SpiceJet to launch Bangalore - Bangkok flights

by Devesh Agarwal

Delhi based low fare carrier SpiceJet will commence international flights from Bangalore on October 28. The first destination is Bangkok with four flights per week.

The carrier will be the only Indian carrier to service this route.

As per the SpiceJet website on which tickets which are available for purchase, the schedule is on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays,

SG091 departs Bangalore 03:35 arrives Bangkok Suvarnabhumi 09:05
SG092 departs Bangkok Suvarnabhumi 20:10 arrives Bangalore 22:35

The airline will use a Boeing 737-800 to service the flights.

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Singapore Airline's passengers suffer consequences of IndiGo accident

by Devesh Agarwal

Its Friday, the 13th, and many a frequent flyer will sympathise with the bad-luck of the passengers on Singapore Airlines flight SQ503 from Bangalore to Singapore earlier this morning.

The inbound flight SQ502 from Singapore scheduled to arrive at Bangalore around 10pm, was diverted to Chennai due to the runway closure at Bengaluru International Airport following the accident of IndiGo airline flight 6E-125 around 8pm last night.

The in-bound passengers waited and finally the runway at Bangalore was opened around 11pm. SQ502 finally arrived in Bangalore around 2am early this morning.

The return flight SQ503, left around 3am, about four hours behind schedule. The crew realised that they would exceed their Flight Duty Time Limit (FDTL). Hurried parleys were made with headquarters, and a decision was taken to divert to Bangkok. In the mean time, a stand-by crew was flown from Singapore to Bangkok to crew SQ503 back to Singapore.

The aircraft was on the ground in Bangkok for less than a hour, and SQ503 finally arrived in Singapore at 1pm, seven hours behind schedule.

Image courtesy Google maps.

All I can do is shake my head and sympathise with the passengers, but at the same time, give credit to the crew for thinking up of a solution.

If they had continued even to Kuala Lumpur, they would be in breach of the regulations.

Had they stayed back in Bangalore, the earliest a replacement crew could come would be on the morning SilkAir flight. This would mean the SQ503 flight would reach Singapore only around 5:30pm, and connections to the US west coast would be missed.

Already the existing delay meant that the morning connections to the United States, Asia, and Australia were missed. The Bangkok diversion allow the airline to try and make up some of the connections in the evening. However, considering this is the weekend, the airline staff in Singapore has their work cut out for them.

What are your thoughts? Share your frequent flyer gaffs via a comment.

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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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Japan Airlines revises its flights and fleet plans for financial year 2013~14

Japan Airlines Group (JAL) today announced revisions made to its flight frequency and fleet plans for the remaining of fiscal year 2013(ending March 31, 2014).

In regards to the airline's domestic network, flight frequencies on select routes will be adjusted to better meet demand as well as the changes in customer travel patterns including seasonal travel patterns in order to further maximize revenue. JAL will also strive to further improve customer convenience by expanding its domestic network.

In regards to the airline's international network, new Boeing 787-8 aircraft will be deployed onto flights between Tokyo (Narita) and Sydney as well as between Tokyo (Narita) and Bangkok to improve cost efficiency as well as to provide customers with updated products and services. In addition, the fully revamped Boeing 777-300ERs (JAL SKY SUITE 777) including the JAL SKY SUITE (named "Best Business Class Airline Seat" at SKYTRAX's 2013 World Airline Awards) will be introduced between Tokyo (Narita) and Los Angeles from November 2013 as well as between Tokyo (Narita) and Chicago from January 2014.

JAL will introduce completely revamped Boeing 767-300ERs (JAL SKY SUITE 767) between Tokyo (Narita) and Vancouver from December 2013 as well as between Tokyo (Narita) and Kuala Lumpur from January 2014.

*The following schedules are subject to government approval.

Domestic Network

Flight Frequency Changes

Route	Details	Date Effective
Haneda = Osaka (Itami)	Increase from 15 to 16 daily round-trip flights	Oct. 27, 2013 ~ Mar. 29, 2014
Haneda = Sapporo	Increase from 16 to 17 daily round-trip flights	Oct. 27, 2013 ~ Mar. 29, 2014
Haneda = Izumo	Increase from 5 to 6 daily round-trip flights	Oct. 27, 2013 ~ Mar. 29, 2014
Fukuoka = Matsuyama	Increase from 7 to 8 daily round-trip flights	Jan. 7, 2014 ~
Okinawa (Naha) = Ishigaki	Increase from 9 to 10 daily round-trip flights	Sep. 1, 2013 ~ Jan. 6, 2014 Feb. 3, 2014 ~ Mar. 29, 2014
Okinawa (Naha) = Okayama	Increase from 1 to 2 daily round-trip flights	Oct. 1, 2013 ~ Mar. 29, 2014(*)
Osaka (Itami) = Fukuoka	Decrease from 5 to 4 daily round-trip flights	Oct. 27, 2013 ~
Sapporo = Hanamaki	Decrease from 4 to 3 daily round-trip flights	Oct. 27, 2013 ~ Mar. 29, 2014
Kagoshima = Matsuyama	Decrease from 2 to 1 daily round-trip flights	Jan. 7, 2014 ~

(*) Flight frequency will be back to 1 daily round-trip flight during the following period:

Oct. 15,20,21,27,28,30; Nov. 8~10,26,28; Dec. 1,3,5,7,8,10 ~12; Jan. 17~25,27~31; Feb. 1,2,4

International Network

Boeing 787-8 will be introduced onto the following routes

Boeing 787-8 configured with the JAL SHELL FLAT NEO in Business Class will be introduced between Tokyo (Narita) and Sydney as well as between Tokyo (Narita) and Bangkok.

