Welcome to Indian Aviation Thread Q1 2021. Please continue your discussion and to add your comments here.

Link to previous thread:

Indian Aviation Thread - Q4 2020

What would 2021 hold for Indian aviation? While 2019 was gold for the existing airlines, 2020 was something unseen before.
2021 will be interesting to watch; right from privatisation of AI, to major consolidation of existing airlines, policy changes, new entrants in the market and who may or may not bite the dust.

Most importantly; how Indian aviation would rebound from 2020's pandemic slump.

Indian media report Bangalore Airport as Cat IIIB compliant as of December 31st. As a passenger who has had to sit in immobile aircraft in BLR for as long as 4 hours on foggy mornings, I note my appreciation!

>>Quote
... flights can land [on 9R/27L] with a Runway Visual Range (RVR) as low as 50m and take-off at 125m. KIA is the only airport in South India and the sixth in the country to get the CAT IIIB runway ...
>>

https://www.deccanherald.com/city/south ... 33644.html

CX & HK Express have applied for re-allocation of KA routes.

KA had BLR (daily) & CCU (5x) route authority in India.

Wonder who gets these routes!

TEMPO wrote:

Indian media report Bangalore Airport as Cat IIIB compliant as of December 31st. As a passenger who has had to sit in immobile aircraft in BLR for as long as 4 hours on foggy mornings, I note my appreciation!

>>Quote
... flights can land [on 9R/27L] with a Runway Visual Range (RVR) as low as 50m and take-off at 125m. KIA is the only airport in South India and the sixth in the country to get the CAT IIIB runway ...
>>

https://www.deccanherald.com/city/south ... 33644.html

Long time coming! Maybe BIAL learnt a lesson with their cheap work on northern runway.

This could probably mean nothing but this shows up in the Arrivals section in the "Airport Community App" for BLR Airport. Could be some error or something (?). They seem to be 6E flights

sand26391 wrote:

This could probably mean nothing but this shows up in the Arrivals section in the "Airport Community App" for BLR Airport. Could be some error or something (?). They seem to be 6E flights

Lol.... UA begins domestic India operations starting Jan 1, 2021
Looks like somebody is still hungover from the NYE party

Haha I thought that too... Could just be nothing! Not sure why it's reflecting these. Forget the date, these flights come under "planning" section. Sooo not sure what's going on here.... Just thought I'd share

This is a really rambling interview from Indigo:
https://centreforaviation.com/analysis/ ... 021-546658

Important points:
1. Planning short term, working on cleanliness and customer experience to keep "early adooters" (those returning to flying in Covid times).
2. Working to expand Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and Bangalore mid haul (6 to 7 hour) flights. Expect to return to prior international levels by end od 2021 (but walked back with so many caviats, this is not a promise).
4. Yield management starting to return, but yields are really bad ($50).
5. Excited about new airports at Jewar and Navi Mumbai, with I read a chastisement on high taxes and lack of infrastructure growth phrased positively.

My take is that Indigo is going to bypass hubs internationally and will grow back domestically as fares justify. If any airline has costs out if line, I would be concerned.

Lightsaber

Per Minister Puri, the India-UK “bubble” flights will resume today, January 6th.

On Saturday, January 2nd, British Airways sent me an e-mail saying that flights to India were cancelled and my fare would be refunded. Yet, according to FR24, BA119/118 operated to Bengaluru on an Airbus 350. Can anyone confirm that this was a cargo-only flight?

Vistara announces direct flights to Frankfurt under the "air-bubble" agreement, starting 18 February 2021. Boeing 789.

https://www.airvistara.com/de/en/destinations/frankfurt

Indigo has taken delivery of its latest A321neo VT-ILM

https://twitter.com/NikPhillips666/stat ... 29927?s=20

TEMPO wrote:

Indian media report Bangalore Airport as Cat IIIB compliant as of December 31st. As a passenger who has had to sit in immobile aircraft in BLR for as long as 4 hours on foggy mornings, I note my appreciation!

