Indian Aviation Thread - January 2020

edealinfo · Sat Jan 11, 2020 12:56 pm

IndiGo Set To Launch New Middle East Services

https://www.google.com/amp/s/simpleflyi ... nsion/amp/

edealinfo · Sat Jan 11, 2020 5:37 pm

Does anyone know why Air India chose to start Stanstead over Gatwick

edealinfo · Sat Jan 11, 2020 5:37 pm

edealinfo wrote:
IndiGo Set To Launch New Middle East Services

https://www.google.com/amp/s/simpleflyi ... nsion/amp/

Indigo seems to be building out CCU as a major base

YouGeeElWhy · Sat Jan 11, 2020 9:11 pm

edealinfo wrote:
By the way, the Cathy Dragon flight was filled with Indians - Indian born and American/Canadian - Indians (connecting to onward flights). Why aren't foreigners flying to and from India?

I assume when you say "foreigners" you mean non-Indian ancestry people.

Tourism to India is low for foreigners for a country it size and for the sites it offers. Navigating India is hard for foreigners. This is due to poor infrastructure, the Indian visa policies, poor Chinese relations (They spend the most on international tourism), plus it is very far from the US, which is the next largest spending country on international tourism. Karnataka is even worse for foreign tourism. It is barely in the top 10 states in India for foreign tourism.

The only place you would see foreigners of any numbers is J on Cathay Dragon to/from BLR, and that is for work travel.

That being said, it is nice going to a place that is not overrun with Brits, Russians, Americans, or Chinese, lol.

VTCIE · Sun Jan 12, 2020 3:51 am

Flew SilkAir from MAA to SIN yesterday (flight no. MI435). One thing I would like to comment on is that, besides the streaming entertainment that MI provides (i.e., SilkAir Studio) in place of traditional seatback screens, there were also overhead dropdown displays on my A320 (9V-SLS, for the record) that were used to show the safety video, as well as some silent cartoons and documentaries midway through the flight. (There was no moving map, either on these screens or on SilkAir Studio.)

It is appalling that Indian airlines have never installed these overhead monitors on their narrowbody aircraft. They are standard on A320s and 737s on other airlines (heck, I saw them in a trip report of a Myanmar National Airlines 737). For AI it is especially bad, since its A320 family aircraft have no IFE of any kind, and providing these monitors is the least it could do. But the AI 777s and 787s do have them; I have flown the AI 787 once, and it had them in addition to the IFE screens.

unnayan · Sun Jan 12, 2020 5:30 am

VTCIE wrote:
Flew SilkAir from MAA to SIN yesterday (flight no. MI435). One thing I would like to comment on is that, besides the streaming entertainment that MI provides (i.e., SilkAir Studio) in place of traditional seatback screens, there were also overhead dropdown displays on my A320 (9V-SLS, for the record) that were used to show the safety video, as well as some silent cartoons and documentaries midway through the flight. (There was no moving map, either on these screens or on SilkAir Studio.)

It is appalling that Indian airlines have never installed these overhead monitors on their narrowbody aircraft. They are standard on A320s and 737s on other airlines (heck, I saw them in a trip report of a Myanmar National Airlines 737). For AI it is especially bad, since its A320 family aircraft have no IFE of any kind, and providing these monitors is the least it could do. But the AI 777s and 787s do have them; I have flown the AI 787 once, and it had them in addition to the IFE screens.

Infact, AI removed seatback entertainment from their narrow body aircraft.. see link below

https://onemileatatime.com/air-india-bu ... 21-review/

edealinfo · Sun Jan 12, 2020 6:31 am

YouGeeElWhy wrote:
edealinfo wrote:
By the way, the Cathy Dragon flight was filled with Indians - Indian born and American/Canadian - Indians (connecting to onward flights). Why aren't foreigners flying to and from India?
I assume when you say "foreigners" you mean non-Indian ancestry people.

Tourism to India is low for foreigners for a country it size and for the sites it offers. Navigating India is hard for foreigners. This is due to poor infrastructure, the Indian visa policies, poor Chinese relations (They spend the most on international tourism), plus it is very far from the US, which is the next largest spending country on international tourism. Karnataka is even worse for foreign tourism. It is barely in the top 10 states in India for foreign tourism.

