Etihad triples seats to Mumbai and Delhi, announces massive increase in India flights

by Devesh Agarwal

Etihad Airways has wasted no time in capitalising on its recent bonanza of seat quota increase under the new India UAE (Abu Dhabi) bi-laterial air services agreement (BASA).

It has announced a massive increase in flights to most of its destinations in India. Specifically

• Mumbai and New Delhi: from 7 to 14 flights per week with immediate effect
• Kochi: from 7 to 14 flights per week from June 2014
• Bangalore and Chennai: from 7 to 14 flights per week from July 2014
• Hyderabad: from 7 to 14 flights per week from October 2014

Cocking a snoot at the on-going legal proceedings challenging the BASA and Etihad's 24% stake investment in Jet Ariways, the gulf carrier has doubled the number of flights and tripled the number of seats between Abu Dhabi and Mumbai and New Delhi.

Etihad Airbus A330-200. Image copyright Vedant Agarwal. All rights reserved. Used with permission.

Under the expanded schedules, effective immediately, new mid-afternoon services to Mumbai and New Delhi are operated with single-aisle Airbus A320s, each seating 136 passengers, and existing late evening departures have been upgraded to larger aircraft.

On the Abu Dhabi-Mumbai route, the evening flight is now operated with 292-seat Airbus A340-600 aircraft, seating 12 passengers in Diamond First Class, 32 in Pearl Business Class and 248 in Coral Economy. This will add 2,044 seats per week from Abu Dhabi to Mumbai, taking the total from 952 to 2,996 seats in each direction – just over triple the previous capacity.

On the Abu Dhabi – New Delhi route, the evening service has been upgraded to a 254-seat Airbus A330-200 aircraft, seating 18 guests in Business Class and 236 in Economy. This will add 1,778 seats per week to and from New Delhi, increasing from 952 seats to 2,730 in each direction – almost triple the previous capacity.

Etihad A340-600. Photo courtesy Wikipedia. Photo copyright Maarten Visser. Used under CC license.

On the Chennai and Kochi routes, from June 2014 Etihad will upgrade its aircraft to Airbus A321s, seating 174 passengers from the existing A320s which seat 136 passengers. There is no mention of any aircraft change at Bangalore where Etihad operates a daily A320, where both its fellow gulf competitors Emirates and Qatar Airways operate A330 and Boeing 777 wide-body services.

Outlining a strategy to use Abu Dhabi as a hub to funnel-in passengers from India on to Europe, US, middle-east and Africa, James Hogan, President and Chief Executive Officer of Etihad Airways said

“India is one of the world’s largest and fastest-growing air travel markets, and will play an increasingly important role in our growth,” “Subject to receiving regulatory approvals, we will continue to expand our Abu Dhabi – India operations and work with our growing stable of partners to accommodate strong growth and deliver much greater choice for travel to and from India.” “Through our purchase of 24 per cent of Jet Airways – the first foreign investment permitted in an Indian airline – we have laid the foundations for major and exciting growth in air services between Abu Dhabi and India, and beyond throughout our global network,”

The new Etihad Airways flights will also be marketed by Jet Airways as an extension of the airlines’ existing codeshare partnership.

This is just a preview of what India can expect from all three gulf carriers in the years to come. With their hundred billion dollar aircraft orders, one shudders to think of the sheer capacity these airlines will add in the next decade; and the capacity they will be able to dump in the Indian market.

Etihad's actions are bound to have impact on national carrier Air India who is trying to expand services to Europe and North America in its revival efforts. Fellow gulf majors Emirates and Qatar Airways will also start feeling the pinch. It remains to be seen what strategy Etihad adopts to start filling those 200% extra seats, though pricing is a sure-fire way to the Indian passenger's heart.

Share your thoughts on this development via a comment.

Read more »

Jet Airways cancellation of Colombo-Chennai tied to Jetihad?

by BA Staff

Earlier today, it was announced that Indian full service carrier Jet Airways would be cancelling its longstanding daily flights between its Southern hub at Chennai, and Colombo from 3rd January, 2014. The route, which was operated with Boeing 737-800 equipment, had schedules as follow:

9W252 ~ MAA - CMB ~ 0055 – 0210 ~ 738 ~ Daily
9W253 ~ CMB - MAA ~ 0310 – 0430 ~ 738 ~ Daily

Jet Airways will continue to serve Colombo from its largest hub at Mumbai. The move comes as a bit of a surprise, given that the India-Sri Lanka market, especially with regards to inbound medical tourism at Chennai, remains robust. And at a time when Jet continues to incur massive losses on its domestic network, it makes little sense for Jet Airways to cancel a route of roughly domestic length, but with fares 30% higher. There are however, a pair of countervailing factors that could be the reason behind the move. The first is that SriLanka Airlines is planning a major Indian expansion, which could drive down fares and yields. But even more importantly, with the Jetihad partnership recently finalized, Etihad now has the ability to dictate Jet Airways' international route decisions. Is Etihad behind this route cancellation? Let us know in the comments below. 

Read more »

Jet Airways and Garuda Indonesia sign code share agreement

Jet Airways and national flag carrier Garuda Indonesia have concluded a code share agreement for connectivity between India and Indonesia.

Under the arrangement, using Singapore as a hub, Jet Airways will place its marketing code on Garuda Indonesia’s flights between Singapore and Jakarta and Garuda will place its marketing code on Jet Airways’ flights between Singapore and Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai.

The two airlines have also signed a frequent flyer partnership, allowing members of each others loyalty programs to accrue and redeem mileage on the code-share flights, the entire domestic network of Garuda Indonesia, and on Jet Airways' complete network, domestic and international.

Read more »

IndiGo adds Bagdogra as a destination. New Ahmedabad Mumbai Guwahati flight.

by Devesh Agarwal

India's largest domestic airline is adding Bagdogra as its 30th domestic destination from December 1, 2013.

