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Flydubai to launch new routes

sangeet — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 15:12:23 +0000

Low-cost carrier Flydubai will add eight new destinations by the year’s end and plans to expand at a faster pace until 2011, Gulf Times has reported. The airline will focus not only on destinations covered by full-service airlines such as Emirates and Etihad, but also on smaller, secondary cities in the region, Flydubai’s CEO, Ghaith al-Ghaith said. The airline carried its 100,000th passenger in August, three months after launching.

Angsana Dubai Hotel and Suites to be closed

sangeet — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 13:12:00 +0000

Damas Hotels LLC and Banyan Tree Hotels and Resorts have agreed to terminate the hotel management contract for the five star Angsana Dubai Hotel and Suites. The hotel will cease to operate as of September 30 and will be converted into residential units that are expected to be sold on a vacant possession basis. Staff will also be compensated and helped to find new jobs, Bernold Schroeder, Senior Vice President and Managing Director, Hotel Operations said.

Hilton Hotels Corporation rebrands corporate name and logo

sangeet — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 13:10:00 +0000

Hilton Worldwide, formerly Hilton Hotels Corporation, has announced launch of its new corporate name and logo. According to the group, Hilton Worldwide signifies the company’s global reach, and the logo incorporates key design elements reflecting Hilton’s heritage, vision for the future and commitment to excellence in service. ‘The changes have also been mirrored by the internal launch of a refreshed company vision, mission, values and key strategic priorities, which are intended to communicate more clearly how Hilton conducts business and plans to achieve company goals,’ the company said in a statement.

US Federal Aviation Administration decides against downgrading India

sangeet — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 13:07:00 +0000

India was saved a huge international embarrassment on Wednesday when the US Federal Aviation Administration decided against downgrading the country’s aviation safety standards from the current top billing to sub-Sahara Africa level. The aviation ministry let the agency responsible for ensuring safe flying, Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), weaken over years despite the International Civil Aviation Organisation pointing out major deficiencies in 2006 and air traffic in India growing by leaps and bounds.

Finally, earlier this year, the FAA came for an audit and gave five months before downgrading it, something that would have meant no new flights by Indian airlines to America and strict checks for their planes on US soil. In this short timeframe, aviation secretary M M Nambiar and DGCA’s new chief Nasim Zaidi mounted a herculean effort to strengthen the regulatory mechanism by getting almost 600 technical posts sanctioned for effective implementation of much needed rules for safe flying that were also put in place. Now as a result, Indian carriers will be able to able to expand service in US through more flights and new access points.

Indian carriers dish out offers aplenty to attract fliers

sangeet — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 13:00:00 +0000

With full service airlines making inroads into the low fare airspace, existing budget carriers are going beyond price advantage and handing out sops to attract and keep passengers. These carriers are either giving away gifts or offering discounts at hotels, restaurants, and retail stores against boarding passes. Low-fare carriers such as IndiGo, SpiceJet, GoAir and JetLite, consider this the most effective way to counter loyalty programmes that are being offered by full service rivals. Jet Airways, Kingfisher Airlines, Air India and Paramount Airways are full service carriers and run loyalty programmes that offer flying miles based on how often a passenger uses the carrier. India’s largest low-fare carrier IndiGo has announced a 20% saving on the prepaid in-flight meal if a passenger books tickets online. In the prepaid excess baggage option, too, the airline has offered a discount of up to 25% on luggage weighing between 10kg and 25kg.

Last week, SpiceJet launched its Privilege Pass Programme that allows travellers to avail special benefits from partner hotels against a used boarding pass. Benefits range from complimentary meals worth Rs1,500 or a discount of Rs500 on their total hotel billing. The partner includes Trident Hotels, Ista Hotels, Keys Hotels, Pride Hotels, Maidens Hotels, Rain Tree Hotels, JHM Interstate and The Park. GoAir in early September ran an offer of gifts worth Rs3,000 on tickets sold through 20 September. The gift catalogue includes men’s watches and ties, and an oval pearl jewellery set for women. JetLite, the low-fare unit of full service Jet Airways, is also offering discounts of up to 20% on car rentals with Avis and Hertz, dining, retail stores, and Lemon Tree and Marriott International hotels.

