AI 787 demo flight is scheduled for next week. I have also read elsewhere that AI and Boeing have still not agreed to 787 delay compensation, and that may hold up delivery.

I wonder if the 250 seat configuration is just for the demo aircraft, and not the one chosen by AI.

http://mangalorean.com/news.php?newstype=local&newsid=249634
Quote:
"Air India will get its first demo-trial next week. We will fly in the 787 from Japan to New Delhi on July 13," Dinesh Keskar, president, Boeing India told IANS.

According to Keskar, the 250-seat aircraft will be stationed at the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport in Delhi for two days. It will fly to Mumbai July 15 where it will be kept for a day.

Reposting from the previous thread:

Ojas wrote:
CX/KA has shown "keen interest" in starting HKG - CCU flights. There would be a few rounds of discussion in the coming months before things are finalised.

Nimish wrote:
I hope the Trinamool Congress forces the center to make the change to the bilateral, because the current MoCA (and he's rumored to resign today) seems totally uninterested in the Indian passenger, but interested only in saving AI and restoring it to it's "former glory".

AirIndia wrote:
As per this article, Gurudas Kamat (MP from mumbai) is slated to get MoCA... However it does not talk about V.Ravi

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/i...w-ministry/articleshow/9191999.cms

From: http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article2220917.ece

Quote: Overseas Indian Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi retains additional charge of Civil Aviation.

Seems like there's no change in the MoCA for now.

From: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/...ns/articleshow/9193081.cms?curpg=2

SpiceJet announces delay in it's Q400 operations - by at least a month - on account of delays in finalizing the financing and govt. approvals.

Quoting Nimish (Reply 3):

That's too bad...the Q400 seems to me to be a super aircraft for Indian domestic operations; lots of small airports and a huge land area. I suspect that SpiceJet will end up a large operator of the type. It might then catch on with others as well.

Finally some info. on AI 788 seat configuration. Just 18 J seats is bit of a surprise. 30 J seats is typical for 2 class layout. 9W has 30 J and 196 Y seats in A332s.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/...y-year-end/articleshow/9214582.cms
Quote:
According to Baliga, the Air India's 787 will be equipped with best in-class seats for its 256 passengers.

While Contour Aerospace Limited will equip the 18 business class seats, Weber would provide the remaining 238 seats for the executive class section.

Aviation ministry seeks $9 billion bailout from GOI. I doubt this will ever happen.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/b...-cr-for-AI/articleshow/9229748.cms
Quote:
It might turn out to be the mother of all bailouts with the civil aviation ministry set to pitch for a Rs 42,000 crore succour for Air India.

The ministry, which is being blamed for turning the Maharaja sick due to a merger of Indian Airlines and Air India, is going to tell the group of ministers next week that the national carrier will need Rs 42,000 crore over the next eight to nine years and over 130 more planes on lease. And, in suggesting the requirements, the ministry seems to have simply lifted the recommendations of SBI Caps without putting much thought to the overall implications.

Quoting LAXDESI (Reply 5): Finally some info. on AI 788 seat configuration. Just 18 J seats is bit of a surprise. 30 J seats is typical for 2 class layout. 9W has 30 J and 196 Y seats in A332s.

As per the contour website it looks likely to be the aura seats although I wish the vantage seats come instead since these aircrafts won't have first class

http://www.contour.aero/seating.htm

Quoting LAXDESI (Reply 6):

Wow...that's a lot of cash. Too bad, really...it seems from my far away perspective that the Indian aviation industry might do well overall with AI being cut loose to sink or swim.

Quoting JoeCanuck (Reply 8): it seems from my far away perspective that the Indian aviation industry might do well overall with AI being cut loose to sink or swim.

Agree, but it is unlikely to happen anytime soon. The possibility of privatisation may exist after the next federal election.

Btw, the wage bill for AI is close to $800 million per year. It may be cheaper to offer generous severance pay to a large chunk of the employees and privatise AI.

Hi guys,

Does anyone have a diagram of DEL??? You know taxiways etc. Also, the arrival and departure configurations??

Thanks.

Quoting LAXDESI (Reply 1): Ojas wrote: CX/KA has shown "keen interest" in starting HKG - CCU flights. There would be a few rounds of discussion in the coming months before things are finalised.

I hope this is true & if started I hope it lasts. CX is a world class airline IMO

Quoting LAXDESI (Reply 9): Btw, the wage bill for AI is close to $800 million per year. It may be cheaper to offer generous severance pay to a large chunk of the employees and privatise AI.

You're right...they could save a ton of cash just by selling the planes and paying all salaries for a year...and maybe show a profit as well.


It's too bad, really. I see the Indian airline industry as a whole, as having such huge potential, nationally and internationally. It would be nice to see it grow to its potential. India could very rapidly challenge the middle east airlines, considering how much of their market share is from Indian passengers.