With its 71st A320 joining the fleet, IndiGo will operate 448 daily flights to 30 domestic and five international destinations.

Flight 6E-434 commences an almost 12 hour duty cycle at 05:45 starting at Ahmedabad to Mumbai to Guwahati to Bagdogra to Kolkata to Bangalore. In reverse flight 6E-433 starts at 11:05 in Bangalore and ends at 23:20 at Ahmedabad.

Thus, the new schedule sees introduction of new daily non-stop flights to Bagdogra from Guwahati and Kolkata. Bagdogra will also be connected to Mumbai via Guwahati, and to Bangalore via Kolkata.

IndiGo will also launch a seventh daily non-stop flight between Delhi and Kolkata and also a daily non-stop flight between Mumbai and Guwahati, offering a same plane one-stop service from Ahmedabad to Guwahati. It is not clear if a passenger can take a two-stop same plane service from Ahmedabad to Bagdogra.

Aditya Ghosh, President, IndiGo said,

“We are extremely pleased about adding Bagdogra as our 35th destination of operations as it is a landmark moment for us. Bagdogra is going to be an important part of our destination network because it holds good prospect for commercial business apart from the region of Darjeeling, Siliguri and New Jalpaiguri. We are committed to providing maximum connectivity from Bagdogra on our network by catering to various segments and we are confident that these additional services will prove immensely popular with our passengers. We are planning to increase the connectivity to and from Bagdogra and expand our operations with additional flights. It is our constant endeavour to provide more flexibility of choice for our customers as IndiGo continues to offer them on time, hassle free and always affordable flying experience.”

Read more »

Singapore Airlines debuts new 777 cabin products on Mumbai route for a limited time

by Devesh Agarwal

Singapore Airlines débuted its latest cabin products on its Boeing 777-300ER flying between Mumbai and Singapore for a limited time.

This is the latest cabin product of the premium airline which will be standard on its Airbus A350-900 aircraft, but which is also fitted on eight of its new Boeing 777-300ERs, the latest of which was recently delivered to the carrier's fleet. This product was first unveiled on the London route.

See details and images of the new cabin product in our July story.

Nearly $150 million is being invested in the new products on the initial eight B777-300ERs. The aircraft feature the world’s most advanced in-flight entertainment system, with larger screens and touch-screen handsets, as well as more spacious and comfortable seats in First, Business and Economy classes.

The new products will be available on SQ 423/424 flights between Singapore and Mumbai on selected days of the week during the winter schedule which commenced from yesterday.

SQ 423 Mumbai – Singapore:
from October 28, 2013 till March 30, 2014 on Mondays, Saturdays, and Sundays
from October 31, 2013 till November 22, 2013 on Thursdays and Fridays
SQ424 Singapore - Mumbai:
from October 27, 2013 till March 29, 2014 on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays
from October 30, 2013 till November 21, 2013 on Wednesdays and Thursdays

Read more »

India's tallest Air Traffic Control tower, at Mumbai airport, inaugurated

By BA Staff

Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA), inaugurated India’s tallest ATC tower with a height of 83.8 metre and built within an area of 2,800 square metres.

The location and the height of the new ATC tower will enable the tower controllers to have unobstructed view of the entire operational area, which will help in optimizing air traffic separation and increase the traffic handling capacity at the airport.

The tower will be equipped with the latest technology including electronic flight strips which will soften the work load of the tower controllers, enhance safety and overall capacity of the airport.

The airport operating company Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) is upgrading the air-side with new taxiways and rapid-exit taxiways to help reduce the time aircraft occupy the runway to further increase the ability of the airport to handle more flights per hour.

GVK CSIA awarded the iconic design and architecture project to Hong Kong based renowned architectural design firm HOK and international engineering design firm ARUP following a global architectural and engineering design competition. International lighting consultant Spiers and Majors were mandated for the innovatively designed lighting of the tower to bring out the sculptural qualities of the tower.

Read more »

Analysis: Etihad announces huge increase in flights and seats between Abu Dhabi and India

Bangalore-Abu Dhabi-Chicago, Mumbai-Abu Dhabi-New York, Delhi-Abu Dhabi-Newark amongst new flights requested

by Devesh Agarwal and Vinay Bhaskara

Image Credit: Etihad Airways

On the back of the new bilateral air services agreement which has almost quadrupled capacity, Etihad Airways, the national carrier of the United Arab Emirates, will greatly increase both seats and flights for travel to and from India, introducing more flights and wide-bodied jets by the end of this year, and further increases and new routes next year, subject to regulatory approval.

From 1 November this year, Etihad Airways plans to more than triple the number of seats it now offers on the prime Abu Dhabi – Mumbai and Abu Dhabi – New Delhi routes, reflecting the growing importance of the Indian market, and delivering significant economic benefits to the economies of India and Abu Dhabi.

Enriching the expanded schedules will be new connection opportunities between Etihad’s global network and its expanded Indian services, via the airline’s Abu Dhabi hub.

The President and Chief Executive Officer of Etihad Airways, James Hogan, said: “India is one of the world’s fastest-growing destinations, and a key market in the growth strategy of Etihad Airways.

“Following the recent signing of a new air services agreement between India and the UAE, we now have the opportunity to add significant capacity between the two countries, not only meeting existing demand for trade and tourist travel but also ensuring that we can meet the continued strong growth which is expected between our two countries. The big winners will be our passengers and freight customers and the economies of India and Abu Dhabi.”

