Travel Vidya

Holiday Bonanza by Airlines

2008-04-03T23:59:00.000-07:00

Jet Airways, India’s largest private airline has tied up with Destinations of the World (DOTW) to provide holiday deals and hotel bookings to its passengers. Jet Escapes is the name of this venture which is currently accessible only to travel agents.

Gaurang Shetty SVP (Alliances and Internline distribution) with Jet Airways said “our aim is to completely automate this portal so any passenger can directly access the website to buy holiday products”.

Jet Escapes is offering packages to destinations in London, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Srinagar, Jammu, Goa, Rajasthan & Kerala. The carrier will add more destinations once the portal is automated, Shetty Said.

Other airlines like Kingfisher & Indian are also exploring options to enter this lucrative market which will not only give them higher profits by selling land products but will also give more volumes. On the other hand, tourists will get better deals.
Travelers can also try and claim there LTA amount at the end of the year by buying packages directly from the airline.

Other domestic airlines such as Deccan, SpiceJet and Go Air have tie-ups with tourist agencies to offer accommodation.
This will certainly shore up ancillary revenues of domestic airlines.

Rajat Nagpal

Milan will be the second European Hub for Jet Airways

2008-04-03T23:43:00.000-07:00

India’s largest private airline has decided to establish its second European Hub at Milan, Italy. Jet Airways currently uses Brussels as its hub to connect to Europe and North America. Jet is looking to operate flights to US through this HUB and is anticipating close association with European carriers KLM – Air France and Alitalia.

On the other hand, KLM – Air France discussions to acquire Alitalia failed couple of days back. Jet decision for Milan is a good as this airport is not congested as compare to other countries like in UK, Germany and France.

Mr. Naresh Goyal, chairman of Jet Airways said beginning of operations with Milan as a transit point is still being worked out. We are still chalking out plans as we are on major expansion, he said.

Way to go Jet!

TravelVidya team

Air India and Indian connecting Thiruvananthapuram

2008-03-30T00:58:00.000-07:00

Air India has announced their summer schedule from Thiruvananthapuram to Mumbai effective Mar 30, 2008. New flights will be operating on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday & Saturday. Flights will leave Thiruvananthapuram at 2040Hrs and will reach Mumbai at 2255Hrs, making it easily connecting to International flights to New York, Chicago & Riyadh.

Air India flights will land at International airport in Mumbai which will help passengers to get through check-in from Thiruvananthapuram to their International destinations. They also do not have to go through emigration formalities again in Mumbai.

On the other hand, Indian Airlines is commencing daily flights from New Delhi to Thiruvananthapuram via Kochi. Flight will leave New Delhi at 1730Hrs and will reach Thiruvananthapuram at 2155Hrs. Flight will leave Thiruvananthapuram at 0615Hrs and will reach New Delhi at 1030Hrs.

Though Air India and Indian Airlines have officially merged into one airline, synchronization of their flights are yet to take place and this is the reason for announcing two separate summer schedules.

We hope that services on these flights will improve.

Vishakhapatnam in the night

2008-03-29T23:03:00.000-07:00

Vishakhapatnam airport is set for the quantum leap, for the first time in 6 decades, the airport is all set to witness night landing of commercial aircraft. SpiceJet will be the first commercial airline to use this facility from Sunday, March 30, 2008. Spicejet flight from Delhi via Hyderabad to Vishakhapatnam will land at 1920hrs and will depart for Mumbai at 1950Hrs.

Facilities for night operation at vizag were available since mid 2007 but due to shortage of manpower this was not open to commercial operations. Vizag airport is under the control of Navy and they were using the facilities for several months from now.

Night landing is allowed by breaking the time allotted for commercial operations in the afternoon. Now the flights will operate from 0800Hrs till 1400Hrs and then from 1700Hrs till 2000Hrs. CISF which is handling the security has also provided with additional manpower which will help them to manage the security of the airport.

The night landing airport is part of the Rs.195 crore airport modernizing project which also includes the new 10,000 ft. runway, ILS and construction of additional aprons etc.

We hope to see International flights at Vizag soon.