It sucks to see it being held back.

Hindustan Times: Senior government officials and members of Star Alliance will hold talks on July 18 on the progress of Air India’s induction into the international airline association.

So, what are the odds of *A finally accepting AI into the alliance? July 31 was supposed to be the drop-dead date.

When did 9W & MH start code sharing? I noticed 9W flight number appear on MH KUL-BLR flight.What other market do they code share?

thanks.

Quoting blrBird (Reply 14): When did 9W & MH start code sharing?

For almost 2 years IIRC.

Quoting blrBird (Reply 14): flight.What other market do they code share?

All India - KUL flights operated by MH (except MH 172/173 which is a 5 weekly day time KUL - DEL flight). MH too code shares on 9W's MAA - KUL flight.

From W11, SQ will increase BOM - SIN from 14 weekly to 17 weekly and AMD - SIN from 2pw to 3pw.

At the moment SQ operates to India as follows:

BOM => 14 weekly B777s
DEL => 14 weekly B777s
MAA => 7 weekly B777s
BLR => 7 weekly B777s
CCU => 3 weekly A333s
AMD => 2 weekly A333s

Total: 47 weekly flights.

Silk Air too will increase it's flights from 5 weekly to daily on the SIN - BLR sector.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/Singap...Mumbai-Report/Article1-721766.aspx

[Edited 2011-07-15 22:38:37]

There are news reports that DGCA has ordered airlines to "immediately" stop charging premium add-on fares for preferred seats (e.g. exit row seating). Why does the DGCA have to get involved in this - as long as the add-on fees for premium seating are clearly disclosed and it is optional to the customer to make a seat selection?

Quoting LAXDESI (Reply 5): Finally some info. on AI 788 seat configuration. Just 18 J seats is bit of a surprise

Given that most people on J in AI are upgrades, this leaves fewer seats that can be given as freebies... I'm sure this has actually been though out, but given that this is AI, you never know.

Just a question, I recently flew DEL-NRT on JL and noticed that my flight actually flew down south-east towards Dhaka, cross over into Myanmar and only at Mandalay did it make a turn to the left flying over Shanghai and then to Japan. I was wondering if airspace over the Himalayas are still restricted for aircraft because of the terrain? And whether this is for all aircraft or particular to two-engine planes as JAL operates a 772ER on the sector.

Not a good summer for VJM - http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/b...-in-summer/articleshow/9290233.cms

Quoting LAXDESI (Reply 6): Aviation ministry seeks $9 billion bailout from GOI.

Air India aims to receive seven 787s by end March 2012

http://www.flightglobal.com/articles...-seven-787s-by-end-march-2012.html

Quote: Air India will take delivery of its first Boeing 787 in October, a company source has indicated, with a further three to follow before the end of the year. The carrier will receive a total of seven by the end of March 2012, the source said. India's flag carrier has 27 of the type on order.

Ooooops ... do they have money to take the delivery.

Quoting aviationbuff (Reply 20): Ooooops ... do they have money to take the delivery.

With the sovereign guarantee on any loan - of course they can arrange for funds... The challenge will be when the guarantee dries up (if it ever will dry up)

Anyone aware of fresh dates on the B787 BOM Visit......

Quoting HAWK21M (Reply 22): Anyone aware of fresh dates on the B787 BOM Visit......

I guess the first time BOM will see a 787 will be VT-ANA when it lands there on the delivery flight

Quoting Cricket (Reply 23): Quoting HAWK21M (Reply 22): Anyone aware of fresh dates on the B787 BOM Visit...... I guess the first time BOM will see a 787 will be VT-ANA

I am sorry if i missed it, but why did the 787 skip BOM? Wasnt it supposed to be in BOM on Jul 16?

Quoting AirIndia (Reply 24): I am sorry if i missed it, but why did the 787 skip BOM? Wasnt it supposed to be in BOM on Jul 16?

Casualty of the blasts, pity though it was going to be parked at the AI hangers, so everyone who had 'A' seats would have got a great view while taking off and landing.

Anyone have any clue why VT-VJN a IT 332 has been parked at a remote stand in DEL for the past week?

According to the GDS, Effective W11, 9W will start daily flights between TRV and SHJ

9W 570 TRV - SHJ 1015 1240
9W 569 SHJ - TRV 1340 1900

Aircraft: B737-800, dual class

With this 9W will have 21 weekly international flights out of TRV (SHJ, MCT, DMM) and 14 weekly flights out of SHJ (COK, TRV).

