Air India pilots on strike

Around 600 Air India pilots of the erstwhile Indian Airlines have gone on a strike to press for their various demands, ruining the holiday plans of thousands of passengers in the process. Six flights from Mumbai were cancelled. The strike was called Tuesday midnight. Till Wednesday morning, Air India had managed to operate 10 flights from Mumbai to various destinations with the help of executive pilots. Six flights from Mumbai to different destinations have been cancelled due to non-availability of pilots. The striking pilots, owing allegiance to the Indian Commercial Pilots Association of the former Indian Airlines, which merged with Air India later, have struck work demanding parity in pay with Air India pilots and other issues related to work conditions.

Survivors of Air India Express crash in Mangalore

List of survivors
Sabrina
Omar Farooq
Roy Joel
Pradeep D’Souza
Krishna
Pradeep
Mohammed K

Air India Express Dubai-Mangalore flight crashes

At least 160 people have been killed after an Air India Express aircraft from Dubai, carrying 173 passengers, overshot the runway and ploughed into the forest while landing at the Mangalore airport on Saturday morning. At least 5-6 people in critical condition have been rescued. Rescue operation was hampered by the thick smoke that engulfed the plane, airport authorities said. Referring to those on-board the aircraft, chief minister of Karnataka, B S Yediyurappa, said, 'They're all not alive. At least 160 passengers have died in the crash,' V.S. Acharya, home minister of Karnataka, said. 'At least five to six people have been taken to hospital, their condition is not known.' The aircraft was on fire, an Air India spokesperson said. About 25 fire tenders and ambulances are on the spot, authorities said. The incident happened near a valley 10 km from the airport, Karnataka home minister V S Acharya said.

The flight IX-892, operated by a Boeing 737-800, had 163 adult passengers, 4 infants and 6 crew members on board. Aviation sources said the aircraft overshot the runway, hit the fence and went beyond the boundary wall of the airport. All the contact with the aircraft was lost after 6.30 am as the left wing of the plane caught fire. It was not immediately clear what caused the crash, although Mangalore deputy police commissioner R. Ramesh said the airport had been lashed by heavy rains which had hampered rescue efforts. Television footage suggested the plane had partially broken up, with smoke billowing from the main fuselage, as rescue workers sought to douse the fire with foam and pulled bodies from the wreckage. 'The plane had broken into two. I jumped out of the plane after it crashed. I saw two other people also come out,' Abdullah, a survivor from the plane, said.

'There was tyre-burst kind of noise. I tried to get out of the front but saw that there was a big fire. So I went back again and jumped out from there.' One television channel showed a fireman carrying in his arms what seemed to be the remains of a child. Charred bodies and an engine lay in the forested terrain. 'The flight had already landed. There was slight rain. The flight skidded off,' eyewitness Mohiuddin Bava said. 'After that it caught fire. Villagers, everyone there, came to rescue. The plane wings are right in front of me now.' Aviation sources termed it an 'accident' instead of 'incident', they said. In aviation parlance an accident denotes causalities. AI has opened helpline centre at Delhi Airport and the two numbers are 011-2565-6196 and 011-2560-3101. Mangalore Helpline number is 0824-2220422. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has announced a compensation of Rs 2 lakh each for the families of those killed in Mangalore air crash and Rs 50,000 for the injured from the PM's National Relief Fund. Meanwhile, civil aviation minister Praful Patel has rushed to the spot. Congress president Sonia Gandhi also expressed grief and sorrow over the tragic air accident in Mangalore. In a message, she wished speedy recovery to those injured. DGCA Director-General S N A Zaidi said, 'we have received only preliminary reports regarding the accident. But we are waiting for the details including the number of passengers.'

Jet Airways to launch Mumbai-Dhaka flights

Effective December 23, 2009, Jet Airways, India’s premier international airline, will introduce new, direct services on the Mumbai-Dhaka-Mumbai sectors, aboard its state-of-the-art Boeing 737-800 aircraft. This will be Jet Airways’ third flight to Bangladesh from India, and will connect Dhaka with several destinations across North America, Europe and the ASEAN region, as well as eight destinations across the Gulf, over the airline’s Mumbai hub. The airline currently flies daily from Delhi and Kolkata to Dhaka. The new Mumbai-Dhaka flight will initially operate 6 days a week, with the exception of Tuesdays. Effective March 29, 2010, it will be a daily flight.

