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. 

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Qatar Airways to fly to Miami from June 2014

by Devesh Agarwal

Image courtesy Qatar Airways

Flag carrier, Qatar Airways, has announced Miami to be its sixth destination in the United States with flights beginning June 10, 2014.

The airline will offer four non-stop flights a week from Doha using a Boeing 777-200LR aircraft in a two class configuration with 42 lie-flat seats in business class, and 217 seats in economy.

The proposed schedule dove-tails well with flights to the Indian sub-continent, which arrive in to Doha early morning, and depart at night.

Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday
QR777 departs Doha 08:40 (8:40am) arrives Miami MIA 17:20 (5:20pm). Travel time: 15h40m.
QR778 departs Miami 21:15 (9:15pm) arrives Doha 18:20 (6:20pm) the next day. Travel time: 14h20m.

As it prepares to enter the oneworld alliance, this is a good move by Qatar Airways as Miami is the gateway to Latin America for oneworld original member American Airlines. Qatar already operates to American's hub in Chicago, and to Houston, New York (JFK), and Washington D.C. (Dulles), and will add Philadelphia in April 2014.

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Bird Information Systems partners with FITS Air

By BA Staff

Bird Information Systems (BIS), a provider of automated aviation and travel related software solutions has entered into a partnership with Sri Lanka based FITS Air, for the use of its Airline Inventory and Reservations System (AIRS).

As per the partnership, Bird will provide FITS Air, the booking technology for the airline inventory hosting, reservation at all city and airport offices, call centers and internet booking engines

Commenting on the partnership, Ankur Bhatia, Executive Director, Bird Group said:

“We are very glad to come into strategic alliance with FITS Air as it will give us another opportunity to showcase our expertise in providing cutting-edge technology for the travel and aviation industry. This partnership will make online reservations more efficient and user friendly which will in turn help us strengthen our relationships in the entire SAARC region. We will ensure to provide FITS Air the latest technology to improve their operational efficiency further fortifying Bird Information Systems ‘s position as one of the most preferred technology provider in the travel industry.”

Mr. Omar Kayaam, Chief Executive officer of FITS Air said:

“We are extremely proud to partner with Bird Information Systems Private limited (BIS) as it will make our seat inventory available to an extensive network through its world class travel related software solutions. We consider this as a significant move in our future plans to place FITS Air in an advantageous position in today’s aviation industry. Through this partnership travelers and travel agents across will be able to make online reservations easily and conveniently which will help us to enhance our relations with them.”

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