Double Bonanza for San Francisco

2008-03-20T23:18:00.000-07:00

Kingfisher airlines are planning to start their direct flight from Bangalore to San Francisco from Aug 27, 2008 subject to govt. permission and subsequent merger with Air Deccan. On the other hand, Jet Airways got in principal approval to start their operations from Mumbai to San Francisco via Shanghai. In a landmark agreement between India and China, airlines of both sides are allowed to travel “beyond points”. Airlines can also fly on to a maximum of two cities in each three regions.

India has asked for three regions as USA – Canada, Australia – New Zealand & Asia whereas China has asked for Europe, Middle East (including Gulf) & Africa. However intermediate and beyond points will now be discussed into great detail by respective authorities of both countries.
With this agreement, passengers flying to San Francisco will have double bonanza of world class service by Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines.

TravelVidya Team

Is it true that India have shortage of Pilots

2008-03-20T23:08:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I have attended a conference at Aviation Expo 2008 about HR issues faced by Aviation Industry. Eminent speaker s from across the globe was present and everyone had only one concern – Shortage of Pilots in India. Representatives from various Aviation Schools around the world demonstrated how they are different in training pilots and how they can add value to the entire program.

On the other hand India’s national airline Air India has excess pilots which is adding into losses. If they really have excess pilots, then why don’t they pool their resources with other airlines? Read more about this article: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Excess_pilots_add_to_losses_of_IA/articleshow/2885730.cms

However, interesting point to note here is no one thought about people required at ground level. Civil Aviation Ministry wants to develop 500 airports in India in next 10 years but who will manage these airports at ground level? One Airport requires minimum 500 staff to manage services like Airport Cleaning, Baggage Handling, Baggage Loaders and Safety Escorts among others.

We at TravelVidya have taken the initiative to train people for ground handling and very soon will come up with blueprint for the same. Is anyone interested to join hands with us, please write to Jeevika@travelvidya.com.

TravelVidya Team

2008-03-19T01:18:00.000-07:00

Italian flag ship airline Alitalia is planning to suspend its operations to India and China from coming summer. Huge losses have forced Alitalia to pull out from the lucrative and fastest growing economies India and China. Worldwide airlines are looking for slots to fly to India and China to take the benefit of the growth these two countries experiencing.

Alitalia has accepted the bid of KLM-Air France group and will join them soon. Alitalia currently operates 14 flights a week from Milan in Italy to Mumbai and Delhi in India. The airline wants to focus more on North and South America, Japan and Mediterranean countries. The airline has not posted profit since 1998.

Last year UK based British Midland withdrew its flight due to dip in load factors. It used to fly between Mumbai and London Heathrow.

Global Airlines like Finnair, Singapore Airlines, Lufthansa, Emirates, Qatar Airways and British Airways among others have recently expanded their operations into India. Indian giants like Air India, Jet Airways and Kingfisher are expanding their International operations.

Alitalia decision to withdraw flights will backfire at them at this stage.

Rajat Nagpal

Air Deccan changes Cancellation and rescheduling rules

2008-03-19T01:07:00.001-07:00

India’s largest Low cost airline Air Deccan announced the changes in its cancellation and rescheduling policy with immediate effect.

Under the new policy any passenger who books ticket to fly on Air Deccan on/after Mar 17 will get cash back on cancellation of tickets. A fee of Rs.750 per sector and a transaction fee (10% of the basic fare) will be charged from the customers who wish to cancel their reservations. Balance will be refunded to the passenger.

If a passenger wants to reschedule the reservation, a fee of Rs.750 per sector per person will be charged along with difference in fare (if applicable) and tickets will be rescheduled to the new date and flight. Earlier passengers used to get credit vouchers on cancellation of tickets which they have to redeem within one year.

Cancellation charges of Air Deccan are the highest among all airlines. Many Other airlines charges Rs.500 per sector and no transaction fee from the passenger.

Be sure to book your tickets with Air Deccan only if you have firmed plan, else you should select the airline which has most customer friendly cancellation or rescheduling policy.