Flight 9W 276 will depart Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport at 0830 hrs, arriving in Dhaka’s Zia International Airport at 1300 hrs. Flight 9W 275 will then depart Dhaka at 1430 hrs, arriving in Mumbai at 1610 hrs. According to Mr. Nikos Kardassis, Acting CEO, Jet Airways, "Jet Airways offers travelers seamless connections to several destinations across India, as well as the Gulf, North America, Europe and ASEAN, over its hubs in Mumbai and Delhi. The launch of our new Mumbai-Dhaka service will thus connect Dhaka to the world, via Mumbai, while further enhancing air connectivity on the busy India-Bangladesh sector."

Jetlite launches new online booking engine

JetLite, the wholly owned subsidiary of Jet Airways India Ltd, launched its new state-of–the-art online booking engine. This move by JetLite is an attempt to offer a flexible web-sale solution with a clear road map to cater to the increasing ecommerce activities in ticket purchasing pattern in the Indian market. Guests can follow a simple booking process and make their selection based on 3 parameters - Lowest Fare, Fixed dates or Flexible dates. They will also receive a SMS and an email confirmation of the booking to the mobile number provided. In addition to the on-line booking engine, key features like ‘Manage my booking’ and ‘PNR Status’ are also added on the website which makes it convenient for the guest to use it as the focus is more on self-service tools and web bookings is a key part of this focus.

Speaking at the launch Mr. Sudheer Raghavan, Chief Commercial Officer, said "We wanted a flexible solution to keep up with the changing times in today’s dynamic and competitive market. This is yet another innovative step by Jet Airways to offer the best to our customers both in terms of experience and value added services. This will primarily help us reduce distribution costs and build customer loyalty by offering the value-adds which are not presently offered on other platforms," he added. The unique automated CyberSource Risk screening solution along with the 3D secure Payment gateway as per RBI guidelines ensures transactions are secure. Jetlite.com also offers web check-in facility where in guests can select their preferred seat and print their boarding pass from the comfort of their home or office.

Marriott International to open three Qatar properties

Marriott International has announced that all three new Marriott Properties in Qatar will be opened simultaneously by the middle of next year. Located in one complex in Doha, the properties are the five-star 257-room Renaissance Hotel, the four-star 204-room Courtyard by Marriott, and the Marriott Executive Apartments. Ibrahim Barghout, General Manager of the three Marriott properties said the hotels will have a soft opening "to see how things materialise" and plan for the grand opening activities right after.

Indian Government offers citizens of 05 countries visa on arrival

The Government has decided to offer visa-on-arrival facility to citizens of a select group of five countries, something that New Delhi had been extremely hesitant to do so far because of security concerns. The government, it is learnt, has decided to clear the names of Japan, Singapore, New Zealand, Luxembourg and Finland as the countries whose nationals can fly in to India and obtain a visa at the airport. A formal notification in this regard is likely to be made very soon. The decision has ostensibly been taken with the aim of promoting tourism but its significance is much more than that. This is the first time that India is offering visa-on-arrival to any country.

And it is making this offer completely unilaterally, junking a proposal that said New Delhi should offer this facility only to countries that were ready to reciprocate. The decision to offer visa-on-arrival is currently only a pilot project. And the choice of the selected countries has been dictated by the fact that no national of any of these countries has ever been found to be involved in even linked to any terror related incident anywhere in the world. The nod came after detailed consultations with intelligence agencies like Intelligence Bureau and the Research and Analysis Wing.

Spicejet launches cargo operations from Kochi

SpiceJet has now expanded its cargo operations to Kochi. Announcing the launch of cargo operations from Kochi, Chief Commercial Officer Samyukth Sridharan said, "With the addition of Kochi to our existing network of domestic cargo operations, we will now be providing cargo services from 14 cities". He also noted the addition of Kochi would further strengthen the airline's cargo operations. Currently, the airlines carry an average of about 120 tons per day and aims to increase it to 150 tons per day in the near future.