Route	Aircraft Type	Date Effective	Remarks
Narita = Sydney	787-8	Dec. 1, 2013 ~	JL771/JL772(JL772 from Dec. 2, 2013)
Narita = Bangkok		Dec. 2, 2013 ~	JL707/JL718, 4 among 7 weekly round-trip flights (JL718 from Dec.3, 2013)

*The type of aircraft might be changed due to the delivery schedule of Boeing 787-8.

Other aircraft type changes

JAL also aims to further improve the quality of its products and services offered on other routes, on all 3 daily round-trip flights operated between Tokyo (Haneda/Narita) and Bangkok, an improved JAL Business Class will be offered including the JAL SHELL FLAT SEAT installed on Boeing 777-200ERs, and JAL SHELL FLAT NEO installed on Boeing 787-8s.

Route	Aircraft Type/Date Effective	In-flight Service	Remarks
Haneda = Bangkok	From 767-300ER to 777-200ER /Dec. 1, 2013 ~	Business Class: JAL SHELL FLAT SEAT	JL33/JL34*1
Narita = Bangkok*2	From 767-300ER to777-200ER,787-8*3 /Dec. 1, 2013~	Business Class: JAL SHELL FLAT SEAT(777-200ER) JAL SHELL FLAT NEO(787-8)	From Narita to Bangkok: JL717/Daily/777-200ER JL707/Mo,Tu,Th,Sa/787-8 JL707/We,Fr,Su/777-200ER From Bangkok to Narita: JL718/Mo,Th,Sa/777-200ER JL718/Tu,We,Fr,Su/787-8 JL708/Daily/777-200ER

*1 Premium Economy service will be provided on JL33/JL34 from Dec. 1, 2013.

*2 Among 14 weekly round-trip flights, 10 round-trip flights will be operated with Boeing 777-200ER, 4 round-trip flights will be operated with Boeing 787-8. Premium Economy service will be provided on flights with Boeing 777-200ER.

*3 The type of aircraft might be changed due to the delivery schedule of Boeing 787-8.

Flight frequency changes

Flight frequency will temporarily decrease in response to the passenger demand

Route	Details	Date Effective	Remarks
Narita = Beijing	Decrease from 14 to 7 weekly round-trip flights	Nov. 25 ~ Dec. 8, 2013	JL863/JL864 decreased

Improving the quality of products and services on Europe, North America and Southern Asia routes

JAL is now gradually introducing fully revamped cabin which are both spacious and functional on its Boeing 777-300ERs (JAL SKY SUITE 777) on Europe and North America routes. Additionally, the airline will introduce fully revamped Boeing 767-300ERs (JAL SKY SUITE 767) on middle and long-haul routes.  

                       

1.       Expansion of
JAL SKY SUITE 777                         

JAL SKY SUITE 777 is now available daily between Tokyo (Narita) and New York, London as well as Paris. Moreover, the new configuration will be introduced on routes between Tokyo (Narita) and Los Angeles as well as between Tokyo (Narita) and Chicago.

Route	Aircraft Type	In-flight Service	Date Effective	Remarks
Narita = Los Angeles	777-300ER	JAL SKY SUITE 777 (*1) First Class: NEW JAL SUITE Business Class: JAL SKY SUITE Premium Economy: JAL SKY PREMIUM Economy: JAL SKY WIDER	Nov. 2013 ~	(*2)
Narita = Chicago			Jan. 2014 ~

(*1) For more details on JAL SKY SUITE 777, please visit http://www.jal.co.jp/en/newsky/ss7/

(*2) The actual operating date will be introduced on JAL homepage when it has been decided. 

2.       Introduction of JAL SKY SUITE 767                       

JAL SKY WIDER, which is now being installed onto all Boeing 777-300ERs will also be installed on Boeing 767-300ERs. Highlights of the JAL Economy Class seat include increased pitch and a slim style seatback design resulting in approximately 10 cm (Max.) more legroom than the present seat pitch. In JAL Business Class, a new 180-degree fully reclining JAL SKY SUITE II seat will be installed, which was designed specifically for this aircraft type. In addition, each seat in the 1-2-1 configuration provides unobstructed aisle access for an undisturbed flight allowing maximum personal enjoyment and a soothing rest.

Route	Aircraft Type	In-flight Service	Date Effective	Remarks
Narita = Vancouver	767-300ER	JAL SKY SUITE 767 (*1) Business Class: JAL SKY SUITE II Economy: JAL SKY WIDER	Dec. 2013 ~	(*2)
Narita = Kuala Lumpur			Jan. 2014 ~

(*1)  For more details on JAL SKY SUITE 767, please visit http://www.jal.co.jp/en/newsky/ss6/

(*2)  The actual operating date will be introduced on JAL homepage when it has been decided.

