Category: Aviation

Boutique Air said it will offer year-round service beginning this month from Denver International Airport (DEN) to Telluride Regional Airport (TEX), located just 10 minutes from town and the ski resort. “Boutique Air brings a proven, high-quality operation and a worldwide partner network; a great fit for both our community and our guests coming to visit throughout the year. We are excited to partner with Boutique Air and deliver commercial flights to TEX for the destination,” said Colorado Flights COO Matt Skinner. Boutique Air partners with United Airlines, which enables travelers to book and connect through the global United network. ... Read more

Low-cost carrier SpiceJet is all set to test India’s first biofuel-powered flight on August 27 as it is planning to cut its aviation fuel bill. SpiceJet is planning to operate a turboprop Q-400 from Dehradun to Delhi using this sustainable alternative fuel. If the test passes off successfully, the aircraft — powered by a mix of conventional air turbine fuel and biofuel — will operate a flight to Delhi. The biofuel for the flight has been developed by Indian Institute of Petroleum, Dehradun. The made-in-India alternative fuel has acquired all statutory clearances, including those from designated testing labs and the Directorate General ... Read more

The wait for air passengers to avail in-flight connectivity within the country’s airspace is about to get over as the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has said that it is in the final stages of rolling out the norms for inflight connectivity license for the airlines operating in the country. According to a report, once the inflight connectivity license norms are rolled out, the DoT will give service options to the airlines and telecom operators in the country within two months. This means that if everything goes well, the Telecom Commission would allow in-flight connectivity as soon as October this year. ... Read more

Operations of the Kochi International Airport will resume on 29th August 2018 at 2:00 PM. It was decided by the authorities after a review meeting held yesterday.  The circular issued by CIAL on 22nd August states that three more days will be required to make the airport fully functional. Earlier it was declared to resume operations from 26th August. As per the circular, the date was extended as most of their staff got affected with the floods and they are out of station. Furthermore, hotels, restaurants and eateries around the airport are still closed. Communication, logistics facilities etc. are yet ... Read more

Since Kerala’s busiest airport, the Kochi International Airport, remain closed due to the floods, additional services will be operated from Thiruvananthapuram Airport. As per the authorities, 36 international and 12 domestic services will be operated today. Additional flights are mostly to the Middle East region. Meanwhile, 70 seater small aircrafts have started operating from Kochi naval base since yesterday. Currently, AllianceAir is flying to Bengaluru and Coimbatore from Kochi. Indigo is also planning to begin operations from Kochi soon. Resuming of services from the Kochi International Airport is still uncertain. As per the previous circular, it will remain closed until ... Read more

Aviation regulator, Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has asked domestic airlines to operate additional flights to Kerala and cap fares as the state is affected by one of the worst floods in the history of the state. The flood situation has forced its busiest airport in Kochi to shut operations till August 26. The DGCA after holding talks with the carriers, said it is constantly monitoring airfares on 32 direct routes operating to/from Thiruvananthapuram, Kozhikode, Coimbatore and Mangalore. “Spike in airfare on a few routes have been observed. Airlines concerned have been advised to cap the airfare on these ... Read more

Jet Airways has announced that it will operate additional flights from Thiruvananthapuram, since the water clogged airport of Kochi is still not suitable for operating normal flights. “We are committed in our support to the people impacted due to #KeralaFloods and sincerely hope the situation stabilises soon”, tweeted the airline. The additional domestic flights announced are as follows: From August 19th to 26th – Mumbai to Trivandrum at 10:40, Trivandrum to Mumbai at 13:25, Bengaluru to Trivandrum at 10:30, Trivandrum to Bengaluru at 12:35. From August 21st and 22nd – Mumbai to Trivandrum at 13:30 and Trivandrum to Mumbai at ... Read more

