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.”

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AAI makes progress on PPP for six airports

by BA Staff

Yesterday, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) announced that it has invited the Request For Qualification (RFQ) for selection of the prospective bidders for Chennai and Lucknow Airports for conversion of these airports to a Public Private Partnership (PPP). The RFQs will remain open till mid-October, and applications are allowed from a single entity or a consortium.

As per a report from the Press Information Bureau,

The SPV shall be formed for this purpose. In order to secure representation of the Airports Authority of India on the Board of the SPV, the Concession Agreement will include a provision for issue of a golden share in accordance with a Shareholders’ Agreement that would form part of the Concession Agreement. 

The concessionaire can levy tariffs for aeronautical services including the User Development Fee (UDF) as may be determined by AERA to start with. Such charges would be revised normally once every five years by the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA) in accordance with the AREA Act. The RFP would indicate the parameters for determining charges for aeronautical services as well as the UDF 

It is expected that similar RFQs will be opened at the remaining four airports earmarked for transition to PPP (Kolkata, Jaipur, Guwhati, and Ahmedabad) soon. No applicant will be allowed to participate in the PPP at more than two of the six airports involved. 

The new PPPs will help bolster AAI's finances at a time when the authority is struggling under the weight of nearly Rs. 1,900 Crore worth of unpaid dues from several airlines. 

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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)

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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

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SpiceJet to commence Ahmedabad to Muscat service

Low cost carrier, SpiceJet, will commence a thrice a week service on the Muscat-Ahmedabad route from August 29, 2013. The airline will deploy its 189 seat Boeing 737-800 New Generation aircraft. Muscat, the capital of Oman, will be the ninth international destination to be served by SpiceJet.

The airline is offering an introductory fare of just Rs 5,999/- one way (inclusive of all taxes) on this route.


SG 061 departs Ahmedabad 21:30 arrives Muscat 23:00 on Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays
SG 062 departs Muscat 00:30 arrives Ahmedabad 04:20 on Tuesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays.

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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.

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IndiGo to increase Bangalore presence this month. Commences direct Guwahati flight.

As per a report in the Airline Route website, India's largest domestic carrier is undertaking an expansion of its domestic network in the next one month.

Bangalore will see increased services to Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, and Mumbai. Bangalore will also see a new service direct to Guwahati and on to Agartala.

eff 06FEB13
Ahmedabad – Bangalore Service increases from 1 to 2 daily

eff 15FEB13
Bangalore – Guwahati – Agartala NEW 1 daily service
6E457 BLR0750 – 1050GAU1120 – 1215IXA 320 D
6E458 IXA1535 – 1630GAU1700 – 1955BLR 320 D

Hyderabad – Bangalore Service increases from 27 to 41 weekly
Mumbai – Bangalore Service increases from 5 to 6 daily

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SpiceJet to commence three new international routes

Gurgaon based low fare carrier SpiceJet will expand its international network by opening three new sectors Kochi Male, Kochi Dubai, and Ahmedabad Dubai.

Male is a new destination for the airline. SpiceJet already operates daily flights to Dubai from Mumbai and Delhi.

Flight	From	Destination	Departure (Local Time)	Arrival (Local Time)	Frequency	First Flight
SG 3901	Kochi	Male	1250 hrs	1440 hrs	Daily	29th Nov’ 12
SG 3902	Male	Kochi	1515 hrs	1705 hrs	Daily	29th Nov’ 12
SG 017	Kochi	Dubai	1710 hrs	1950 hrs	Daily	10th Dec ‘ 12
SG 018	Dubai	Kochi	2045 hrs	0225 hrs	Daily	10th Dec ‘ 12
SG 015	Ahmedabad	Dubai	1700 hrs	1825 hrs	Daily	19th Dec’ 12
SG 016	Dubai	Ahmedabad	1925 hrs	2330 hrs	Daily	19th Dec’ 12

The Male flight will be operated with the 78 seat Bombardier Q400 turbo prop, and Dubai with the 189 seat Boeing 737-800.

At present SpiceJet flies to Kathmandu (Nepal), Colombo (Sri Lanka), Kabul (Afghanistan) and Dubai (UAE)

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IndiGo increases service between Mumbai, Goa, Chandigarh and Ahmedabad

With the arrival of its 68th Airbus A320, India's largest domestic airline, IndiGo, is increasing its services between Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Goa, and Chandigarh from today.

From the released time-table below the aircraft commences its work at 05:50 in the morning at Ahmedabad to Mumbai to Chandigarh to Mumbai to Goa to Mumbai to Chandigarh to Mumbai and finally back to Ahmedabad at 23:20 (11:20PM).