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Bhutan Airways (Tashi Air) to begin daily Paro-Kolkata-Bangkok

by Vinay Bhaskara

According to the Airline Route blog, private Bhutanese carrier Bhutan Airways (also known as Tashi Air) is set to begin daily Paro-Kolkata-Bangkok flights from October 2013 with its new Airbus A320 aircraft. Proposed schedules are as follow:

B3700 PBH-CCU 1035 - 1110 CCU-BKK 1150 - 1550 320 Daily

B3701 BKK-CCU 0630 - 0730 CCU-PBH 0810 - 0945  320 Daily

Tashi Air has an existing fleet of one Pilatus PC-12 aircraft (seating 8 passengers), which it uses to serve domestic flights within Bhutan from Paro to Jakar and Trashigang. The airline was founded in 2011, and the purchase of its first Airbus A320 marks a major expansion for Bhutan's second largest carrier. It will face major competition from the much larger national carrier Druk Air, who serve ten destinations on a fleet of four aircraft (three Airbus A319s and one ATR 42). Druk Air already serve six destinations in India including Kokata, and have nonstop flights between Paro and Bangkok.

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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!

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IndiGo concentrates Dubai presence with second Mumbai and first Thiruvananthapuram service

by Devesh Agarwal

Gurgaon based IndiGo will commence a daily service between Kerala's capital Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum) and Dubai from March 1, 2013.

6E 038 will depart Thiruvananthapuram 18:20 arrive Dubai 21:15
6E 037 will depart Dubai 11:25 arrive Thiruvananthapuram 17:15

On the same day the carrier will commence its second daily flight between Mumbai and Dubai.

6E 063 will depart Mumbai 08:35 arrive Dubai 10:25
6E 064 will depart Dubai 11:25 arrive Mumbai 15:55

The launch of these two flights will coincide with the launch of IndiGo's flights between Chennai and Singapore.

6E 053 will depart Chennai 22:00 arrive Singapore 04:50+1 (the next morning)
6E 054 will depart Singapore 05:50 arrive Chennai 07:15

These three launches come after the airline will completely withdraw from Singapore by terminating its current New Delhi Singapore and Mumbai Singapore flights, and scale back by withdrawal of its Mumbai Bangkok service.

With the launch of the two Dubai services, IndiGo will operate a total of 56 weekly flights between India and Dubai.

With the increased focus on Dubai, by Indian airlines like Jet Airways which operates 42 flights, SpiceJet, which operates 49, not counting the flights by the traditional operators like Air India with 60 flights, Air India Express with 63, and the 189 wide-body weekly services operated by behemoth Emirates, one has to serious consider the serious glut of capacity to this tiny Emirate.

Share your thoughts via a comment.

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IndiGo withdrawing all Singapore flights? along with Mumbai Bangkok?

Less than 18 months after it commenced international operations, Indian low fare carrier appears to be withdrawing from three critical and what are considered lucrative routes. Mumbai Singapore, Delhi Singapore, and Mumbai Bangkok.

A search for seat availability on the airline's booking engine shows no flights available on these three routes from March 1, 2013 onwards. This is normally routine ahead of an airline withdrawing from a certain route.

We have seen this in the past when Jet Airways withdrew from Chennai Brussels, and, from Brussels New York JFK.

IndiGo has not responded to the queries sent by Bangalore Aviation.


While exact reasons for the withdrawal are not known, we can speculate that IndiGo would have failed to attract enough passengers resident in these markets, and at the same time faced significant price competition from the flag carriers of these nations, who offer a vastly superior full service product at prices very close to that of IndiGo.

Interestingly, the Singapore routes are the longest, flown by IndiGo, at present. Each route is about 5h15m ~ 5h30m in length, and a narrow body service for such a long distance is at a disadvantage compared to the luxurious wide body Boeing 777s and Airbus A330s flow by Singapore Airlines and Thai Airways. In an exclusive interview with Bangalore Aviation, Singapore Airlines country head, G.M. Toh had highlighted the emphasis placed on the New Delhi and Mumbai markets by the airline.

. . . . . Mumbai and New Delhi are like Shanghai and Beijing in China. One is the commercial capital, one is the national capital, and in recognition of the commercial importance of these markets, we limit operations of the 777-300ERs to these cities, both in India and China. . . .

. . . . . very few routes can remuneratively sustain First class, on a regular basis. You will observe we offer a First class only to Mumbai and Delhi in India, Shanghai and Beijing in China, Sydney and Melbourne in Australia, Auckland in New Zealand, and Tokyo in Japan . . .

Withdrawal from these sectors will also place pressure on IndiGo in terms of fleet capacity. The airline operates an all Airbus A320 narrow-body jet fleet, and the number of airports in India which support jet aircraft operations are limited to about 35% of the total airports in the country. It remains to be seen what the airline will do with the surplus aircraft returned from the suspended routes.

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AirAsia shifts Bangkok operations from Suvarnabhumi to Don Mueang airports

In a move that will lose it international passengers arriving in to Thailand, AirAsia, has shifted its operations at Bangkok from Suvarnabhumi International Airport to the old Don Mueang International Airport today.

AirAsia’s Group Chief Executive Officer, Tony Fernandes commented

“I am extremely happy with our move to Don Mueang International Airport, which is probably Thailand’s biggest and first low cost airport. Operating out of low cost airports has always been something that we have been fighting long and hard for.” “Less congestion and shorter taxi time will result in less fuel consumption and less delays.”

Photo: AirAsia

Mr. Tassapon Bijleveld, CEO of Thai AirAsia, revealed that on the night of 30 September, AirAsia began transferring its fleet of 22 Airbus A320s from Suvarnabhumi International Airport to Don Mueang International Airport over a period of eight hours; starting from 20:00 up to 04:00. All other equipment, including baggage carts and passenger steps were transferred within 24 hours.

