Spicejet planning on international routes from next year

Low-cost carrier SpiceJet, promoted by a group of investors led by the Kansagra family and Delhi-based Ajay Singh, is working on a plan to start international operations next year, making it the third private Indian carrier after Jet Airways and Kingfisher to fly overseas. The airline qualifies for international operations from June next year after it completes five years of domestic operations, the minimum stipulated by the government. The airline plans to fly mainly to Saarc countries, south-east Asia and select west Asian routes rather than long-haul routes, such as London and New York as Jet and Kingfisher have done.

"We are planning our international launch carefully and will fly only on routes that we think are under-served or have potential for more flights," said Sanjay Agarwal, chief executive officer, SpiceJet. Agarwal explained that the airline would start operations in sectors in which SpiceJet’s Boeing 737 fleet can fly. On competition from low-cost carriers in West Asia like Flydubai and Air Arabia Aggarwal conceded that while the competition is tough, their strategy would be to service markets that are still under-served from India. These routes could include Riyadh and Dammam in Saudi Arabia. Aggarwal also pointed out that routes like Mumbai-Kathmandu, Chennai-Singapore are still viable and provide potential for growth.

Jet Airways introduces low apex fares on select routes

Jet Airways, India’s premier international airline, its new, all-economy Jet Airways Konnect service, as well as Jet Airways’ all-economy subsidiary JetLite have introduced new, low 15-day Apex fares on select domestic routes, with immediate effect. These new one-way fares, valid on key domestic routes from the five major metros of Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Kolkata respectively, are cheaper than equivalent First Class AC train fares on some routes, and marginally more expensive on others. According to Mr. Sudheer Raghavan, Chief Commercial Officer, Jet Airways, "We are delighted to introduce these new, low advance purchase fares to welcome the onset of the festive season, when travel demand traditionally increases. These fares are extremely competitively priced vis-à-vis train travel fares, and we expect these fares to prove extremely popular with travellers."

Gulf Air inducts brand new Airbus A320 aircrafts

Marking the start of its re-fleeting programme, Gulf Air has taken delivery of the first of 15 new 'fuel efficient' Airbus A320 aircraft into the fleet. Powered by CFM56 engines, the new A320 aircraft can carry 136 passengers in a two class configuration with 16 business class and 120 economy class seats. The new A320 aircraft together with the nine others that will follow between now and the end of 2010, will replace the airline's older narrow body aircraft, the carrier's CEO, Samer Majali said.

Oman Air launches Muscat-Paris flights

Oman Air has launched its non-stop scheduled services between Muscat and Paris-Charles de Gaulle. The new route will be run four times per week. The carrier has recently taken delivery of its second A330-300. Powered by Rolls-Royce Trent 700 engines, the A330 will be configured in a three-class layout with six First, 20 Business and 196 Economy seats.

Air India to fly all economy class on select Gulf sectors

As part of its route rationalisation and cost-cutting measures, Air India plans to replace its twin-class aircraft with all-economy ones belonging to low-cost subsidiary Air India Express on some Gulf routes from the end of this month. "As part of our route rationalisation plans some of the flights which are currently being operated by erstwhile Indian Airlines on sectors like Bahrain and Doha, will be operated by our low-cost subsidiary, Air India Express," Air India sources said. Airbus A320 planes, which are currently being flown on these routes, would be replaced by planes with all-economy configuration flown by Air India Express, they said. "There is a huge potential for economy class traffic on these routes. Replacing a full-service carrier with a budget carrier will definitely help us in enhancing our revenue," the sources said. Air India has already effected these changes in its winter schedule starting from Sunday, they said.

Air China to start flights to Kolkata soon

With Kolkata airport on the verge of being modernized, several international airlines are showing interest to start new flights from the city. Air China is all set to start direct services by the end of this year. It will be the seventh international carrier to start operation in the city in the last two years. Kolkata airport director R Srinivasan said Air China delegates are expected to chalk out the details of their schedule and announce the launch of their new flights on Monday. At present, Air China operates from Delhi to three Chinese destinations Bejing, Shanghai and Chengdu.