At the moment The following carriers serve this route:

AI: daily A320
AIX: 4 weekly B738
G9: 14 weekly A320

[Edited 2011-07-21 04:24:45]

Has Kingfisher stopped paying their catering companies now or have catering companies stopped supplies? Flew DEL-BOM return today - vegetarian sandwich on the 8.30AM flight and some crap vegetarian food in KF First (I got bumped up at the Gate) on the way back. Noticably, no catering company card on either flight...

Quoting aviationbuff (Reply 20): Ooooops ... do they have money to take the delivery.

No airline pays cahs on delivery.....planes are financed by banks.....

Quoting Cricket (Reply 27): Has Kingfisher stopped paying their catering companies now or have catering companies stopped supplies? Flew DEL-BOM return today - vegetarian sandwich on the 8.30AM flight and some crap vegetarian food in KF First (I got bumped up at the Gate) on the way back. Noticably, no catering company card on either flight...

IT is facing problems with credit.....Recently IOC stopped refuelling of all IT Aircraft countrywide until a part payment was made.Signs of an Airline in cash crises.

Air India aims to receive seven 787s by end March 2012.
http://www.flightglobal.com/articles...-seven-787s-by-end-march-2012.html

Quote:
Air India will take delivery of its first Boeing 787 in October, a company source has indicated, with a further three to follow before the end of the year. The carrier will receive a total of seven by the end of March 2012, the source said. India's flag carrier has 27 of the type on order.

Bizarre and fascinating story, apparently a passenger died of a heart attack on an Indigo flight between AMD and DEL. Not surprising in itself, but the guy was found in the bathroom after the aircraft landed. Which means he would have been in the bathroom on landing. I thought on all A32X planes, the forward and rear toilets are visible to the cabin crew from their seats, so why did they let this guy go in. Or did he have his heart attack before the seat-belt sign got put? Interesting, and want to wait and see what happens going forward.
http://bit.ly/rr1K8J

VT-AND starts its engines for the first time http://bit.ly/mZ6VJa

Well, AI integration into Star Alliance has been put on hold http://bit.ly/p0xMlX

More on this thread AI And Star Alliance Deadline (by DTWLAX Jul 24 2011 in Civil Aviation)

Quoting Cricket (Reply 32):

787 Declares Emergency Over Flight Control Issues (by jetblueguy22 Jul 31 2011 in Civil Aviation)

Looks like its on the ground now.

Check out some of these crazy schedules from 1971 - this is a BOAC timetable
http://www.timetableimages.com/ttimages/ba/ba71/ba71-34.jpg
AI 129
BOM-DEL-THR-FRA-AMS-LHR (16 hours!)
AI 111 (on a 747)
BOM-DEL-BEY-FCO-FRA-LHR
AI 111 (on a 707)
BOM-DEL-CAI-FCO-FRA-LHR
AI 131
CCu-BOM-CAI-GVA-CDG-LHR
Even more amazine routings on the previous day
http://www.timetableimages.com/ttimages/ba/ba71/ba71-33.jpg

Anyone Aware of the status on quikjet cargo airlines.....

Quoting Cricket (Reply 35): Check out some of these crazy schedules from 1971 -

I remember flying BOM-KWI-GVA-PAR-LHR in May 1972....was quite small then.....

The return flight was LHR-PAR-FRA-BEY-DEL-BOM and was on AI 742 VT-EBD....my first 747 flight   

BTW, AI started flying to CDG only in the mid to late 80's.....it was Orly back in the 70's.....

http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/oi...resume-after-hectic-parleys-125782

The bad news continues for AI.

Copy & paste of the above article :

New Delhi: State-owned oil firms today halted jet fuel supplies to cash-strapped Air India for non-payment of dues leading to disruption of some of its flights after cheques of the national carrier bounced.

The Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) supplies were resumed after Air India agreed to make the payments tomorrow to the oil companies following hectic parleys by Civil Aviation and Petroleum ministries to find a solution.

Oil industry officials said cheques issued by Air India for its daily fuel purchases, which total about Rs. 16.5 crore, bounced, prompting their companies to take such action. The airline is understood to be negotiating with some foreign banks to help make the payments tomorrow.

The departure of a couple of flights originating from Kolkata and Chennai were delayed by 30 to 45 minutes.

The supplies were stopped at some stations including major ones like Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata, but were later resumed.

"Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum have from 1600 hours stopped aviation turbine fuel (or jet fuel) supplies to AI," a senior industry official said.

Air India was put on cash-and-carry mode of debit from December last year on account of non-payment of Rs. 2,200 crore dues to the three state-run oil companies. Under cash-and-carry, supplies are made only when cash is paid.

The oil companies are understood to have been informed that the airline would be paying its daily dues from tomorrow.

Severe cash crunch has led Air India to previously default on payments, affecting its flight schedules.

The officials said that the oil companies had together decided to curtail supplies by 20 units, which would have hit flights from the major metros. Air India officials heaved a sigh of relief after the supplies were restored.

