Call Before Leaving for Airport:
Air India (for IC code flights) can be contacted round-the-clock from anywhere in India on its toll-free Call Centre number 1800 180 1407. This number is accessible from MTNL/ BSNL/Reliance phones – whether landline or mobile.
Should you be using non-MTNL/BSNL/Reliance phone at any of the six metros viz. Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad or Bangalore, then please dial 1407. When calling from outside these metros, kindly prefix STD code of any one of the six metros to 1407.
Help them to reach You by Giving your Contact number in PNR:
Air India seeks your support in giving your telephone number ex each city of the boarding on your itinerary (in case there is a different number for each city) in your PNR, while making the reservation. The best way is to give Mobile number that would enable us to call you or send you SMS to inform of a disruption anytime, anywhere.
Fog Updates – Air India - Indian Airlines
Jet Airways Flight Alerts
We all know that flight delays and disruptions can cause inconvenience to us. Thus, we all should be well informed of all the delays and disruptions of our flight schedules, so that we can plan ahead.
To combat the untoward disruptions, Jet Airways has systemized tracking of flight information.
To check for arrival/departure information or to know if your flight is delayed or on-time, simply send a SMS to 56388 in the format as given below:
SMS: Jet
Reply: Jet Mobile: 9W 301 BOM 0700AM DEL 0855AM Arrived.
In the event of a delayed flight:
Reply: Jet Mobile: 9W 301 BOM 0700AM DEL 0855AM Delayed.
To set alerts for same day of travel
SMS Jet ALERT
Reply: Your alert has been registered for flight no 9W301. Date:05/06/2006.
To Set Flight Alert for a particular date of travel:
SMS: JETALERT
Reply: Your alert has been registered for flight no 9W301. Date 08/30/2005
Details of other airlines will follow...
Rajat
Kingfisher Airlines and Simplify Deccan to Merge
Kingfisher Airlines and Deccan Aviation will merge in 2008. Both these brands will be retained by single entity called as Kingfisher Airlines, which is majority owned by UB group. The new entity will become operational from April 2008 and Mr. Vijay Mallya will be the chairman of the airlines; while Capt. Gopinath will be the vice chairman.
The challenge for the new single entity will be firstly to ensure a cost focus at both carriers. Kingfisher has generated accumulated losses of USD300 million in just two and a half years, while Deccan has accumulated losses of USD200 million since starting up in 2003.
The move will create an airline with around 80 aircraft, challenging Air India and Jet Airways for dominance of the high-potential Indian aviation market. It also takes advantage of Deccan’s right to fly international routes from Aug-08, with the budget unit set to launch services to the Middle East with A320 equipment and Kingfisher utilizing wide body aircraft to launch long-haul services, initially to the US.
There are several areas where the two airlines can reduce cost and build-down manpower through synergies.
Way to go…
Jet Airways – JET – SET – GO!!
Jet Airways is in news everywhere… so we should also cover them in detail to help our readers.
Jet Airways is launching their direct flights from New Delhi and Kolkata to Dhaka. This marks the airline’s 11th International Destination. They are launching their flight to Dhaka on Dec 23, 2007.
Do you know why they have chosen 23 as the date to start their Dhaka Operations…
because 2 + 3 = 5; which is the lucky number of Jet Airways chairman, Mr. Naresh Goyal.
We wish him success and all the best with this new sector. BTW, 23 Dec is also our dear friend, Vishal’s Birthday.
The airline will operate one daily flight between Dhaka and Kolkata and four flights a week between Dhaka and New Delhi, effective from Sunday.
Another Good News is that Jet Airways has reached a milestone of flying over 75 million passengers in the last 14 years.
To commemorate the milestone, they have introduced “celebration fares” starting at Rs.500 on its domestic network. Effective today, passengers can book and purchase tickets on the special fares till January 15, 2008 for travel between February and Jun 2008.
To avail the “celebration fares”, reservation and ticketing must be done simultaneously and 45 days before the date of travel. The fares are applicable for one-way and return travel and the tickets are available for sale in India only.
I’m wondering, who is the 75th million passenger. Jet Airways should give him a complimentary ticket to fly to any destination in India.
Do you know the 11 International destinations of Jet Airways?
Well... they are: Kathmandu, Colombo, Singapore, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Heathrow, Brussels, Newark, New York and Toronto, Canada. Ohhh… this counts only 10, so which is the 11th? It’s Dhaka.
First Indian Carrier to join Star Alliance
Air India becomes the first Indian Airline to join the largest global airline group, Star Alliance.