Jet Airways starts new Mumbai-Kathmandu flight

Jet Airways, India’s premier international airline, introduced a new service on the Mumbai-Kathmandu-Mumbai sectors, its third service to the Nepalese capital from India, with a state-of-the-art Boeing 737-800 aircraft. The new flight will operate five days a week - on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays. Jet Airways Boeing 737 – 800 flight 9W 266 will depart Mumbai at 0805 hrs, arrive Kathmandu at 1055 hrs. Flight 9W 265 will then depart Kathmandu at 1155 hrs and arrive Mumbai at 1440 hrs. The new Boeing 737-800 aircraft specially configured for International Operations will offer 24 seats in the Premiere and 120 in the Economy.

The airline will offer attractive special introductory promotional fares for both Premiere and Economy Classes. The special promotional return economy fare is Rs 7500/- excluding taxes which can be purchased till January 15, 2010. The one way special economy fare is Rs 4875/- excluding taxes. Jet Airways currently operates two daily services on the Delhi-Kathmandu-Delhi sectors, while JetLite, Jet Airways' subsidiary all-economy carrier, operates a daily service on the same sectors. With 26 flights per week, the Jet Airways group with JetLite will offer the maximum number of flights between India and Nepal, making it the largest amongst all foreign carriers.

With Jet Airways' unmatched domestic network and growing international network, the new service will offer travellers seamless connectivity between Nepal and several destinations across India, as well as to the Gulf, North America, Europe and ASEAN, over its hub in Mumbai. Mr. Nikos Kardassis, CEO, Jet Airways, says, "The India-Nepal sector is a very busy one, with relatively large volumes of passenger traffic. With the success of our services to Kathmandu, there has been increasing demand for direct air connections between the Indian commercial hub of Mumbai and Kathmandu. Having introduced the same in the festive season, we are confident that our new service on this sector will be much appreciated by both business and leisure travellers alike."

Spicejet aircraft returns to Mumbai due to mechanical failure

A Delhi-bound Spicejet aircraft with 202 passengers onboard had to return to Mumbai airport following a pressurisation failure. The flight SG 114 which took off from Mumbai at 1142 had to return to Mumbai at 1240 because of a mechanical problem and its passengers have been deplaned. "SG 114 did an air turn back on account of a mechanical issue that constrained the pilot to bring the flight back to Mumbai. This was done for the safety of the passengers," a Spicejet spokesperson said in a statement. "Alternative arrangements are being made for the passengers to help them reach their destination," the spokesperson added.

Indian Air Force grounds its Su30 fighter aircraft fleet

The country's entire Sukhoi-30MKI fleet has been grounded for "precautionary checks" after one of these "air dominance" fighter jets crashed in Rajasthan on Monday. IAF has sought the help of Russia and Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) to investigate the crash. The two pilots, Wing Commander Srivastava and Flight Lieutenant Arora, had ejected from the Russian-origin fighter while taking part in fire-power exercises at Pokhran after fire alarms went off in the cockpit around 5.30 pm. "Preliminary indications are that it was caused due to a technical defect. The pilots ejected after they saw fire alarm buttons glowing red... Probably the engines were on fire," said a source. "The airframe and systems of the entire fleet will undergo a thorough inspection before they are allowed to take to the skies again," he added.

IAF is already in touch with experts from Russia, with the Sukhois still being under contractual warrantee, as well as HAL, which had "manufactured/assembled" the fighter indigenously, to help in the court of inquiry ordered to investigate the exact reason behind the crash. Even the earlier Sukhoi crash of April 30 is primarily attributed to technical defects, with "some'' design problems and system malfunctions playing a role in the mishap. Defence minister A K Antony, in fact, had held that the April 30 crash was due to "a likely failure of the fly-by-wire system". The Sukhoi fleet had then been grounded for around three weeks. IAF has inducted 105 of the 230 twin-seater Sukhois primarily based in Pune and Bareilly at present contracted from Russia in three deals worth upwards of $8.5 billion.

