Air India

[Ray Finkle]

AI are planning SFO and YYZ direct from Delhi with a long range 772 rather than having a stop in Europe. I'm glad BHX won't have to share the route with Toronto.

NEW DELHI: National carrier Air India is mulling to launch direct flight services from here to San Francisco and Toronto this winters following removal of restrictions on the domestic carriers to expand their operations in the US after safety upgrade by the FAA.

The state-run airline also plans to re-configure its Boeing 777-200 LR planes to cater to these proposed services, airline sources said.

Full article: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/busi ... 944389.cms

 

[Ray Finkle]

Some interesting figures from the DGCA about routes to/from India.

From April - Jun 2016.

BHX to Amritsar 3355.
Amritsar to BHX 6101.

BHX to Delhi 8313.
Delhi to BHX 11879.

Total

BHX - India 11668.
India - BHX 17980

I make it 91 flights in total giving a total of 23296 seats each way. If I'm working it out correctly BHX - India saw a load factor of approx 50% whereas India - BHX saw a load factor of 77%.

May and June are well into the low season for travel to this region which explains why the outbound load factor is so low, you could probably argue that 50% is actually quite good. Also with less VFR traffic, Delhi is pretty much double Amritsar, hopefully the overall yields were higher.

Cargo wise BHX - Delhi saw 98.6 tonnes and Delhi - BHX saw 124.9 tonnes. For a daily 788 I have no idea if that is good, bad or indifferent, maybe CL44 could give us some insight?

http://dgca.nic.in/pub/international/AP ... 2015/4.pdf

 

[Ray Finkle]

Similar to above but for Jan - Mar 2015.

BHX - ATQ 6260
ATQ - BHX 4876

BHX - DEL 11962
DEL - BHX 12024

BHX - India 18222 - 77%
India - BHX 16900 - 72%

Based on 92 flights offering 23552 seats.

I think Air India's overall network load factor is around 77% so BHX is there or thereabouts, although I'd feel a little more comfortable if they could get it up into the 80's.

Cargo was 93.8 tonnes and 108.4 tonnes.

 

[Ray Finkle]

A couple of dates over the Christmas period are sold out already, Fri 18th Dec and Sun 3rd Jan so far. Assuming sales continue to go well it would be nice if AI could add a bit of extra capacity over this period, either an aircraft upgrade or a couple of extra flights.

 

[Brum X]

A couple of dates over the Christmas period are sold out already, Fri 18th Dec and Sun 3rd Jan so far. Assuming sales continue to go well it would be nice if AI could add a bit of extra capacity over this period, either an aircraft upgrade or a couple of extra flights.

Yeah im with you on that one, a couple of there 772 would be a nice treat.


Any TK A330 upgrades showing ????

 

[Ray Finkle]

Any TK A330 upgrades showing ????

Just some A321's at the moment. With all the extra EK seats that we didn't have last year that may be as far as it goes, we can hope though.

 

[CL44]

Cargo figures don't seem to be anything to set the world on fire. More imports than exports (only to be expected). AI have been pushing the route cargo wise for a while (actually met the AI cargo rep recently, I think the last one I met previously was Jack Haslam). Considering the aircraft type being used I would say they are ruuning nigh on empty compared to the competition.

 

[Ray Finkle]

Thanks for the info.

In your experience do you reckon it's down to the extra EK flights offering much more capacity, the thought that AI may be unreliable (I think you said yourself that AI would need to prove themselves before you'd consider using them) or just lack of demand?

If they're out touting for business it can't be a great sign?

 

[CL44]

Hi Ray.

I personally would put it down to a combination of things. EK with 3 x daily 777 flights (with a timetable that seems to run on rails to be honest) versus a service which is daily but suffers from late arrivals on a regular basis. All Airlines tout for business (and I daresay we shall be seeing the QR rep before too long) so you should not put too much into that factor. AI are a decent Airline with a nice portfolio of services to offer. The drawback they have is the competition which are firmly established into the BHX-DXB market (and onwards) with a product that in fairness is very hard to beat. Competition is part of life for all Airlines, it is how they compete which makes the difference. Most Airlines have changed their rating structure within the last 12 months. Some Airlines are being very aggressive regarding rates others are less aggressive but offer a better service level (both pre and post flight), which gives Agents such as myself the decision as to which Airline to use for our business. It only takes one "dropped" consignment to blot your copy book with a Client and it does not matter how good a job you have done previously, you may not see the next shipment. Thankfully our Clients are "old-school" and appreciate that there are things out of our control. I still prefer to use a service which is proven rather than a service which could drop me in it. This is harsh I know but then again so is life.