Rajat Nagpal

Travel Agents can now book Deccan on Amadeus

2008-03-18T05:24:00.000-07:00

India’s largest and fastest growing Low cost carrier (LCC) Simplify Deccan (Air Deccan) will now be available on Amadeus. It is a great move which will benefit all parties involved viz. Airline, GDS & Travel Agents.

Travel agents will save time which will help in increasing their productivity as now they do not have to change their practices of booking Deccan.

Ramki Sundaram, Officiating CEO at Deccan said, "Given the inherent dynamism of the Indian market, we believe aggressive technology adoption is imperative for airlines focused on staying ahead of the growth curve. We have constantly endeavored to move up the value chain with respect to distribution channels. Our adoption of Amadeus solutions will improve our distribution network while making available differentiated services to our widening consumer base."

David Brett, President, Amadeus Asia Pacific, added "The LCC [Low Cost Carrier] market accounts for 12% of all flights and all seats within Asia Pacific. In India the LCC sector is thriving, and as per the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation's (CAPA) Outlook report 2007, it is expected to achieve a market share of 70% by 2010 - one of the highest in the world.

Rajat Nagpal

Air Deccan Got Permission to Fly International from August

2008-03-16T00:15:00.000-07:00

India’s first & largest Low Cost Airlines, Simplify Deccan (Air Deccan) got in principal nod to fly abroad from Aug 2008, when it will complete five years of successful domestic operations in India.

With this Approval letter, Deccan will now approach to various airports abroad and will seek slots for flights out of India. At the moment, only Jet Airways and its low cost airline JetLite (Air Sahara) are the two other private airlines that are allowed to travel International.

Air Deccan will still require approval from DGCA before it can start operations. Currently, the approval is on stand-alone basis and is only for Air Deccan. After the completion of its merger with KingFisher Airlines next month, the rights to operate international will immediately be eligible for transfer to KingFisher.

We hope that Govt. of India should allow Kingfisher to fly International on its own license from Aug, so that India can also compete with other foreign airlines and can create a new benchmark of services in the aviation industry.

Passengers are looking forward for Good Times in the International Skies & International travel.

Rajat Nagpal

Straight from Dubai to Hollywood this September

2008-03-14T03:52:00.000-07:00

Emirates, leading airline of Middle East, has announced that they will launch their direct daily flight from Dubai to Los Angeles. This will be their third gateway in USA after New York and Houston.

Emirates, one of the best airlines of the region provides excellent in-flight services. The non-stop, long haul flight will be delivered in the highest standards of comfort: Emirates’ 777-200LR is fitted with eight luxurious private suites in First class, 42 of its latest lie-flat seats in Business class, and generous space for 216 passengers in Economy class.

The service will start from September 01, 2008 with a Boeing 777-200LR on the route, offering 266 seats in a 3 class configuration. The new flight will run a distance of 8339 miles, clocking 16 hours 39 minutes from Dubai to Los Angeles, while the return flight will be of 16 hours. The service will operate from Tom Bradley International Terminal at Los Angeles International Airport, which is world’s 5th busiest airport.

Flight schedule will be:
EK 215 will depart Dubai at 0820Hrs and arrive in Los Angeles at 1355 Hrs.
EK 216 will depart Los Angeles at 1645Hrs and arrive in Dubai at 1940Hrs the next day.

Rajat

Survival of Low Cost Airlines in India

2008-03-14T00:25:00.000-07:00

With the increasing prices of aircraft turbine fuel, high parking and landing fees by airports, shortage of pilots thus high salary payouts and much more in India, do you think low cost airlines will able to survive in long run.

Govt. of India should do something to avoid any airline going bankrupt. Atleast, they can renegotiate deal with New Hyderabad and Bangalore Airport authorities to allow low cost airlines to fly to and from old airports and make old airports as low cost airports. They should decrease the taxes on ATF and bring it at par at international level.

Let airlines run into profitability so the benefits should be passed on to customers as low fares. This will help the entire industry viz. aviation; travel, tourism & hospitality grow and contribute to the growth of overall economy.

The domestic aviation industry is likely to report a loss in excess of USD 700 Mln (Rs.2800 crore). Jet Airways Executive director said Industry is losing Rs.800 on every flown passenger.

Hope to see some respite for Low cost airlines in India in time to come.