AirAsia is hoping to benefit from a less congested terminal at the new airport, as well as its proximity to central Bangkok. While this will give the carrier an edge for Bangkok based passengers, it will lose a lucrative market of international passengers who arrive and depart at Suvarnabhumi airport and transit to and from the many cities within Thailand and other ASEAN destinations.

AirAsia flights with flight codes FD, AK and QZ will operate over 160 flights per day from Don Mueang, to over 77 destinations across Thailand, Asia and Australia. AirAsia is expecting to carry eight million passengers in 2012 to and from Bangkok.

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Analysis: IndiGo plots international and domestic expansion

Less than a year after it commenced international operations, India’ s largest low cost carrier (LCC) IndiGo, is planning a massive expansion of its Dubai operations, adding four new flights to its current two daily flights (one each from Mumbai and Delhi). Additionally, the carrier will add a second daily flight between Delhi and Bangkok.

The carrier, which operates 57 Airbus A320-232 aircraft and holds a 24.9% share of India’s domestic air travel market, currently serves 5 international ports (Bangkok, Singapore, Muscat, Kathmandu, and Dubai) as well as 27 cities across India.

IndiGo will commence daily flights between Chennai, Cochin, Hyderabad and Dubai, as well as add a second daily flight between Delhi and Dubai.

Thanks to smart scheduling, IndiGo has managed to schedule all 4 daily Dubai flights on just two aircraft – affording it a high level of utilization, with rotations as follow:

Aircraft 1
6E 66 - Dubai – Chennai-- D: 22:20 A: 04:15(+1) -- Daily -- Effective 25th August
6E 65 - Chenai – Dubai -- D: 07:30 A: 10:30 -- Daily -- Effective 25th August
6E 68 - Dubai – Kochi (Cochin) -- D: 11:30 A: 17:15 -- Daily -- Effective 25th August
6E 67 - Kochi (Cochin) – Dubai -- D: 18:15 A: 21:15 -- Daily -- Effective 25th August

Aircraft 2
6E 23 - Delhi – Dubai -- D: 02:30 A: 04:35 -- Daily -- Effective 7th August
6E 25 - Dubai – Hyderabad -- D: 05:35 A: 11:05 -- Daily -- Effective 7th August
6E 26 - Hyderabad – Dubai -- D: 13:20 A: 15:45 -- Daily -- Effective 7th August
6E 24 - Dubai – Delhi -- D: 16:45 A: 21:50 -- Daily -- Effective 7th August

The flight schedule for its Bangkok flights are as follow:

6E 43 - Delhi – Bangkok -- D: 18:25 A: 12:10 (+1) -- Daily -- Effective 10th August
6E 44 - Bangkok – Delhi -- D: 01:10 A: 04:10 -- Daily -- Effective 10th August

These flights in turn complement the current daily Bangkok flights and allow all Bangkok flights to be operated with one aircraft, whose only down time is a 2 hrs 50 minutes period in the mid afternoon in Delhi.

6E 41 - Delhi – Bangkok -- D: 05:35 A: 11:20 -- Daily
6E 42 - Bangkok – Delhi -- D: 12:35 A: 15:35 -- Daily

IndiGo has given indication that it has received all the required regulatory, government, and airport approvals from relevant authorities in India as well as from Dubai, United Arab Emirates and Thailand to launch these services and it has already put tickets on sale via its website. Introductory fares will begin at Rs. 11,200 return (round trip) for all flights in question.

Taking advantage of Kingfisher’s fall 

Image courtesy and copyright U. Krishna

Undoubtedly, IndiGo has been one of the largest beneficiaries of the 65% capacity reduction, earlier this year by Dr. Vijay Mallya promoted Kingfisher Airlines. The only profitable Indian airline has grown its market share from under 20% to a robust 25%, all the while benefiting from the rise in fares caused by the constriction in capacity.

IndiGo has indeed taken the opportunity to fill the void left by Kingfisher through prudent expansion in large markets from the Metros, whereas competitor SpiceJet has instead focused on filling in the gaps left behind in Tier II and Tier III by the withdrawal of Kingfisher’s fleet of ATR 72-500 turboprop aircraft. For example, the airline added two more daily flights between Mumbai and Delhi on May 25th, bringing their total offering on the route to 11 daily flights.

Upon the announcement, IndiGo CEO Aditya Ghosh said;

“In line with our endeavor to meet the requirements of both business and leisure travellers, we have introduced two new daily direct flights between Delhi and Mumbai. We are looking at providing affordable fares on these new routes for 6E travelers. IndiGo will continue to expand its network to meet the requirements of both business and leisure travelers wherever they demand it. 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.”

Beyond these new rotations, IndiGo also took advantage of a recent slot auction at Pune Airport in Western India near Mumbai to add a second daily Delhi-Pune rotation, as well as add new daily Hyderabad Pune services.

The schedules for the new Pune flights are as follow:

6E405 - Delhi – Pune -- D: 18:25 A: 20:30 -- Daily -- Effective 25th June
6E402 - Pune – Delhi -- D: 21:00 A: 23:05 -- Daily -- Effective 25th June

6E313 - Hyderabad – Pune -- D: 14:25 A: 16:00 -- Daily -- Effective 25th June
6E306 - Pune – Hyderabad -- D: 16:30 A: 17:50 -- Daily -- Effective 25th June

On the international front, SpiceJet too saw some opportunity, and added its own set of daily flights from Mumbai and Delhi to Dubai recently, marking the first foray for India’s second largest LCC outside of the SAARC countries.