Flight No.	From	To	Departure	Arrival
6E 434	Mumbai	Chandigarh	07:25	09:45
6E 433	Chandigarh	Mumbai	19:35	21:35
6E 438	Mumbai	Chandigarh	14:45	19:05
6E 437	Chandigarh	Mumbai	10:15	12:30
6E 434	Ahmedabad	Mumbai	05:50	06:50
6E 433	Mumbai	Ahmedabad	22:20	23:20
6E 437	Mumbai	Goa	13:35	14:45
6E 438	Goa	Mumbai	15:15	16:15

With these new services IndiGo expands to 373 flights connecting 33 destinations across the nation.

IndiGo's fleet now stands at 59 aircraft. The airline has returned or diverted nine aircraft to lessors.

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MAP: 8 Air India flights cannot even cover their cost of fuel

According to a report from the Press Trust of India (PTI), Indian civil aviation minister Vyalar Ravi revealed before the Rajya Sabha today that Air India's estimated loss for FY 2010-2011 was Rs. 6,994 Crore, down sharply from the Rs. 5552.55 Crore loss posted in FY 2009-2010.

Ravi also said that, "Based on April-September, 2011 route wise profitability, two routes out of 175 services meet total cost viz Kolkata-Yangon (vice versa) and Kolkata-Kathmandu (and vice versa)."

He further related that, "Based on April-September, 2011 out of 175 services [by Air India], 8 services (are) not meeting fuel cost, 109 services(are) meeting fuel cost but not meeting cash cost, 56 services (are) meeting cash cost but not meeting total cost and two services meeting total cost,"

***Note the traditionally accepted difference between cash cost and total cost for airlines is that total costs include aircraft financing costs and aircraft lease payments, which are not included in cash costs.

An earlier report in the Times of India had confirmed those figures for the routes and also contained the following caveat: "90% of the losses in these six months [April-September] came from international routes. AI lost Rs 791 crore on routes in that time, of which only Rs 57 crore was due to domestic flights and the rest on foreign flights. The entire network planning needs a relook and urgently to cover the revenue-expenditure gap."

That report also listed Delhi-Tokyo-Delhi as the only profitable flight in Air India's network, a route not mentioned by Vyalar at the Rajya Sabha.

8 Air India flights not making fuel cost

Bangalore Aviation has obtained the following list of the 8 Air India flights that currently do not generate enough revenue to even cover their fuel costs. One of these routes was already revealed in our post about Air India's London Heathrow slots: Amritsar-Delhi-London Heathrow.

• Amritsar-Delhi-London Heathrow
• Amritsar-Delhi-Toronto,
• Delhi-Dubai (AI 947)
• Ahmedabad-Mumbai (AI653)
• Delhi-Chennai (AIC 437)
• Chennai-Delhi (AIC 438)
• Delhi-Gwalior-Mumbai-Gwalior-Delhi (AI 421/422)
• Mumbai-Delhi (2x: AI 623 and AI 624),
• Mumbai-Ahmedabad (AI 643)
• Delhi-Mumbai (AI688)
• Ahmedabad-Mumbai (AI 614)

In all, 15 of Air India's flights don't make their fuel costs: the map below shows these routes in red, as well as Air India's profitable flights in green.



*Click map for larger view


Maps generated by the Great Circle Mapper : copyright © Karl L. Swartz.

As the map shows, Air India's Delhi operation clearly faces a lot of trouble. Back in 2009, the carrier had shifted towards an intercontinental hub at Delhi's T3. Yet Air India is today unable to even cover its fuel costs on 7 different sectors from Delhi! Despite having a monopoly on nonstop flights from India to Toronto, Air India appears to be bumbling in its attempt to serve this large market of Indian nationals. It's time that Air India takes a good hard look at just how viable its international flights from New Delhi are, and whether it really makes sense for Air India to be operating widebody aircraft on domestic "tag" sectors for international routes (i.e. the Amritsar-Delhi segment of Amritsar-Delhi-Toronto).

At any other airline, routes whose revenues did not cover their fuel cost would have been dropped almost automatically; but at Air India; these routes will continue to be operated into the foreseeable future.

In the coming days, we will be analyzing Air India's financial results for FY 10-11 (and hopefully their annual report with its management commentary as well).

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Overview of Singapore Airlines' and subsidiary SilkAir's India operations

The world's best airline, Singapore Airlines will be effecting a significant change in its scheduled operations at Mumbai starting from the Winter 2011 schedule which goes in to effect on October 30th. The carrier is also strengthening the operations of its regional subsidiary SilkAir across India.


