Air India

[nbdm]

Also, it’s worth remembering that last year, all flight went to DEL meaning every flight was able to offer onward connections to regional and international routes such as Australia . Now only 4x a flights a week can offer those 1 point connections as you can only fly into DEL from ATQ.

As such, people that might have wanted to fly BHX-DEL-SYD on a Saturday no longer have that cheap option, Emirates or Qatar could therefore benefit!

To my mind, daily flights offer greatest options ...in happy to offer 3x weekly ATQ but hopefully this will come with a daily DEL too

I noticed this when looking at flights to Australia, Sydney and Melbourne already share flights to Delhi (5 weekly and 3 weekly respectively)

Going from BHX to SYD there is only a couple hour layover in Delhi as the flight times line up reasonably well, however coming the opposite way the layover was almost 18 hours.

Melbourne is almost completely out of the question due to the long layover as the days don't align all that well, unless stopping in both ATQ and DEL. This also has the same problem coming back of a day layover.

Air India have the potential to offer one of the quickest journeys to/from Australia and the UK if the layovers were as short as some on Emirates and Singapore

 

[nwoody2001]

I noticed this when looking at flights to Australia, Sydney and Melbourne already share flights to Delhi (5 weekly and 3 weekly respectively)

Going from BHX to SYD there is only a couple hour layover in Delhi as the flight times line up reasonably well, however coming the opposite way the layover was almost 18 hours.

Melbourne is almost completely out of the question due to the long layover as the days don't align all that well, unless stopping in both ATQ and DEL. This also has the same problem coming back of a day layover.

Air India have the potential to offer one of the quickest journeys to/from Australia and the UK if the layovers were as short as some on Emirates and Singapore

Indeed having looked in the past, AI when daily to DEL offered really competitive transit links to the likes of SYD/MEL, as you say however, MEL has been lost and the erm flights from SYD have also been hindered!

 

[Ray Finkle]

Also, it’s worth remembering that last year, all flight went to DEL meaning every flight was able to offer onward connections to regional and international routes such as Australia . Now only 4x a flights a week can offer those 1 point connections as you can only fly into DEL from ATQ.

As such, people that might have wanted to fly BHX-DEL-SYD on a Saturday no longer have that cheap option, Emirates or Qatar could therefore benefit!

To my mind, daily flights offer greatest options ...in happy to offer 3x weekly ATQ but hopefully this will come with a daily DEL too

There was an article a couple of years ago that suggested that as many as 12% of passengers from Birmingham were connecting through Delhi on to Australia. Taking away three of those connections per week was bound to have an effect.

 

[Silvercity]

Just made a business class return reservation with Air India to Bangalore via Delhi and then back from Delhi to Birmingham

 

[Brum X]

Just made a business class return reservation with Air India to Bangalore via Delhi and then back from Delhi to Birmingham

Looking forward to your trip report

 

[Silvercity]

Looking forward to your trip report

Well I booked it for me partner....maybe I will.have a word !

 

[Brum X]

Well I booked it for me partner....maybe I will.have a word !

Yes have a word and Jerry will give your partner some great advice on how to create a great trip report.

Over to you Jez

 

[Deleted member 8277]

I have heard there may not be an air India service on Saturday, any truth ???

 

[nwoody2001]

The BHX-DEL Saturday service has been dropped but the BHX-ATQ service remains meaning BHX-DEL is 4x weekly (Mo,We,Fr,Su) and BHX-ATQ is 3x weekly (Tu,Th,Sa) as far as I understand it.

 

[rollo]

Believe yesterdays Amritsar didn't operate at all.?

 

[nwoody2001]

Hmmmm something might be happening here. Flights not available fir next sat and a majority (not all) BHX-ATQ flights on the sat are priced at circa £1,200. All other DEL/ATQ flights seem to be priced around £300-400?

It glitches or is change coming?

 

[Deleted member 8862]

Only AI would know, or wouldn't as the case may be...

 

[JENNYJET]

Could it be the airline has reserved services linked to the Cricket?

 

[GliderPilot]

Who knows, its Air India. Can never feel secure about anything they do

 

[Brum X]

As reported by OltonPete on the dried fruit it now looks like Air India is cutting back as the Friday DEL is not bookable from October.

The troubled times at BHX continue when another airline starts to reduce "prestige" services and we haven't got many.

 

[IanFarquharson]

Absolutely nothing to worry about just aircraft maintenance

 

[Brum X]

Absolutely nothing to worry about just aircraft maintenance

Ok Ian

I suppose the 787s will need maintenance at some point, they are the work horses of Air India atm.

 

[GliderPilot]

If its down to aircraft maintenance that could be one of the reasons for the loss of the saturday Delhi service

Just thinking aloud

 

[IanFarquharson]

Air India is reportedly under utilising its flagship Boeing 787 fleet, due to flight crew shortage as well as technical issues with only 21 aircraft being deployed for operations on a daily basis out of its 27 aircraft fleet (PTI, 12-Sep-2018). Three of the aircraft reportedly are grounded awaiting spares, with three being deployed on a rotational basis. “Almost 23 per cent of the Air India fleet is grounded for lack of spares. To put this into perspective, aircraft worth approximately USD3.6 billion or approximately INR25,000 crore are lying idle in the hangars”, the Indian Commercial Plots Association (ICPA) had alleged in a letter to airline chairman and managing director Pradeep Singh Kharola. Air India had, however, termed the grounding of planes for maintenance a common practice.

 

[Brummiegem]

From memory,one aircraft,I think it is VT-ANF,has been grounded for at least 3 years,maybe longer.In fact I believe it only operated a few services before it developed a problem(engine related???),and hasn’t flown since.In fact,if memory serves me correctly this aircraft was used as a spares source to get another aircraft back into service following problems with that aircraft.
All in all not a good record record as far as maintenance is concerned,especially when the aircraft type involved is your new and modern flagship.
I believe the airline itself is still under some financial pressure,but did I read somewhere that it had received help from the government of India.Of course that wouldn’t be allowed in the EU now would it.