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.

Jet Airways has announced a daily flight from Kolkata to Port Blair from 11th November 2006. This is going to be the first foreign flight from kolkata. Additionally the airline will also commence a daily flight to Bangkok from Delhi from the same date. For the Kolkata Port Blair flight, Jet Airlines will keep four aircrafts of its fleet at Kolkata.

Presently Jet Airways’ 17 percent revenue comes from international operations and 83 percent from domestic operations. The airline is aiming at a 50 percent revenue from international operations as the competition in the domestic market is getting stiffer. Jet is already flying to Britain, Clolombo, Kuala Lumpur, Kathmandu and Singapore. Besides, the airline has applied for approval to fly in United States and the airline is planning to add more destinations like Canada, China, South Africa, etc. to its list. The margins on international flights are better than domestic flights. The airline is already trying to cut down its fixed costs and come out profitable in the next financial year. With increase in international operations the airline is expecting to boos its revenues and will be able to thrive in the competitive domestic market.

The Board of Indian Airlines has approved the lease of eleven new aircrafts. This would include five Airbus A-320 aircrafts and six 70 seater regional jets. The aircrafts shall be delivered over the next six months. The Indian Airlines is planning to promote its subsidiary Alliance Air as low cost air carrier to compete with the new low cost private players. The regional jets will be operated by the Alliance Air on a cost competitive model. The airline is also planning to outsource the maintenance work for the new regional jets to reduce its fixed wages. Such steps would be necessary to bring about a cost competitive model.

Earlier in February 2006, the airline had placed an order to Airbus Industries to buy 43 aircrafts including 19 A-319s, 4 A-320s and 20 A-321s. Out of which one aircraft has been delivered recently. Presently the airline has a fleet of 74 aircrafts.

Indian Airlines is getting aggressive in expansion. It is adding more aircrafts to its fleet to stay in competition with the private players.

After the proposed merger of the Indian Airlines with Air India, the cargo arm of Indian Airlines will be hived off to operate as separate entity. The proposed cargo operations will be handled as a division of Indian Airlines till the process of merger is completed. The airline has already taken approval from the Government of India for its cargo operations. India has a huge market for cargo carriers and is growing at a rate of 20 percent per year. Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines are also planning to start their cargo operations. with the booming retail sector, the cargo business is expected to grow at a higher pace as the retail companies would use air cargo services to ship their goods to various destinations across the country.

Under the process the airline is planning to convert some of its existing passenger carriers into freighters. To start with, the airline will convert its five Boeing 737 aircrafts into cargo carriers. Some non airline companies are also showing their interests in air cargo business, therefore, the airline companies are making their first moves to encash the upcoming opportunity.

Delta airlines of United States has proposed to start its direct flight from New York to Mumbai from November 2006 and has entered into an interline agreement with Mumbai based Kingfisher Airlines. As per the agreement, Kingfisher Airlines will carry all the Delta’s passengers to their final destinations in India. Kingfisher shall provide a connecting flight which will depart within 2 hours from the arrival of Delta flight in Mumbai. This will keep the weiry passengers from waiting hours together at airports for conneting flights. These connecting flights will be available at the Mumbai International Airport and the passengers will not have to move to domestic airport for their connecting flight.

The passengers travelling India through Delta Airlines will be able to buy tickets for travelling to indian cities along with their Delta ticket. Kingfisher is also widening its network of agents in United States to sell tickets of Kingfisher Airlines in United States.

Kingfisher already has interline agreements with American Airlines, North West, Continental, Air India, Qutar Airways, etc. The airline, by concluding such agreements, is proving its quality of service which is being availed by international airlines for their international passengers.