By 31 December, 2013, Etihad Airways plans to:

• Increase from daily to double-daily its Abu Dhabi-Mumbai and Abu Dhabi-New Delhi flights;
• Use wide-bodied Airbus A340-600 aircraft on one of the daily Abu Dhabi – Mumbai flights, offering First, Business and Economy Classes, replacing a Jet Airways A330-200
• Use wide-bodied Airbus A330-200 aircraft on one of the daily Abu Dhabi - New Delhi flights, offering Business and Economy Class, replacing an Etihad A320
• Upgrade daily Abu Dhabi – Chennai flights from 136-seat Airbus A320s to new Airbus A321s, seating 174 passengers with an expected two class configuration of (12J / 162Y)
• Subject to regulatory approval, Etihad also intends to codeshare on a wide range of flights operated within India by Jet Airways. Jet will feed Abu Dhabi from eight cities initially: Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram and Cochin

Specific details of new routes between Abu Dhabi and India and codeshare services with Jet Airways will be announced progressively, as approvals are received and operational details are finalised.

Separately, Jet Airways is set to move its international scissors hub for services to the United States to Abu Dhabi from Brussels. Jet will launch Mumbai-Abu Dhabi-Newark, Bangalore-Abu Dhabi-Chicago, and Delhi-Abu Dhabi-New York JFK. Interestingly, no mention has yet been made of services to Toronto, which Jet Airways currently serves as the final leg of its New Delhi - Brussels - Toronto services. However, Toronto-India traffic is notoriously low yielding. Furthermore, the UAE and Canada have a tense bilateral agreement, so it's likely that Jet might not even be allowed to operate to Toronto via Abu Dhabi.

Either way, the massive expansion from Jetihad brings the carrier to parity in the Indian market with Middle Eastern rival Emirates, who generates 12% of its network traffic from India. As the Jetihad partnership continues to solidify, expect to see more Indian expansion from both carriers.

Read more »

Infographic: India's ten busiest airports: June 2013 vs. June 2012

by Vinay Bhaskara

June was a mostly positive month for traffic at India's ten busiest airports. As the table below shows, traffic grew at eight airports, while declining at just two. Total traffic at India's ten busiest airports grew around 2% year-over-year to roughly 10.7 million passengers, positive news after some declines in passenger traffic earlier this year. There were no changes in the top ten, either in constitution or in order, though Bangalore moved closer to surpassing Chennai as India's third busiest airport as traffic grew 2.4% against a drop of 1.2% at Chennai. Just outside the top ten, fast growing Srinagar surpassed Goa to become India's 11th busiest airport in June, and will likely surpass Trivandrum by the end of the year (Srinagar trailed Trivandrum by 11,000 passengers in June).

Airport	June 2013	June 2012	YOY Growth
Delhi (DEL)	3133135	3072780	2.0%
Mumbai (BOM)	2573600	2494202	3.2%
Chennai (MAA)	1077267	1090302	-1.2%
Bengaluru (BLR)	1022158	998302	2.4%
Kolkata (CCU)	854846	890240	-4.0%
Hyderabad (HYD)	711677	702940	1.2%
Kochi (COK)	428251	382566	11.9%
Ahmedabad (AMD)	356558	348273	2.4%
Pune(PNQ)	297421	276496	7.6%
Trivandrum (TRV)	243968	232024	5.1%
TOTAL	10698881	10488125	2.0%

The following chart shows traffic India's top ten airports in June 2013 vs. June 2012 (click for a larger view)

Read more »

Analysis: Jet Airways to add second daily flight between Mumbai and Singapore

by Vinay Bhaskara

Image Credit: Devesh Agarwal

India's largest full service carrier, Jet Airways, is adding a second daily flight between its largest hub at Mumbai, and Singapore. The second daily flight, effective 1st November 2013, will be served using 154 seat Boeing 737-800 aircraft in a 2-class configuration (16 J / 138 Y).

The proposed new flights, 9W 10/9 will be scheduled very tightly with the existing daily flights on-board the Airbus A330-200; 9W 12/11. Jet Airways Flight 12 currently departs Mumbai at 23:30, arriving at Singapore at 07:25 the next day. The return, Jet Airways Flight 11 departs Singapore at 19:05 after nearly 12 hours on the ground, returning to Mumbai at 22:00. The outbound, Jet Airways Flight 10, will be offset as a morning departure, leaving Mumbai at 09:50 and arriving to Singapore at 18:00. However, the return Jet Airways Flight 9 is currently scheduled to depart Singapore at 20:05 (just one hour after the existing flight), and return to Mumbai at 23:01.

These flight timings make little sense squished so close together on the return to Mumbai. While it is a good idea for Jet Airways to grow its international operations to Asia given the better performance of its international division as a whole. However, placing the return flight so closely with the existing flight is a missed opportunity for Jet. Especially with an integrated terminal coming to Mumbai by the end of 2014, Jet should be looking to maximize connectivity out of Mumbai, especially on international to domestic and vice-versa. A better schedule for the flight would have been a morning departure from Singapore at around 5:50 am, which would have arrived back at Mumbai at 8:50 am, in time for connections with morning departures to dozens of domestic destinations, while still leaving enough time for a turnaround to depart at 9:50 am. Jet already offers double daily flights to Singapore from Chennai and Delhi, and the second dailies to both of those destinations use a similar schedule to the one we propose here.

However, the addition of a second daily Mumbai-Singapore is a good move for Jet, and it points to future international growth opportunities for Jet. Even as the westbound international operations will largely be culled in favor of routing passengers through Abu Dhabi via the Jetihad partnership, there remain opportunities for Jet to grow its eastbound international operations. Air travel demand between India and East/Southeast Asia is growing rapidly, and Jet could offer more flights to the region moving forward, especially with the purchase of 50 737 MAX aircraft offering increased range on tap. 

Read more »

Analysis: Jet Airways to withdraw from Bhubaneswar

by Vinay Bhaskara

According to several reports, Mumbai-based full service carrier Jet Airways is planning on pulling out from Bhubaneswar from the Winter 2013/14 season. Inventory has been zeroed out from 27th October onwards and flights to and from Bhubaneswar are no longer bookable on jetairways.com. Additionally, sources are saying that Jet Airways has not requested slots at Bhubaneswar for this winter, though we will have to wait for the release of route information onto the Global Distribution System (GDS) to confirm this news.