 

[Ray Finkle]

Thanks alot for the reply, very informative :good:

 

[nwoody2001]

so following todays announcement, I thought I would check some comparison air fares for BHX-ATQ for both Air India and Qatar. The problem is, on the AI website, even though the timetable is out up until septemeber, the website doesn't allow you to book any flights in the summer. also, skyscanner gives you a price of £2500 rtn when Qatars fare is circa £700. Is this standard when trying to book with AI???

 

[Ray Finkle]

India - BHX is bookable up until 21st September but BHX - India is only bookable up until the end of June. I seem to remember a similar situation last year and LHR is exactly the same so no need to worry, yet :smile:

 

[Hassaan]

I know the 787 does the job well but it would be nice to see the 777 back at some point.

 

[Ray Finkle]

More dates are selling out so it would be nice if they could add a bit more.

 

[nwoody2001]

Granted the flight was only announced 2 days ago so Qatar may not have loaded all their fares into the system yet. However, had a look at 2 trips, BHX-DEL and BHX-ATQ, and this is what is on offer....

BHX-DEL (01/06/16 - 08/06/16)

Air India = £471 Rtn (longest leg - 9 hours)
Emirates = £450 Rtn (longest leg - 14 hours)
Qatar = £402 Rtn (longest leg - 32 hours)

...but the sheapest
Turkish = £380 Rtn (longest leg - 33 hours)

BHX-ATQ (01/06/16 - 08/06/16)

Air India = £512 Rtn (longest leg - 12 hours)
Qatar = £2,176 Rtn (longest leg - 19 hours, but 2 stops DEL, DOH)

Now, Qatar do have great connections between UK and India, but if they want a piece of the AI crowd, they will have to do better than this. A prime example of you 'get what you pay for' but at those costs/timings, Air India has nothing to worry about!!!

 

[Ray Finkle]

BHX - DEL from the Lufthansa website.

BHX - MUC - DEL with Lufthansa 11h 05min
DEL - ZRH - BHX with Swiss 11h 20 min

Total price £461.44


That's the one issue with the QR split schedule, one flight is perfectly timed for the Indian Sub Continent whereas the other is timed for Asia and Australia. Also on the QR website there is no ATQ - BHX on Mondays and Wednesdays. I guess if you're not committed to exact dates it's okay.

 

[nwoody2001]

ah I had not appreciated that. the dates above was indeed a Wednesday!!! Having looked Saturday to Saturday 04/06 till 11/06 then its totally different!!!!

BHX-ATQ

Air India = £552 (longest leg 12 hours)
Qatar = £442 (longest leg 14 hours) (cheapest)

BHX-DEL

Air India = £511 (longest leg 9 hours)
Qatar = £465 (longest leg 13 hours)
Turkish = £446 (longest leg 32 hours) (cheapest)

 

[Brum X]

Man sucked into engine at Mumbai Airport

Not BHX related but this is tragic news.

Air India engineer sucked into an aircraft engine at Mumbai
Tragic news just reported on the BBC;

An Air India technician has died after he was sucked into an aircraft engine at Mumbai airport, the airline says.
The accident happened as the jet of flight AI 619 from Mumbai to Hyderabad was being pushed back for departure.
Air India chairman Ashwani Lohani described the accident as a "mishap", but it is not yet clear what happened.

 

[Ray Finkle]

A terrible occurrence and condolences to the guys family.

Sadly it's not the first time this has happened :s_sad

 

[Ray Finkle]

Every little helps

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com...hare-pact-with-flybe/articleshow/52110069.cms



National passenger carrier Air India on Wednesday announced that it has entered into a codeshare agreement with European airline Flybe.

According to the national carrier, tickets under the new agreement will be available from May 10, with travel effective from June 1.

Further the airline said that the codeshare partnership will enable travellers using Flybe's multi-frequency Birmingham services from Belfast City, Edinburgh and Glasgow to book seamless flights onward to New Delhi.

"Under the unilateral agreement, Air India (AI) will place its marketing code on these Flybe flights (BE)," the national carrier said in a statement.

A codeshare agreement allows two airlines to sell seats on each others' flights in order to provide passengers with a wider choice of destinations.

"Air India is continuously working towards providing seamless connectivity to its passenger across routes and with our agreement with Flybe, Air India passengers will have an unmatched connectivity in UK," said Ashwani Lohani, chairman and managing director, Air India in a statement.