The only place you would see foreigners of any numbers is J on Cathay Dragon to/from BLR, and that is for work travel.

That being said, it is nice going to a place that is not overrun with Brits, Russians, Americans, or Chinese, lol.

I think the Chinese think Indians are inferior to them (their same view of countries from where domestic workers come from such as the Philippines). I saw this attitude in Hong Kong and Macau. I have also seen reports on this forum of bad treatment of Indians at Chinese airports when flying on Chinese airlines (from N. America to India) and transiting via Chinese airports to India. Presumably, the only reason that Indians would pick a Chinese carrier is for price, alone.

edealinfo · Sun Jan 12, 2020 6:42 am

After, Ukrainian crash, India gets scared and agrees to US carriers conducting their own ground handling after resisting from years (you have to read between the lines in the report in the link below)

https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/ ... 546158.ece?

edealinfo · Sun Jan 12, 2020 7:05 am

Vistara in talks with airlines to lease slots at London's Heathrow airport

1. The first two of the B797 wide-body planes are likely to be delivered in February and March respectively.
2. If they can't lease Healthrow slots they will go for Stanstead (does this makes sense? Why not Gatwick). My suspicion is they will lease Heathrow slots from Etihad.
3 Their fleet: The lease of two B737 is expiring and five A320ceos are retiring.

https://www.cnbctv18.com/aviation/vista ... 030751.htm

edealinfo · Sun Jan 12, 2020 7:06 am

Government scraps fuel throughput charge at all airports

Incremental steps to improve the outlook of the aviation sector in advance of Air India sale.

https://www.cnbctv18.com/aviation/fuel- ... 028441.htm

RainerBoeing777 · Sun Jan 12, 2020 7:08 am

We arrived in January and there are no ads for Haneda.

And missed one of the most appreciated slots in the market?

I really didn't know why Japan gave India slots

edealinfo · Sun Jan 12, 2020 7:09 am

Adani Group gets security clearance for three airports

1. Group has received security clearance for the three airports of Ahmedabad, Lucknow and Mangaluru and the concession agreement for the airports’ operation, management and development will be signed soon

2. So far, the Union cabinet has approved the bids for Ahmedabad, Lucknow and Mangaluru and it is expected that the bids for the remaining three airports of Jaipur, Guwahati and Trivandrum will be cleared once the legal hurdles are clear.

edealinfo · Sun Jan 12, 2020 7:10 am

RainerBoeing777 wrote:

I really didn't know why Japan gave India slots

Your Prime Minister is a good pal of India's Prime Minister.

edealinfo · Sun Jan 12, 2020 7:14 am

RainerBoeing777 wrote:
We arrived in January and there are no ads for Haneda.

And missed one of the most appreciated slots in the market?

See post #59. Vistara is only now waking up from its sleep. Adjusting for its ongoing siesta time, it will presumably apply for the Haneda slot after 2 more months.

RainerBoeing777 · Sun Jan 12, 2020 7:31 am

edealinfo wrote:
RainerBoeing777 wrote:
We arrived in January and there are no ads for Haneda.

And missed one of the most appreciated slots in the market?

See post #59. Vistara is only now waking up from its sleep. Adjusting for its ongoing siesta time, it will presumably apply for the Haneda slot after 2 more months.

HND routes must begin on March 29, although they must announce in February, if they must operate in Toky

edealinfo · Sun Jan 12, 2020 8:10 am

avier wrote:
edealinfo wrote:
After, Ukrainian crash, India gets scared and agrees to US carriers conducting their own ground handling after resisting from years (you have to read between the lines in the report in the link below)

After Ukraine crash? The rule was amended in Dec 2019, Ukraine crash happened in Jan this month. You sound like one of those masala journos who twists dates/facts to add steam to news.

Not masala journalism. What was the reason they suddenly expedited it even though the rule was amended over a month ago? After the Ukraine crash and fears that US would be targeted because of Iran-USA tension-escalation, India is afraid that if anything happens to US airlines they would be blamed because they did not allow US carriers to do their own security and ground handling.

edealinfo · Sun Jan 12, 2020 8:14 am

RainerBoeing777 wrote:
edealinfo wrote:
RainerBoeing777 wrote:
We arrived in January and there are no ads for Haneda.