Rajat Nagpal

Seamless Travel from India to Australia & New Zealand

2008-03-12T23:19:00.000-07:00

Virgin Blue, a leading domestic Airline of Australia and Malaysian Airlines has entered into an interline agreement where Malaysian Airlines Passengers from India will get seamless connectivity to over 60 cities in Australia.

The agreement will offer many benefits like unified ticketing, simple auto priced fares to destinations in Australia & New Zealand, bookable on Amadeus, Abacus and Galileo and through check-in among others. Malaysian Airlines will take passengers till its gateway cities of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth & Adelaide and will then connect to Virgin Blue for interior cities.

Australia saw over 14% increase in traffic from India in 2007 and India is among top 15 inbound markets for Australia. The tie-up between Malaysian Airlines and Virgin Blue will benefit both airlines in acquiring passengers flying on this route. This will also help in increase in traffic to Malaysia as Malaysian Airlines offer free stopover en-route.

Indian customers are also one of the high spenders in Australia with an average spend by Indian tourist is at AUD5300.

Indian’s are going places and rest of the world is cashing on Indian boom.

ChakDe India!

Only Business Class from USA to Singapore

2008-03-05T22:23:00.000-08:00

Yet another first by Singapore Airlines, by launching an all business class non-stop daily flights from Los Angeles & New York to Singapore. Aircrafts operating on these routes will have 100 business class seats with upholstered in leather and 76cm wide.

The configuration of the aircraft will be 1-2-1, giving each passenger direct access to aisle. Each seat will convert to a fully flat bed. Singapore Airlines has one of the best business class services and have a high demand from business class passengers on these routes.

While selling and booking tickets, I have personally faced problems lot of times in getting confirmed seats on USA – Singapore route in business class.

The service to New York will start by end June and Los Angeles by late September 2008. Singapore Airlines currently flies 46 times weekly between USA and Singapore and serving Los Angeles, San Francisco & New York. Singapore Airlines is also scheduled to add Houston to its network very soon with four times weekly direct flights via Moscow.

Travel Professionals you know now what to book for business class passengers from USA to Singapore.

Keep Booking Singapore Airlines.

TravelVidya

Do watch the video on blog

2008-03-04T00:46:00.000-08:00

In my last post, I have placed a video for you to must watch by clicking at:
http://travelvidya.blogspot.com

This is the news of yesterday when Lufthansa plane was about to land in Hamburg and due to gale force winds, it skids just before touchingdown at the runway. Pilot did an amazing thing by taking off the plane back to air, else it would have been crashed.

Enjoy the video and pass this link to your friends...

Rajat

Lufthansa Plane Nearly crashed in Hamburg

2008-03-04T00:42:00.000-08:00

Will New Airports in India add value to travelers

2008-03-03T22:45:00.000-08:00

With the opening of new airport in Hyderabad from Mar 16, the developers of this airport GMR Hyderabad International Airport (GHIAL) are planning to introduce a stiff USD 25 (INR 1000) fee from passengers as User development fee (UDF).

No doubt it’s a world class airports with unmatched services and features, but the road infrastructure leading to airport is not ready, taxes in India are among the highest, domestic airline industry is bleeding with huge losses of over Rs.2500 crore and no respite to aviation industry in the recent budget. All this leads to further consolidation in Indian Air Space and increase in the fares with which the common man will not be able to cherish his dream of flying.

Initially, GHIAL is not charging UDF from domestic passengers and also not increasing the parking and landing charges at the new airport. This decision comes in the wake of reports that low-cost carriers (LCCs) like JetLite, SpiceJet and Simplifly Deccan (formerly Air Deccan) have decided to drastically cut their flight schedules to Hyderabad and other new airports like Bangalore as they feel that the stiff UDF will make domestic travel expensive making their flights unviable.
Rajat Nagpal (TravelVidya)

Flights from India to USA high on agenda for airlines

2008-03-03T01:56:00.000-08:00

After Air India, Jet Airways and Kingfisher (subject to govt. approval) it’s now the turn of foreign airlines to tap the commercially viable India US route. Finnair, a Scandinavian airline which currently operates daily flights from Helsinki to Delhi & 6 from Mumbai (from Jun), is now planning to link Indian cities to US cities via its hub Helsinki.