With both China and Pakistan bolstering their air combat fleets, IAF has asked the government for another 50 Sukhois each of which would cost around $45 million to cater for any contingency on both the eastern and western fronts. HAL, in fact, has been directed to end the production of 140 of the original 230 jets under transfer of technology by 2015, instead of the originally scheduled 2017-2018. With the Sukhois being the latest and most potent fighter in India's combat fleet, IAF already earmarked airbases like Tezpur and Chabua in Assam, Halwara (Punjab) and Jodhpur (Rajasthan) as the new airbases to house two Sukhoi squadrons each. Earlier this year, the first four Sukhois were deployed in Tezpur to kickstart the entire process.

China Airlines Taiwan-Rome flights to transit via New Delhi

Taipei-based China Airlines announced Monday that from Dec. 1, its flights to Rome will transit via the Indian city of Delhi rather than the Thai city of Bangkok. CAL, which operates three flights per week to Rome, will become the only airline in the world to fly the route via Delhi, a move that is expected to cut the flight time by an hour, the company said. The twice-weekly Taipei-Bangkok-Rome flights will be replaced by three Taipei-Delhi-Rome flights per week, according to CAL. Flights will depart from Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport at 8:25 am every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday, reaching Delhi at 01:10 pm for a 75 minute transit stop before arriving in Rome at 6:40 pm the same day. The return flights will leave at 10:40 pm from Rome and reach Delhi at 10:55 am the next day for a 75 minute transit stop before arriving in Taiwan at 8:20 pm that day.

Golden Tulip to add 60 hotels in Middle East

Louvre Hotels and Golden Tulip Hospitality Group, Starwood Capital subsidiaries, have announced plans to add 60 hotels in the Middle East in the next five years. 'We are aiming at putting at least 10,000 rooms by 2014 with each hotel having on an average 100 rooms,' Pierre Frederic Roulot, President of Golden Tulip Hospitality Group and Louvre Hotels said.

IAF Sukhoi 30 fighter aircraft crashes in Rajasthan

A Sukhoi-30 fighter plane crashed near Jetha ki Dhani in Rajasthan's Jaisalmer district on Monday, but both the pilot and the co-pilot bailed out safely. The fighter jet was on a routine sortie when the crash occurred.

Jordan lifts tourist visa restrictions for Indian nationals

Jordan has said that visa restrictions on individual Indian nationals visiting the kingdom as tourists have been lifted. The decision came as moves to promote tourism to the country and to support economic growth, the Jordan Tourism Board said. The decision is in line with a series of efforts to stimulate and boost the tourism sector in light of the current global economic crisis. Such efforts include the reduction of the sales tax on hotel rooms and plans to reduce electricity tariffs on hotels.

Qatar Airways starts flying to Goa

Qatar Airways has launched new non-stop service to Goa, which is now the carrier's 10th Indian destination. The new route will be serviced by a two-class Airbus A320 with 12 seats in business and 132 seats in economy. The Goa flights will leave Doha at 9.25pm on Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays.

Emirates starts flying to Luanda, Angola

Emirates Airline has launched new non-stop service to the capital of oil-rich Angola. The new service to Luanda will leave on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday using an Airbus A330-200. This new route marks the 18th destination in Africa for Emirates.

Etihad Airways to start flights to Tokyo & Nagoya

Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways is set to open its first Japanese services early next year, with connections to Tokyo and Nagoya. The carrier will operate a four flights a week service to Nagoya, via Beijing, from Monday February 1, increasing to five flights a week from March 27. A five flights a week direct service to Tokyo's Narita airport is also scheduled for launch on March 27.

Oman Air starts flying to Maldives

Oman Air has started a non-stop service between the Sultanate and the Republic of Maldives. The flights to the Maldives capital, Malé are on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, returning the same day. The route will be operated by Oman Air's newly introduced Airbus A330 aircraft, which has first, business and economy class seating, the airline said.

SriLankan Airways adds another flight to Dammam

SriLankan Airlines has launched another flight to Dammam, Saudi Arabia, offering now a total of four flights per week to its Dammam-Colombo route. SriLankan has two flights from Riyadh and two from Jeddah.