And missed one of the most appreciated slots in the market?

See post #59. Vistara is only now waking up from its sleep. Adjusting for its ongoing siesta time, it will presumably apply for the Haneda slot after 2 more months.

HND routes must begin on March 29, although they must announce in February, if they must operate in Toky

1. "Must" begin on March 29? Or, it that the earliest date. Please confirm.

2. By what date must they announce the route in Feb? That would be weird for japan to require an announcement date.

edealinfo · Sun Jan 12, 2020 8:58 pm

Vistara starts phasing out 9 Boeing 737

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.livemi ... 67353.html

edealinfo · Sun Jan 12, 2020 11:09 pm

https://www.google.com/amp/s/wap.busine ... 482_1.html

Vistara decides to junk premium class on low income routes

edealinfo · Sun Jan 12, 2020 11:21 pm

https://www.google.com/amp/s/m.business ... 93653.html

indigo to shortly announce a third flight to China

lightsaber · Mon Jan 13, 2020 3:57 am

edealinfo wrote:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/wap.business-standard.com/article-amp/companies/full-service-vistara-decides-to-junk-premium-class-on-low-income-routes-120011200482_1.html

Vistara decides to junk premium class on low income routes

Past due. It takes premium city pairs to justify more real estate. Kingfisher failed on offering premium product in a market that won't pay for it.

Lightsaber

unnayan · Mon Jan 13, 2020 8:14 am

lightsaber wrote:
edealinfo wrote:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/wap.business-standard.com/article-amp/companies/full-service-vistara-decides-to-junk-premium-class-on-low-income-routes-120011200482_1.html

Vistara decides to junk premium class on low income routes

Past due. It takes premium city pairs to justify more real estate. Kingfisher failed on offering premium product in a market that won't pay for it.

Lightsaber

I just hope they don't end up like KF or 9W. I remember reading an article on 9W demise, and one of the reasons cited was lack of uniformity in offerings, which made consumers confused.

avier · Mon Jan 13, 2020 9:38 am

DGCA has pushed the deadline for P&W engine replacement for IndiGo from Jan 31st to May 31st.

https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/ec ... 556436.ece

A big relief indeed for 6E. This had to happen though, knowing DGCA, that sounds very harsh but then ends up showing leniency.

On a side note, DGCA is making noises of being harsh and stringent on 737MAX return, after they were called stupid, fools by Boeing execs. But let's see again, they might bend to please SG in the end and make the return of the aircraft smooth.

https://m.economictimes.com/industry/tr ... 194416.cms?

edealinfo · Mon Jan 13, 2020 1:53 pm

avier wrote:
DGCA has pushed the deadline for P&W engine replacement for IndiGo from Jan 31st to May 31st.

https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/ec ... 556436.ece

A big relief indeed for 6E. This had to happen though, knowing DGCA, that sounds very harsh but then ends up showing leniency.

On a side note, DGCA is making noises of being harsh and stringent on 737MAX return, after they were called stupid, fools by Boeing execs. But let's see again, they might bend to please SG in the end and make the return of the aircraft smooth.

https://m.economictimes.com/industry/tr ... 194416.cms?

I agree with Boeing’s assessment of the intelligence within DGCA

blrBird · Tue Jan 14, 2020 1:04 am

edealinfo wrote:
YouGeeElWhy wrote:
lightsaber wrote:
I suspect Indigo has the right costs and product for this route at this time. I couldn't imagine right now high J demand.

Lightsaber
I don’t think CX can “upgrade” to CX since there is some odd way the old Dragonair / Cathay operating companies have rights to India. It is obvious something CX would have done long ago.

It would be interesting to ascertain the nature of this restriction. If you or others have details, please let us know. It is also interesting that Cathay has selected Cathy Pacific to Hyderabad and Cathay Dragon to Bangalore and not vice versa. Any insights?