"We presently get about one third of our revenue from India and in the long run one of our interests will be further expanding out operations on the India-US route," Sakari Romu, Vice President Commercial Division of Finnair said

"We will be looking to provide more services in the US and are looking at destinations on the west coast and cities like Houston and Dallas to which we can provide services in the future to cater to India-US traffic," he said, speaking on the sidelines of a yacht show in the city.

Finnair is also planning to make Mumbai its daily flight destination and would like to add flights from Chennai and Bangalore.

By the time Indian airports will be ready, India will have many new airlines connecting it to the world.
Thanks to liberalized civil aviation policy of India.

Emirates adds more flights to India network

2008-03-03T01:17:00.000-08:00

Middle East leading airline Emirates will start six weekly non-stop flights to Kozhikode (Calicut) from Jul 01, 2008. This will be its third city in the state of Kerala. The other two cities where Emirates is currently flying are Kochi (Since 2002) and Thiruvananthapuram (since 2006). With the addition of this new flight, the route will offer 4000 Business and Economy class seats with email and text messaging services.

Flights on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays depart Dubai at 14:15 (arriving 19:50) and leave Kozhikode at 21:20 (arriving 23:40). On Thursdays and Saturdays they depart Dubai 03:30 (arriving 09:05) and Kozhikode 10:35 (arriving 12:55).

The new flight will help building more trade opportunities between two region and will also help the large Nonresident Indian community staying in Gulf to travel India.

Emirates also announced the start of its direct flight to Cape town from Mar 30, 2008.

India is now on the radar of the world and people here will see many benefits. It’s time for NRI’s to come back to India and contribute in its growth.

Rajat Nagpal

Loyalty in Indian Skies

2008-02-28T23:41:00.001-08:00

Low cost carriers (LCC’s) of India are looking at ways to attract, retain and build stickiness in their products by planning to introduce loyalty programs or frequent flier programs. Currently, LCC’s lure passengers with special promotional campaigns in coordination with OTA’s but increasing competition within LCC’s and some new regional airlines to be launched soon and with Indian Railways, LCC’s are finding it difficult to keep their revenues growing.

GoAir is in the final stage of launching their a frequent flier program (FFP) by next month said GoAir MD Jeh Wadia. Deccan, after the merger with Kingfisher has also launched their FFP under King Club campaign of Kingfisher Airlines. Jetlite passengers earn FFP benefits on its parent airline program Jet Privilege. SpiceJet VP Marketing Kamal Hingorani Said - “Though for an LCC introducing a full-fledged FFP may not be a viable option, we’ll for sure introduce some innovative programs soon.”

All this is coming after Indian Railway has announced the cut in the prices of tickets for AC travel, launch of new schemes, providing wi-fi connectivity on important trains etc.
With this ongoing battle between Airlines and Railways, customers will going to enjoy all the benefits…

Rajat Nagpal

Corporate Travel Business in India

2008-02-28T23:18:00.000-08:00

Corporate Travel business is changing dramatically in India. With more online travel Agents (OTA’s) coming up with lucrative offers on air travel, hotels, packages and car rentals, many companies are looking at to shift to online travel agents for their bookings. However, these companies are realizing the fact that OTA’s will not add value to managing their official travel in long run.

With personalized services, self booking tool, calculating carbon foot print, taking care of all travel requirements with a dedicated implant team, Travel management Companies (TMC’s) are competing and taking all the benefits in the organized travel market business in India.

Some of the OTA’s like MakeMyTrip, Yatra & Arzoo among others are offering corporate travel solutions to few companies, but they are still far away in creating a benchmark in this space like they have done in online travel space. On the other hand, TMC’s like Carlson Wagonlit Travel, FCm Travel Solutions, Amex are some of the companies who are way - way ahead in giving unmatched service quality and support to their corporate clients.

With Indian companies going global, Indian TMC’s are surely going to get benefit in this organized market.