Indian Air Force takes control of 5 civilian airbases in Arunachal Pradesh

sangeet — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 12:54:00 +0000

India has begun fortifying its borders in Arunachal Pradesh against China. As the first step, five air bases in Arunachal Pradesh have been taken over by the military. On the night of September 18, the Pasighat, Tuting, Vijaynagar, Walong and Mechuka bases close to the China border were passed from the Airports Authority of India to the defence ministry. The five bases were transferred to the military authorities after a quick clearance from the Prime Minister’s Office.

The bases were initially only to be upgraded by the defence ministry, but now it has been given full control. Under military control, the five bases will be used by the air force and the army to increase surveillance across crucial stretches of the border with China. The defence ministry has already drawn up a fresh airborne surveillance plan for the eastern sector. The plan will coincide with the visit of the Dalai Lama to Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh.

Air India & Star Alliance hold discussions on integrating network

sangeet — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 12:46:00 +0000

The top management of Air India and the Star Alliance held discussions as the national carrier presented its progress report on integrating its domestic and international network, including the work on evolving a common flight code. Air India CMD Arvind Jadhav held talks with a six member Star Alliance delegation and briefed them about the work being done on integrating the two erstwhile carriers, Air India and Indian Airlines, their fleet and network strength and of integrating their IT systems, official sources said.

One of the biggest obstacles for Air India in becoming a part of Star Alliance is the absence of same flight code, which is IC for Indian Airlines and AI for Air India. A common IT system, on which a US company was working, is likely to be finalized soon, the sources said, adding, eventual integration would take another six months. Efforts were being made to align the processes and systems of the two erstwhile airlines and bring them on par with the Star Alliance standards, the sources said.

Fairmont Hotels & Resorts to manage Bab Al Bahr in Abu Dhabi

sangeet — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 05:01:00 +0000

Fairmont Hotels and Resorts will manage a newly built five star hotel in Abu Dhabi when it opens on October 1. The Fairmont Bab Al Bahr, which is owned by the Al Fahim Group unit Rmal Hospitality, is located near the Abu Dhabi International Airport and has 369 guest rooms, a variety of restaurants, in addition to a private beach, two outdoor swimming pools, a fitness centre and a spa.

New cruise terminal planned in Goa

sangeet — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 04:56:00 +0000

Mormugao Port Trust is planning a world class cruise terminal to promote cruise tourism in Goa by attracting passenger ships and foreign naval vessels to the state. “We are in the process of developing a large noncargo berth near the port’s breakwater to handle cruise traffic,” MPT chairman Pravin Agarwal said. MPT also plans to attract navy ships from countries that opt for Goa as a destination for rest and recuperation. The 235 metre wide and 450 metre long berth will be built on a public-private partnership (PPP) basis.

“We will go for a PPP model in order to make a world class cruise terminal after creating the basic infrastructure. But we are yet to finalize on this,” he said. Incidentally in 2005 MPT had constructed a cruise terminal but due to lack of requisite facilities failed to attract such ships. In 2008-09, MPT received 52 cruise ships with just about 20,000 passengers alighting. “Goa is a popular place, but we don’t have adequate facilities. Also when these ships come, we dock them next to berths 11 and 12, which are the coal handling berths. The coal dust renders the port a less attractive destination for cruise vessels. Once we have regular facilities then we will come on the tourist cruise map,” he said.

Air India to convert 5 Airbus A320′s to all economy configuration

sangeet — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 14:15:00 +0000

The National Aviation Company Ltd (Nacil), which runs state owned Air India, is planning to convert five of its Airbus 320 planes into low cost carriers under the Air India Express brand. The launches would be in the winter schedule and on 10 sectors. A normal A320 has 124 economy class seats and 20 business class seats. After the conversion, making it a full economy class plane, the number of seats increases to 168. These converted aircraft, say sources, would fly on 10 sectors. These include flights to Sharjah from Hyderabad, Cochin, Trivandrum, Amritsar and Lucknow, Calicut-Dubai, Chennai-Kuala Lumpur, and Chennai-Colombo.

