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
Holiday Bonanza by Airlines
Milan will be the second European Hub for Jet Airways
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
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
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
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
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
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