Mumbai
Currently the carrier operates double daily flights between the financial capital of India and the island nation. A Boeing 777-200 flight with 36 business and 228 economy class seats in the morning, and a Boeing 777-300ER with 8 first, 42 business, and 228 economy class seats on an overnight flight.

In the winter schedule the airline is increasing the Singapore Mumbai flights from 14 to 17 a week.

It's reducing the morning SQ421 777-200 flights from a daily to three per week which will operate Mondays, Saturdays and Sundays, departing Singapore at 02:30 and arriving Mumbai at 05:30. On the return departing Mumbai at 07:30 and arriving Singapore at 15:25. This morning service appears to be designed for the IT industry passengers to connect to the Singpore - North American west coast services which arrive in to Singapore a little after midnight and depart Singapore around 17:00 in the evening.

The airline will continue its daily SQ423 Boeing 777-300ER service which departs Singapore at 19:55 and arrives Mumbai at 22:50. On the return leaving Mumbai just after midnight and arrives Singapore at 08:00.

The carrier is adding a new daily service SQ425 which will operate using the 36/228 Boeing 777-200, departing Singapore at 18:10 arriving Mumbai 21:05. On the return leaving Mumbai 22:20 arriving Singapore the next morning at 06:15.

This, in our opinion, is a brilliant move by the carrier. This earlier flight addresses a common complaint of many business travellers who want earlier arrivals in the respective cities to have a full business day. This flight also allows Singapore Airlines to give its Mumbai passengers quicker connections to ASEAN and near east destinations on early morning flights which depart Singapore before 8am.

Ahmedabad
Singapore Airlines will increase its twice weekly (Tuesdays and Saturdays) flights to thrice weekly (Tuesday, Thursday, Sunday) using an Airbus A330-300 in a 30 business and 255 economy class configuration.

Bangalore
The carrier continues its daily overnight Boeing 777-200 service. From earlier this month, the regional subsidiary of Singapore Airlines, SilkAir has increased its four a week mid-day flights to five a week. Three flights are operated thrice a week (Thursday~ Saturday) with an Airbus A320 (12/138 config) and twice a week (Mondays and Wednesdays) with an Airbus A319 (8/120 or 12/106 config). In bound the flight departs Singapore 13:10 arrives Bangalore 15:00 and returns leaving Bangalore 15:50 and arrives Singapore at 22:55.

The timings of the SilkAir flight limits connections beyond Singapore to only North Asia and Australia-New Zealand, and the carrier is reporting good passenger load factors. Keeping in mind that Bangalore is the IT capital of India with significant traffic to the US West Coast, the airline management should consider changing the schedule to position this flight as a day flight to connect to those US West Coast flights which arrive in to Singapore between 01:30 and 03:30 and depart around 17:00 in the evening. A possible schedule will be departing Singapore 06:00 arriving Bangalore 08:00 departing Bangalore 09:00 arriving Singapore 16:00. This will also given the flight connections in to ASEAN and near east destinations.

Rest of India
Singapore Airlines continues its double daily to New Delhi using a Boeing 777-200 in the morning and a Boeing 777-300 for the overnight flight in a 8 first 50 business and 226 economy class confguration. Kolkata is operated thrice a week with an Airbus A330-300, Chennai is operated daily with a Boeing 777-200.

SilkAir
Singapore Airlines is using its regional subsidiary SilkAir aggressively in India. The carrier operates daily flights to Hyderabad and Kochi, six a week to Chennai, five a week to Bangalore, four a week to Kolkata, and three a week each to Coimbatore and Trivandram (Thiruvanathapuram). Thanks to usage of narrow-body Airbus A320 and A319 aircraft, SilkAir is perceived as a low cost carrier, despite being a full service carrier with, many a time, fares higher than its parent, Singapore Airlines.

Singapore Airline's fleet to India
The carrier's Boeing 777-300ER is widely considered as having the most luxurious cabin product in the world, with only four abreast seating in business class and economy class seats with a 19 inch width and 32 inch pitch, along with a state of the art audio-video on demand (AVOD) in-flight entertainment (IFE) system.

Next in comfort is the new Airbus A330 fleet which features an industry leading 18.6 inch seat width and 32 inch seat pitch with full iPod support in economy class, and a luxurious business class featuring the inclined lay-flat SpaceBed seats in a 2-2-2 abreast configuration. (Click for images of both classes).

