Air India

[SRDey]

Welcome to the forum SRDey.
You make very good points about Kolkata and other Indian cities.
As Birmingham has a high Indian population, I do hope that we will have direct flights to Mumbai soon.
I am Indian too and love to see Air India improve their network from BHX (whenever the political and financial situations improve).

Thank you for the kind welcome
That indeed is one of the biggest facts and why I think most South Asian Routes Direct (Air India) or Indirect (Emirates, Qatar, Lufthansa, KLM ect...) tend do well from Birmingham. Glad a lot of you liked my point on Kolkata and Mumbai and other Indian cities and I think these route will defiantly do well considering all the Students and people who are moving from India to the West Midlands for jobs and the people who have family that live or people who have connections with the Indian Sub-Continent. It makes me feel so happy, warm and proud inside that you all have made me feel so welcome on to this Forum Thank you all

 

[SRDey]

Back in 2015 representatives from Ahmedabad Airport visited the Midlands to 'discuss cargo and passenger links', as is usual nothing ever came of it.

I think the immediate goal needs to be getting Air India back up to daily, maybe even reverting back to just BHX-DEL-ATQ which seemed to be when the service was performing best.

Ahamedabad will definitely do well considering the massive Gujarati community within the West Midlands and East Midlands too sad nothing came about and I wish they did start. The city of Ahamedabad is one of the most modern city’s within Western India all thanks the the former Chief Minster (CM) of Ahamedabad and Current Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi.
Really hope the Routes to Mumbai, Ahamedabad, Kolkata, Bangalore and Cochin are considered and do start soon in the near future be it on Air India or any of the up and coming LongHall Carriers within India.
Yes I would love to see Delhi back to Daily it was great seeing AI113/114 daily and would be nice of them to also make the Amritsar flight AI117/118 daily as well separate the flights so one just goes to Delhi and back for people who just want to go Delhi and any other part of India (Connections) and one to Amritsar and back so people who are just going to Punjab.

 

[JENNYJET]

Forgive me please SRDey for my tardiness, a monster welcome to our group. Re: additional routes to India, would AI be using the big stuff or deploying multiple Dreamliner, perhaps extensions to LHR or CDG etc.?

 

[A330]

Probably more for the rumours thread, however, I think the launch of the A321XLR is very interesting.

With a range of 4,700nm I wonder if it will be capable of BHX - India?

 

[JENNYJET]

Fuel stop in Sharjah or Bishkek maybe even Moscow as used to be. Birmingham to India on a single aisle jet makes me shudder. Is Toronto equidistant to Delhi?

 

[Jerry]

Probably more for the rumours thread, however, I think the launch of the A321XLR is very interesting.

With a range of 4,700nm I wonder if it will be capable of BHX - India?

I believe it can. Airbus have a diagramme of the ranges in this Tweet.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1140531164463206400

 

[Ray Finkle]

With a range of 4,700nm I wonder if it will be capable of BHX - India?

I've rounded these distances from Greater Circle Mapper up.

It's also worth bearing in mind the numerous other factors that can determine the range of an aircraft and that they can vary from day to day.

BHX-ATQ - 3500nm
BHX-DEL - 3700nm
BHX-BOM - 3950nm

 

[SRDey]

Forgive me please SRDey for my tardiness, a monster welcome to our group. Re: additional routes to India, would AI be using the big stuff or deploying multiple Dreamliner, perhaps extensions to LHR or CDG etc.?

Thank you for the monster welcome Jenny Jet

I think it would be 787 rather than the 777’s that AI currently have one of the reasons for this is because 777’s are deployed mainly on their USA routes and the second reason is as much as I love the 777 their 777’s (Both 200LR & 300ER) aren’t really the best or taken care of as well as their 787’s also the lack of IFE content and broken IFE on their 777’s as well as seats being broken and damaged. AI’s 787’s are well maintained and are much more cleaner and modern the IFE has a lot more content to offer than on their 777’s (Mainly a lot more Bollywood Movies ) and less likely to be damaged not only that AI’s 787 have become really popular they have become the flagship of their LongHall fleet and used on almost most LongHall (excluding the USA) routes and some domestic routes.
Would love to see them invest in some 787-9’s and 787-10’s would be great if they did would help them to start a lot more LongHall routes especially if we want them start operating more flights from other Indian cities to Birmingham. If hypothetically AI bought some 787-10’s I think it would work wonders on Mumbai-Birmingham (BOM-BHX) route.