Air India's cheque of Rs. 3.4 crore to Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) and Rs. 2.7 crore to Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) had bounced. AI also defaulted on payment of about Rs. 10 crore to Indian Oil Corporation, officials said.

Air India has to pay Rs. 16.5 crore to oil companies daily as per the agreement between the companies and the national carrier. It gets around 225 kilo litre of aviation turbine fuel daily to meet its requirements.

In June, the oil firms had been directed by the government to meet the carrier's requirements for three months to allow it to carry out its daily operations after Civil Aviation Minister Vayalar Ravi met Petroleum Minister S Jaipal Reddy to sort out the issue.

Due to the fuel-supply restrictions, the airline was then being forced to combine and even curtail between 10 and 15 per cent of its flights on a daily basis. It runs an average of 320 flights daily.

Air India was awaiting release of funds sanctioned by the government as well as some banks, sources said.


Read more at: http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/oi...ume-after-hectic-parleys-125782&cp

http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/ne...o-be-from-aviation-ministry-126038

The saga continues. After all the money spent on the merger between AI & IC, the latest clever plan is to
have a MD & 2 deputy MDs - 1 for AI & 1 for IC !!!!! So we are now going to have a deputy MD for a airline that doesnt even exist anymore. Is this the start of a demerger ?

The article from NDTV :

Sources: New Air India chief likely to be from Aviation Ministry
NDTV Correspondent, Updated: August 11, 2011 19:10 IST

New Delhi:  India is likely to have a new Air India chief soon. While it is not yet confirmed, sources say the front-runner for the post is Rohit Nandan, joint secretary in the Civil Aviation Ministry.

The sources add that there is also a proposal to create two deputy MDs for Air India and Indian Airlines. More details are awaited.

Big mishtake. Better to have brought in an star outsider.

Quoting AirIndia (Reply 24): I am sorry if i missed it, but why did the 787 skip BOM? Wasnt it supposed to be in BOM on Jul 16?

The Blasts a few days earlier.

Maybe the next time will be soon for the visit of the B787.

Quoting HAWK21M (Reply 41): Maybe the next time will be soon for the visit of the B787.

Won't AI be getting their 787 soon? Barring any further economic woes of course......

Then BOM spotters will get to see it for sure......  

Quoting gr8circle (Reply 42): Won't AI be getting their 787 soon? Barring any further economic woes of course......

End of the year I heard.......But then 4 months earlier would have been great for the B787 in Mumbai.....as Delhi was lucky to host it.

Quoting HAWK21M (Reply 36): Anyone Aware of the status on quikjet cargo airlines.....

Hawk, I know you posted that picture of ATR-72F with Quikjet markings from June of this year, but I am still skeptical of this outfit. In 2008 they had a similar B733F all painted going nowhere. I will believe it the day the DGCA AoC is granted and the maiden flight takes off in India.

Quikjet B733F

Effective 10th October

6E 51 BOM - SIN 0840 1650 daily
6E 52 SIN - BOM 1650 1745

(a/c swap with DEL - SIN flight)

6E 81 BOM - MCT 2125 2245 Mo, We, Th, Fr
6E 82 MCT - BOM 0005 0415 Tu, Th, Fr, Sa


Aircraft: A320

Source: goindigo.in

Is this the first time they've announced Muscat service, originally it was just DXB, BKK and SIN.

Quoting ojas (Reply 45): 6E 52 SIN - BOM 1650 1745

The arrival time is 1945hrs and not 1745 hrs, it was a typo.

Quoting HAWK21M (Reply 43): End of the year I heard.......But then 4 months earlier would have been great for the B787 in Mumbai.....as Delhi was lucky to host it.

Don't worry....very soon you'll be seeing them everyday.....

I have an incredible personal situation with the A-380....I live in Toronto, where EK operates the A380.....I live right under the path to one of the r/ways of YYZ and planes go right over my house everyday.......seen the A380 at the airport, taxiing, at the terminal, etc. but I'm yet to see the A380 take off or land......

To make matters worse, I actually flew on the 380 last year (SQ SIN-HKG), but still did not see one take off or land from outside......so, I'm still waiting for that opportunity.....

Hopefully, won't be that way with the 787 as AC will be getting them and then they'll be all over the Toronto skies.....  

Quoting golfradio (Reply 44): Hawk, I know you posted that picture of ATR-72F with Quikjet markings from June of this year, but I am still skeptical of this outfit. In 2008 they had a similar B733F all painted going nowhere. I will believe it the day the DGCA AoC is granted and the maiden flight takes off in India.

From the word going around they were to start up in July 2011.............with ATR72s & upgrade to B752s in a year.

Quoting gr8circle (Reply 48): Don't worry....very soon you'll be seeing them everyday.....

Sure will.