The Boeing 777-200 and 777-300 have been given a retrofit. The business class is similar to the business class in the A330s, but the economy class seat is 17.9 inches width with a 32 inch pitch in a 9 abreast 3-3-3 configuration. It is better than the 10 abreast 17 inch width of Emirates but falls short of the 9 abreast 19 inch width in its own Boeing 777-300ERs as well as those of Qatar Airways.

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BREAKING NEWS: Jet Airways ATR72 nose wheel collapses at Ahmedabad, airport shut down

A Jet Airways turbo-prop ATR72-500 (ATR72-212A) registration VT-JCA performing flight 9W2510 from Indore to Ahmedabad airport with 57 passengers and four crew on-board had a nose wheel collapse soon after landing at Ahmedabad airport around 21:20 (15:50Z). The airplane is blocking the single runway of the airport.

All passengers and crew are safe and were de-planed via stairs and taken to the terminal where the airline staff is catering to their needs.

All flight operations at Ahmedabad airport are shut down for the last 2h45min. Passengers of other airlines who were scheduled to depart have also been dis-embarked from their respective aircraft.

A crane is awaited to lift and move the aircraft off the runway.

VT-JCA has construction number 572 and was delivered to Jet Airways in October 1999.

Update 1
It is learnt that the nose gear strut had cracked and the two nose wheels had collapsed. The airline is still awaiting the return of their team from Ahmedabad to Mumbai before they can release further details.

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Singapore Airlines to introduce Airbus A330-300 to Kolkata, reduce capacity

As per the GDS, Singapore Airlines will introduce its new Airbus A330-300 aircraft (cabin images with iPod support here) on the Singapore Kolkata sector from July 2, 2010.

It is a smart move by the carrier. Its A330s have the same two class (business and economy) configuration as the Boeing 777-200s it currently operates to Kolkata and Ahmedabad, but the Airbus A333s have only 285 seats compared to the 323 seats of the Boeing 777s. At the same time the cabin product of the A333s is vastly superior and includes iPod connectivity.

Singapore Airlines gets an aircraft better in tune for these smaller destinations and at the same time a cabin product upgrade.

As more Airbus A330s join its fleet, Singapore Airlines may be tempted to also replace the 777s on the Ahmedabad sector with the A330s.

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Slow government response to the increasing bird strike problem

Over the last few years, the incidents of bird strikes have been increasing.

In 2006, 167 bird strikes were reported, in 2007 they increased to 217 and in 2008, 304. For 2009, till October, 241 bird strikes have been reported to the Indian Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).


This year till October, 2009, Air India has reported 24 bird strikes, Jet Airways and JetLite 49, Kingfisher Airlines 60, Indigo 27, Spice Jet 30, Paramount 1, Go Airways 7. International airlines suffered 34 and 6 by other aircraft - typically private and executive charters.


At a time when the airline industry can ill afford it, they have been saddled with avoidable financial losses. Losses suffered by airlines this year because of bird strike are:

• Jet Airways Rs. 89.1 lakhs ($185,000)
• Indigo Rs 87 lakhs
• Spice Jet 557 lakhs
• Go Air 45.6 lakhs
• Figures from Air India and Kingfisher are not currently available

Three airports have been identified as problematic for bird and animal strikes -- Nagpur, Mumbai and Delhi. Ahmedabad airport has been identified as having reached an crisis situation requiring emergency action, yet there are very steps actually taken at ground level.

Much of the problems of bird strikes comes from the rapid and uncontrolled urbanisation of cities in India.

Meat is a major reason. Old abattoirs like those in Gazipur and Sadar Bazar in Delhi attract birds thanks to animal waste lying around. Efforts to create modern abattoirs are thwarted both the sloth in government and certain religious principles that need to be followed.

The rapid urbanisation also creates new layouts where unlicensed and uncontrolled meat stalls abound. The under-educated and ill-informed butchers operating these meat stalls leave waste lying around attracting birds as well as dogs and cats.

As if this were not enough, it is common for airport land to be encroached upon. Thanks to self serving politicians no action can be taken by the local municipal corporations to remove encroachments and at the same time the corporations cannot legitimise these shanty towns by providing water, sewage or garbage collection services. The result is a horde of slums that dot the airports with even bigger piles of waste, garbage, excreta, and filth -- all adding to the attraction of birds and other animals in the vicinity of flight movements.

After looking at this picture, one feels sorry for MIAL the operators of Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport. Mumbai is the economic capital of India and supposed to be one of the great metropolises of the world. There were over a hundred crows all around us.

Click on image for a larger view

The "too little too late" government response leaves much to be desired.