>>Quote
... flights can land [on 9R/27L] with a Runway Visual Range (RVR) as low as 50m and take-off at 125m. KIA is the only airport in South India and the sixth in the country to get the CAT IIIB runway ...
>>

https://www.deccanherald.com/city/south ... 33644.html

BOM is not CAT IIIB compliant ? DEL, LKO, Chandigarh, Jaipur and CCU are CAT IIIB compliant along with BLR now. I often see poor visibility in BOM due to rains and cloud cover. And they should make Kozhikode compliant too after the deadly accident last year and might as well make HYD, COK and MAA too.

Next A321neo VT-ILJ for Indigo on it`s way home

https://www.flightradar24.com/IGO9001/268d81d9

By the way it is the 150th NEO for Indigo ( 120 A320neo and 30 A321neo )

Vaccine Distribution of Covishield & Covaxin has commenced vide Air from 12th January 2021

IndiGo will be adding seven new stations in India over the next few months. Some of them are Spice monopoly stations. An interesting mix of destinations across the country.

List of the new additions are : Leh, Darbhanga, Agra, Kurnool, Bareilly, Durgapur and Rajkot

https://www.businessinsider.in/india/ne ... 230439.cms

Azul will be flying an A330neo from Brazil to India (Mumbai), to pick-up 2 million does of the covid19 vaccine.
Will be a rare and interesting sight for plane spotters at BOM.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/wor ... 278618.cms

avier wrote:

Azul will be flying an A330neo from Brazil to India (Mumbai), to pick-up 2 million does of the covid19 vaccine.
Will be a rare and interesting sight for plane spotters at BOM.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/wor ... 278618.cms

Can a 330nea make it nonstop or with a stop over in Africa..

blrBird wrote:

avier wrote:

Azul will be flying an A330neo from Brazil to India (Mumbai), to pick-up 2 million does of the covid19 vaccine.
Will be a rare and interesting sight for plane spotters at BOM.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/wor ... 278618.cms

Can a 330nea make it nonstop or with a stop over in Africa..

It's 8200+ nautical miles, they will need a stop (most likely) somewhere in central Africa.

Aerolíneas Argentinas A332s are doing EZE-SVO-EZE vaccines runs. Azul A339s should be able to do GIG-BOM-GIG.

Apparently, Adani Airports win was not fair and square.

Department of Economic Affairs object giving all six important airports to one company stating financial risk exposure. Previously GMR won both BOM and DEL but given only DEL.

NITI Aayog objected on the basis of no technical expertise.

Both objections were over-ruled.

During the discussions, according to minutes of the meeting accessed by The Indian Express, a note from the Department of Economic Affairs said: “These six airports projects are highly capital-intensive projects, hence it is suggested to incorporate the clause that not more than two airports will be awarded to the same bidder duly factoring the high financial risk and performance issues. Awarding them to different companies would also facilitate yardstick competition.”

the NITI Aayog also raised a separate concern regarding the airport bidding. Said a memo prepared by the PPP vertical of the government’s key policy think-tank: “A bidder lacking sufficient technical capacity can well jeopardise the project and compromise the quality of services that the government is committed to provide”.

https://indianexpress.com/article/busin ... g-7146853/

I am wondering if AI may be interested in a few of DY'S 787'S especially their 789'S to add to their long haul fleet? Use them to add capacity to 788 routes where the demand warrants it and use the 788'S to open new Routes BOM or DEL-BOS or other routes which might be worth expanding their route network when international traffic starts to grow again in the next few years?

georgiabill wrote:

I am wondering if AI may be interested in a few of DY'S 787'S especially their 789'S to add to their long haul fleet? Use them to add capacity to 788 routes where the demand warrants it and use the 788'S to open new Routes BOM or DEL-BOS or other routes which might be worth expanding their route network when international traffic starts to grow again in the next few years?

