Aerospace Diary

Neelam Mathews Jane's Airport Review 24-05-2016 On 23 May 2016, controllers began training on systems in the new 25-storey air traffic control (ATC) tower at Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi,  India . IHS Jane's   was given a tour of the 102 m-tall tower, which cost more than USD 50 million. The visual control room has 21 controller positions with 360-degree visibility of the runway and taxiways, while 12 ground controller positions are in place at an operational level. Indira Gandhi International is the busiest airport in  India  with 344,413 aircraft movements in the 12 months to March 2016. In the same period, passenger volume rose by 18.1% to 48.42 million. The new tower is designed to deal with expected growth up to 2032, when 500 stands are expected. Training is under way for controllers at the new ATC tower in Indira Gandhi International Airport. (Neelam Mathews) A hydraulic control system enables the cabin to be raise...

Neelam Mathews April 2, 2015 Pegasus Asia, born out of Turkey’s Pegasus Airlines’ partnership with Kyrgyz airline Air Manas, is expanding with new routes and increased frequencies. The latest feather in the Bishkek-based airline now includes twice-weekly scheduled flights to Delhi. Kazakhsthan based Air Astana already runs five services a week to Delhi. The aim of Pegasus Asia is to make Bishkek a hub for Central Asia said a spokesperson, by making it a transit point for onward travel to Europe, the Middle East, Russia and the Far East. Having launched the first Bishkek-Istanbul flights on March 21, it runs daily flights between Bishkek Manas International Airport and Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen Airport. Passengers can now connect from Delhi to Istanbul via Bishkek with fares starting at just £156, said the spokesperson. The carrier’s connections to Central Asian destinations will provide a respite to Indian students and businessmen heading to Osh in Kyrgyzstan...

Neelam Mathews Feb 24, 2015     Samtel Thales Avionics: created in 2010, a Joint venture between Samtel Avionics (74%), Thales Avionics (20%) and Thales India (6%), is moving faster now. The JV has since matured and has  been operational since Dec. last year.   Thales’s expertise and know-how in this area will allow the joint venture to complete its objective of becoming a key private player offering Thales’s ‘Made in India’ products, an official told Aerospace Diary. The new industrial structure being set up will create offsets in the avionics and optronics fields as well as redesign and the treatment of obsolete materials, either for the Thales Group or others with similar offset obligations in India.   The resource capacities of the new facility include 1000 m2: production platform, clean room, test benches, climate chamber. The local supply chain includes subcontractors, all of which have been approved by Thales and Samtel.

Neelam Mathews Aug 12, 2014 India is buzzing. Lufthansa expects to start flying A380s to Mumbai and Delhi from around Nov 1, this year, with the start of the winter schedule, South Asia Director Wolfgang Will told AeroSpaceDiary here. The A380s will replace the 747-800 to Delhi and 747-400s flying into Mumbai. The carrier is “in the final steps of getting approval.” The carrier has ordered 15 A380s, of which the 11 th and 12 th aircraft are in delivery mode. The last aircraft will be delivered by 2016. The entry of the world’s largest commercial jet will bring in 180 additional seats per flight and that’s no mean job to fill. Interestingly, the first ever region-specific commercial presently on major channels, “More Indian than you think,” to be followed by billboards and “much more,” is “a prelude to the A380 coming into India,” Will added. “We realize there are challenges, but we see huge opportunities. We will reach out to new customer segments like the leisure...

AINONLINE by    NEELAM MATHEWS Established Indian carriers like SpiceJet and Air India will now face tougher competition on both domestic and international routes. [Photo: Neelam Mathews] May 13, 2014, 3:00 PM Indian airlines are facing stiffer competition and downward pressure on air fares with 40 new aircraft due to join the country’s fleet, taking the total capacity to around 400 jets by year-end. Existing carriers are now facing new competition in the shape of AirAsia India , which has just received its air operator permit ( AOP ) for domestic services. The new joint venture between Indian group Tata and Singapore Airlines ( SIA ) is hoping to get its  AOP  ready to start service to nine Indian cities with 87 flights from the capital Delhi in September as a prelude to planned international routes. Further competition is coming from the new A380 service into India by both  SIA  and Emirates Airlines. The increa...