For IndiGo and SpiceJet both, there is no question that Dubai has the potential to be a very lucrative route with its humongous base of migrant, tourist, and VFR (visiting friends and relatives) traffic, not withstanding the enormous business ties with India. Yet at the same time, there may be signals that the India-Dubai market might be reaching saturation, with private operator Jet Airways recently cancelling its Hyderabad-Dubai and Chennai-Dubai services.

IndiGo recently won approval from the Ministry of Civil Aviation for services Kathmandu, Dubai, Bangkok, Singapore, and Jeddah. The carrier was given rights to add up to 20,000 weekly seats on these routes, and the currently announced routes

1000th 777 built. Boeing image

add just 6,300 weekly seats. So there is definitely room for IndiGo’s expansion. In particular, more services to Dubai can be expected, as the carrier won approval for eight daily flights to Dubai but has added just six ( two from Delhi, and one each from Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, and Kochi).

There is definite potential for IndiGo to expand further Dubai services, it could consider services from India’s technological capital and third economic city, Bangalore, or a second daily from Mumbai, or even Chennai, however, in all these cities IndiGo will face fierce competition from Dubai based behemoth, Emirates airline, which operates multiple wide body flights between these Indian cities and Dubai, besides offering global connectivity.

Share your views and thoughts on this subject via a comment.

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IndiGo announces grand international plans, offers aggressive low fares

Indian low cost carrier IndiGo, which controls at 19.7% share of the domestic market, announced the launch of its international operations with the release of schedules and fares.


The airline which operates an all A320-232 fleet, completed the required five years of domestic operations recently, and has been granted permissions by the Ministry of Civil Aviation.

IndiGo will operate its maiden international flight on September 1, 2011 with is daily Delhi - Dubai service. During the month the airline will also commence daily flights between Delhi and Bangkok and Delhi and Singapore. On October 2, the airline will commence flights between Mumbai and Dubai and Mumbai and Bangkok.

IndiGo international schedules and promotional fares. Click on image for a larger view.

The airline has announced its plans with an aggressive promotional fare of Rs. 9,999 (all inclusive), which also is a shot across the bow of competitor low cost carriers flyDubai, AirAsia, Thai AirAsia and Air Arabia who have fares in similar sectors around Rs. 11,000~15,000.

Not willing to pay the premium charges of the new Terminal 3 at New Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport, IndiGo will operate its international flights from Terminal 1D and Terminal 1C

Singapore operations on an A320 classic
An interesting question is how will IndiGo operate the Delhi Singapore route, a 5h15m flight, non-stop on an A320 classic. In all probability, IndiGo will increase the gross weight of the aircraft, tank up a lot of fuel, and take a load penalty i.e. fly with about 10~20 seats empty.

IndiGo has to expand internationally
IndiGo is following a different strategy compared to its competitor SpiceJet. SpiceJet which commenced its international operations last year, has restricted itself to SAARC destinations like Kathmandu and Colombo while increasing focus on Tier 2 and 3 Indian cities using the Bombardier Dash-8 Q400 turbo-props which the airline will shortly take delivery of.

With its all jet Airbus A320 fleet, each seating 180 passengers, near India (from the Gulf to Singapore), international operations are the logical choice for IndiGo.

Lucrative destinations, formidable competitors
There is no doubt of the demand on the routes IndiGo has received permission for. Bangkok, Dubai and Singapore though are well serviced by carriers across the value spectrum and from each of the country pairs. IndiGo will face formidable competitors. On the low cost front, AirAsia, Thai AirAsia, flyDubai and Air Arabia. On the legacy front, Emirates which is renowned for its massive capacity, some might say capacity dumping, ex-India, Thai Airways, Air India, Jet Airways, and Kingfisher follow an aggressive value for money strategy, while Singapore Airlines prefers to focus on passengers willing to pay a premium for their world renowned cabin service.

IndiGo will continue its winning strategy of focussing on punctuality and a hassle-free, no-nonsense, clean and simple service methodology. The airline will sell alcoholic beverages aboard its international flights which is banned on the domestic sectors. Sources at the airline confirmed that there will be no in-flight-entertainment system.

Focus on Indian passengers
In India, IndiGo follows a direct marketing model for ticketing, saving on GDS fees which can add from 5%~10% of the ticket price. However it is unclear how the airline plans to distribute tickets in the interntional destinations it will serve.

Unlike its competitors which have a limited domestic market, IndiGo can take a cue from SpiceJet which leverages the large Indian market and focusses almost exclusively on taking Indian passengers to a foreign destination and then relying on them to fill up the return flights.

Sooner or later though, IndiGo will have to start attracting passengers residing overseas, commencing with the Indians living there. IndiGo has to ensure it does not commit the blunders as AirAsia has done in India, in the overseas markets.

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IndiGo granted international route permissions. How will it operate Singapore?

Last week, the Indian ministry of civil aviation granted Gurgaon based low fare carrier IndiGo permission to commence its international operations in August with flights to Dubai, Bangkok and Singapore ex-Mumbai and Delhi and to Muscat ex-Mumbai.


The Dubai and Muscat routes are a bonanza for the airline. Mumbai and Delhi are the two largest markets in India. There is a large movement of the labour and "trader" market which prefers a low fare carrier.

The single most served international route ex-India is the Mumbai-Dubai sector. All gulf based carriers both legacy and low fare serve this route and insiders indicate that Emirates airline is expected to receive permission for a sixth daily flight very shortly.