Air India is delighted in being invited to join Star Alliance,'' Vasudevan Thulasidas, chairman and managing director at Air India, said in a statement. This invitation comes in the wake of Air India's merger with India's leading domestic carrier, Indian Airlines, thus making Air India the prime player in the Indian subcontinent,'' Thulasidas said
Other Airlines who are part of the Star Alliance Network are:
- Air Canada
- Air New Zealand
- All Nippon Airways
- Asiana Airlines
- Austrian Airlines
- British Midland
- Lot Polish Airlines
- Lufthansa
- Qantas Airways
- Scandinavian Airlines System
- Shanghai Airline
- Singapore Airline
- South African Airways
- Span Air
- Swiss International Airlines
- TAP Portugal
- Thai Airways
- United Airlines
- US Airways
Other two global airline groups are Sky Team and One World Alliance. The carrier will gain access to the more than 16,000 daily flights operated by Lufthansa, United Airlines and the other 17 Star members.
We hope that by joining International Airlines Group, services of Air India and Indian will improve to global standards.
What Say you?
SpiceJet Strategy on Ancillary Revenue
Few weeks back we have read in various news articles on the SpiceJet decision of earning revenues from non passenger segments by selling branding opportunities to various companies on its boarding cards. They are also looking to add Insurance schemes for its passengers.
Now, SpiceJet have entered into a Joint venture with The UK based online retailer UnderFivePound.com. SpiceJet has decided to outsource its logistics and retailing operations to UnderFivePound.com and expects to make a foray into merchandising on board by early next year.
UnderFivePound.Com, through its Web site, sells a range of men’s, women’s and children’s clothing along with other items such as jewellery and houseware gadgets. Known for its ‘amazing’ offers, the Web site, as its name suggests, sells products for less than £5 and is known for its discounts and freebies.
Keeping the pricing of the merchandise in sync with the image of a LCC, SpiceJet expects to sell value-for-money items on board, to its customers. As Mr Sridharan said: “As we are a low-cost airline and believe in keeping down prices, our merchandise would be value-for-money items as well”.
Clearly, SpiceJet is bringing value for money deals to its customers not only by selling low cost airline tickets, but other products as well.
Worth trying … What say you?
Flying Blues in Delhi
Domestic and International Airlines, every year get disrupted by dense fog at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport. This year too, they are maintaining consistency which is causing inconvenience to thousands of passengers.
Passengers, while flying to or flying from Delhi should keep following things in mind to avoid inconvenience:
1. Tell your Travel Agent to update your mobile contact in your reservations which will help both the agents and the airlines to keep you informed of the latest flight schedules of the flight you are about to take.
2. Keep airline’s airport number and 24 hour assistance number handy with you
3. Check and confirm timing of the flight before leaving your home or office for the airport.
4. Subscribe to SMS service of the airline which will also help you to keep you updated
5. Maintain discipline at airports which will help airport authorities serve you better
Only Indian Airlines, like every year, was able to land its planes in the fog using CAT III-B ILS. Though all airlines except SpiceJet have CAT III-B-trained pilots now, only Kingfisher could manage that operation and that too for a take-off, which is easier than landing.
The authorities, as usual, said they were helpless. “We have issued guidelines but DGCA doesn’t run the airlines. Although the airlines have sufficient number of CAT III-B trained pilots, they have not been able to plan their operations,” said DGCA Kanu Gohain. “They have to use their pilots optimally.”
Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel had recently said slots of airlines are not being cancelled because it would affect the passengers.An IndiGo spokesperson said the visibility was too low for CAT III-B operations and a Kingfisher spokesperson gave the same reason for the airline’s failure to operate more flights in the dense fog. The fog, however, did not seem to deter Indian Airlines from operating six flights on time.
Wah Taj The Kingfisher way
Kingfisher has announced the start of it's daily flight to Agra from Delhi. The flight will reach Agra at 0855 Hrs and will leave for Delhi at 1700Hrs, reaching Delhi at 1800Hrs.
Since many Inbound travelers now preferred not to stay in Delhi because of high room rates, this is a welcome news for Hotel Industry in Agra who will see increase in occupancy rates.
Really Wah Taj, the Kingfisher Way!
Rajat
Air Deccan New Service
Air Deccan has started a new service of delivering tickets to passengers who don't have access to internet or they don't have credit cards. Certainly this is a good initiative to reach to thousands of new customers and will help the airline to widen its reach.
The airline announced its latest service and distribution initiative in association with Express IT.
This will also help airline to target customers who walk up to nearby travel agents with cash to buy tickets.
Blogging Bites
I've been thinking to start blogging from many days, infact months, but was delaying it somehow.
Today, I have started this blog and will try and write on to it, sharing news, views, jobs, updates on the industry which will help you stay updated.
I'm sure you will enjoy reading as much as I enjoy sharing information with you.
Stay connected!
Rajat
