17. February 2007


Date: 17. Feb. 2007
Even before the dust from the Abu Dhabi - Muscat - Mangalore and return flight would have settled, even before the Mangaloreans in Abu Dhabi and Muscat have completed hugging all their relatives and friends back home, comes the good news that Air India Express, the economy airliner serving the Gulf-India sector, has now cleared all formalities regarding the landing rights at Bahrain International Airport. This paves the way for the third leg of the international direct flights to Mangalore, after the initial Dubai based flights and the last week's Abu Dhabi/Muscat flights to Mangalore.
The Air India headquarters at Mumbai have confirmed that all formalities with regard to landing rights at Bahrain are cleared. This is a major milestone that Air India Express has reached in the process of operating a direct flight from Bahrain & Doha to Mangalore. It is expected that there will be two flights a week.
As per the sources, the tentative date for the flight has been earmarked as Sunday, March 25, 2007, subject to crew availability and time slots. The Aircraft for this route has also been scheduled and the timing of the flight has already been worked out in coordination with the Mangalore airport authorities. Air India Headquarters is confident that they will finalize the actual time and date of departure in a week or so. A large part of the flight schedules and bookings will be handled online through the airline's website, but the existing agents of Air India are expected to handle the booking formalities for those who are not comfortable with the online booking systems.
Based on the information available, Air India Express is at the moment facing severe shortage of pilots, mainly First Officers. When the Air India office, Mumbai was contacted regarding this difficulty, they said that they have gone all out to get the required number of qualified crew, Commanders as well as First Officers.
They confirmed that Air India Express has advertised the requirement for pilots in all the major newspapers, national as well as international. Additionally, advertisements have also been relayed on major television channels. For the time being, they are hiring pilots from Eastern Europe and Latin American countries, mainly from Brazil, Argentina and Columbia. These are the countries where some of the airlines have declared bankruptcy and are in the process of closing down.
Air India Express said that this problem of crew shortage is faced by all the Middle East countries and Asia, especially in India where the Aviation industry is experiencing a strong upward boom. This is even after declaring a good pay hike for the pilots.
Despite this problem, Air India Express is optimistic that they will fly the Bahrain-Doha-Mangalore sector if not on March 25th 2007, then at least by the end of March. While for Air India Express it would make tremendous commercial sense, with tens of thousands of people from the coast, stretching from Karwar in Uttara Kannada (North Kanara), through the Udupi & Dakshina Kannada districts of Karnataka and the northern districts and towns of Kerala. The nearest airport in Kerala is Calicut (Kozhikode) which has direct flights to Bahrain. So, this is indeed a great news for all NRIs living in Bahrain, east coast of Saudi Arabia and Qatar hailing from this coastal region to reach their hometown with least time possible.
While there is no denying the fact that all Mangaloreans in Bahrain and Doha have been knocking on the doors of key people in the political circles, reminding politicians from time to time through direct calls and emails, it is clearly understood that Air India Express has seen tremendous commercial viability on this new sector, especially after the successful scheduling of the Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Muscat sectors. Its going to be an altogether different experience for all the Mangaloreans, who had to, till now, fly through Mumbai or Bangalore, or for those people from North Kerala, they will not need to fly to Kozhikode.
The atmosphere among Mangaloreans is quite upbeat and the expectations are quite high. If we look at it from the point of view of the tiny Bajpe airport (imagine, being a coastal town, it has been categorized along with the Himalayan belt airport of Leh!!) hitherto not receiving enough attention for whatever strange reasons, is now going to handle as many as 24 international flights a week. What an achievement its going to be! And once the new airport terminal building comes up after wading through all the hindrances coming its way, Mangalore airport will be in for several more international flights, easing the congestion at the Mumbai and Bangalore airports for sure.
Team Mangalorean spoke to a few individuals who are all ecstatic at this news and are eagerly looking forward to the commencement of the flights. Their catchy phrase right now is "Go, AI Express, Go, Fly High, Fly Bahrain, Fly Doha, Fly to Mangalore - we are right behind you".
Source: http://mangalorean.com


Date: 17. Feb. 2007
Air Deccan will be starting its regular flights between Shimla and Delhi from April onwards and this would provide the much-needed air connectivity for promoting tourism in the hill station.
A meeting between Air Deccan officials and prominent hoteliers was held recently in which they decided to start the flights from the tourist season.
Initially, the Air Deccan flights will fly for four days a week as a result providing regular flights on alternate days. The airline will be operating a 48-seater aircraft thereby bringing down the fare to about Rs 3000. Besides, the summer season will see reduction in fares and hence the problem of getting tickets would also be sorted out to a great extent.
Over a dozen premium hotels, including the Oberoi-owned Wildflower Hall and Cecil, Combermere, East Bourne, Chalet Resorts and Springfields have guaranteed to provide 12 seats per flight as Air Deccan wanted a corporate assurance to ensure that it does not turn out to be an misadventure for them.
Sources said that with the problem of a limited runway and some other technical problems, the airline will not be able to adjust more than 25 passengers on its return flight from Shimla.
Hoteliers lament that erratic and unreliable air connectivity to the State's capital has been one of the major roadblocks for the arrival of high-end budget crowd. They say that people don't mind spending, but they want minimum possible time on travelling and regular flights would give a fillip to tourism in the State.
Source: http://www.punjabnewsline.com


Date: 17. Feb. 2007
The existing Air Deccan flights connecting Raipur with Ranchi and Bhubaneswar will be grounded next month.
While the last flight from Raipur to the Jharkhand capital (DN 574) will be available on March 25, the last to the Orissa capital (DN 735) will fly on March 24.
However, the low-cost airline will start airbus service on Raipur-Mumbai-Ahmedabad-Mumbai-Raipur (DN 705) and Delhi-Raipur-Calcutta-Raipur-Delhi (DN 624) sectors from March 26.
On the other hand, Air Deccan Ranchi station manager Krishna Yadav said the no-frills airline would start 180-seat airbus services to Raipur, Mumbai and Bhubaneswar from next month. However, he could not specify the date when the service would start. Besides, the demand for the existing Calcutta-Ranchi-Raipur sector has prompted Air Deccan to start a dedicated 48-seat ATR only between Calcutta and Ranchi in the last week of next month.
While Yadav said there was a “great demand” on the Calcutta-Ranchi-Raipur sector, tour operators indicate that the Ranchi-Raipur flight has witnessed total occupancy only for a few times. “Air Deccan was not finding it viable to operate on both the routes — Raipur-Ranchi and Raipur-Bhubaneswar,” Kirti Vyas of a travel agency in Raipur told The Telegraph.
The Air Deccan had started morning and evening flights from Calcutta to Raipur via Ranchi in the last quarter of 2005, but the evening flight to Raipur was cancelled after a few months when the aviation company decided to fly only between Calcutta and Ranchi.
Yadav said the nitty-gritty of linking Ranchi with Bhubaneswar had been finalised with the eastern region head visiting the cities three days ago.
Source: http://www.telegraphindia.com