An Air India spokesperson said the routes would be decided next week. However, industry sources say Calicut-Dubai and Chennai-Colombo are routes where there is a demand for business class. Business class flyers account for 12 per cent of the revenue and many say the strategy to move more and more aircraft into a single configuration could have an adverse impact on the company’s total revenues from these flights. Air India Express operates 193 weekly flights to 14 international destinations: Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi, Al Ain, Muscat, Salalah, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Bahrain, Doha, Kuwait, Colombo and Dhaka from 17 Indian cities.

Air India to hedge jet fuel requirements

sangeet — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 14:11:00 +0000

National carrier Air India may hedge a part of its fuel requirement for the first time in three years to guard its bottomline from any future fluctuation in the price of aviation turbine fuel. The spending on ATF is the biggest chunk almost 40% of an airline’s operating expenses. “We have approval from the board to hedge nearly 25% of our fuel uplifts. If the prices are likely to increase, Air India would certainly look at hedging, at least a part of the uplift,” said an AI spokesperson. A senior Air India official said the company will take up the issue once again at its board meeting on Wednesday, where it will discuss ways to cut costs and rationalise routes.

Although airlines across the globe resort to fuel hedging, a contractual agreement to buy fuel in future at a pre-determined rate, Indian companies have largely refrained from it. Air India was the first Indian airline to hedge its jet fuel requirements in March 2006. That time the company’s board set a hedging limit of 750,000 barrels a quarter. The company has not hedged its ATF requirements since then. Other domestic airlines started hedging their fuel needs only very recently, with Jet Airways, Kingfisher and SpiceJet hedging a small portion of their requirements in 2009 due to the high volatility in ATF prices in the global market.

Kingfisher Airlines flights delayed as ground handling staff strike work

sangeet — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 13:57:00 +0000

A strike by the ground handling staff of Kingfisher Airlines on Monday saw most of its flights delayed by 30 minutes to one hour through the day. The staff reportedly refused to work on the ground of non-payment of outstanding dues by the airline. According to sources, the ground handlers called for a one day strike and hence several of them did not report for work on Monday. Even though other airline staff jumped in to salvage the situation, almost all flights were delayed by up to an hour. Ground handlers are responsible for almost all non-technical work of an airline, including loading and unloading of baggage from the aircraft, driving of trolleys, etc. While sources claimed that the issue was of non-payment of dues by the airline itself, Kingfisher officials said the issue was between the loaders and the previous ground handling agency (GHA) that the airline had employed.

JetLite aircraft returns to Kolkata due to engine trouble

sangeet — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 13:51:00 +0000

A JetLite flight from Kolkata to Bangalore with 140 passengers on board returned to Kolkata’s NSC Bose International Airport, 90 minutes after it had left, after one of its engines developed trouble, airport sources said. The JetLite flight left NSC Bose International Airport at 6.05pm for Bangalore. It landed safely back at NSC Bose around 7.30pm, they said.

Oman to see rise in tourist arrivals this season

sangeet — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 12:23:00 +0000

The head of development at Oman’s tourism ministry said he expects the country to see an increase of about 11% in tourists this year, taking it to the two million mark for the first time. ‘The global crisis has forced Gulf nationals to travel closer from home and Oman is hugely benefiting from it,’ Khalid al-Ghassan said.

Marriott International to open new hotels in UAE

sangeet — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 12:17:00 +0000

Marriott International, which operates six hotels in Dubai, is planning to further expand its presence in the Emirate. The company has signed agreements with developers to operate two hotels at Lifestyle City, one in the Marina, one on Sheikh Zayed Road, another two at Healthcare City, one at Jebel Ali and two at Motor City, across its portfolio of brands including Courtyard and Renaissance, according to Jeff Strachan, the area director of sales and marketing for Marriott, Middle East and Africa. Most of the hotels are expected to open between next year and 2012, but construction on those in Jebel Ali and Healthcare City has yet to begin as the broader developments remain on hold.

