Air India

[Hassaan]

If they were to bring back the YYZ leg, why? Wasn't that performing quite poorly last time round, not to mention they can now do it direct?

 

[Ray Finkle]

It performed well last time and was very profitable, unfortunately valuable LHR slots had to be protected and BHX was the victim.

 

[Hassaan]

Last time though, I don't think there was a direct flight. Will the demand still be there?

 

[Brum X]

Just noticed on another Forum that Air INDIA flights are not bookable beyond July 2014 ??

Anybody know the reason for this ?????

 

[thunderchild]

Eek! I hope this is nothing to do with what I read the other day about Air India planning on selling/leasing some 787's; hopefully this is just a glitch in the booking system.

 

[Ray Finkle]

Heathrow isn't bookable either so no need for panic just yet

 

[Ray Finkle]

DEL-BHX is bookable right through but BHX-DEL is only bookable till the end of June, it's exactly the same for LHR.

 

[Ray Finkle]

I'd heard that Australia was becoming quite a popular connection for Air India but didn't realise it was as much as 12%+ of the pax. BHX to SYD or MEL on a 787 could be interesting.

Delhi airport emerging hub for global flyers

Air India provides for over 41% of transit passengers at DIAL followed by Jet and IndiGo


.....According to data available with International Air Transport Association (IATA), transit passengers constituted 16 per cent of the Delhi airport’s total passenger traffic last financial year, compared with 12.74 per cent in 2011-12. In 2012-13, DIAL saw 5.47 million transit passengers using the airport — the growth in transit passengers came even as total passenger throughput declined around seven per cent to 34.39 million.

“The share of transit passenger in total traffic is currently around 19.6 per cent. Most of these passengers come from neighbouring countries such as Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka. But with Air India starting direct flights to Birmingham, Sydney and Melbourne, we are seeing passengers from Europe transiting in Delhi before travelling onward to Australia. And at least 12 per cent of the passengers on Air India-Birmingham flights transit at Delhi to Australia every day. The rest come from Birmingham and transit to domestic destinations as well as to neighbouring countries. The total transit passengers on this route is a staggering 75 per cent”, added Pradeep Panicker, chief commercial officer (aero), DIAL. In FY14, DIAL is expecting transit traffic of 6,598,268 – an increase of 20.6 per cent over FY13," said Pradeep Panicker, chief commercial officer (aero), DIAL.....

Full article: http://www.business-standard.com/articl ... 109_1.html

 

[andrew.clarkson]

Hi there Ray, my word, if thats what Air India are going to do from Birmingham to Sydney &Melbourne, tht will a big coup, but also one against emirates who have stated that they will not run direct fly from Birmingham....well will have to wait and see...that also goes for Biman with JFK-New York, that will start and get UA worried if it goes booming well, beause they would then have to respond somehow ,to try and compensate....thanks...andyc

 

[Ray Finkle]

Just for clarification there will not be direct flights between BHX and AUS the article talks about pax connecting at DEL.

Reports elsewhere suggest AI are having very healthy cargo loads, especially when taking the excess off full EK flights.

.that also goes for Biman with JFK-New York, that will start and get UA worried if it goes booming well

I don't think United will have even batted an eyelid, the vast majority of the Biman JFK traffic will be to/from Dhaka, there will be BHX pax but I imagine they will be minimal, how many people think of Biman Bangladesh Airlines when planning their US holiday.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Hi there Ray, my word, if thats what Air India are going to do from Birmingham to Sydney &Melbourne, tht will a big coup, but also one against emirates who have stated that they will not run direct fly from Birmingham.

Where in the UK or in Europe or anywhere for that matter does Emirates fly direct to Australia or anywhere else without transiting Dubai where passengers change aircraft?

The only exceptions that I can think of are flights from DXB that might have an en route stop to the final destination where passengers can board or alight.

 

[Ray Finkle]

Air India carries 50,000 passengers from Birmingham in first six months

Air India and Birmingham Airport are celebrating after carrying 50,000 passengers on board over 200 Dreamliner flights between Birmingham and India, since launching in August last year.

To celebrate its success in the first six months, leaders of the local Sikh community presented Birmingham Airport with a commemorative plaque to thank the team for launching the flights last year and reconnecting Birmingham with Delhi and Amritsar; an important spiritual centre for the Sikh faith.

Speaking at a ceremony held at Birmingham Airport last week, the Airport’s Aviation Development Director, William Pearson, who received the plaque on behalf of the airport, said:

“The Midlands has the second largest Asian community in the UK, so it’s no surprise that the airline has carried its first 50,000 passengers and experienced over 80% load factors on the route since launching last August.

“The four times a week service to Delhi and Amritsar, using the brand new B787-800 Dreamliner aircraft, with two configurations of business and economy class isn’t just ideal for those visiting friends and relatives, but also offers corporate travellers connections across India, Asia, Europe and North America from Delhi. Air India will soon be part of Star Alliance which gives passengers a choice of world-wide connections.”


Shri 108 Sant Sarwan Dass Charity trustee Nirmal Dass presented the plaque to the Airport. He said:

“This service is incredibly important to the entire Asian community across the region. We’d like to say a big thank you to Air India and Birmingham Airport for providing these direct links to Delhi and Amritsar from our local airport.”

Vishwanath Panyam, Air India station manager at Birmingham Airport, added:

“Reaching this impressive milestone in just six months clearly demonstrates the strong demand that exists for this service. It has proven to be tremendously popular amongst the region’s Asian community, for business and leisure passengers alike.”

The service operates each Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, arriving from Amritsar and Delhi into Birmingham at 1800 hours and departing to Delhi and Amritsar from Birmingham at 2130 hours.

The 256 seat B787-8 series aircraft has a split cabin, consisting of 18 business class and 238 economy seats. Birmingham is only the second UK airport to operate dedicated Boeing 787 scheduled services.

Passengers wanting to fly business or economy class with Air India can do so with very attractive fares from Birmingham. Tickets can be booked at http://www.airindia.com

http://businessbirmingham.com/media-hub ... McbMf.dpuf

 

[justplanecrazy]

Big delay on today's AI113 anyone know the reason why?

 

[Ray Finkle]

AIC113 now due at 15:35 today. It should be VT-ANI, I'd imagine a delay of that scale could well be down to a tech aircraft.

 

[Hassaan]

82% load factor for February and it seems more or less all of the spring/summer flights are sold out. Where are Air India looking to expand at some point in the future? To YYZ or a daily service to BHX?

I don't think the BHX-YYZ leg of the AI service performed that poorly but the demand was certainly less compared to BHX-ATQ/DEL.

 

[Ray Finkle]

Air India do seem to be doing very well indeed.

Where are Air India looking to expand at some point in the future? To YYZ or a daily service to BHX?

Hopefully we'll find out soon

 

[Hassaan]

All I'm going to say is, Hands off Heathrow!

We could end up with a service to ORD/JFK instead but as you mention, we'll hopefully find out soon.

 

[User0001]

We could end up with a service to ORD/JFK instead but as you mention, we'll hopefully find out soon

Very unlikely at this stage. Air India are currently in a similar boat to Biman Bangladesh whereby they are not permitted to alter or add a new route to the USA until safety and security measures are improved.

 

[User0001]

Just watching AI113 and its taking a very northern track at the UK coastline. Almost looks like its going to MAN?

 

[Ray Finkle]

Trying to have a look but FR24 playback doesn't seem to be working for me.

On another note I've noticed that Air India seem to be using stand 57C now rather than 42C which was originally going to be their primary stand. Incidentally 57C was mainly used by AI when they used the 777's, back then they had to be towed all the way down to Tango 4 before starting up