Airlines India, Indian Airlines

Jet Airways, India’s premier airline, has rescheduled some of its flights operating  from and to Delhi due to IAF fly past exercises being held from January 20 till 24, 2007 and on January 26, 2007, leading to restriction of air space over Delhi between 1100 hours and 1215 hours on these dates. The following flights have been rescheduled on January 20, 21, 23, 24 and on January 26, 2007:

Jet Airways flight 9W 3705/3706 operating on Delhi-Vadodara-Delhi sector will depart Delhi at 0535 hours and arrive Vadodara at 0750 hours. On the return sector, flight 9W 3706 will operate from Vadodara at 0820 hours and reach Delhi at 1045 hours.

Jet Airways flight 9W 901/902 operating on Delhi-Kolkata-Delhi sector will leave Delhi at 0545 hours and arrive Kolkata at 0745 hours. On the return sector, flight 9W 902 will operate at 0825 hours from Kolkata and reach Delhi at 1040 hours.

Jet Airways flight 9W 331 operating on the Mumbai-Delhi sector will depart Mumbai at 1015 hours and arrive Delhi at 1215 hours.

Jet Airways flight 9W 3319/3320 operating on Delhi-Lucknow-Delhi sector will leave Delhi at 0845 hours and reach Lucknow at 1010 hours. On the return leg, flight 9W 3320 will operate at 1040 hours from Lucknow and arrive Delhi at 1205 hours.

Jet Airways flight 9W 833 operating on the Bangaluru-Delhi sector will depart Bangaluru at 0940 hours and reach Delhi at 1215 hours.

Jet Airways flight 9W 333 operating on Mumbai-Delhi sector will depart Mumbai at 0740 hours and reach Delhi at 0935 hours.

Jet Airways flight 9W 262/261 operating on Delhi-Kathmandu-Delhi sector will operate at 1200 hours from Delhi and arrive Kathmandu at 1345 hours. On the return leg, flight 9W 261 will leave Kathmandu at 1445 hours and reach Delhi at 1615 hours.

Jet Airways flight 9W 705/706 operating on Delhi-Ahmedabad-Delhi sector will depart Delhi at 1815 hours and reach Ahmedabad at 1940 hours. On the return sector, flight 9W 706 to Delhi from Ahmedabad will operate at 2020 hours and arrive at 2140 hours.

Jet Airways flight 9W 605 operating on Delhi-Jammu-Srinagar-Delhi sector will operate at 1200 hours from Delhi and reach Jammu at 1310 hours. The flight will proceed at 1345 hours from Jammu and arrive Srinagar at 1420 hours. On the return leg, flight 9W 605 will depart Srinagar at 1500 hours and reach Delhi at 1625 hours.

On January 20, Jet Airways flight 9W 911/912 operating on Delhi-Kolkata-Delhi sector will leave Delhi at 1815 hours and reach Kolkata at 2020 hours. On the return leg, flight 9W 912 will operate at 2100 hours from Kolkata and arrive Delhi at 2320 hours.

Similarly, Jet Airways flight 9W 815 operating on Delhi-Bangaluru sector will depart Delhi at 1200 hours and arrive at 1435 hours.

On January 21, Jet Airways 9W 306 will leave Delhi at 1200 hours and arrive Mumbai at 1400 hours.

On January 23, Jet Airways 9W 729 will operate from Delhi at 1040 hours and reach Amritsar at 1140 hours.

The following flights will operate to revised timings on January 26, 2007:.
Jet Airways flight 9W 3311 operating on Delhi-Jodhpur-Delhi sector will depart Delhi at 1245 hours and reach Jodhpur at 1405 hours.
Similarly, Jet Airways flight 9W 3408 operating on Jodhpur-Mumbai sector will operate at 1435 hours from Jodhpur and reach Mumbai at 1630 hours.

Jet Airways flight 9W 3321/3322 operating on Delhi-Amritsar-Delhi sector will leave Delhi at 1245 hours and reach Amritsar at 1410 hours. On the return sector, flight 9W 3322 to Delhi will leave Amritsar at 1445 hours and arrive at 1610 hours.

Flight 9W 802 operating on Chennai-Bangaluru sector will depart Chennai at 0555 hours and arrive Bangaluru at 0640 hours while flight 9W 804 will leave Bangaluru at 0715 hours and arrive Delhi at 0950 hours.

Jet Airways flight 9W 603 will leave Delhi at 1030 hours and reach Srinagar at 1150 hours.

Jet Airways has cancelled  its flight 9W 306/305 operating on Mumbai-Delhi-Mumbai sector and 9W 921/922 operating on Kolkata-Delhi-Kolkata sector on January 23, 24 & 26.

