Jaipur-Abu Dhabi flight to be discontinued from March!

Jaipur: The Jaipur to Abu Dhabi flight may be discontinued from March next year. February 28 will be the last operational day for the flight. It will be a major setback for international traveler as it was used as a connecting flight for people traveling to Europe and USA. Reportedly, the airlines operating this flight is planning to provide connecting flights via Delhi or Mumbai after March 1.

The flight started operations in April 2014 with a 7-day service. However, due to the decrease in the number of passengers, the airline decided to operate this flight for 5 days. Presently, the flight operates 4-days a week and this will change to 3-days a week from January 2018.
To Read the News in Full 23/11/17 Pink City Post

Chennai-Delhi airfare reaches Rs 10K for Christmas, New Year

Chennai: High demand has pushed airfare beyond the Rs 10,000 mark on trips from Chennai, especially to Delhi and Mumbai, for travel for Christmas and New Year holidays. The fare ranges from Rs 3,000 to Rs 15,000 for 30day advance booking for one-way travel from Chennai to the metros on December 23, which is almost on a par with fare for 24 hours advance booking on non-festive weekdays.
The fares have risen because Christmas and New Year, which fall on Mondays, have led to extended weekends. Travel agents believe fares would increase further and are predicting a hike in other routes too.

Int'l airlines owe TIA Rs 2.5 billion for services

Kathmandu: Two dozen international airlines operating in Nepal have yet to pay around Rs 2.5 billion to  Tribhuwan International Airport (TIA) for using various services at Nepal's only international airport.

The airlines have for a long time not paid TIA the service charges that they collect from air passengers and other fees, such as for airport development,  parking, navigation, security and counter-charges.

The international airlines haven't paid the charges even though they  earn around Rs 80 billion a year flying to and from Nepal. Nepal's air travel market has nearly reached the Rs 100 billion mark. In this, the share of the national flag carrier Nepal Airlines Corporation is hardly 10 percent.

 The responsibility for this state of affairs has been attributed to TIA's General Manager Devananda Upadhyay.

The amounts due have not been recovered as Upadhyay didn't enforce the regulations, such as the Airport Service Charge Regulations-2067 BS and Financial Administration Regulations-2057.

From April-October, Bagdogra airport recorded 60 per cent increase in footfall

Kolkata: Bagdogra Airport in Darjeeling district has seen a 60 per cent jump in passenger footfall from April to October 2017, despite the violent Gorkhaland agitations. Airport director Rakesh Sahay said that this is the biggest jump in passenger traffic so far. Bagdogra connects not only Darjeeling but Terai, Dooars, Sikkim and Bhutan to the rest of the country. Sahay said that from April to October 2016, the airport recorded 7.83 lakh passengers. During the corresponding period between April and October 2017, the airport recorded 12.48 lakh passengers.
“Surprisingly the Gorkhaland agitation and Darjeeling shutdown did not affect the passenger traffic at all. There wasn’t even a slowdown of passengers. This is because most of the passengers who come to this region don’t usually come as individual tourists. The most popular thing is to take tour packages with travel agencies. What the agencies did was reconstitute the packages shifting the tourists from Darjeeling to Dooars,” said Sahay.

Airfares may go up as government plans to raise passenger services fee

New Delhi: Passengers should brace themselves for a fare increase, as the government is likely to raise the passenger services fee (PSF) by at least 38% to meet the cost of security at Indian airports. The government, which earlier had plans to not raise PSF and transfer the cost to consolidated fund of India (CFI), will now have to raise it, after the finance ministry declined to fund the deficit.

“The finance ministry has agreed to transfer the cost to CFI but only if it is revenue-neutral for them, which would mean we will have to raise PSF.

Get ready to enjoy Aadhaar-linked seamless air travel from next year

Air passengers flying out of Kolkata, Ahmedabad and Vijayawada will be able to enjoy Aadhaar-based seamless travel from the next year under the government's “DigiYatra” programme.

AAI chairman Guruprasad Mohapatra told Times of India, "Under the Aadhaar-based system, flyers will use stored biometrics to prove identity to enter terminals; their Aadhaar-linked airline database will show what flight they are booked on and similarly linked airport databases will show they have been security screened and allowed access to boarding gate closer to the flight departure time.”

More flights from state to smaller towns on the anvil under UDAN

New Delhi: The state may see additional cheaper flights connecting smaller towns under the 'UDAN' scheme soon.
The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) is going ahead with the second round of bidding for regional routes and by December 21, it will announce which operator will serve the particular routes.
Of the 141 proposals covering 502 routes received by the Ministry for which the counter-bidding has started, 20 either originate from these three airports or they are a stopover.
Under the UDAN or regional connectivity scheme (RCS), aimed at connecting regional centres, airlines have to cap the airfare for an hour's flight at Rs 2,500. The government will provide viability gap funding (VGF) to bridge the gap, but airlines can choose not to opt for it.