During August, Jet Airways has operated three flights per day to Bhubaneswar, daily Chennai-Bangalore-Bhubaneswar and return, daily Mumbai-Bhubaneswar and return, and daily Kolkata-Bhubaneswar and return. Mumbai-Bhubaneswar and Kolkata-Bhubaneswar are served with JetKonnect Boeing 737-800 equipment, while Bangalore-Bhubaneswar is served with full service 737-800 equipment. The current service level actually marks a reduction from planned levels at the start of the summer, as an additional two flights per day to Kolkata were initially filed with the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) utilizing ATR 72-500 turboprop equipment.

If true, the cancellation of Bhubaneswar is a poor step on the part of Jet Airways. One of the few strengths remaining for the financially struggling Jet Airways is its powerful domestic network, with 49 domestic destinations. Bhubaneswar is the 18th busiest airport in India, and one of the most important destinations in Eastern India. However, Jet Airways has been facing challenges thanks to the steady growth of low cost carrier (LCC) IndiGo in the Bhubaneswar market. IndiGo is the largest carrier in the Bhubaneswar market, with nine flights per day this summer to five nonstop destinations; Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, and Vizag.

Even with the increased LCC competition, it does not make sense that Jet did not at least keep around Mumbai-Bhubaneswar for feed purposes. With the new Mumbai integrated terminal arriving by the end of next year, Jet Airways has the opportunity to build a strong regional hub at Mumbai connecting passengers domestic to international and vice-versa. Since Mumbai-Bhubaneswar is served with JetKonnect equipment, with lower operating costs, it is likely losing the least money of Jet's Bhubaneswar services, and thus it would have made sense for Jet to keep Bhubaneswar around.

But the cancellation is just the latest a growing pattern of poor network decisions made by Jet Airways over the past few years. It is certainly possible for airlines to cut services on their way to profitability; but that usually applies to redundant or heavily money-losing capacity that does not serve a strategic purpose (Delhi-Milan being one rare example at Jet Airways); not a key short haul destination. 

Read more »

Air India Regional to begin flights from Mumbai

by Vinay Bhaskara

An Air India Bombardier CRJ-700 - Image Credit: Nisarg Vyas

According to a report from the Hindu Business Line, Air India subsidiary Alliance Air (Air India Regional) has announced an expansion of its services from Mumbai, with new flights to Allahabad, Agra, and Gwalior.

According to the article, an Air India spokesperson said, “Alliance Air will be introducing new flights and routes on its network from September 9 from Mumbai to Allahabad, Agra and Gwalior.”

Mumbai - Allahabad will operate four times per week on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. Mumbai-Gwalior and Mumbai-Agra will both operate twice per week; Mumbai-Gwalior on Mondays and Thursdays, Mumbai-Agra on Tuesdays and Fridays.

Inaugural fares for Mumbai-Allahabad are set as Rs 3,979 one way and Rs 8,326 return while Mumbai-Gwalior is set as Rs 2,982 one way and Rs 5,874 return fare. Mumbai-Agra intial fares are Rs 3,979 one way and Rs 8,326 return.

As of August 2013, Air India Regional serves 23 Indian destinations with a fleet of 11 aircraft (4x Bombardier CRJ-700s, and 7x ATR 42-300 turboprops). It operates 233 flights per week, with the largest hub at Delhi seeing 53 weekly departures to eight destinations. Air India Regional does not currently serve Mumbai.

However, Mumbai is the second largest operating base for the Air India Group of airlines (including mainline Air India, Air India Regional, and low cost wing Air India Express), with 464 weekly departures in August 2013 (443 mainline Air India, 21 Air India Express). 

Read more »

Thai Airways makes wholesale changes to India service in winter 2013-14

by Vinay Bhaskara

Bangkok based full service carrier Thai Airways International has announced a series of changes in its Indian services in the winter 2013-14 season as per the Airline Route blog

On its Bangkok-Delhi services, beginning 30th September, services will increase from 11 weekly to 14 weekly.

Daytime Thai flights TG323/TG324 will increase from four flights per week to daily using a 299 seat Airbus A330-300 aircraft in a two-class configuration (36J / 263Y). TG-323 departs Bangkok at 07:35, arriving at Delhi at 10:30. The return flight TG-324 departs Delhi at 11:55 arriving at Bangkok at 17:25.

The red-eye flights TG315/TG316 are also seeing an increase, with Boeing 747-400s replacing the existing Boeing 777-300s, an increase from 364 seats (34J / 330 Y) to 374 (49J / 325 Y) or 375 seats (50J / 325 Y), depending on the day. The up-gauge represents a large increase in premium cabin capacity by almost 45% regardless of the 747 configuration used on the route.

TG 315 departs Bangkok at 20:40, arriving at Delhi at 23:40. The return red-eye (overnight) TG 316 departs Delhi at 00:55, arriving at Bangkok at 06:20, in time for connections to Thai's morning departure bank to Asia and Australia. Both flights are operated daily.

Bangkok - Hyderabad was planned to increase from four flights per week to five using the A330-300, but these plans have been shelved, with services remaining at four per week this winter.

The daily Bangkok-Mumbai services have been down-gauged from Boeing 747-400 to Airbus A330-300s for the winter season, a capacity downgrade of around 20% (roughly 35% in premium cabins).

Additionally, Thai's low cost wing Thai Smile, which by January 2014 will serve 19 destinations across India, China, Laos, Macau, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and Thailand, is also shaking up its India operations. Thai Smile has a fleet of six 174 seat (30Y+ / 144 Y) Airbus A320-200s with its primary hub at Bangkok and a secondary hub at Phuket. Thai Smile is shifting its flight numbers to and from India, and increasing services as well.