From an aircraft perspective too, the A320s in IndiGo's fleet will perform both destinations from Mumbai and Delhi with ease.

Dubai will also be a good route for "first time international tourist". Expect IndiGo to tie up with package tour companies, a strategy its competitor AirAsia has failed to adopt.

Bangkok too will have a similar tourist profile, but no labour traffic and again the destination can be operated by the A320 from both Mumbai and Delhi without any load penalty. IndiGo will add competition to Thai AirAsia on the Delhi-Bangkok route and to Thai Airways ex Mumbai.

Singapore though is intriguing. It has all types of traffic, business, tourist and labour. Till it starts receiving the Airbus A320neo in 2016, the problem for IndiGo is distance. Its current fleet of A320's cannot operate non-stop to Singapore from either Mumbai or Delhi without a significant load penalty (leaving 20~40 seats empty and tanking up extra fuel). This will jack up costs and goes against the grain of the IndiGo business model. It is doubtful the carrier will opt for this.

Another option will be for IndiGo to operate via Bangkok, but without fifth freedom rights it will not be able to pick-up passengers on the Bangkok-Singapore v.v. segments and again operating a flight half full is not in the airline's model.

So how does IndiGo service a lucrative market like Singapore?

The ideal origin city in India for Singapore is Chennai which has historic social, trade and labour links going back two hundred years. However, it is very doubtful IndiGo will be able to obtain permission due to the politically powerful and Chennai based Maran family which now owns SpiceJet who would like to restrain competition on a route they will eventually service.

It is most likely IndiGo will push the ministry for permission to operate Singapore from Kolkata where it has a major presence, and may be Hyderabad where fuel is significantly lower in price.

The Kochi (Cochin) option is not very promising right now. The newly appointed civil aviation minister is from Kerala. With his strong trade union and public sector credentials, is unlikely to grant permissions to a private upstart to the possible detriment of national carrier Air India or its low cost subsidiary Air India Express.

It is also very doubtful IndiGo will initially test the Singapore waters from Bangalore, a city which prides itself on a "higher profile" of corporate and IT passengers who are loathe to fly low cost on the company account. The lack of "trader" or labour traffic who are the preferred target segment add to negative.

Bangalore has been the graveyard for foreign LCCs, having seen the arrival and withdrawal of three low cost carriers already, JetStar Asia, Nok Air, and most recently Tiger. Even AirAsia has cut-back services to the city.

Sources inside IndiGo have previously informed Bangalore Aviation that the carrier will not repeat the strategic mistakes made by foreign LCCs. It will engage with travel agents and also address the corporate and package tours markets.

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Kingfisher Airlines granted permission for seven new international routes ex Mumbai and Delhi

The Government of India has granted Kingfisher Airlines traffic rights to operate on seven new international routes, including the highly prized New Delhi – London which was strongly objected to, by the national carrier, Air India.

The new international routes for which traffic rights have been granted are:

1. New Delhi – London
2. New Delhi – Hong Kong
3. New Delhi – Bangkok
4. New Delhi – Dubai
5. Mumbai – Colombo
6. Mumbai – Bangkok
7. Mumbai – Dubai

The Delhi London Heathrow route has been awaited for a long time by Kingfisher which has the valuable Heathrow slot vacant since the suspension of the Bangalore flight on September 15th last year.

With a large north Indian specifically, Punjabi diaspora, demand on flights between Delhi and London is always high. How Kingfisher leverages its services to near Asian destinations like Bangkok, Colombo, Dhaka and Singapore, along with the upcoming integrated T3 terminal at New Delhi's IGI airport to generate additional demand will also play a vital role in ensuring profitable operations of the London flights.

While Kingfisher has all the pieces already in place to ramp up and commence the Delhi London flight very quickly, insiders suggest that the flight may commence only in the Summer 2010 schedule on March 28th in order to give time for the flight to be made available and gain popularity in the GDS. Most of the Easter vacation travel planes of passengers in both the UK and India have already been made and purchased.

The flights on the New Delhi – London and New Delhi – Hong Kong–New Delhi routes will be operated using an Airbus A330-200 aircraft while flights on the other routes will be operated using the Airbus A320 family of aircraft. This will also relieve some of the financial pressure on Kingfisher Airlines which can now deploy the A330 permanently parked at Bengaluru International Airport in to flight operations.

It will also be interesting to observe how Kingfisher will compete with its narrow body A320s against the behemoth Emirates with their wide body multiple flight schedule on the Dubai routes. Kingfisher's A320s are well equipped with IFE systems and a superior cabin service. Emirates is known for inconsistent cabin service especially between India and Dubai.

The start dates for the launch of flights on these new routes will be announced at a later date.

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Emirates expands capacity to Bangkok, Sydney, Manila and Jakarta

Dubai based Emirates airlines is undertaking a major expansion of it's capacity adding 17 flights per week to Bangkok, Sydney, Manila and Jakarta. This represents a massive 13% increase in seat capacity and takes the airline's operations up to 187 flight per week.

Starting December 2009, Emirates will introduce a fourth daily service to Bangkok, a third daily service to Sydney, two additional flights to Manila and one additional service to Jakarta.

Bangkok
Emirates’ fourth daily service to Bangkok comes into effect on 2nd December operated by a state-of-the-art Boeing 777-300 in a three class configuration (12 First, 42 Business and 310 Economy Class seats).

An additional 161 tonnes of cargo capacity introduced per week per direction will be introduced on the route.