About extensions maybe LHR.

 

[JENNYJET]

Interesting SRDey, but I wonder if the stretched Dreamliner will be able to navigate on the ground at BHX given the difficulties encountered with A346 types. Just a matter of interest but what are passengers doing to break cabin interiors as a B777 is not exactly a fragile airplane!

 

[A330]

Fuel stop in Sharjah or Bishkek maybe even Moscow as used to be. Birmingham to India on a single aisle jet makes me shudder. Is Toronto equidistant to Delhi?

In my opinion a fuel/tech stop is not ideal in the long term. It could lead to the opening of a new route with a smaller aircraft such as A321 but sooner or later the additional stop begins to affect the economics. I can't think of many examples where a route continued with a fuel stop successfully.

Since you happen to mention Bishkek it was on the departure boards 20 years ago! Does anyone remember the official booklet produced by the airport listing the routes available. I found a few copies in the loft!

View attachment 13497View attachment 13496

I've rounded these distances from Greater Circle Mapper up.

It's also worth bearing in mind the numerous other factors that can determine the range of an aircraft and that they can vary from day to day.

BHX-ATQ - 3500nm
BHX-DEL - 3700nm
BHX-BOM - 3950nm

Thanks Ray. Can I add one more to the list of potential routes one day, althought the A321XLR will have to leave empty to make it there.

BHX-MAA - 4500nm

 

[58terminus]

Since you happen to mention Bishkek it was on the departure boards 20 years ago! Does anyone remember the official booklet produced by the airport listing the routes available. I

Twice daily Basel. and daily x sat 737 Berlin.We have certainly come a long way since those dark days.I bet Alicante was only daily.

 

[JENNYJET]

If my leaky memory serves me well, before Air India returned to BHX, Delhi was served by Turkmenistan Airways with stops at Bishkek & Ashgebat either or both.

 

[SRDey]

Interesting SRDey, but I wonder if the stretched Dreamliner will be able to navigate on the ground at BHX given the difficulties encountered with A346 types. Just a matter of interest but what are passengers doing to break cabin interiors as a B777 is not exactly a fragile airplane!

Surely one should hope one will fit at BHX considering we did have regular Double Daily 777-300ER’s and Now Double Daily A380’s not only that we did recently welcomed the A350-1000 with Qatar but whether it did or didn’t fit at the gate/reach the Airbridge I do not know but surely if we can have an A380 twice everyday (despite all of BHX’s 100 problems) we surely must be capable of a 787-10.

As for AI’s 777’s we Indians aren’t really the best travellers according to many and it’s something I will not get into as there is so much to say that we can all agree and disagree on and it is a spicy debate. Other reason why AI’s 777’s aren’t really the best is because they have been in the fleet since the mid-late 2000’s (either round 2005 or 2007) so they have been in the fleet for quite a while now so it is expected for there to be ware and tear like most things in life and all these things should and can be replaced and updated easily but sadly aren’t really considered don’t forget Air India is an Airline that is also in a bad financial situation so affording upgrades of seats, IFE ect... aren’t really No.1 priority for the Airline it’s sad but true when you think about it we take all these things for granted and they don’t. It’s a really sad fact also that because of the current financial situation maintenance will tended to be lacking ,not done on time or just non excitant at all so planes will either be sitting in the hanger for a very short time or an extremely long time with hardly much work done. I think they just want to see the planes in the air making money rather than on the ground doing nothing and lose money because of it. I do hope when everything is sorted that it will improve and become one of the worlds top carriers again.