Flight Number Changes

• Bankgok-Ahmedabad flights are shifting from TG 765/766 to TG 2935/2936
• Phuket-Delhi flights are shifting from TG 761/762 to TG 2931/2932
• Phuket-Mumbai flights are shifting from TG 763/764 to TG 2933/2934

Frequency Increases

• Bangkok-Ahmedabad increases from two to four weekly flights
• Phuket-Delhi increases from two to four weekly flights
• Phuket-Mumbai increases from two to three weekly flights

Read more »

Egyptair increases Mumbai service

An Egyptair Airbus A321 

by Vinay Bhaskara

Troubled Star Alliance member Egyptair is adding one additional flight per week between Cairo and
Mumbai from 27th October 2013, bringing the services to five times per week. Egyptair Flight 968 will operate Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday departing Cairo at 23:05 and arriving at Mumbai at 07:55 the next day. The return, Egyptair Flight 969, will operate Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Sunday departing at 09:10 from Mumbai and arriving at 12:40 pm at Cairo. All flights operate with Boeing 737-800 aircraft seating 144 passengers (24J / 120 Y)

Egyptair is struggling under the weight of demand weakness at home thanks to a poor economy and declining tourism due to the 2011 Arab Spring, and the events that have ensued since. Since June 2011, the carrier has lost more than US $950 million and seen revenue decline sharply. But they have made good business connecting passengers over their growing hub at Cairo Airport, and India has been one of few strong points from an origin and demand (O&D point of view). 

Read more »

Air China ends Shanghai-Chengdu-Bangalore

by Vinay Bhaskara

Yesterday, Sunday, August 4th, marked the final nonstop flight for Air China limited, the world’s 10th largest airline by passenger traffic, between Bangalore and Chengdu. Flights have been zeroed out from the global distribution system (GDS) and are no longer bookable via AirChina.com. The nonstop flights, which began in early 2010, had actually been increased in frequency by Air China from twice to thrice weekly on March 31st, and had been planned to operate as thrice weekly flights until late October. Service was offered on 128 seat Airbus A319 equipment in a 2-class configuration (8C/120Y), and was structured as Bangalore-Chengdu-Shanghai Pudong and return. Flights departed Bangalore Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday and arrived in Bangalore on those same days of the week after departing Shanghai Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. The same plane journey from Shanghai to Bangalore took over 7 hours and 40 minutes to complete in either direction.

It is surprising that Air China elected to cancel services between Bangalore and Chengdu given the strong business ties between the two cities. Bangalore is India’s information technology (IT) hub, while Chengdu is China’s electronics manufacturing center; and several multinational tech corporations have major operations in both cities. In particular, this route was often dubbed the "Cisco-Huawei Express". Networking Equipment Manufacturer Cisco’s “East” Headquarters are located in Bangalore while their largest manufacturing base in China is located in Chengdu. Meanwhile, electronics manufacturer Huawei has a major IT research and development (R&D) center in Bangalore and massive manufacturing operations in Chengdu (as does rival Chinese telecom firm ZTE). These firms often formed the base of demand for the nonstop services, and when combined with the incremental demand between Bangalore and China’s financial capital of Shanghai, the route seemed to be a strong performer for Air China.

But global macroeconomic conditions have certainly shifted in the past few months. Both India and China are seeing slowdowns in growth that are causing tapering in travel demand between the 2 nations – as firms scale back expansion plans and begin to curtail employment growth. India’s projected GDP growth for 2014 has fallen to a new low of 5.2% (after running at 8% or above for nearly the last decade; even through the global financial crisis) tied to a similarly projected GDP growth for China of just 6.9% in 2014, the lowest total in more than 20 years. In addition to these macroeconomic factors, Cisco, a major US manufacturer of Telecom equipment, is also facing a major slowdown in its core market, the US, as firms increasingly turn away from its services and put off purchasing new network equipment due to uncertain economic conditions. Even in India, the economic slowdown is contributing to a reduction in demand for telecom equipment. All of these factors certainly contributed to a reduction in demand for the route.

Beyond the macroeconomic forces, there is increasing tension between China and India thanks to labor disputes and border issues in India’s Northeast. Additionally, ZTE and Huawei are coming increasingly under suspicion of playing a role, if only indirectly, in increased Chinese hacking of Indian government web servers, thanks to their close ties to the Chinese government. The added security concerns have led to increased scrutiny for ZTE and Huawei – and forced the two firms to cut back on their Indian operations. Given the relatively close ties between the Chinese government and Air China, these political disputes may have also played a role in the cancellation of the route.

Air China will continue to service India with 7 flights per week; 4 weekly Mumbai-Chengdu-Shanghai Pudong on board the same Airbus A319 equipment, and 3 weekly Beijing-Delhi on-board 301 seat Airbus A330-300 equipment in a 2-class configuration (30C/271Y). Beijing-Delhi had previously been increased to 4 weekly till October 26th, but those plans appear to have been scrapped.

Read more »

Analysis: Air India to begin several new routes - including San Francisco and Madrid?

by Vinay Bhaskara

Earlier this month, erstwhile Indian national carrier Air India placed a tender asking for fuel supply contracts at 9 different stations as seen below. The tender includes Sydney, where Air India is planning to launch 4 weekly nonstop and 3 weekly one-stop flights (in a triangle routing with Melbourne) on-board the carrier's new Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Australian services are scheduled to commence August 29th as of press time.

As the document states, just because the destinations are mentioned in this fuel tender, it does not necessarily mean that they will in fact be operated. The airline business is transitory, and airline plans are rapidly changing. That being said, if we take this document at face value, it represents a major international expansion, both for Air India's under-utilized fleet of Boeing 777-200LRs (5 are currently being shopped) and Boeing 777-300ERs, as well as for the 27 787 Dreamliners on order.