Jet Airways flight 9W 121 operating on  the London-Delhi sector will depart London at 2030 hours (Local Time) on January 19,20,22,23 and 25 and reach Delhi at 1045 hours the next morning, ie. January 20,21,23,24 and 26 respectively.

Air Deccan has announced that it will sell one lac tickets for Rs. 9 for travels on all sectors of the airline till 25th March 2006. Air Deccan has made this offer on celebrations of Suvarna Utsava of Karnataka. The state has completed 50 years of its formation. The airline has also announced the launch of its new route from Bangalore to Hampi scheduled to commence from 15th November 2006. The bookings can be made at the website of airdeccan. However this fare is exclusive of all taxes.

The discounted tickets are expected to exhaust soon considering the heavy discounts offered by the airline, so in case you are scheduling a trip before 25th March 2006, book your flights now, Rs. 9 tickets will not be available for long.

Air Deccan is known for its low priced tickets, but the prices have recently been challenged by new entrants like Spicejet and Goair. These kind of discounts would attract the passengers back to Air Deccan.

Deccan Aviation announced its quarterly results for the quarter ended on 30th September 2006. The company has posted a turnover of Rs. 536 crores as against Rs. 187.82 crores in the corresponding last quarter. The company has reported a Net loss of Rs. 42.94 crores for the quarter ended on 30th September 2006.

The management of the company listed factors like rise in personnel and fuel cost, starting new routes, stiff competition and a lean travel season, which influenced the results of the company.

The company operates 300 flights a day with a total of 60 destinations through a fleet of 54 aircrafts.

Deccan Aviation Managing Director G.R. Gopinath said: “The aviation industry presently is witnessing increased competition and fare wars. We are confident to cut down our losses.” Director (Finance) Mohan Kumar said: “We have had a robust growth in our passenger load factor averaging 73 per cent in the peak seasons. We are expecting higher yields on the newer routes which account for over 58 per cent of all routes.”

For the 15 month period ended on 30th June 2006 the Company had reported a loss of 340 crores. The company is in a process of reducing its losses. It has reported a significant rise in turnover. The company’s market share is increasing. It will be interesting to see how the company retains its market share in wake of stiff competition posed by various new entrants. There is a lot of pressure on passenger fares. However, the company might benefit from the falling international crude prices in the next quarter, which have come down to below $60 a barrel.

Air Sahara today announced a new scheme, offering passengers unlimited flying to any destination on their network on payment of a fixed sum.

Under the ‘Fly Unlimited’ scheme unveiled by the airline today, passengers can fly to any destination for a year on paying Rs 699 for 365 days, that is by depositing a sum of over Rs 2.55 lakh.

The airline is also offering such a package for 90 days at the rate of Rs 799 each day, for 60 days at Rs 899 and for 30 days at Rs 999, airline President Alok Sharma told reporters here.

“These are innovative schemes and may take time for new passengers to get used to. But we are confident that frequent flyers will benefit from them,” he said.

Air Deccan has said it will stop flying unprofitable routes, as it seeks to come into the black by 2008. The Bangalore-based budget airline aims to carry 80 lakh passengers in 2007, compared with 45 lakh this year, and aims to break even on as many routes as possible by cutting operation costs. It has not indicated which routes will be affected by the plan.

Air Deccan, Jet Airways, Spicejet, Kingfisher Airlines and other private airlines are facing losses as a result of increasing competition, which is squeezing their margins. Air Deccan made a loss of Rs341 crore ($74 million) in the 15 months ending June 2006. Indian private carriers will probably make a combined loss of Rs1,125 crore ($250 million) this year and next, as they cut fares to as low as 1 rupee to maximise capacity utilisation.
Redeploying excess capacity and containing costs by utilising aircraft for longer hours could help Air Deccan and other budget airlines emerge from losses. Air Deccan is India’s second-biggest airline by market share behind Jet Airways.

The airline recently sold and leased back two Airbus SAS planes and three spare engines to balance its books. The company will consider similar deals for more planes. Air Deccan has 92 planes on order, valued at Rs 17,000 crore ($3.8 billion), to be delivered by 2012, most from Airbus. The airline has postponed a plan to start overseas routes in a joint venture in Sri Lanka, to focus on the turnaround.

The airline today announced a Rs675 crore ($150 million) 10-year maintenance agreement with Lufthansa Technik to support its fleet of 14 Airbus planes. Lufthansa Technik and its Indian subsidiary One Stop Airline MRO Support will independently serve the fleet of 60 Airbus A320 airplanes with spares at the carrier’s hub, Bangalore, Air Deccan and Lufthansa said in a joint press release. Lufthansa Technik will set up a regional pool of spares in India because of increasing demand in South Asian countries.