This goes back to the time when BASA was amended to add BLR & MAA as port of call with additional 11 weekly flights to India for HK (SAR) airlines. Dragon Air requested daily rights to BLR and remaining to MAA where as CX requested split between the two. As CX was already flying to DEL & BOM & CCU(?), KA was allocated the daily rights and CX got weekly. Since KA operates flights on its orginal AOC, BLR will be KA until CX & KA become one. Now KA goes from daily to weekly to daily depending on season...

edealinfo wrote:
By the way, the Cathy Dragon flight was filled with Indians - Indian born and American/Canadian - Indians (connecting to onward flights). Why aren't foreigners flying to and from India?

[/quote][/quote]
Maybe Dragon Air lack of brand perception prior to Cathay Dragon... ? not sure

edealinfo · Tue Jan 14, 2020 3:19 am

blrBird wrote:
edealinfo wrote:
YouGeeElWhy wrote:
I don’t think CX can “upgrade” to CX since there is some odd way the old Dragonair / Cathay operating companies have rights to India. It is obvious something CX would have done long ago.

It would be interesting to ascertain the nature of this restriction. If you or others have details, please let us know. It is also interesting that Cathay has selected Cathy Pacific to Hyderabad and Cathay Dragon to Bangalore and not vice versa. Any insights?

This goes back to the time when BASA was amended to add BLR & MAA as port of call with additional 11 weekly flights to India for HK (SAR) airlines. Dragon Air requested daily rights to BLR and remaining to MAA where as CX requested split between the two. As CX was already flying to DEL & BOM & CCU(?), KA was allocated the daily rights and CX got weekly. Since KA operates flights on its orginal AOC, BLR will be KA until CX & KA become one. Now KA goes from daily to weekly to daily depending on season...

edealinfo wrote:
By the way, the Cathy Dragon flight was filled with Indians - Indian born and American/Canadian - Indians (connecting to onward flights). Why aren't foreigners flying to and from India?

[/quote]
Maybe Dragon Air lack of brand perception prior to Cathay Dragon... ? not sure[/quote]

I am still not following the logic here. I thought a BASA usually only indicates the number of frequencies between countries and ports of call but not deciding which carriers operate which route. So, if Cathay wanted to REPLaCE, for the HKG to BLR Route, from Cathay Dragon to Cathay Pacific, why should this be decided by the BASA...... India or the BASA should have no right in deciding whichHKG airline should operate the route.

So, again, I don’t follow the logic of the BASA determining/governing the carrier for a specific route

avier · Tue Jan 14, 2020 6:22 am

Vistara announces new int'l destination : Kathmandu (Nepal).

Will connect Delhi- Kathmandu from Feb 11th 2020.

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/in ... 239346.cms

edealinfo · Tue Jan 14, 2020 1:30 pm

avier wrote:
Vistara announces new int'l destination : Kathmandu (Nepal).

Will connect Delhi- Kathmandu from Feb 11th 2020.

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/in ... 239346.cms

Are any of their international operations Turning a profit?

edealinfo · Tue Jan 14, 2020 1:38 pm

avier wrote:
Vistara announces new int'l destination : Kathmandu (Nepal).

Will connect Delhi- Kathmandu from Feb 11th 2020.

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/in ... 239346.cms

Vistara still hasn’t announced Japan and London even though it is to receive one 787 in Feb and another in March. They are not putting enough space between when seats go on sale for that route and actual commencement of operations which would otherwise have helped towards forward sales. Delta for instance had 5 months of forward sales before announcing the Jfk to BOM route.

What kind of forward preparedness does Vistara have or have they hired their staff from the DGCA with DGCA’s irrational line of thinking/planning?

CaliguyNYC · Tue Jan 14, 2020 2:20 pm

edealinfo wrote:
avier wrote:
Vistara announces new int'l destination : Kathmandu (Nepal).

Will connect Delhi- Kathmandu from Feb 11th 2020.

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/in ... 239346.cms

Vistara still hasn’t announced Japan and London even though it is to receive one 787 in Feb and another in March. They are not putting enough space between when seats go on sale for that route and actual commencement of operations which would otherwise have helped towards forward sales. Delta for instance had 5 months of forward sales before announcing the Jfk to BOM route.

What kind of forward preparedness does Vistara have or have they hired their staff from the DGCA with DGCA’s irrational line of thinking/planning?