Low-cost Chinese carrier China Eastern already connects Kolkata with Kumling four days a week. Last week, Air Asia announced its direct flight from Kolkata to Kuala Lumpur from November 19. The other airlines that started operations in the last two years are Kingfisher, Jet, Air India Express, Best Airline and United Airways. Two major airlines British Airways and Gulf Airline withdrew their operations and others reduced their frequencies three years ago. Even Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways are planning to restart some flights.

Air India Express starts Delhi-Doha flight

In order to meet the growing demand from Doha to the northern part of India, Air India Express will introduce Delhi as a new destination effective 26th October, 2009, three times a week. The Mumbai flight will be extended to Delhi and the passengers from Doha to Delhi will travel without disembarking at Mumbai on the same aircraft. From Delhi, Air India express will offer a flat add-on of QAR.150/- one way on Air India or Indian Airlines domestic flights to places like Amritsar, Srinagar, Varanasi, Patna, Lucknow etc. A similar offer already exists over Mumbai to places like Baroda, Ahmadabad, Hyderabad, Chennai, Goa etc. In fact, over Mumbai or Delhi which are our gate way points, passengers can connect to any one destination in India at a flat add-on rate of QAR.150/- one way on our services.

Jet Airways starts Mumbai-Riyadh flights

Effective October 25, 2009, Jet Airways, India's premier international airline, will increase their flights to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with the introduction of daily direct services from Mumbai to the Saudi Arabian administrative and commercial capital city of Riyadh. The airline will operate the new flights aboard a state-of-the-art Boeing 737-800 aircraft. Flight 9W 524 will depart Mumbai at 1930 hrs, arriving in Riyadh at 2115 hrs. 9W 523 will then depart Riyadh at 2215 hrs, arriving in Mumbai at 0420 hrs. According to Mr. Nikos K. Kardassis, CEO, Jet Airways, "Jet Airways is delighted to introduce daily services to Riyadh, kingdom of Saudi Arabia from Mumbai."

"The introduction of the daily flights will serve to further strengthen our Gulf network, better enabling us to offer passengers seamless connectivity and a world-class product on the Indo-Gulf sector." According to Mr. Fareed Al Alawi, VP-Gulf & MEA Jet Airways (India), "Jet Airways is delighted to introduce daily services to Riyadh, kingdom of Saudi Arabia from Mumbai. The introduction of this daily flight will serve to further strengthen our Gulf network, better enabling us to offer passengers seamless connectivity and a world-class product on the Indo-Gulf sector." Jet Airways currently flies daily to Kuwait, Bahrain, Muscat, Doha, Jeddah, Sharjah, Dubai and Abu Dhabi from several Indian cities.

Salalah Beach Marriott Resort all set to open

Oman's Dhofar Tourism Company has signed an agreement with Marriott International for the management of the 234-room Salalah Beach Marriott Resort. Scheduled to open in December 2009, the resort will be part of a mixed-used, beachfront development, located approximately 75 kilometres from the Sultanate's southernmost city.

Aloft Hotel to open in Abu Dhabi

Abu Dhabi National Exhibitions Company and Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide have announced the Aloft Hotel in Abu Dhabi will be opened on October 25 during the inaugural Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Formula One Grand Prix. The 408-room Aloft Hotel, which is connected to the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre, is 20 minutes from downtown Abu Dhabi and 15 minutes from Abu Dhabi International Airport.

Air India aircraft lands in Delhi under emergency conditions

The pilots of an Air India plane with 150 people on board on Thursday aborted landing at the IGI Airport Delhi after experiencing "fluctuations" on the instrument landing system (ILS) signal, but later touched down safely. None of the 143 passengers of the IC-864 from Mumbai to Delhi or seven crew members was hurt in the incident, an airline spokesperson said. At 1209 hours, the pilots who were on the ILS mode for a safe landing suddenly spotted the signals on the system fluctuating, leading to problems with the coordinates of the Airbus A-321's landing path.

As soon as the problem was noted, the pilots decided to do a "go around" and informed the Air Traffic Control about their decision against landing, the spokesperson said. The plane, which was earlier planning to land on Runway 28, touched down safely on Runway 29 after about 20 minutes, he said. The aircraft later took off on its onward journey to Chandigarh with 151 passengers on board, he added. The ILS enables a plane to land in difficult conditions like thick fog, but the computer system on board and the system on the ground have to tally the coordinates for ensuring proper landing or take-off.