New flights likely from Bhopal for Delhi, other major cities

Bhopal: Four new flights are expected to start from Bhopal from February ensuring better connectivity with major cities. These flights would connect Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Nagpur.

This information was given by the airport officials at the meeting of Rajabhoj Airport Environment Management Committee on Tuesday. According to the airport officials, the private airlines would start four new flights and would connect Nagpur as well as Delhi, Mumbai and Ahmedabad.

92 new flight routes in Northeast under Udaan-2: Jayant Sinha

To provide a major boost to air connectivity in the Northeast, 92 new routes will be opened in the region in the second round of the government's 'Udaan' scheme, Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha said here.
Sinha also announced a direct bi-weekly Air India flight from Delhi to Imphal from January next year, which he said would be made a daily service when the demand picks up.
No-frills private airlines Indigo will soon start services from Guwahati to Silchar and Aizwal, he said yesterday.
He also announced that Spicejet will be procuring seaplanes that could seat 9-10 passengers and land on smaller airstrips.

Air India, AirAsia to launch flights to Bangkok from Bhubaneswar

Bhubaneswar: After launching a daily flight from the Bhubaneswar international airport to Kuala Lumpur, AirAsia now plans to start services to Bangkok from the city airport.

"Thai AirAsia is slated to start flights from Bhubaneswar in January or February next year. However, it is not decided how many times it will fly in a week", said Ashok Chandra Panda, Odisha's tourism minister.


The minister said that a memorandum of understanding (MoU) is likely to be signed between Thai AirAsia and the Odisha tourism department to start services.

Panda said, Air India has also proposed to start international flights from Bhubaneswar. It has proposed to fly from Bhubaneswar to Bangkok via Gaya (Bihar).

Indian passengers using technology to skip queues at airports: SITA survey

As India’s passenger growth is choking key airports in the country, air passengers are resorting to technology to skip queues and minimize their travel time, shows a 2017 SITA Passenger IT Trends Survey, a global survey released by IT provider SITA and co-sponsored by Air Transport World.

“While the use of technology among Indian airline passengers remains high at check-in (87%) and booking (52%), 2017 saw tremendous growth in other usage points in the journey. The research showed while adoption remains low, self-bag drop usage climbed to 21% from 12% in 2016,” shows the survey, conducted across seven Indian airports, representing 71% of passengers in the country.

Sri Lankan Airlines Bullish On India; Provides Seamless Connectivity to Australia and Maldives

Turning its focus on the region and its huge potential, Sri Lankan Airlines  is very bullish on the Indian market. Not only Sri Lanka has become a favourite destination for Indians, Colombo is also becoming a big hub to connect Indian cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai with Asian nations with efficient and effective strives and network by Sri Lankan airlines.

Member of the OneWorld alliance, Sri Lankan airlines is giving a big push to the new wave of tourism into Sri Lanka and has decided to go all out to woo the Indian consumers. It has launched the Delhi-Sydney flight via Colombo and is also connecting cities like Melbourne and Perth in Australia with Delhi  and Mumbai.

In a month, 5 extra takeoffs & landings at Kolkata airport per hour

Kolkata: The authorities at Kolkata airport are working on an ambitious project that would open up five additional slots each hour for landings and takeoffs. Expected to be in place by a month, this will mean more flights during rush hours.
At present, the airport can handle a maximum of 30 flight movements an hour or a flight every two minutes. The air traffic management (ATM) team though believes runway efficiency can be increased further to accommodate at least 15 more flights. But that would have to happen in two phases; first increase the number to 35 and then push for 45 or even 48.
Study on the first phase to reduce distance between incoming flights so that they can land in quick succession is nearing completion.

Hyderabad airport to begin work on second terminal from February

Hyderabad: The work on the second terminal at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport here will begin in February-March next year, said the airport operator.

GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd (GHIAL) plans to take up expansion at a cost of Rs 2,500 crore.

With the expansion, which is likely to be completed in two to two-and-half years, the airport will handle 25 million passengers per annum.

GHIAL CEO S.G.K. Kishore told reporters here on Friday that if the traffic grows, the overall capacity can be increased to 34-35 million and the expansion including second runway can extend to five years.

He said they were waiting for approval from the regulator to start the expansion, which will be funded in a debt-equity ratio of 70:30.

Hyderabad Airport to have a second terminal soon, work to begin from February

The work on the second terminal at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad will begin in February-March next year, said the airport operator.

GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd (GHIAL) plans to take up expansion at a cost of Rs 2,500 crore.

With the expansion, which is likely to be completed in two to two-and-half years, the airport will handle 25 million passengers per annum.