Sydney is already a known quantity, but Jakarta is an interesting destination. Indonesia and India recently revised their bilateral air service agreement (ASA) in 2011 to allow carriers from either side to operate up to 28 flights per week with aircraft of size up to a Boeing 747-400. Indonesian carriers are allowed to serve Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, and Chennai, while Indian carriers are allowed to serve Jakarta, Medan, Bali, and Surabaya. Garuda Indonesia was reportedly planing on serving Jakarta - Mumbai/Delhi with 737-800 aircraft but those plans never materialized. The largest Indian population in Indonesia is actually on the island of Sumantra, and India-Medan demand is under-served. Even so, Air India would have the first mover's advantage on connecting these two burgeoning regional powers.

The addition of Nairobi on this list raises an interesting question - the biggest demand center from Nairobi is with India's commercial hub in Mumbai thanks to historical ties of Indian expats to Africa and the type of business traffic on the route. However, Air India looks committed to building a proper connecting hub in Delhi, where there is some demand to Nairobi, but low yields and existing competition in the form of SkyTeam member Kenya Airways. It will be interesting to see where Air India chooses to route its Nairobi services from. Perhaps a nonstop Nairobi-Mumbai service that continues on to Delhi could work; as the 787 is the right aircraft for the job but all of the 787s are currently based in Delhi.

The European centers vary in feasibility - Milan and Rome both have strong O&D demand - and Milan in particular has a large North Indian community with more than 76,000 annual passengers (in each direction) demand to Delhi. Rome is a more tourist-oriented destination but it too has a strong VFR (visiting family relatives) traffic component. Delhi-Milan was previously tried by Jet Airways with an A330-200, but Air India is stronger in Delhi than Jet Airways is, and the 787 has a better cost profile for the route than Jet Airways A330s.

Zurich is a premium destination with growing Indian tourist demand to Switzerland. But there isn't the volume required to sustain nonstop services for Air India - the premium segment of the market is already dominated by Swiss. However, the size of the fuel contract indicates that Air India will be likely serving Zurich as a tag-on to one of the other European destinations - likely Rome or Milan.

Moscow has strong demand thanks to growing business ties but will face strong competition from Aeroflot's existing flights to Sheremetyevo. Madrid is an odd one. There are no significant business or leisure ties between Indian and Span, and with Spain in the midst of debilitating recession, demand is not set to grow any time soon.

San Francisco is another interesting case. Air India is the only Indian carrier with the aircraft required to launch San Francisco nonstop from Delhi (a flight of 7706 miles) - the Boeing 777-200LR and the Boeing 777-300ER (Jet Airways' configuration of the 777-300ER is too heavy to do so)  - however, the size of the fuel tender involved implies that San Francisco will be served as a one-stop destination; likely via Milan given the inflated size of the tender in Milan. Delhi-San Francisco is a large market, with 159,520 annual O&D passengers, but yields are extremely low. Meanwhile, Bangalore-San Francisco is a much higher yielding market with still 70,802 passengers of annual demand in 2011 alone (has likely crossed the 85,000 mark given the boom in Silicon Valley). Bangalore-San Francisco is doable on Air India's 777-200LRs.

Regardless, the expansion from Air India is interesting to behold. These routes will likely not return Air India to profitability given the massive debt. But on an operational basis; a few of them could be sustainable and break even.

Read more »

British Airways India -- A Ticket to Visit Mum

by Vinay Bhaskara 

British Airways recently launched an powerful advertising campaign entitled "Visit your Mum." The following video shows British Airways flying Ratnesh home from New York City to surprise his mother and visit his family for the first time in more than 15 years since leaving home at the age of 17. His unwitting mother is cooking his favorite dish - Bhindi (Okra) - and is told that British Airways will just be flying the dish over to NYC and sending a representative over to pick up the tiffin box. That representative is Ratnesh. The video is extremely moving and powerful. Kudos to British Airways for a job well done, and more importantly for bringing those two together again.

Read more »

Analysis: Emboldened by Etihad deal, Turkish Airlines seeks additional flying rights to India

by Vinay Bhaskara

Late last week, The Times of India reported Turkish Airlines, one of the world’s fastest growing airlines in the world, wanted to more than quintuple its Indian footprint, requesting an increase in weekly seat allocation from 4,000 to 20,000 seats per week, and gain access to Bangalore, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, Amritsar, and Ahmedabad.

Turkish is also requesting an increase in its weekly frequency allocation from 14 weekly flights (one daily each to Mumbai and Delhi), to 70 flights per week.

Reportedly, Turkish Airlines’ Indian general manager Adnan Aykac made the following statements with regards to his carrier’s requests:

We currently fly 14 flights a week — a daily from Delhi and Mumbai each to Istanbul. This is very limited capacity. We have asked the government for more destinations as we want to fly to all the six metros [Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Mumbai], Amritsar and Ahmedabad. We want to have 70 weekly flights from eight cities in India. We are ready to mount the flights that we seek to and from the new cities as early as possible. Delhi and Mumbai are among the most expensive airports in the world, with Delhi being costlier than Mumbai. But these are the two gateways to India and generate almost 70% of all international traffic to and from India. Indian carriers can start flights to Turkey whenever they want. This will be a commercial decision. There are many places whose airlines fly to India without an Indian carrier going there like Amsterdam, from where KLM flies without any Indian carrier going to Holland. 

Turkish Airlines may have some weight behind its request thanks to the timing. As a condition of the recent purchase of a 24% stake in full service carrier Jet Airways by Etihad Airways (with the Abu Dhabi government behind it), Etihad asked for and received a massive increase in seat allocation through the bilateral air service agreement (ASA). Etihad now controls more than 92,000 seats per week between India and Abu Dhabi, while other Middle Eastern rivals like Emirates (54,000) and Qatar Airways (24,292) control more than the 20,000 seats requested by Turkish Airlines. However, Turkish Airlines lacks the political clout of Jet Airways head Naresh Goyal, which might affect its chances of getting an expanded bilateral. And the so-called Jetihad deal is under further review by concerned parties in the Indian government.