Just like early build AI 788s, DY 788s are of questionable build quality. AI having in-house MRO learned the ropes, went thru several iterations of part replacements to get where they are today. DY even with Gold Care struggled and on top they have troubled RR engines.

AI Engineering rejected 789 because they didn't want to go through learning the ropes for 789.

So the simple answer is no. AI itself should return early deliveries promptly after 12 years, if it is still in business.

VT-ALH did an 18:07 duration flight as AI176 between SFO-BLR. It probably beat QR DOH-AKL 18:05.

https://www.flightradar24.com/data/flig ... 6#2697b86b

Unless there are longer duration DOH-AKL flights, SFO-BLR will be the second longest flight by duration.

SpiceJet has added two more wide bodied cargo aircraft, a Boeing 767 and an Airbus A330 which can carry up to 45 tonnes of cargo, to its freighter fleet.
This will enable them to carry Covid vaccines and medical supplies from India to distant parts of the world.
https://m.timesofindia.com/business/ind ... 362260.cms

avier wrote:

SpiceJet has added two more wide bodied cargo aircraft, a Boeing 767 and an Airbus A330 which can carry up to 45 tonnes of cargo, to its freighter fleet.
This will enable them to carry Covid vaccines and medical supplies from India to distant parts of the world.
https://m.timesofindia.com/business/ind ... 362260.cms

Loose usage of the word "added". I'm pretty sure these are wet leases too.

dtw2hyd wrote:

VT-ALH did an 18:07 duration flight as AI176 between SFO-BLR. It probably beat QR DOH-AKL 18:05.

https://www.flightradar24.com/data/flig ... 6#2697b86b

Unless there are longer duration DOH-AKL flights, SFO-BLR will be the second longest flight by duration.

18:07, would that be the longest flight by any airline. I wonder what the status of the toilets were, near the end of the flight.

hohd wrote:

dtw2hyd wrote:

VT-ALH did an 18:07 duration flight as AI176 between SFO-BLR. It probably beat QR DOH-AKL 18:05.

https://www.flightradar24.com/data/flig ... 6#2697b86b

Unless there are longer duration DOH-AKL flights, SFO-BLR will be the second longest flight by duration.

18:07, would that be the longest flight by any airline. I wonder what the status of the toilets were, near the end of the flight.

SQ JFK-SIN regularly clocks 18:15+

avier wrote:

Azul will be flying an A330neo from Brazil to India (Mumbai), to pick-up 2 million does of the covid19 vaccine.
Will be a rare and interesting sight for plane spotters at BOM.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/wor ... 278618.cms

These 2 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine flew on Emirates instead of Azul.

https://twitter.com/DrSJaishankar/statu ... 0064756736

zionite wrote:

These 2 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine flew on Emirates instead of Azul.

https://twitter.com/DrSJaishankar/statu ... 0064756736

Was there an Emirates flight between India and Dubai?

A6-EGI did just Dubai-Brazil route.

dtw2hyd wrote:

Was there an Emirates flight between India and Dubai?

A6-EGI did just Dubai-Brazil route.

EK currently has 9 weekly flights BOM-DXB & HYD-DXB. possible uplift points for the vaccine bound for Brazil.

AirIndia wrote:

dtw2hyd wrote:

Was there an Emirates flight between India and Dubai?

A6-EGI did just Dubai-Brazil route.

EK currently has 9 weekly flights BOM-DXB & HYD-DXB. possible uplift points for the vaccine bound for Brazil.

Since the vaccines were made by Serum Institute of India, most probable point of loading would be Mumbai.
Guess is A6-EPM doing EK 9325 departing BOM at 14:00* and landing in DXB at 16:30* on 21 Jan 2021
onward to A6-EGI doing EK 9255 departing DXB at 05:30* and landing in GRU at 20:30* on 22 Jan 2021.
*UTC

https://www.flightradar24.com/data/flights/ek9325#269c67f2
https://www.flightradar24.com/data/flights/ek9255#26a2a123

AirIndia wrote:

dtw2hyd wrote:

Was there an Emirates flight between India and Dubai?