Lufthansa on India Expansion

2008-02-25T05:26:00.000-08:00

Lufthansa will add more frequency to its India operations from May 3, 2008, when it will become the only airline to start direct service from Mumbai to Munich with three weekly flights. The flight will have convenient connections to Europe, USA & Canada and will complement Lufthansa’s existing service to Frankfurt.
Munich Airport, which is partly owned by Lufthansa, has been rated as the best airport in Europe by Skytrax. Lufthansa currently operates daily flight from Delhi to Munich. Lufthansa is also working on increasing the frequency to Kolkata from Frankfurt. Currently Lufthansa operates with three flights and from 3rd Jun, they will increase to five flights a week.
The increased flights will add some relief to customers as passengers coming from the USA, Canada and Europe during the peak season of Jun/Jul will have more options to travel to India. This might also helps in reducing the price of tickets for travel to India from all these places.
With addition of these flights, Lufthansa will offer 50 flights per week from India via its six gateways which are Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata and Hyderabad.
India is certainly gaining ground as one of the biggest travel market in the world. With new players and new flights, there will be more employment opportunities for Indians and also increase in the traffic of inbound tourist.
Next 10 years will see India as one of the world’s largest travel & tourism economy.

Jet – Set – Go to Canada

2008-02-25T00:54:00.000-08:00

Jet Airways has partnered with Air Canada on code share agreement where a passenger can fly Jet till London and onwards to Canada on Air Canada & Vice Versa. The agreement will come into effect on Feb 28, 2008.

We still have to see how the connection looks like and what the wait period is at London airport both ways. This could be one of the fastest ways to fly to Canada. Passengers will get benefits of through check-in; interline e-ticketing and frequent flier benefits with this new seamless connectivity. Passengers can also take a stopover in London subject to fare rules.

Jet is spreading its wings fast and wants to gain market share before Kingfisher launches their International flights in August.

On the other note, government is coming out with some or the other clauses to ensure the delay of Kingfisher International operations which will benefit both state owned Air India and Jet Airways.

But one thing is sure, customers will get all the benefits with this increased competition and once Kingfisher is launched on International Skies, the benefits & choices will be more.

Online Travel in India bleeding in competition

2008-02-21T21:07:00.000-08:00

Cleartrip, an online travel portal has done a tie-up with Go Air to offer tickets as low as Rs.599 during lean season. This has made other LCC’s to do tie-ups with online travel agents (OTA’s) to offer their tickets at a price similar to Go Air offer.

Spice Jet, Simplify Deccan & Indigo all are looking forward to do tie-ups with other OTA’s like MakeMyTrip & Yatra.

Indigo is offering fares for a limited period for a discount of Rs.200 on all their tickets. Simplify Deccan has approached Yatra for a tie-up to offer return airfares at throw away prices and Spice Jet has approached MakeMyTrip for same.

With this competition, no doubt customers are going to get all benefit but travel industry will not gain anything. Profit margins are thin on the air travel and with low fares, they will not anything good in the kitty of airlines and OTA’s. They will only be able to attract those customers who are only looking for cheaper deals on the net and are not loyal to any particular airline or OTA website, so there is a customer acquisition but there is no customer retention.

I hope OTA’s & LCC make profits

Smoking Ban in Thailand

2008-02-15T02:55:00.000-08:00

Thailand has put a national ban on smoking in public areas which includes pubs, restaurants, discos and market-places, both open-air and air-conditioned.

Previously, the regulations applied only to public buildings and closed air-conditioned areas. The regulations took effect February 11, 2008. Individual violators can be fined as much as 2,000 baht (US$65). If any public places violate the rules, they will be warned but after May 31, 2008, they are supposed to be fined 20,000 baht.

Smokers are however permitted to smoke in designated areas which the affected places will have to set aside.

Numerous public places in Thailand are planning to distribute brochures and post signs in at least five languages such as Thai, English, Korean, Chinese and Japanese to inform tourists of the new regulation.

A report released by the WHO calling on countries to strengthen tobacco control measures as a means of preventing tens of millions of premature deaths by the middle of this century and this initiative is after this report.

Thailand has over 15 mln foreign tourist arrivals every year and it will be difficult to educate them on this new policy. It is important for the travel professionals to educate their customers on this.