I'm with you. Don't know what they are doing. Also I feel like going it alone for long haul will fail. They need a true partner BA/AA, DL/VS/AF what ever. Vistara seems too precious to make decisions. Jet disappears and they still don't see opportunity (even a scaled down one). God help them. I still have hope though. Given the HND slot limitations, I hope they find a Japanese partner. Ideally the Japanese airline flies one route and Vistara flies the other (meaning HND-DEL/BOM). Then the two airlines can really make it work from a Japan origination pov. I remember when we all thought SQ would swoop in and give their "old" (meaning not really old) planes to UK on cheap lease and maybe even one LHR slot. But sadly no. I think VS and KL helped 9W get slots at LHR (I know VS did - the 9am BOM-LHR flight). Partners matter.

VTORD · Tue Jan 14, 2020 6:41 pm

IIRC Vistara has advertised for 787 crew to be based in DEL. Given that they are going to get 2 a/c initally by March, I don't see DEL and BOM flights being launched. It has to be one or the other. Both Tokyo and London have block times of about 20-21 hours roughly. More than likely both birds will be based out of the same airport to minimize impacts from delays and such. At least until the next 2 come in. Does anyone know which slot India was awarded at HND?

edealinfo · Tue Jan 14, 2020 6:53 pm

CaliguyNYC wrote:
edealinfo wrote:
avier wrote:
Vistara announces new int'l destination : Kathmandu (Nepal).

Will connect Delhi- Kathmandu from Feb 11th 2020.

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/in ... 239346.cms

Vistara still hasn’t announced Japan and London even though it is to receive one 787 in Feb and another in March. They are not putting enough space between when seats go on sale for that route and actual commencement of operations which would otherwise have helped towards forward sales. Delta for instance had 5 months of forward sales before announcing the Jfk to BOM route.

What kind of forward preparedness does Vistara have or have they hired their staff from the DGCA with DGCA’s irrational line of thinking/planning?

I'm with you. Don't know what they are doing. Also I feel like going it alone for long haul will fail. They need a true partner BA/AA, DL/VS/AF what ever. Vistara seems too precious to make decisions. Jet disappears and they still don't see opportunity (even a scaled down one). God help them. I still have hope though. Given the HND slot limitations, I hope they find a Japanese partner. Ideally the Japanese airline flies one route and Vistara flies the other (meaning HND-DEL/BOM). Then the two airlines can really make it work from a Japan origination pov. I remember when we all thought SQ would swoop in and give their "old" (meaning not really old) planes to UK on cheap lease and maybe even one LHR slot. But sadly no. I think VS and KL helped 9W get slots at LHR (I know VS did - the 9am BOM-LHR flight). Partners matter.

British Airways was closely aligned with Vistara from the start but I don’t see them offering any of their LHR slots to Vistara because if they wanted to do so, they would have already have announced By now. This is why I think there is a golden chance for DL/VS to drag them out of the relationship with BA and forge a new one with dL/VS/
af/kl by offering Vistara a pair of LHR slots. I think that is all it would take at this critical juncture. Will DL bite?

edealinfo · Tue Jan 14, 2020 7:02 pm

CaliguyNYC wrote:
edealinfo wrote:
avier wrote:
Vistara announces new int'l destination : Kathmandu (Nepal).

Will connect Delhi- Kathmandu from Feb 11th 2020.

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/in ... 239346.cms

Vistara still hasn’t announced Japan and London even though it is to receive one 787 in Feb and another in March. They are not putting enough space between when seats go on sale for that route and actual commencement of operations which would otherwise have helped towards forward sales. Delta for instance had 5 months of forward sales before announcing the Jfk to BOM route.

What kind of forward preparedness does Vistara have or have they hired their staff from the DGCA with DGCA’s irrational line of thinking/planning?

I'm with you. Don't know what they are doing. Also I feel like going it alone for long haul will fail. They need a true partner BA/AA, DL/VS/AF what ever. Vistara seems too precious to make decisions. Jet disappears and they still don't see opportunity (even a scaled down one). God help them. I still have hope though. Given the HND slot limitations, I hope they find a Japanese partner. Ideally the Japanese airline flies one route and Vistara flies the other (meaning HND-DEL/BOM). Then the two airlines can really make it work from a Japan origination pov. I remember when we all thought SQ would swoop in and give their "old" (meaning not really old) planes to UK on cheap lease and maybe even one LHR slot. But sadly no. I think VS and KL helped 9W get slots at LHR (I know VS did - the 9am BOM-LHR flight). Partners matter.