A6-EGI did just Dubai-Brazil route.

EK currently has 9 weekly flights BOM-DXB & HYD-DXB. possible uplift points for the vaccine bound for Brazil.

Good point, I was thinking a dedicated cargo flight not knowing how 2 million doses are packaged, ie., weight and space.

Air Canada is starting 3x weekly Montreal-Delhi from 18th April. AC will now serve YUL, YYZ and YVR from DEL. Bookings are open.

zionite wrote:

AirIndia wrote:

dtw2hyd wrote:

Was there an Emirates flight between India and Dubai?

A6-EGI did just Dubai-Brazil route.

EK currently has 9 weekly flights BOM-DXB & HYD-DXB. possible uplift points for the vaccine bound for Brazil.

Since the vaccines were made by Serum Institute of India, most probable point of loading would be Mumbai.
Guess is A6-EPM doing EK 9325 departing BOM at 14:00* and landing in DXB at 16:30* on 21 Jan 2021
onward to A6-EGI doing EK 9255 departing DXB at 05:30* and landing in GRU at 20:30* on 22 Jan 2021.
*UTC

https://www.flightradar24.com/data/flights/ek9325#269c67f2
https://www.flightradar24.com/data/flights/ek9255#26a2a123

Ok. i wasnt sure if they sent Covishield (Oxford) or Covaxin (BBtech). thats why mentioned BOM and HYD.

AirIndia wrote:

zionite wrote:

AirIndia wrote:

EK currently has 9 weekly flights BOM-DXB & HYD-DXB. possible uplift points for the vaccine bound for Brazil.

Since the vaccines were made by Serum Institute of India, most probable point of loading would be Mumbai.
Guess is A6-EPM doing EK 9325 departing BOM at 14:00* and landing in DXB at 16:30* on 21 Jan 2021
onward to A6-EGI doing EK 9255 departing DXB at 05:30* and landing in GRU at 20:30* on 22 Jan 2021.
*UTC

https://www.flightradar24.com/data/flights/ek9325#269c67f2
https://www.flightradar24.com/data/flights/ek9255#26a2a123

Ok. i wasnt sure if they sent Covishield (Oxford) or Covaxin (BBtech). thats why mentioned BOM and HYD.

Till now India has exported Covishield vaccines only.

zionite wrote:

AirIndia wrote:

zionite wrote:

Since the vaccines were made by Serum Institute of India, most probable point of loading would be Mumbai.
Guess is A6-EPM doing EK 9325 departing BOM at 14:00* and landing in DXB at 16:30* on 21 Jan 2021
onward to A6-EGI doing EK 9255 departing DXB at 05:30* and landing in GRU at 20:30* on 22 Jan 2021.
*UTC

https://www.flightradar24.com/data/flights/ek9325#269c67f2
https://www.flightradar24.com/data/flights/ek9255#26a2a123

Ok. i wasnt sure if they sent Covishield (Oxford) or Covaxin (BBtech). thats why mentioned BOM and HYD.

Till now India has exported Covishield vaccines only.

Thanks for clarifying...

It looks like AI has (re?)started BOM-BDQ. 3x Weekly. This used to be an IC route waaayy back!

https://twitter.com/aaivdoairport/statu ... 4758930432

https://twitter.com/airindiain/status/1 ... 1532325888

Some new routes from spicejet

https://wap.business-standard.com/artic ... 913_1.html

Folks anyone knows about as to when this flight will be launched?
Bengluru to seattle by american airlines?
I saw it being postponed, wasnt sure as to when it will be launched.

highvoltageeee wrote:

Folks anyone knows about as to when this flight will be launched?
Bengluru to seattle by american airlines?
I saw it being postponed, wasnt sure as to when it will be launched.

SEA-BLR begins October 31, 2021.

Ishrion wrote:

highvoltageeee wrote:

Folks anyone knows about as to when this flight will be launched?
Bengluru to seattle by american airlines?
I saw it being postponed, wasnt sure as to when it will be launched.