Regardless of the outcome of its request, Turkish Airlines already has a strong presence in the Indian market. As with much of its route network, the success is predicated on connectivity across its global hub at Istanbul. Currently, Turkish operate daily services to both Delhi and Mumbai, and each destination is primarily utilized for connecting Indian passengers westbound to Europe, Africa, North America, and (now) Latin America. In 2012, only 24% of Turkish Airlines passengers at Mumbai (where it had a seat factor of 82%) were origin and destination (O&D) passengers from Istanbul, while the figure was 23% at Delhi (on seat factors of 75%).

The five largest origin points for Turkish Airlines service to Mumbai in 2012 were Tel Aviv (despite nonstop service from Israeli national carrier), Stockholm Arlanda, London Heathrow, Washington Dulles, and Chicago O’hare. Arlanda, Dulles and O’hare all lack nonstop service from Mumbai. The market between Washington DC and Mumbai was sized at 38,232 passengers in 2011, while Chicago – Mumbai had nearly 62,367 annual passengers. The five largest origin points for the Delhi flights were Tel Aviv, Barcelona, Washington Dulles (an annual market size of nearly 61,235 passengers), Berlin Tegel, and Copenhagen. Mumbai and Delhi were of course the two largest inbound feeder markets for Turkish Airlines’ services to Washington Dulles, and both airports were amongst the top 5 feeders for Turkish Airlines service to Tel Aviv and Berlin. Delhi was a top 5 feeder market for Turkish Airlines flights to Sao Paulo, Barcelona, Bremen, Dusseldorf, Hamburg, Madrid, Nuremberg, Milan and Venice, while Mumbai was a top 5 feeder market for Chicago, Los Angeles, London Heathrow, and Rome. It is interesting to note that Turkish Airlines has won a large share of traffic between Germany and Delhi, despite the presence of German national carrier Lufthansa in Delhi with the largest aircraft available; the Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental. Perhaps this lost traffic is behind Lufthansa’s long standing request to operate the Airbus A380 to Delhi?

The services to Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, Amritsar, and Ahmedabad will likely follow much of the same pattern. While Bangalore and Chennai are reasonably well served to Europe, the remaining destinations all lack connectivity. Africa and Latin America are un-served, as is the United States, to which these destinations had more than 1.7 million passengers worth of annual demand in 2011 (436,881 – Bangalore, 481,748 – Hyderabad, 398,941 – Chennai, 244,185 – Ahmedabad, 108,581 – Kolkata, and 100,000 – Amritsar).

Turkish Airlines currently serves 235 destinations worldwide on a fleet of 218 passenger aircraft (carrying 39 million passengers in 2012), including 38 in Africa, seven in North America, two in Latin America, and 87 in Europe (with several more in each region announced). Its hub at Istanbul’s Ataturk International is one of the fastest growing airports in the world, with traffic having more than quadrupled to nearly 45 million passengers in 2012 from 11.3 million in 2002.

However, space is constrained at Ataturk, and the airport is now heavily congested, with airline on-time performance in June of 2013 at Istanbul Ataturk registering at an abysmal 38.02%. Turkish has already begun to develop Istanbul’s second airport, Sahiba Gokcen, as a secondary hub. Traffic there hit 14.5 million annual passengers in 2012, but these growth pressures should be resolved by the end of the decade, as Turkey has broken ground on the world’s largest airport in Istanbul.

Analyst's views are individual and may not necessarily reflect the views of Bangalore Aviation.

Read more »

Trip Report: India and Europe Summer 2013 - Introduction

Introduction
United Club Newark
United Economy Class Newark to Hamburg
Lufthansa Senator Lounge Hamburg
Turkish Airlines Economy Class Hamburg to Istanbul
Turkish Airlines CIP Lounge Istanbul
Turkish Airlines Economy Class Istanbul to Mumbai 
Lufthansa Senator Lounge Mumbai
Thai Airways Business Class Mumbai-Bangkok
Thai Airways First Class Lounge and Spa Bangkok
Thai Airways First Class Bangkok to Frankfurt
Lufthansa Senator Lounge Frankfurt
Lufthansa Business Class Frankfurt to Zurich
*tentative*
Swiss Business Lounge Zurich
Air Canada Executive First Zurich to Toronto
Air Canada Maple Leaf Club Toronto
Air Canada Business Class Toronto to Philadelphia
*tentative*
_________________________________________________________________________________

This post is meant to serve as an introduction to a trip I will be taking later this summer. The trip report will be updated as I actually do the flying.

So the genesis of this trip is that I am taking a trip to India in August of this year, and on the return I will be stopping over in Europe to visit with family.

Now within the parameters of a standard United Airlines award ticket, I booked the itinerary you see above, Economy Class going to India, and First Class on the return. My first step was finding award inventory in the India-US direction, which is incredibly difficult to do in the summer time, as this is a peak period for US origin travel to India. I eventually managed to find a one-stop from Newark via Munich to Mumbai on August 7th, but instead I opted for a more circuitous Newark-Hamburg-Istanbul-Mumbai routing. This routing would allow me to visit two new airports (Hamburg and Istanbul), and fly a new aircraft type (the Airbus A321 --  most of my short haul flying has been on United and American, neither of whom currently have A321s) in the spirit of a true aviation connoisseur.

The advantages of this routing are that I have a comfortable 4 hour layover in Hamburg (allowing me to shower in the lounge) as opposed to the hour long sprint I'd have to endure in Munich, as well as 4 hours to review the Turkish Airlines CIP lounge in Istanbul, considered by many to be the best business class lounge in the world. It also allows me to provide a review of Turkish Airlines' service offering in economy class on flights between India and the West. And the Istanbul-Mumbai sector is currently scheduled on a Boeing 777-300ER leased from Jet Airways.