I understand that Singapore has a free hand in running Vistara. I am surprised that Singapore, with its years of experience, hasn’t come up with a better plan? Or are they very worried themselves of expanding Vistara operations . As you might recall they backtracked on taking the 4 hainan 787 that they presumably had earlier agreed to take. The best think that could happen to Vistara is if Air India shuts down (I know you disagree with that) but Amit Shah, eager for victory, and his reputation, will strong arm or gift Air India o an Indian party, namely Indigo (for international operations, or SpiceJet ( for AI EXpress or AI domestic), or the Adanis (for the whole enchilada)

edealinfo · Tue Jan 14, 2020 7:16 pm

VTORD wrote:
IIRC Vistara has advertised for 787 crew to be based in DEL. Given that they are going to get 2 a/c initally by March, I don't see DEL and BOM flights being launched. It has to be one or the other. Both Tokyo and London have block times of about 20-21 hours roughly. More than likely both birds will be based out of the same airport to minimize impacts from delays and such. At least until the next 2 come in. Does anyone know which slot India was awarded at HND?

I think it is now obvious that the 2 routes to be operated with be London to DEL and Tokyo to DEL. Vistara seems desperate with London as they are even considering Stanstead, which makes no sense to me ( if other think otherwise, please state your reasons). At Tokyo they can partner with JAL, but JAL may no longer be interested because Vistara’s DEL to Tokyo flight will directly compete with theirs. Also at the London end, BA seems in no mood to accommodate VISTARA. Vistara may have erred in selecting its initial partners thinking that honorable relationships matter, when that’s a foreign concept to foreign carriers who are only focussed on commercial considerations, period. Well, it is time for Vistara to grow up. This is no Tata Docomo relationship based on honorable relationships between heads of companies.

edealinfo · Tue Jan 14, 2020 7:24 pm

lightsaber wrote:
edealinfo wrote:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/wap.business-standard.com/article-amp/companies/full-service-vistara-decides-to-junk-premium-class-on-low-income-routes-120011200482_1.html

Vistara decides to junk premium class on low income routes

Past due. It takes premium city pairs to justify more real estate. Kingfisher failed on offering premium product in a market that won't pay for it.

Lightsaber

Their all economy ex-WOW Air A320neo , which they got by fluke since it was the only available aircraft in a jiffy, seems inadvertently to have been a test case for their new strategy, which makes a lot of sense.

vadodara · Tue Jan 14, 2020 8:37 pm

VTORD wrote:
IIRC Vistara has advertised for 787 crew to be based in DEL. Given that they are going to get 2 a/c initally by March, I don't see DEL and BOM flights being launched. It has to be one or the other. Both Tokyo and London have block times of about 20-21 hours roughly. More than likely both birds will be based out of the same airport to minimize impacts from delays and such. At least until the next 2 come in. Does anyone know which slot India was awarded at HND?

1 during the restricted hrs; other I imagine would be during unrestricted hrs.

CaliguyNYC · Tue Jan 14, 2020 11:34 pm

VTORD wrote:
IIRC Vistara has advertised for 787 crew to be based in DEL. Given that they are going to get 2 a/c initally by March, I don't see DEL and BOM flights being launched. It has to be one or the other. Both Tokyo and London have block times of about 20-21 hours roughly. More than likely both birds will be based out of the same airport to minimize impacts from delays and such. At least until the next 2 come in. Does anyone know which slot India was awarded at HND?