Under pressure from International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), the Ministry of Civil Aviation set up the National Bird Control Committee (NBCC). The committee first met on June 3, 2009. It second meeting was held a whopping five months later on November 17, 2009 which reviewed the recommendations made in the first meeting.

Some intelligent steps have been initiated.

• Equipments and methods used at various airports both public and private for bird strike prevention are being reviewed by the DGCA.
• A online system of bird strike reporting by airline operators has been made mandatory and put on the DGCA website, and pilots have been instructed to follow correct bird strike reporting procedure.
• The scope of committee has been widened to include animals

The committee is also appearing to make what one can only describe as mis-directed efforts rather than actually taking steps on the ground to solve the bird menace.

Despite it's clear identification, the Ministry has not addressed the root cause of problem i.e. attracting birds. Instead it has amended the Aircraft Rules to allow for imposing of a Rs. 100,000 fine or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 months or both for the offence of leaving any animal, object or bird in the movement area of an aerodrome. One can understand if the fine is imposed on meat stalls and abattoirs operating unhygienically which result in the attraction of birds in the first place.

The committee is also receiving precious little cooperation from the various state and city governments, and is being forced to issue directives to State Governments requesting for active participation of the Chief Secretary or Commissioner or Head of the District in the Airfield Environment Management Committee (AEMC) meeting of Airport along with local civic bodies and the police.

But, why have another committee (AEMC) under this bird committee (NBCC) ? Between the hierarchical committees, the pitifully few twice annual meetings will only result in reviews and recommendations instead of the much needed progress in actually tackling the growing menace.

The government has to get its act together and act swiftly and brutally. The need to curb unhygienic open air sales of meat is paramount.

In the same vein, if the committee does not get the immediate and complete cooperation of any state or city government, the committee should declare that airport unsafe and stop flight operations. Aviation is a massive contributor to, and generator of, economic activity. A hard kick in the wallets will get heads screwed on straight.

Finally, send in an army infantry battalion armed with a boat load of shotguns. Not only will they get target practice, but will eliminate the problem. Two birds with one shell. Pellet peppered crow anyone ?

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Swine flew - Bird strikes topped off by pig strikes

The recent rains have created a sudden bird problem at Ahmedabad (IATA: AMD) airport who come to feed on the insects.

On Friday July 16th, a GoAir Airbus A320-214, performing flight G8-321 from Ahmedabad, Gujarat to New Delhi, India with 102 passengers and 6 crew, was taxing for take-off when a black kite (Milvus migrans) was ingested into the right hand engine. The airplane taxied back to the terminal. It is reported that six fan blades were damaged by the bird strike which forced cancellation of the flight. The passengers were rebooked onto Spicejet's flight SG-106 departing about one hour later.

Editors note : Still awaiting a response from GoAir on the aircraft registration. The A320-214 is the most common series of A320 in the GoAir fleet.

Admittedly India has a diverse animal population, but I am chuckling while writing this story thinking of the phrase "when pigs fly".

On Saturday July 17th, a Kingfisher Airlines Aerospatiale ATR72-500 registration VT-KAC MSN0729 performing flight IT2802 from Indore, Madhya Pradesh, to Nagpur, Maharashtra with 56 passengers and 4 crew, had just touched down around 20:43 (15:13Z) at Nagpur's runway, when three wild pigs suddenly darted across the runway. At least one of the pigs made contact with the aircraft. The airplane stopped safely, an immediate inspection revealed no obvious damage, so the airplane taxied to the apron, where the passengers disembarked normally.

The plane had to be grounded, as per normal safety protocol. A relief aircraft along with an engineering crew arrived from Hyderabad to take the passengers to Hyderabad. The aircraft is back in service.

This incident is reminiscent of an incident on March 28, 2008 at Bangalore when a Kingfisher Airlines ATR72-500 hit a dog on the runway.

In this case may be Kingfisher tried to avoid it but the "swine flew".

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Paramount adds Pune as third destination in Western India

Paramount Airways extended its services to Western India, by launching daily flights from Chennai to Pune. Paramount already serves Ahmedabad and Goa from Chennai.

Commenting on the Pune launch Mr Thiagarajan, MD, Paramount Airways said, “As part of our expansion strategy we have launched the Chennai - Pune sector today. This we believe will help our foray into the western region and we hope to replicate the success that we have acheived in the Southern market. Being a premium airline, we are certain that Paramount would receive a huge franchise from these key market. This flight would be a convenient and comfortable option for Chennai flyers to Pune.”

The airline has also launched its frequent flyer programe “Paramount Royale”.

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