island city starting September 18 from Mumbai, a move that has prompted SIA to respond by adding more India-Singapore flights and increasing discounts.

Kingfisher is wooing SIA’s high-margin business and first-class passengers by deploying the state-of-the-art Airbus A330 and offering premium services.

“We are positioning ourselves as a premium Indian carrier with a ‘wow’ product on the route,” said Rajesh Verma, executive vice-president, Kingfisher Airlines.

“We are aware that there are established carriers like Singapore Airlines flying for years and they have deep pockets too. But we will get loads because we will offer a competitive product at competitive pricing,” he added.

The twin configuration A330 will have just 30 seats on Kingfisher First and 187 King Class seats (which are economy seats — Kingfisher does not have a business class).

First-class passengers will also be pampered with a chef on board, professional bar-tender, a jacket ironing facility and a social area with seat massages

SIA is already responding to the challenge by launching five more morning flights a week from Delhi, taking the total to 14 services a week ex Delhi.

“We are also looking at an increase of frequencies to Bangalore but that is slated for later in the year,” said Foo Chai Woo, general manager India, Singapore Airlines.

“Our aspirations will be to operate double daily to Chennai and Bangalore just like Mumbai currently. Looking ahead, we also need to increase flights to other key cities like Hyderabad as the market develops further,” Foo added.

Singapore Airlines executives said the airline is also offering discounts of between 33 and 66 per cent on return economy fares on its new flights. This will lead to some fare wars on the route as Kingfisher also has to fill its economy seats.

Kingfisher, however, says that it does not want to get into a price war but will respond to any challenge.

Travel trade experts point out that for Kingfisher the timing is right as it will launch just as the leisure season picks up. Load factors during the festival season go up 40 per cent between October and December.

Shanghai Airlines to fly Shanghai-Mumbai

Shanghai Airlines will be the new plane on the block to fly direct between Asian economic behemoths Shanghai and Mumbai. Official sources say that the airline which will start plying between the two cities from the 29th of October, will fly twice a week on Wednesdays and Saturdays. In order to boost passenger traffic between the two cities, the airline is planning on introducing an initial offer of RMB3,250 + tax for a round trip. If this is the price offered by Shanghai Airlines, it will be the cheapest return flight from Shanghai-Mumbai.

Sources have also told 2point6billion.com that since one more Chinese airline has been given permission to fly between the two countries, Vijay Mallya’s kingfisher Airlines, which just won the rights to fly internationally will also start flying between the two countries – most probably from Bangalore to Guangzhou. China Eastern and Air India were the initial airlines which were given permission to fly between India and China.

Jet airways which recently launched daily services between Mumbai-Shanghai and San Fransisco canceled flights on Tuesdays and Wednesdays due to low passenger turnout during those days.

Shanghai Airlines plans to leave Shanghai at 16:30, reaching Mumbai at 21:40. From Mumbai the plane will depart at 22:40 and reach Shanghai at 07:10+1. The move is likely to most satisfy Star Alliance members as Shanghai Airlines is a member of the international airline alliance fraternity. Air India is expected to become a member of the Star Alliance fraternity in 2009.

Finnair to reduce flights from India

Helsinki-based Finnair has plans to optimise its Indian operations through flights rationalisation, a top company official said.
The number of flights would be reduced to 10 from 13, which the airline currently operates from New Delhi and Mumbai.Of the 13 flights, seven services are from Delhi and six from Mumbai. All are bound for Helsinki.    

Finnair is phasing out its existing fleet of MD-11 aircraft and replacing them with Airbus 330 and 340, once the delivery of these 51 aircraft is made, Finnair will enhance the frequencies to India. The delivery of these aircrafts will commence from May 2009, Stolbow said. The airline has also placed orders for Airbus 350, and it is expected to receive the first aircraft in 2014.

Finnair had started its India operation in October 2006 with a flight to Delhi from Helsinki. In June last year, it added Mumbai as its second destination in the country.

Pics of the new Mumbai Airport

Current Airport

Here are some exclusive pics of the new Mumbai airport that will be up and running by 2012

Jet Airways cuts frquencies on Mumbai-San Francisco Route

Barely 2 months after the launch of the much hyped Mumbai-Shanghai-San Francisco route, Jet airways has reduced the frequncy of this flight from a daily (7x weekly) to 5x weekly. Flights on Tuesdays and Wednesdays have been cut. Jet airways has cut these frequencies on back of light demand on these days. Jet Airways also termed these cutbacks as temporary as Jet said it would reconsider introducing these flights in its winter schedule when loads traditionally pick up.

Mumbai airport main runaway shut after rain

The main runway of the Mumbai airport was shut Monday afternoon as its surface was damaged by heavy rain, an official said.

 

The Mumbai International Pvt Ltd spokesperson said: “The runway is being closed for maintenance as there is some patch work which needs to be done; this might take at least an half hour.”

Added an airport official: “The main runway 9/27 is undergoing repair works and runway 14/32 cannot be used due to poor visibility.”

Major delays at Mumbai airport due to heavy rain

Flights were delayed for an hour or so the enitre day today due to incessant rains that the city has been receiving in the past 24 hours. Reports also say that the main runway at the Mumbai airport has been damaged leading to the use of the secondary runway. several flights from Delhi and Kolkata have been diverted to Ahmedabad through the day.

Keep glued to this site for more breaking news

Delta to begin Mumbai-Atlanta from November 1

Delta Air Lines on Friday announced a new non-stop daily flight between Mumbai to Atlanta in the US from November 1. The new flight will replace Delta’s current non-stop flight from Mumbai to New York’s JFK. 

This flight will offer Mumbai’s community the benefit of connections across the US, the Caribbean and Latin America via Delta’s Atlanta hub, the release said. The Delta flight DL 185 will leave Mumbai at 1.05 am and reach Atlanta at 8.30 am while the flight DL 184 will depart Atlanta at 7.15 pm and arrive in Mumbai at 10.35 pm (next day), the release said. It would be a 17-hour, 55-minute non-stop west-bound flight.

I personally think that Delta is not able to sustain lodas on its BOM-JFK sector as there are 4 players in tis field and competition is cut throat. Yields on the BOM-NYC route will rise and will benefit Air India, Jet Airways and Continental.