India was awarded one pair of slots at HND. So one city in India to HND can be launched (it is not city specific). A Japanese carrier can launch one (or the slot is split in half between two airlines Flying less than daily).

avier · Wed Jan 15, 2020 11:59 am

SpiceJet adds new flights/frequencies:

Ahmedabad- Hyderabad x1
Ahmedabad-Jeddah x1
Ahmedabad- Aurangabad x1

Bengaluru – Chennai x6th
Bengaluru – Vijayawada x4th

Mumbai- Mangalore x2nd

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/in ... 251941.cms
https://www.firstpost.com/business/spic ... 57071.html

edealinfo · Wed Jan 15, 2020 1:47 pm

avier wrote:
SpiceJet adds new flights/frequencies:

Ahmedabad- Hyderabad x1
Ahmedabad-Jeddah x1
Ahmedabad- Aurangabad x1

Bengaluru – Chennai x6th
Bengaluru – Vijayawada x4th

Mumbai- Mangalore x2nd

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/in ... 251941.cms
https://www.firstpost.com/business/spic ... 57071.html

Mumbai to Mangaluru is GOLD as demand currently far exceeds supply. Is SpiceJet merely restoring capacity on the route that was cut because of BOM runway resurfacing?

edealinfo · Wed Jan 15, 2020 1:56 pm

avier wrote:
SpiceJet adds new flights/frequencies:

Ahmedabad- Hyderabad x1
Ahmedabad-Jeddah x1
Ahmedabad- Aurangabad x1

Bengaluru – Chennai x6th
Bengaluru – Vijayawada x4th

Mumbai- Mangalore x2nd

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/in ... 251941.cms
https://www.firstpost.com/business/spic ... 57071.html

It is smart of SpiceJet to focus on Ahmadabad and Chennai (I saw a report in the past few days that they have added more flights out of Chennai). You would think that Vistara would be expanding their presence at these 2 airports but their strategy, if they have one, is still unclear. All I see is very strong presence in Delhi, moderate presence in Bombay, Light presence in BLR, and as good as nothing presence at other airports.

edealinfo · Wed Jan 15, 2020 11:56 pm

Vistara secures Gatwick slots
Explanation of how Air India secured ad how 3 free weekly LHR slots
https://defenceaviationpost.coym/air-in ... w-airport/

VTORD · Thu Jan 16, 2020 2:26 am

^^The link in the above post has a typo. Here is the corrected link:
https://defenceaviationpost.com/air-ind ... w-airport/

What does this mean?
It will operate 11 flights between Mumbai-London Heathrow in February and March.
“On passenger demand, Air India is going to introduce 11 special flights from Mumbai to London Heathrow. This service will start from February 14. We are in discussion with Heathrow airport authorities for this service on full-year basis and are hopeful our request will be accepted,” said an Air India spokesperson.

Feb 14 is when they go 10xWeekly on BOM-LHR. Does that mean they are adding an additional flight or is it a typo?

blrBird · Thu Jan 16, 2020 7:12 am

edealinfo wrote:
blrBird wrote:
edealinfo wrote:

It would be interesting to ascertain the nature of this restriction. If you or others have details, please let us know. It is also interesting that Cathay has selected Cathy Pacific to Hyderabad and Cathay Dragon to Bangalore and not vice versa. Any insights?

This goes back to the time when BASA was amended to add BLR & MAA as port of call with additional 11 weekly flights to India for HK (SAR) airlines. Dragon Air requested daily rights to BLR and remaining to MAA where as CX requested split between the two. As CX was already flying to DEL & BOM & CCU(?), KA was allocated the daily rights and CX got weekly. Since KA operates flights on its orginal AOC, BLR will be KA until CX & KA become one. Now KA goes from daily to weekly to daily depending on season...

edealinfo wrote:
By the way, the Cathy Dragon flight was filled with Indians - Indian born and American/Canadian - Indians (connecting to onward flights). Why aren't foreigners flying to and from India?
Maybe Dragon Air lack of brand perception prior to Cathay Dragon... ? not sure

I am still not following the logic here. I thought a BASA usually only indicates the number of frequencies between countries and ports of call but not deciding which carriers operate which route. So, if Cathay wanted to REPLaCE, for the HKG to BLR Route, from Cathay Dragon to Cathay Pacific, why should this be decided by the BASA...... India or the BASA should have no right in deciding whichHKG airline should operate the route.