SEA-BLR begins October 31, 2021.

Thanks a ton for the response. OMG thats quite some away.
Has anyone heard anymore direct flights to USA from india?

highvoltageeee wrote:

Ishrion wrote:

highvoltageeee wrote:

Folks anyone knows about as to when this flight will be launched?
Bengluru to seattle by american airlines?
I saw it being postponed, wasnt sure as to when it will be launched.

SEA-BLR begins October 31, 2021.

Thanks a ton for the response. OMG thats quite some away.
Has anyone heard anymore direct flights to USA from india?

Apart from UA launching San Francisco-Bengaluru at the end of May? Nothing yet.

While not the US, Air Canada is launching Mnntreal-DEL nonstop which I thought was surprising. It arrives into DEL at 7pm or so which means you can connect to other places in India. Good for AC. I know people don’t like the ME3 is limited in Canada, but at least AC keeps launching more nonstops

AirIndia wrote:

Ok. i wasnt sure if they sent Covishield (Oxford) or Covaxin (BBtech). thats why mentioned BOM and HYD.

Covaxin has not been approved for use, emergency or otherwise in any country other than India so far.

The pandemic has a good side effect, the increase in nonstops from India to US/Canada. With limited competition, nonstops from Air India, United, Air Canada are thriving and I hope it stays that way, the less reliance on connections the better.

Wont be surprised if UA launches Washington IAD to Delhi and Air India to LAX or even DFW/IAH. United is copying Air India's routes, wherever AI has started flying (apart from NY area markets) United is following them after watching the flight loads. Only surprising fact is that not any new nonstops from BOM.

hohd wrote:

The pandemic has a good side effect, the increase in nonstops from India to US/Canada. With limited competition, nonstops from Air India, United, Air Canada are thriving and I hope it stays that way, the less reliance on connections the better.

Wont be surprised if UA launches Washington IAD to Delhi and Air India to LAX or even DFW/IAH. United is copying Air India's routes, wherever AI has started flying (apart from NY area markets) United is following them after watching the flight loads. Only surprising fact is that not any new nonstops from BOM.

Folks, thats good to know. What other hubs does united have which need to be connected to Delhi. I see houston there but not sure if their dreamliners 789 have the range to fly that far. Hopefully uniteds luggage policy is the same as air india as right now people have to pay for the second check in baggage. I heard from some folks that uniteds flights are going fully occupied atleast in the economy not sure about the business class though.

CaliguyNYC wrote:

While not the US, Air Canada is launching Mnntreal-DEL nonstop which I thought was surprising. It arrives into DEL at 7pm or so which means you can connect to other places in India. Good for AC. I know people don’t like the ME3 is limited in Canada, but at least AC keeps launching more nonstops

Thats a good connection, what about people from USA. Can we take the connection from USA to canada and then to delhi once the quarantines rules are relaxed. Havent heard too many people taking AC from USA to india pre covid though. Maybe the fares were too high.

highvoltageeee wrote:

CaliguyNYC wrote:

While not the US, Air Canada is launching Mnntreal-DEL nonstop which I thought was surprising. It arrives into DEL at 7pm or so which means you can connect to other places in India. Good for AC. I know people don’t like the ME3 is limited in Canada, but at least AC keeps launching more nonstops

Thats a good connection, what about people from USA. Can we take the connection from USA to canada and then to delhi once the quarantines rules are relaxed. Havent heard too many people taking AC from USA to india pre covid though. Maybe the fares were too high.

Yes AC sells a lot of connections USA-YYZ/YVR/YUL-India. AC actually has a pretty big US network

highvoltageeee wrote:

Thats a good connection, what about people from USA. Can we take the connection from USA to canada and then to delhi once the quarantines rules are relaxed. Havent heard too many people taking AC from USA to india pre covid though. Maybe the fares were too high.

I think non-GC/USC folks need a transit visa in Canada. Or a valid Canadian entry visa.