Air India

[User0001]

Its the old page from when the served Toronto through BHX.

It states at the top about transit passengers between Armitsar and Toronto being held in the departure lounge.

 

[Luke 77]

Ahh - thanks.
And that's why I normally read and keep quiet - time to revert to type

 

[Ray Finkle]

Nah, keep posting mate :good:

 

[Aviador]

Nah, keep posting mate :good:

I agree. The aviation world is cryptical and finding out what's going on is often like building a gigsaw. Not everybody has the answer but bit by bit we can piece together what's going on.

 

[User0001]

And that's why I normally read and keep quiet - time to revert to type

As Aviador says, keep posting.

Questions are there to be answered.

 

[CL44]

I agree with aviador and user001. The forums need as many people as possible to answer questions and comment on the topics. The more varied opinions we share the better. Back on topic now ghe 787 has flown from ADD -NBO how long do we think it will be before AI will make their decisions regarding BHX

 

[Ash]

Now got a time frame on DEL-BHX, 3-5 months and the chairman has said it will be with 787.

Excuse me for still being skeptical, but this is AI we are talking about!

http://www.livemint.com/Companies/f0v00 ... andan.html

 

[Ray Finkle]

Good stuff, it's nice to hear something direct from the horses mouth so to speak and with 3-5 months the target it shouldn't be too long before flights go on sale, but as you say this is Air India and anything could happen.

A few snippets from the article Ash linked to

So does the deal between Etihad and Jet not impact you at all?

Ideally speaking, which airline would not like to be protected, but that is not how the world is going to function. Our product will be superior to others and that is how we will compete. We are introducing Rome and Milan (Italy), Moscow (Russia), Birmingham (Britain) in the next three-five months, then we are introducing (flights to) Australia.


These flights will be from Delhi or Mumbai?

We will use Delhi as a hub and as and when Mumbai will have capacity—which I am told will be soon—it will be a natural second hub for us. It has always been our hub. That will cater to western and southern India markets.

These flights will be all run with your new Dreamliner 787s?

Yes, we plan to do it with 787s.

 

[Ray Finkle]

It appears Air India are planning an August start to BHX, I'd assume flights would need to go on sale in the next couple of weeks if true. AI115/116 DEL-LHR will change from a 772 to a 787 on May 22nd.

NEW DELHI: Air India would resume domestic operations of grounded Dreamliners planes from Wednesday and their global flights from May 22 with the government today saying the airline would cut costs to the tune of Rs 2,000 crore in the current financial year.

While monetisation of its assets in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Coimbatore alone would generate additional funds Rs 1,000 crore, oil companies are expected to provide concessions of Rs 500 crore to Air India.

The airline would generate an additional revenue of over Rs 500 crore through slashing of staff costs, savings from interest on loans and working capital and booking agency commissions.

"The first commercial flight of the Dreamliner will start tomorrow from Delhi to Kolkata. Out of six of these Boeing 787 planes, two have been already modified following the battery fire incidents," civil aviation minister Ajit Singh told reporters here.

He said the first international flight of the Dreamliner would be launched from May 22. The national carrier would begin full-scale global operations with these planes from Delhi to Birmingham and Sydney-Melbourne from August, Rome and Milan from October and Moscow from early next year, the minister said.

The remaining four of the total six Dreamliners with Air India now, would become operational by this month end, Singh said, adding another eight of these aircraft would be delivered by Boeing by December, taking the total to 14. The airline has ordered a total of 27 Dreamliners.

The B-787s have remained grounded since January 17 after a fire in the lithium-ion batteries of a parked plane in Boston and a case of forced landing of another B-787 for the same reason in Japan.

The minister refused to divulge the amount of compensation the US aircraft manufacturer would give to Air India but said the airline has set up an internal committee to talk to Boeing on the issue.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/indi ... 045682.cms

 

[Ray Finkle]

Word around the camp fire is Air India are down for a January start using the 787. Nothing concrete yet so don't hold your breath.

 

[User0001]

Word around the camp fire is Air India are down for a January start using the 787. Nothing concrete yet so don't hold your breath

I don't think anyone will be holding their breath.

Don't forget, this is the airline that 'temporarily suspended' BHX years ago, then back August this year now January next year..........

 

[Hassaan]

Word around the camp fire is Air India are down for a January start using the 787. Nothing concrete yet so don't hold your breath.

You just can't hold your breath with these airlines.

 

[Ash]

Air India's initial schedule is out.

Effective 01/August/2013

AI 150 Dep DEL 14:15 Arr BHX 19:00 B787

AI 151 Dep BHX 21:30 Arr DEL 10:20 B787

4x weekly frequency, days of operation: Mon, Tue, Thu, Sat

Subject to final change of course.

 

[Ray Finkle]

Sounds promising, although it's only 7 weeks away and still not bookable so not much time to sell seats.

This is Air India though

The schedule is from the tender documents on the second link below.

http://mmd.airindia.co.in/aimmd/tender/IS_BHX_2510.html

http://mmd.airindia.co.in/aimmd/tender/ ... _1030.html

 

[Ash]

Indeed. If they can pull this one off by the 1st of August I will be genuinely astounded. So much for slow management decisions in large bloated state companies eh?

 

[User0001]

But, don't forget this is not just about putting flights on sale, 6 weeks to run and as the tenders have just been released, they still have no ground contracts for BHX.

Going to take a lot of advertising to fill that plane up on 1st August, as I would also imagine many who have made travel plans will have already booked by the available channels?

 

[Hassaan]

I'll be astounded if they do operate the 787 - that means BHX gets one before MAN. But, they'd probably have to use billboards or whatever to advertise the flights. Then again, people have been hoping for a direct flight to India for years, there is a slight chance they will sell in a heartbeat.

 

[User0001]

I'll be astounded if they do operate the 787 - that means BHX gets one before MAN

Erm, not quite.

MAN has had 3 Thomson B787 based for the last few weeks and are being pressed into service on long haul from 8th July.

MAN has also had 2 Qatar B787 visits and 1 LOT Polish B787 visit. Lastly the Boeing test aircraft visited last year.

So 7 different B787 visits so far means BHX was no where near seeing one before MAN, not even close.

 

[Ray Finkle]

But, don't forget this is not just about putting flights on sale, 6 weeks to run and as the tenders have just been released, they still have no ground contracts for BHX.

Going to take a lot of advertising to fill that plane up on 1st August, as I would also imagine many who have made travel plans will have already booked by the available channels?

The tenders aren't even being evaluated till 15th July leaving only two weeks before flights begin. If they sense desperation then maybe someone is in for a bargain. Flights to Sydney and Melbourne are being handled in the same way.

I'll be astounded if they do operate the 787.

The 787 is the perfect choice to start ops, less seats than the 777 and 18J and 238Y shouldn't be too difficult too fill. Connections to Amritsar and Mumbai look reasonable, Ahmedabad not so though.

 

[User0001]

The tenders aren't even being evaluated till 15th July leaving only two weeks before flights begin. If they sense desperation then maybe someone is in for a bargain

Exactly. India and a Dreamliner for £50 each way anyone. lol.

The 787 is the perfect choice to start ops, less seats than the 777 and 18J and 238Y shouldn't be too difficult too fill. Connections to Amritsar and Mumbai look reasonable, Ahmedabad not so though

To say again, exactly. These are the sorts of routes the B787 was 'supposed' to be for. I do feel this is last chance saloon for AI at BHX however. If this doesn't work on a B787 (and I suspect it won't have the best of starts due to its stupidly short lead-in time), then it never will work.

Im personally looking forward to Jet starting MAN with their A330-200, its about time the regions had access to markets such as India.