So, again, I don’t follow the logic of the BASA determining/governing the carrier for a specific route

HK civil aviation authority allocated BLR to KA, nothing stops CX from taking it over but they have to file for transfer of authority to CX AOC. Until then only KA can serve this route. Why it hasn't happened yet.. maybe CX think it not a market for their brand or not worth pursuing!! Now that JAL is starting soon, they will pick more corporate passengers to N.A. and it may end up being just KA route.

edealinfo · Thu Jan 16, 2020 1:48 pm

blrBird wrote:
edealinfo wrote:
blrBird wrote:

This goes back to the time when BASA was amended to add BLR & MAA as port of call with additional 11 weekly flights to India for HK (SAR) airlines. Dragon Air requested daily rights to BLR and remaining to MAA where as CX requested split between the two. As CX was already flying to DEL & BOM & CCU(?), KA was allocated the daily rights and CX got weekly. Since KA operates flights on its orginal AOC, BLR will be KA until CX & KA become one. Now KA goes from daily to weekly to daily depending on season...

HK civil aviation authority allocated BLR to KA, nothing stops CX from taking it over but they have to file for transfer of authority to CX AOC. Until then only KA can serve this route. Why it hasn't happened yet.. maybe CX think it not a market for their brand or not worth pursuing!! Now that JAL is starting soon, they will pick more corporate passengers to N.A. and it may end up being just KA route.

Thank you for the clear explanation and perspective. I would also add that they are somewhat in a pickle as they are squeezed by Indigo on the lower end and JAL on the upper end.... maybe in between, or Cathay Dragon, is what they are left with.

edealinfo · Thu Jan 16, 2020 1:54 pm

More news on the Jet revival saga. I blame the Resolution Professional for the circus and for dragging this out over and over again. This procrastination with liquidation (which is the only realistic option), has resulted in the diminution of whatever remaining asset value.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/wap.busine ... 389_1.html

CaliguyNYC · Thu Jan 16, 2020 3:55 pm

edealinfo wrote:
Vistara secures Gatwick slots
Explanation of how Air India secured ad how 3 free weekly LHR slots
https://defenceaviationpost.coym/air-in ... w-airport/

So it is just ad hoc for one winter season. That is a bummer for AI. That said, if AI got the slots every winter, it might not be a bad outcome given winter is peak to India. Ideally AI would negotiate to start Oct 1st (to always get Diwali) and then end in April after BOM schools open (most schools in BOM get April off). Let the other airline fly during peak summer season.

CaliguyNYC · Thu Jan 16, 2020 3:57 pm

edealinfo wrote:
More news on the Jet revival saga. I blame the Resolution Professional for the circus and for dragging this out over and over again. This procrastination with liquidation (which is the only realistic option), has resulted in the diminution of whatever remaining asset value.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/wap.busine ... 389_1.html

Synergy's idea of starting a new company with the Jet assets (so without liabilities) is actually pretty cool. Too bad it will never happen.

edealinfo · Fri Jan 17, 2020 12:51 am

Jet Airways creditors approve proposal to sell one aircraft and two Schiphol slots to KLM

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1439215

https://centreforaviation.com/news/jet- ... klm-968697

edealinfo · Fri Jan 17, 2020 12:59 am

air Asia India’s chance to fly abroad are going to be delayed indefinitely

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.livemi ... 80101.html

Air Asia India should sell out to Vistara and call it a day. The Indian government is giving air Asia “payback” for Malaysia’s support of $ashmeer

edealinfo · Fri Jan 17, 2020 2:34 am

quote="Revelation"]

tullamarine wrote:
It sounds good value though we don't know the current state of the plane and its maintenance records so KLM may need to spend a bit to get the plane flying again as well as the obvious costs of fitting it out according to KLM's requirements.

The market for used 77Ws is pretty depressed so it is a buyer's market. Lessors are getting a lot of 77Ws back from airlines such as EK and EY and Boeing was selling a number of end-of-line slots on newbuilds at deep discounts.

viewtopic.php?t=1422705 from eight months ago suggests 77Ws going at $55.0 – 155.0M so it's more than depressed if $28M gets you a 77W and two slots.

Since this is all in the context of the Jet Airways bankruptcy, it seems it is a sale of distressed properties, not one at market value.[/quote]

It is a 12.4 year old 777-300 ER so they got at least 50 percent off market vale plus free AMS slots valued for an equivalent amount. So basically, KLM made a $50 million profit from this transaction or stated in another way Jet’s creditors (INdian banks) lost potentially $50 million as a result of the distressed sale

Who is online

Popular Searches On Airliners.net