Sydney
Starting 2nd December, Sydney will receive its third-daily Emirates flight on Mondays, Wednesday, Fridays and Sundays. The service will be stepped up to cover Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays with effect from 2nd January 2010, bringing Emirates’ weekly capacity to 70 flights. Emirates will take on the European heavyweights since the flight’s departure from Sydney has been timed to offer ‘same day service’ to Europe – one of Australia’s key outbound markets. The new flight offers Sydneysiders the opportunity to have breakfast in Sydney, lunch in Dubai and dinner in Europe.

The additional services combined with Emirates’ recent interline agreement with Virgin Blue offering convenient domestic connections within Australia extended the airline's footprint to interior cities of Australia.

Manila
In December Emirates will enhance its existing EK 332 service to Manila to include Thursdays, and EK 334 to include Mondays. Post expansion the operation will grow from 12 flights a week to 14 flights or a double-daily service on every day of the week. The additional flights will be operated by a Boeing 777-300ER aircraft offering 42 Business and 400 Economy Class seats, as well as 16.7 tonnes of cargo capacity.

Jakarta
The Indonesian capital city will receive an additional Emirates service with effect from 6th December, bringing its total operation to 11 flights per week. The service will operate to Jakarta every Sunday, returning to Dubai the following day. The ultra-modern Emirates' Boeing 777-300ER aircraft in a two-class configuration of 42 Business and 400 Economy will be used.

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Double goof-up lands Bangladesh Air India Express passengers in the wrong country

A good way to end the week on a humorous note.

Thanks to a comedy of errors due to a double goof-up by both passengers and airline Air India Express, four passengers from Bangladesh landed up in countries and cities far away from their destinations.

Air India's low fare subsidiary Air India Express operates a flight from the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka to Bangkok, Thailand via Kolkata.

On board were four passengers, Lokman and Nargis Akhtar who were destined to Bangkok, and D Moni and E Moni who were destined to Delhi.

The Akhtars who should have stayed on board and continued to Bangkok, mistakenly got off at Kolkata, while the Monis who should have disembarked and connect to the Kolkata Delhi flight stayed on board.

On disembarking, the Akhtars waited in a queue to undergo a H1N1 swine flu check. By the time they cleared the screening and ground officials realised the mistake, the plane had already taken off for Bangkok.

Why was the error not detected one might ask? Simple answer, the passenger head counts matched; remember the Monis had to disembark to connect to Delhi. Two passengers got off all right, just not the right two.

To fix this goof the airline has sent the two Bangkok-bound passengers, the Akhtars, back to Dhaka and assured them that they would be flown to the Thai capital this Sunday. In parallel Air India delayed its Bangkok-Delhi flight by 45 minutes to bring back the Monis who wrongly flew on.

As if this was not enough, the Monis were not even original Air India passengers. They were booked on the Jet Airways Dhaka-Kolkata-Delhi flight which was cancelled thanks to the ongoing sick-out at Jet and accommodated on Air India.

Thanks to inputs from the Times of India.

Have a great weekend.

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Travel advisory: Bangkok airport duty free scam

The BBC reports

"Now new allegations have been made that a number of passengers are being detained every month in the duty free area on suspicion of shoplifting, and then held by the police until they pay large sums of money to buy their freedom."

and goes on to describe how the scam works on its website, and includes a story of how two British visitors were allegedly victimized, a story first reported by The Times newspaper back on June 28th.

This is not a new scam. Back in April, an Indian traveller was detained in Bangkok in very similar circumstances for allegedly stealing a box of cigarettes from a duty-free shop at Bangkok International Airport. While in jail, his relatives requested help from the Indian Embassy but were told the embassy was unable to assist. He had to pay almost $1,000 to secure his release.

Apparently the scam now called ZigZag, has being victimising many Asians regularly, and letters and phone calls to the Thai authorities are routinely ignored. Now that the scam has hit a few western travellers, the pot has boiled over.

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Kingfisher Airlines re-aligns international operations and fleet to contain losses

The financial woes at Kingfisher Airlines continue. Despite carrying the maximum number of domestic passengers, over dues are piling up. In some cases cheques issued by the airline are bouncing, salary and other cost cutting measures are making employees like pilots leave the airline to join competitors.

This photo from Digital Airliners on Flickr encapsulates the three stages of Kingfisher's crumbling international dreams and the sorry end of it's much awaited Airbus A340-500s meant for ultra long haul non-stop Bangalore to San Francisco operations.


At Toulouse we can see one of the three A340-500s sold to Arik Air in the Arik livery. Next to it is a "white tail", industry jargon for a plane abandoned by its buying airline, and next to it is one still painted in Kingfisher Airlines livery.

As oil prices sky-rocketed in 2008 Indian aviation collapsed. Kingfisher did not take delivery of it's ordered five A340-500s. Three were sold to Arik Air of Nigeria and two languished at Toulouse eventually becoming "white tails". Even narrow body A321s ordered by Kingfisher were diverted to other airlines like Turkish THY.

In times of high demand and long delivery lead times the ordering airline demands, and does receive a premium when diverting its aircraft deliveries to another buyer, but in these times of distress I am sure Kingfisher has made no money, and most likely lost money.

The Mint newspaper is reporting that Kingfisher Airlines has finally managed to sell off the remaining two Airbus A340-500s that were never taken from Airbus.