Neelam Mathews April 27, 2014 As Jet Airways inches towards its 25 th anniversary on May 5- or is it the 26 th?  as people have different modes of calculation- AerospaceDiary has learnt an all- business class service on B737-900 could be started between Mumbai-Delhi-Mumbai. We hear the aircraft is being reconfigured presently, but could not confirm this.                   While many would look at this as a gutsy step given that it were to happen, and with the economy not having bounced back, a ministry official here informed us the seats could be between 78- 92. Presently, Jet Airways has 28 business class seats on the sector. This could be in the footsteps of its partner Etihad Airways that is believed to be looking at a similar service from Abu Dhabi to London. While many might wonder whether load factors will meet expectations, we hear Jet has managed to woo its business c...

Neelam Mathews March 1, 2013 So, for those of us who thought or didn't, that AirAsia would come and takeover the budget seat business in India, here's some news. IndiGo has launched 8 new flights on its domestic network including its fifth daily and direct flight between Delhi and Chennai, AirAsia's hub. It now has a second direct daily between Delhi and Kochi.  Additionally, 6E will operate its fourth daily and direct flight between Mumbai and Chennai. Few guesses why Chennai is so important to its agenda. And while AirAsia has already said Delhi and Mumbai airports are too expensive for its business model for the moment and will stick to sectors from Chennai that do not connect to these two metros, one feels IndiGo is thinking a step ahead. The question is how long can these two city pairs not be part of a scheduled carrier's business model. We're waiting........!   IndiGo n ew flight schedules  Flight Origin Destination Departure Arriva...

Neelam Mathews Dec 28, 2012 Starting Jan 18, Jet Airways, will introduce a second service between Delhi and Dubai with a 737-800 enhancing its connectivity to the UAE with a day time flight. This will complement the night flight presently operating between Delhi and Dubai. The introduction of this new flight between Delhi and Dubai further strengthens the presence of Jet Airways in the Indo-Gulf sector. Jet will offer a twin class  configuration of 16 Premiere and 138 Economy seating. Sudheer Raghavan, Chief Commercial Officer, Jet Airways said the new service “will offer guests wider options of preferred departure time whilst travelling to Dubai, or travelling onwards throughout our ever-expanding global network.”

Neelam Mathews Dec 24, 2012 Oman Air is likely to increase frequency of flights to India in 2013 following the air transport bilateral services MoU signed in Nov, Aerospace Diary learns. The MoU provides for an increase the number of flights between the Sultanate and India as the national carriers of both countries will operate weekly flights towards a total of 16,016 seats a week.This is up from the previous 11,550. Oman will divide these seats into 14 weekly flights to Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Chennai, 7 weekly flights to Bangalore, Calicut, Jaipur, Kochi, Trivandrum and Lucknow, in addition to six weekly flights to Goa. From Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Chennai, Oman Air currently operates two flights a day or 14 weekly flights to Mumbai alone, while seven weekly flights operate on the remaining routes. And on the Bengaluru, Calicut, Jaipur, Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram and Lucknow routes, the airline operates seven flights a week to all except Bengaluru and Jaipur,...

                                                          From left, Jack Jones, vice president and general manager of Boeing South Carolina; Air India Capt. A. S. Soman; Dinesh Keskar, senior vice president of Asia-Pacific and India Sales for Boeing Commercial Airplanes; and M. L. Franklin, Air India technical team leader, celebrate delivery of Air India’s first 787. Neelam Mathews Sept 7, 2012 After a lot of dilly-dallying, Air India on Thursday took  delivery of its first Boeing 787 (of 27 ordered) at Charleston, South Carolina facility of Boeing. The 787 will land in Delhi on Sept 8. It will then be ferried to Mumbai and the Air India crew is expected to return to Charleston for the airline’s second 787, likely to take around ten days. “The 787 will allow Air India to open new routes in a dynamic marketplace and prov...