AirAsia X has launched flights between Kuala Lumpur and Amritsar. The evening flights, D7188 and D7189, will operate four times per week on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays. Passengers from 15 cities, including Bali, Melbourne, Sydney, Singapore and Bangkok, will be able to connect (via Kuala Lumpur) to Amritsar alongside existing routes to New Delhi and Jaipur using AirAsia’s Fly-Thru service. “We are excited to bring the AirAsia experience to Amritsar for the very first time. Amritsar is of significant interest to tourists thanks to the Harmandir Sahib (The Golden Temple) and the city’s numerous historic and cultural sites. Following ... Read more

Qatar Airways Cargo has come forward to help to the flood ridden state of Kerala by announcing to deliver urgent relief aid. The relief aid will be delivered to the affected areas via the airline’s passenger service from Doha to Thiruvananthapuram. “We have received earnest requests from the Indian community residing in Qatar seeking support to transport relief aid to Southern Kerala, where many of their families and relatives are affected by the worst flood in a century,” said Guillaume Halleux, Chief Officer Cargo, Qatar Airways. Free transportation of relief goods from Doha to Trivandrum will be operated on their ... Read more

Commercial flight operations resumed in Kochi  today, 20th August 2018, morning from the INS Garuda naval air station.  An Alliance Air flight, which took off from Bengaluru, was the first flight landed in the naval airstrip.  Alliance Air is a subsidiary of the state-run carrier Air India. Other airlines are also likely to fly to Kochi. A joint team of the centre and the civil aviation ministry gave the go-ahead for the flight operations at the Navy’s air station in Kochi, since the Kochi International Airport has been closed followed by rain and flood in the state. The airport will remain ... Read more

Emirates has introduced new toys from the Emirates Fly with Me collection and Lonely Planet Kids activity kit bags for children travelling in all classes. The new range of toys will come in the top four favourite characters, as voted by customers and fans in a social media competition held last year. Of the 17 characters Emirates introduced on board in the last three years, the top four characters chosen for the new products are Lewis the Lion, Peek U the Panda, Ernie the Penguin, and Savanna the Elephant. The new collection will be on board all flights and across ... Read more

Singapore Airlines (SIA) said it will be replacing its Boeing B777 with B787-10 on the Delhi-Singapore route by the end of October with an aim to increase seat capacity from India.  The SIA 787-10s are configured with 337 seats compared to the previous aircraft which had 266 seats. With these 71 seats extra, the capacity will increase by 10 [er cent. “To promote Boeing 787-10 services, we are also announcing special premium economy and business class fares to San Francisco and Los Angeles (Rs 88,000 & Rs 188,000, respectively),” said David Lim, Singapore Airlines, General Manager-India. SIA also plans to operate the ... Read more

Vistara became the first airline to launch new flights to Trivandrum to evacuate passengers stuck in Kerala due to floods caused by unprecedented rains. “We are operating special flights to TRV (Trivandrum) in view of COK (Kochi) airport closure for the next three days. Flights will operate from DEL and MAA (Chennai). We do not normally operate to TRV, and have made special arrangements,” Vistara’s chief strategy and commercial officer tweeted today. Vistara does not operate to Trivandrum currently and has launched this flight after the airport was shut today due to floods. The operations from Kochi airport, where the airline ... Read more

Jet Airways has announced a ‘Seat Select’ sale that offers the airline’s guests an exclusive opportunity to select their preferred seats by just paying a flat, nominal fee while travelling across the airline’s domestic network of 45 destinations. The offer is also open for international guests looking to enjoy their preferred seating while traveling with Jet Airways for their onward journey in India. As part of the limited period offer, effective 16th August – 31st August, 2018, Economy guests can select any seat of their choice for a flat fee of Rs 200 only regardless of the date of travel. ... Read more

In mid-2017, the Department of Home Affairs (HA), formerly the Department of Immigration and Border Protection, extended online lodgement of visitor visa applications to all Indian nationals. The online application process provides a more convenient option for Indians looking to visit Australia, by allowing them to apply for their Australian tourist visa within the comfort of their home, without any biometric requirement or physically submitting their passport to the Department. In an age where travellers are increasingly self-reliant in planning and booking holidays, the e-lodgement facility allows tourists greater independence when planning a trip to Australia and has proved to ... Read more