Chocks-on….The Week That Was ( 31 AUGUST 2013 )   ISSUE – XI

VOILA !! India – The Hen That Lays the Golden Egg…!!

Yes !! The craze for India & Indians continues…..

Airlines of all types, LCC, Hybrid, and FSC are scrambling to operate into India..

SQ, LH,QR,CX, BA, Turkish are all demanding increase in number of flights….

Now Sri Lanka Airlines plans to increase flights from the current 48 to 60 by 2014 to 70 by 2015….;

Malindo Air- The first International Hybrid airline from Malaysia, all set to call India..

Chinese carriers are increasing operations/ frequencies to  India to a daily operation

Cebu Air, the LCC of Philippines, has obtained permission for operations into Delhi…

…& also the Indians are the most sought after tourists in various countries….

…refer headlines of Chocks-on, issue of 24 August, Issue- X, last week…..

….What they said about Air India…..

Shri Ajit Singh, Minister of Civil Aviation……on B-787…..

.... The Boeing-787 Dreamliner aircraft have proved to be commercially viable as Air India Ltd has earned a surplus of over Rs 18 crore in 52 days of its operation,…..

Shri Rohit Nandan, CMD, Air India……on the escalation of the US Dollar….

…“As far as the escalation of the dollar is concerned, it’s going to impact all of us, but since some parts of our own business is in dollars, therefore we are very well hedged,…Increase in the value of the dollar doesn’t affect Air India as much as it might affect other airlines.”….

Shri Syed Nasir Ali, Dy MD, Air India…..on operations to Australia……

..As traffic grows, I hope that there will be a dedicated plane between Melbourne and Delhi. I am sure it will come,……the response from the travelling public has been overwhelming.. “I am taking that back home – perhaps we need to look at a direct flight. If the demand continues, I am hopeful,……

Shri Chris Woodruff, CEO, Melbourne Airport……

… I think what will happen very soon though is that the demand from Melbourne will very quickly outstrip the demand from Sydney that they are going to have to delink them. I think they are committed to doing that. You’ve got to give it a good few months…..

Shri Nishantha Wickremasinghe, Chairman, Sri Lankan Airlines……

.... "We cover most of the cities in India…."We have not exhausted all the routes given to us under the bilateral agreement and have room to include more destinations,…. "We promote travel within the island-nation as it is cheaper for Indians to go to Sri Lanka compared to other Indian cities for a holiday…..

Shri Arun Mishra, Director General Civil Aviation- on Aviation Blacklist….

…."They have issued an order which we have just received that they have found India compliant and will remove us from significant safety concerns list,"…..

( A very positive development, as it may permit B787 operations into Japan by AI )

Latest B-787 of AI Arrives in New Delhi, on 28 Aug, 2013…..

.... The aircraft after flying non stop for 14 hours 12 minutes, from Paine Field in Washington state, USA, to Delhi, a distance of over 7,200 nautical miles (about 13,350 km) as Air India flight 164 touched down in Delhi on 28 Aug, 2013….

AI spokes person on Air India Regional ( Alliance Air) commencing ops from Mumbai….

..... Alliance Air will be introducing new flights and routes on its network from September 9 from Mumbai…..”, under the banner of AI Regional…

Air India calls for creative pitch…..

Great and good thinking by Air India. Its high time, a professional agency was deployed for Brand Building & Product positioning, in a focussed and a planned manner.

….Our Country cousins & what they did….

Shri Sudhir Raghavan, CCO, Jet Airways- on Jets new flight to Singapore from BOM……

….“With the introduction of this additional flight, we aim to provide our guests seamless connectivity to points across Asia, Australia and New Zealand from Singapore. The new flight would also help in connecting our guests flying into Mumbai from Jet Airways’ extended network to Singapore and beyond……

Shri Mittu Chandilya, CEO, Air Asia India…..

..... "Tony is the driving force behind the operations, but having someone like Ratan Tata on the board is amazing."….. "When people say I was a model (in college, to pay for education) and a consultant, they get it right….

Jet Airways may do away with the low cost model…..

…“The plan is to start giving free meals to passengers like it was earlier on JetKonnect and bring the airline at par with Jet Airways in all respects,” …..“This will be one of the many steps towards aligning with Etihad.”…..

( Good idea !! Its better to sail on one boat, and consolidate brand strength, rather than dispersing the resources, and yet not getting optimised in any one…..)

….Quicklets ….in a jiffy…..

Ancilliary  Revenues in the LCC : Hawaiin Airlines, for inflight entertainment offer iPads to passengers at US$ 15/-…

Ethiopian orders a further  8 Boeing 787’s for its fleet…..

Spice Jet to start Pune- Sharjah service from late Sep 2013…

Norwegians Long Haul LCC, B-787, sets new benchmarks in LCC, IFE space….

Emirates airline plans to more than double its network of US destinations in the next three to five years to a total of 15 US cities, up from seven currently, a company official said….

A CNN Anchor Is On A Mission To Ban Babies From Business Class 

Air India to sell off its prestigious residential properties in Mumbai to raise funds…

Finally, Air India Touched down in Sydney & Melbourne, amidst a rousing welcome of water jets and traditional Indian folk dances, with the virtual ‘ who-is-who’  of the Aviation industry present to welcome the flight.

Another first for Air India was, its B-787, which was the first ever to land in Australia, giving AI the distinction of being the first operator of this aircraft into Australia.

Another first for Air India’s B-787 operation into Australia was, that it was the longest commercial flight operated with a B-787 by Air India, on its B-787 network.

WELL DONE – AIR INDIA !!!

With this, we sign off for the week !

Wishing You and Your families, a Wonderful Weekend  !!!!

Our Credo….”Network & Be Informed “

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