07. March 2007


Date: 07. Mar. 2007
Leading low fare carrier Air Deccan Wednesday announced daily flights connecting Chennai with Bhubaneswar and Agartala from March 26.
Booking for the flights have opened, the airline said in a statement, adding that a new 180-seater Airbus A-320 aircraft will be deployed to serve these routes.
The flight to Bhubaneswar will provide an opportunity for travellers from Chennai to visit the Buddhist tourism circuit.
Agartala, the capital of Tripura, is home to a vast handloom and weaving industry that will have an air connection with this Southern textile hub through this flight.
Air Deccan's daily flight connection from Chennai to Agartala via Kolkata will provide an affordable travel option for
professionals, students and tourists.
The airline also announced an additional daily flight on the Chennai-Madurai sector.
'These flights will encourage movement of tourists and also provide a fillip to the pace of development in adjoining
regions,' Air Deccan managing director G.R. Gopinath said in the statement.
Source: http://www.earthtimes.org


Date: 07. Mar. 2007
Low cost flier Air Deccan has announced that it will add four more aircraft to its fleet strength before the year end.
The Budget airlines Chief Operating officer Warwick Brady, who made the announcement in Chennai on Wednesday, was quoted by news agency PTI as saying that with the addition, the airlines fleet strength would go upto 53, including 23 Airbuses.
Jodhpur, Udaipur, Dharmasala, Dimapur and Jamshedpur would be brought under the airlines map before the year-end.
For the first time in aviation history, Chennai would have a direct daily flight to Agartala from March 26.
Brady also said that Chennai would also have direct flight to Bhubaneshwar from that day.
The airlines would also introduce additional daily flight to Madurai from that day, he said.
The company expected to start earning profit from 2008-09, he added.
Source: http://www.ibnlive.com


Date: 07. Mar. 2007
Air-India, which had placed a $7.2 billion order for 68 Boeing planes, has set up an internal committee to consider new aircraft acquisitions.
The airline is looking at acquiring over 30 aircraft, including wide-bodied and smaller ones for massive expansion, according to sources.
The fresh acquisition is aimed at catering to increasing passenger growth and the need of keeping the average fleet size younger. Sources said Air-India will create a template to chart out the acquisition requirements and will hold discussions with aircraft manufacturers in the first quarter of the next financial year.
“The current average age of Air-India’s fleet is 12 years while its competitor Singapore Airlines enjoys an average age of 4-5 years. The fresh round of acquisition will enable the airline to keep the fleet young with less maintenance,” they said.
The state-run carrier, which will soon merge with Indian Airlines to form a new entity, is looking at positioning itself as one of the top ten airlines in the world.
Confirming this, Air-India Chairman and Managing Director Vasudevan Thulasidas said, “We want to grow and want more airplanes. We have appointed a committee comprising directors to look at our future needs.” He declined to comment on the number of aircraft required.
Sources said the airline is studying the forecast of International Air Travel Association and new slots available in other countries to open new routes.
“The airline is also studying infrastructure at Indian and international airports. The fleet size of the airline may come down as the leased airplanes returned and some of the airplanes converted into freighters,” they added.
Currently, the ratio of owned and leased of Air-India’s fleet is 50:50. “With new aircraft coming from Boeing and the fresh acquisition, Air-India will enjoy the benefit of a higher number of owned airplanes than leased,” they added.
Recently, Air-India placed orders for 68 airplanes in which five B737-800s have already joined to its fleet. This orders includes 18 B737-800 aircraft (for Air-India’s subsidiary Air-India Express), 8 B777-200LR, 15 B777-300ER and 27 B787 Dreamliners.
Earlier this month, the Cabinet approved the merger between two state-run carriers — Air-India and Indian (formerly Indian Airlines). The legal and procedural formalities to form the merged entity will be cleared in the next 16 weeks.
The fresh round of acquisition will give a fillip to the merged entity to parry international competitors like Singapore Airlines, Emirates, Thai and Malaysian. Though the merged entity will have 122 aircraft immediately after the merger, international airlines have already placed massive orders to expand their networks.
Source: http://www.business-standard.com


Date: 07. Mar. 2007
Air India has a reason to cheer as they can now cut down their costs on training their pilots. The newly-acquired Boeing737NG and Boeing777 simulators in Mumbai will help train pilots who had to earlier be sent to London for the training. “A huge sum will be saved by the use of these simulators, we will now be able to save on hotel costs and daily allowances,” said Dinesh Keskar, Senior Vice President, Sales, Commercial Airplanes, Boeing.
The Boeing 737NG Simulator will facilitate in-house training for Air India pilots as well as pilots from other airlines. All the simulators will be set up in Mumbai and Air India pilots will be trained at a contractual price there. Pilots from other airlines too can be trained after paying a certain fee.
V Thulasidas, Chairman and Managing Director, Air India and Boeing 777 simulator said that they were working with Alteon (a fully-owned subsidiary of the Boeing Company) for quite a few months to develop and identify suitable training solutions for the new airplane. “The new simulators being installed in Mumbai will get certain backup facilities from Air India. With this initiative, we hope to further improve the efficiency of our pilot training. The agreement between Air India and Alteon will be formalised into a joint venture in the future,” he added.
Dinesh Keskar, Senior Vice President, Sales, Commercial Airplanes, Boeing said, “Boeing will invest up to USD 75 million for flight crew training . Two more simulators will be brought in to train pilots for Boeing 777 and 787 airplanes in the third quarter of this year and second quarter next year respectively.”
The new simulators were inaugurated by V Thulasidas, Chairman and Managing Director, Air India and Boeing 777 simulator at the Old Airport, Kalina Santacruz.
Source: http://www.dnaindia.com