 

[IanFarquharson]

BHX has never had a A350 1000
The Qatar was a 900

 

[SRDey]

BHX has never had a A350 1000
The Qatar was a 900

Oh god your right my bad . Either way we still managed tho get an A350 to navigate Birmingham’s taxi ways

 

[JENNYJET]

SRDey, you mention Indians not being best travellers according to many etc., can it be as chaotic as a bus journey from Beruwela to Colombo, a chap brought a goat with him and a youth his motorbike aboard, big smiles from them and the driver, considered normal locally but German tourists went bananas with cameras and the British with protests.

They appeared to treat public transport as fair game as their own possession.
Travel is a wonderful gift and I miss it!

 

[JENNYJET]

The question remains Ian, would a B787-10 fit the BHX ground or is it the same problem as with A340-600?

 

[SRDey]

SRDey, you mention Indians not being best travellers according to many etc., can it be as chaotic as a bus journey from Beruwela to Colombo, a chap brought a goat with him and a youth his motorbike aboard, big smiles from them and the driver, considered normal locally but German tourists went bananas with cameras and the British with protests.

They appeared to treat public transport as fair game as their own possession.
Travel is a wonderful gift and I miss it!

I am Indian my self and for me going to Kolkata very often I love the chaos of traveling in India it’s just so fun and happy seeing all the sights, sounds and bustle of traveling in the city it’s fun and I really love the long drive from the Airport to my Grandparents house it’s so amazing. I’ll give you all some word of advice and is also My dream and it is to go to Kolkata during Durga Puja (Our Main festival dedicated to Goddesses Maa Durga in West Bengal that usually falls between September - October that lasts for 4-5 days) where traveling in Kolkata is supposed to be absolutely packed and is hard but worth it to see the pandals (temporary structures that are created for the Gods and Goddesses) and see the Puja/Pujo (Prayers Puja is usually the pronunciation by Non Bengali i.e. people from outside of West Bengal and Pujo is the pronunciation by Bengalis) and give Anjali (Flowers) it’s also the biggest shopping time and food festival all shopping centres are packed as many buy new Bengali style white and red border saris and other new gifts for friends and family not only that restaurants are packed to the brim it’s the only religious festive where eating meat and fish is allowed and the viarity of dishes are just to die for. I recommend you all go to Kolkata this year if you can it’s falls during 4th October till 8th October 2019 (Best to a couple of days before the 4th so you can see the city get ready for the Pujo) you will absolutely love it’s an absolute top on my bucket list I am dying to go and you must all go if you can and flying to Kolkata during this time is an absolute must most Indian Airlines will send their best fleet and offer discounted airfares to Kolkata during that time and serve special food onboard the flights and the service to Kolkata on these flights are supposed to be exceptional. View attachment 13523
(Kolkata Durga Pujo )

Now about the Indian flyers thing when I’ve seen many trip report videos on YouTube about flying to and from India I have seen many negative comments about how bad we are it just upsets me because we are not like that we are really nice and amazing and friendly and I believe these comments are just trollers causing hate.

 

[Kevin Farnell]

Do you work for the Kolkata Tourist Board perchance?

Regards

Kevin

 

[SRDey]

Do you work for the Kolkata Tourist Board perchance?

Regards

Kevin

Hahaha
No I am actually an University Student who currently studying Foundation year Engineering (Year Before first year) and hopfully next year I will be studying my favourite Aviation Management First Year. I am actually and bought up in Birmingham so I’m also from Acocks Green so is majority of my family from Acocks Green We all love like 2 mins walk away from each other . I wish I was on the tourist board at least I’d be getting some money for doing something great especially because I also need money and part time job being a uni student with no money is hard . I’m just promoting Kolkata A lot from because it’s my second city and second home for me because my Mum was born and bought up in Kolkata and all my maternal side live in Kolkata so for me it’s a city that is just as part of my culture, upbringing and life in general just as much as Birmingham is and Birmingham will always be home for me and same with Kolkata and it’s nice to give both cities some love they deserve some love and there due in life they never or hardly get any it’s unfair that they are both ignored.