Turkish Airlines Business Class (CIP) Lounge - Istanbul
Image Credit - One Mile at a Time

The return flights from Mumbai are also notable. On a first class award, I will have a business class flight overnight from Bangkok to Mumbai, and then I will be able to experience Thai Airways famed first class services in Bangkok- including a golf cart ride to the lounge, hour long complementary Thai massages, and a full service restaurant. Then I will be on to the highlight of my trip; First Class on the Thai Airways A380 between Bangkok and Frankfurt, my first time in international first class and my first time flying an A380. Then its a couple of hours of layover in Frankfurt and off to Zurich,.

Thai Airways Royal First Class on A380
Image Credit - Australian Business Traveler

Now its the flights home to the US that I am still unsure about. The only flight home I could find at the time of booking was the Air Canada itinerary displayed. However, what I am banking on is that Lufthansa tends to release its first class award inventory to United 14 days before departure; Lufthansa First Class and the First Class Terminal at Frankfurt would be  a perfect way to end this trip. Either way, I am excited for my journey!

Read more »

Analysis: Delta-Virgin Atlantic tie up does little to enhance Indian connectivity for either carrier

by Vinay Bhaskara

Image by, and copyright Devesh Agarwal. Used with permission.

Earlier this week, Atltanta-based full service carrier Delta Air Lines and London based Virgin Atlantic Airways announced that their application for a code share and joint venture partnership on trans-Atlantic flights had been approved by antitrust authorities in both the United States and European Union.

The deal, in which SkyTeam member Delta will purchase a 49% stake in Virgin Atlantic previously owned by Singapore Airlines, covers 108 routes, 91 by Delta, and 17 by Virgin Atlantic. According to the press release put out by Virgin Atlantic, the deal offers the following benefits for customers.

The agreement includes the following customer benefits:

• Virgin Atlantic customers will now enjoy a vast network of connecting North American destinations while Delta customers will gain an additional six daily frequencies between London to New York

• SkyMiles and Flying Club loyalty programs that will offer up to 125% tier bonus miles* to frequent fliers on all Delta and Virgin Atlantic flights - not just those within the codeshare agreement

• Reciprocal Delta Sky Club and Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse access at applicable airports for Upper Class and BusinessElite passengers and Flying Club Gold members and SkyMiles Platinum and Diamond members

• Priority check-in, boarding, baggage handling and additional baggage allowance on all Virgin Atlantic and Delta operated flights worldwide - not just those within the codeshare agreement - for Virgin Atlantic Upper Class and Flying Club Gold members as well as Delta BusinessElite and SkyMiles Gold, Platinum and Diamond members

This is all pretty standard fare for these types of joint venture agreements, though the reciprocal frequent flyer benefits are better than those for most of Delta's partners in the SkyTeam alliance. The benefits will kick in on July 3rd, and will hopefully mark better times for Virgin Atlantic after two straight years of massive losses and increased pressure from rival British Airways at their core hub at London Heathrow.

However, looking at the deal from an Indian consumer's perspective, it adds very little to the existing offerings for both carriers in the India-USA market. Delta Air Lines currently operates a daily flight between Amsterdam and Mumbai, which is fed by its myriad services between the US and Amsterdam. The deal with Virgin Atlantic does nothing to affect the existing Delta service one way or the other.

However, the deal does open up the potential for Delta to add London as an European connecting point for flights to India along with the existing Amsterdam and Paris Charles de Gaulle points, as well as for Virgin Atlantic to enhance its US-India connectivity on existing flights to and from India. However, the schedules just don't bear this out. First of all, the Delhi flights are poorly timed to connect with the additional Delta flights in either direction. The 5:55 pm arrival into Heathrow means that there are no connections possible onto Delta flights; the last Delta departure from Heathrow is 5:10 pm. In the other direction, every Delta arrival into Heathrow is before 12:15 pm, yet the Delhi flight does not depart till 10:00 pm. That 10 hour (minimum) layover simply is not competitive with the quick connections offered by the Middle East Big 3 competition.

In terms of Mumbai, the arrival into Heathrow at 7:55 am allows for relatively effective connections to New York JFK, Minneapolis, and Atlanta, but not Boston or Detroit (the switch from Terminal 4 to Terminal 3 requires passengers to clear security again at Heathrow, adding time to connections). The departure from Heathrow to Mumbai at 10:35 am allows for connections from Boston, New York JFK, and Atlanta, but not from Detroit or Minneapolis. Furthermore, these destinations already have easy access to Mumbai services via Amsterdam.

So in the short term, the Delta-Virgin Atlantic tie up has limited effect on the Indian market. However, it could push Virgin Atlantic to re-time its Delhi and Mumbai operations (creating a red-eye at Delhi?), which would only make Virgin Atlantic's Indian presence more competitive.

Read more »

GoAir replaces Kingfisher Airlines at Terminal 1A at Mumbai

by Devesh Agarwal

From July 1, 2013, Wadia group promoted GoAir will be moving its operations at Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, from Terminal 1B (the private airlines' terminal) to Terminal 1A (Air India / Indian Airlines terminal). GoAir will occupy some of the space that has been vacated by the cessation of operations of Vijay Mallya promoted Kingfisher Airlines.

GoAir currently operates 360 movements per week from Mumbai. A dedicated aisle of check-in counters at terminal 1A shall now be available for GoAir passengers. The airline will be also moving its ticketing office to the new premise.

The traffic at Terminal 1B has congested for some time thanks to the diversion of passengers from the implosion of Kingfisher, and the growth of domestic passenger traffic at the commercial capital of India. It would have been better if one of the larger incumbents like IndiGo or SpiceJet would have shifted, when compared to a smaller operator like GoAir which operates about 360 weekly movements i.e. about 26 departures per day.

When queried, persons with knowledge of developments but who preferred to remain anonymous, told Bangalore Aviation that this move has been planned for a long time, and all airlines were given the offer to shift operations. Only GoAir opted for the shift. We can surmize, that GoAir faced the least disruption to their operations since they are a purely domestic airline at present, and the others would find it more convenient to remain in Terminal 1B which is closer to the international terminal T2.

What are your thoughts on this shift? Post a comment.

Read more »