Neelam Mathews Aug 28, 2012 Air Arabia, the largest budget carrier in the Middle East and North Africa is taking the war of seats to the Gulf by expanding service to the Indian capital,  New Delhi , from its primary hub in Sharjah, UAE. with twice-daily flights starting Sept 1.   Air Arabia currently offers 7 weekly flights to  Delhi . Starting 1st of September, the carrier will offer flights 14 times per week, departing  Sharjah   International   Airport  daily at 7:45AM and 23:20PM. Return flights depart  Delhi   International   Airport daily at 13:05PM and 04:40AM (local time). “The rapidly expanding aviation sector in India is one of the country’s major economic drivers” said Adel Ali, Group Chief Executive Officer, Air Arabia “We are confident that the expansion of service between Sharjah and India’s capital, New Delhi will further enhance the air travel options for the residents of both states and positiv...

Neelam Mathews Aug 22, 2012 Kazakhstan ’s Air Astana, has, increased frequencies between Almaty and Delhi starting Aug 21. Air Astana will be providing a daily service except Thursdays and Saturday on an Airbus A320 aircraft configured in 148 seats, two class configuration. The flight duration from Almaty to Delhi is 3 hours and 45 minutes. Air Astana   started services from Almaty to Delhi in September 2004. “Business and leisure traffic between Kazakhstan and India has continued to grow strongly in recent years and Air Astana is now delighted to respond by providing extra services to Delhi, one of the country’s most dynamic cities. The new flights offer passengers arriving in Almaty convenient connections to domestic services including to the capital Astana, as well as regional destinations in Central Asia, Caucasus, southern Russia and China,” said Ibrahim Canliel, Vice President Sales and Marketing, Air Astana. The cost of an economy return ticket from A...

Posted by- Neelam Mathews Aug 20, 2012 Lufthansa has opened its new lounge at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport, designed according to the airline’s new global design concept . The Lounge spreads across 3,767 square feet and seats 131 travellers. It is situated near the boarding gates in the main atrium of Terminal 3. “Delhi is a key gateway for Lufthansa in India. We have introduced our fleet’s latest aircraft here last week with the B747-8, along with Lufthansa’s new Business Class on board. ….”, Axel Hilgers, South Asia Director for Lufthansa, said.

Neelam Mathews Aug 8, 2012 Starting Oct 28, Virgin Atlantic will connect Delhi to New York ’s John F Kennedy airport via London Heathrow. The new service to JFK will complement the airline’s existing same day connection from Delhi to Newark via London Heathrow. The new service is being launched to build upon the airline’s strong performance to Newark from Delhi and to capitalize on the growing passenger numbers to New York and the US .   “ India is definitely one of our key markets and along with launching Mumbai later this year we are really looking forward to connecting more passengers to JFK and Newark out of Delhi .  The schedule has been designed to enable passengers from India ’s capital to connect quickly to New York . Our increasing share to Newark shows that passengers prefer breaking the journey in half, stretching their legs and indulging in some duty-free shopping. We're looking forward to making this new service to JFK a success,...

Delhi is the second destination for Lufthansa’s Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental that touched down in Delhi. Lufthansa’s first B747-8 has been deployed on the Frankfurt-Washington route, also a popular connection from India. The aircraft is configured with 8 First Class, 92 Business Class and 262 Economy Class seats. Two B747-8 are scheduled for delivery in 2012. Among the destinations that Lufthansa will serve with them is Bengaluru. Lufthansa has ordered a total of 20 B747-8. Flight Schedule  Frankfurt (FRA) – Delhi/India (DEL) Flight schedule (all times stated are local times) NEW from 6 August 2012 Operates daily LH 760              Frankfurt 13.45 hrs             Delhi 00.35 hrs (+1) LH 761              Delhi 02.25 hrs     Fra...