Aircraft maker Airbus SAS has sold two A340 passenger planes meant for delivery to Kingfisher Airlines Ltd to government buyers in West Asia, an executive at the European plane manufacturer said.

Kingfisher has taken delivery of five Airbus A330-200s. VT-VJK, VT-VJL, VT-VJN, VT-VJO, VT-VJP, three of which it is using on its services to London Heathrow from Bangalore and Mumbai. With improvement in their slot timings at Heathrow, Kingfisher will need only two and can keep one as a standby.

It is already in advanced talks with Arik Air to wet lease (aircraft and crew) these two A330s from the third quarter of 2009. At the same time it has initiated talks with Jet Airways for code sharing of flights.

Kingfisher has also launched international services between Kolkata and Dhaka using an ATR72-212A (ATR72-500) turbo-prop aircraft via it's low cost Kingfisher Red service.

Kingfisher has commenced services on the Bangalore Colombo and Chennai Colombo routes using it's narrow body A320 fleet, and the Colombo Bangalore service connects well to it's Bangalore London service. Sources indicate Kingfisher carried about 2,766 passengers between Colombo and London via Bangalore in the last four months or about 22 passenger per day. In the same period Kingfisher has carried about 6,200 origin and destination passengers between Bangalore and London. An average of only 50 passengers per flight is too low to justify an A330 operation.

As demonstrated by the Colombo experience, Kingfisher desperately needs to build connecting traffic by commencing operations between Bangalore and Bangkok and other ASEAN destinations like Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Jakarta to feed it's London service and it needs to build connections beyond Heathrow to North America to create a greater pull at the same time.

However, repeated deferrals of announced international operations like Hong Kong and Singapore, Bangkok, and Dubai has left industry watchers including myself so sceptical that we do not even report the announced launch of a new route by Kingfisher till the aircraft actually flies.

Most analysts agree that the on-going financial woes are largely responsible for these repeated deferrals but the airline needs to get a move on. Either expand international services or withdraw completely.

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Emirates to drop A380 from New York, slams Airbus for defects

Emirates recently announced that it will commence services to Toronto and Bangkok with its Airbus A380 superjumbo from June 1st.

In order to do this Emirates will have to reposition two of its A380s from the current double-daily New York route.

Emirates representatives have confirmed this re-positioning. One aircraft will be deployed on the three times a week Dubai Toronto service, and one will be used for one of the double daily Dubai Bangkok service.

One of the double-daily flights currently operated by the A380 will be replaced by a Boeing B777-300ER on the Dubai-New York JFK route.

While this re-positioning is occurring, all is not well between Airbus and Emirates. German paper Der Spiegel reports that the airline has slammed Airbus for "defects" on the plane, which has grounded the behemoth aircraft nine times costing the airline over 500 flying hours.

Emirates has presented Airbus with a damning list of defects in the new A380 super-jumbo jet. The airline, which has ordered 58 of the aircraft, warns of a possible "loss of confidence" in the giant plane.

While both the airline and manufacturer are putting on a front on congeniality in public, in private storms are brewing over perceived shoddy work ethic at Airbus and its suppliers, by Emirates.

In a presentation in February, Emirates showed Airbus a 46 page presentation with included photographs of defects including singed power cables, partially torn-off sections of panelling and defective parts of thrust nozzles in the engines.

The other two operators of the Airbus A380 are Singapore Airlines and Qantas. They seem to be taking a softer line with Airbus, but Emirates has a lot more at stake with a 58 plane order which represents over 25 per cent of the total order book Airbus has on the aircraft.

Read the full article here.

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Cathay Pacific offers ultra-low Delhi Bangkok fare

Cathay Pacific recently launched a promotional return fare of Rs 7,999 on its direct Delhi-Bangkok service, against a normal fare from other airlines in the range of Rs 15, 500-19,000.

Including the recently introduced Rs 1,300 Airport Development Fee (ADF) charged by the Delhi International Airport Ltd. (DIAL), the total fare works out to an astoundingly low Rs. 9,299.

The special fare is valid till April 10, 2009, and and travel between March 30 and May 30, 2009. Read the offer here.

Tom Wright, General Manager, Cathay Pacific said,

“These ultra-low special fares have been a big cracker as soon after the announcement, the inquiries have went up sharply both on our website and with the tour operators. The response has been terrific and we could also be looking some innovative fares for other sectors.”

We can expect competing airlines on this route, Thai Airways, Malaysia Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Jet Airways and Air India to match this fare soon even if they claim the Cathay fare is "abysmally low".

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All Thai Airways Bangkok flights from Suvarnabhumi airport by month end

Thai Airways International has announced it will stop using the old Don Mueang airport at Bangkok from end of March. It will operate all flights from the new Suvarnabhumi Airport also at Bangkok.

Thai Airways has been under tremendous financial pressure, and the state-owned carrier is expected to save about $16.5 million annually in salaries and operational costs.

Thai said it would inform the public regarding the move by March 15 to prevent confusion among passengers over the relocation of flights.

The airline's ground equipment at Don Mueang will be removed beginning next Friday March 13th, and only chartered flights will continue to use the old airport.

Thai could still use Don Mueang in case an emergency landing is needed and if the new Suvarnabhumi airport is unavailable. By declaring Don Mueang as an alternate airport, the carrier is also expected to save fuel costs for its short distance (less than 1 hour) flights.

The Indian Civil Aviation ministry can learn a lesson from this move for the old airports at Bangalore (HAL) and Hyderabad (Begumpet) and help save Indian carriers some fuel.

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