Millennium Gold Mohur Beach Resort Aden opens in Yemen

sangeet — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 12:13:00 +0000

The Millennium & Copthorne Hotels has signed its first hotel in Yemen. The five star Millennium Gold Mohur Beach Resort Aden hotel, with 124 rooms and suites, is located on the shore of the Gulf of Aden with private beach and recreational facilities as well as a variety of food and beverage outlets.

Thai to launch Bangkok-Dubai flights using new Airbus A330 aircraft

sangeet — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 18:13:00 +0000

From 21st September, Thai will offer 10 weekly flights between Dubai and Bangkok on the all new Airbus A330-300 aircraft. Featuring an improved cabin layout for greater comfort, an extensive range of in-flight entertainment options including audio, video and games on personal seat monitors and 32′ seat pitch in Economy plus convenient departure times, Thai’s new Airbus A330-300 service is both enjoyable and reasonably priced. The A330-300 flights depart Dubai daily at 2240, arriving Bangkok 0805 the following day, with additional flights on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday departing 2000 arriving 0525 the following day. The Thai Airbus A330-300 features 263 Royal Economy class seats and 35 Royal Silk Business Class seats, increased seat width in Economy as well as fewer Business Class seats with greater seat pitch and enhanced in-flight comforts.

PC Power outlets are provided for all passengers, with one per Business Class seat and more than one per couple in Economy. In-Flight Entertainment is provided by Panasonic 3000i with audio video on demand in six languages in all classes, plus in-seat telephone. Royal Silk Business Class passengers flying Thai from Dubai until 19 November also enjoy two nights accommodation in Bangkok in a 5-star hotel for only AED 100 additional charge including American Breakfast and return hotel transfers in Bangkok. For Royal Economy Class passengers, a wide range of promotions are on offer until mid November, including Family, Golf, Honeymoon, Health, Medical, Leisure and Luxury options.

Indian Air Force opens new airfield at Ladakh near Chinese border

sangeet — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 18:08:00 +0000

For the first time ever, the Indian Air Force landed an AN-32 transport aircraft at the Nyoma Advanced Landing Ground in eastern Ladakh, just 23 km from the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China. The touchdown by the medium lift transport aircraft signifies India’s capability to move its troops quickly to the forward areas, whenever required. The IAF move comes in the wake of reports of recent Chinese intrusions into the Indian side of the LAC, including airspace violations by their helicopters and painting Mandarin letters on rocks in red. The AN-32 aircraft, flown by Shaurya Chakra awardee Group Captain S C Chafekar and carrying Western Air Command (WAC) chief Air Marshal N A K Browne and Northern Army Commander Lt Gen P C Bhardwarj, landed at Nyoma at 0625 hours, WAC spokesperson Flt Lt Priya Joshi said in New Delhi.

Nyoma ALG is situated at an altitude of 13,300 feet above sea level and is the third such ALG opened by IAF in the Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir in the last two years. The ALGs opened earlier were Daulat Beg Oldi, the world’s highest airfield at 16,200 feet, in May last year and Fuk Che in November that year. The IAF had, before this AN-32 landing, used Nyoma airstrip only for helicopter operations. Only recently, the IAF took up work to convert it into an ALG for transport fixed-wing aircraft operations by laying a compacted airstrip, IAF officials said. “After deliberating on all aspects and carrying out aerial and ground reccees, it was concluded that Nyoma could be developed for fixed wing operations as well,” Joshi said. An Engineer Regiment of the Army’s 14 Corps executed the task of developing the ALG to standards required for fixed wing operations.

“The successful landing of a fixed wing aircraft at Nyoma marks the culmination of joint effort by the IAF and Army to enable the IAF to operate in the inhospitable terrain of Leh-Ladakh region in support of the Army,” she said. “The joint development of Nyoma, braving the extremely difficult working conditions and hostile weather, is yet another step towards enhanced jointmanship between the two services,” she added. Joshi said Nyoma was developed with an aim to connect the remote areas of Ladakh region to the mainland. “This would also ensure that movements in the area continue when the road traffic gets affected, during the harsh winters besides enabling improved communication network in the region, facilitating economical ferrying of supplies as well as promotion of tourism to the general area,” she added.