6.84 million air travellers from India using Dubai airports

Dubai Airports (DA), which owns and manages the operations and development of the two airports in Dubai, considers India its topmost market as it accounted for 6.84 million air travellers last year.

Seven airlines, including five from India, were operating into the two airports in Dubai -- Dubai International and Dubai World Central (DWC), from as many as 17 Indian cities, Lorne Riley, Head of Corporate Communications of DA, told reporters here.

He said the maximum number of people travelled on the Mumbai-Dubai route, followed by those from Delhi, Chennai, Hyderabad and Bangalore.
Estimating a major growth in overall passenger traffic, Riley said traffic to Dubai International reached "a historic 50.9 million in 2011 and is projected to cross 56.5 million by this year end, making it the world's fourth busiest airport for international passengers."

Read More

Unruly passenger on IndiGo flight sent to jail

Manoj Virkhare, the drunk passenger who created a ruckus in the IndiGo flight 6E 137, was presented in court by Sonegaon police station on Wednesday and awarded magisterial custody remand (MCR) for seven days.

Virkhare, in a drunken state, caused a lot of commotion on the IndiGo Delhi-Nagpur-Pune flight on Tuesday evening when it landed at Nagpur

Airport. He had boarded the flight in an inebriated condition. Both airlines and airport officials were tight lipped about the whole incident. They even denied the fact that the passenger had been taken into custody. The airline manager for the city refused comment on the incident. Even on Wednesday the airline remained unavailable for comments.

Dileep Bhagde, a co-passenger, had claimed that the authorities were not very keen on taking the matter to the CISF or police. "For some reason, they were trying to protect the drunk passenger," he said. 

Read More

Shock as casket goes 'missing'

A man who thought he was accompanying the body of his dead brother-in-law home to India got a shock when he landed in Trivandrum and was told the casket was nowhere to be found.

The remains of 48-year-old Swaminathan Tulasi were supposed to be repatriated to India on a Bahrain Air flight to Trivandrum International Airport on Monday.

His brother-in-law, identified only as Mr Tyagarajan, thought he was travelling with the body when the plane took off from Bahrain International Airport.

He reportedly didn't know that the casket had been stopped because it had not been properly sealed and sent back to the Salmaniya Medical Complex mortuary.
An Indian Embassy official confirmed there was a problem with the container and the body had to be repackaged before being flown out the following day.

Read More

Women’s World Cup trophy detained at Mumbai airport

In a surprising incident, the 2013 Women’s World Cup trophy replica has been detained by the customs officials at the Mumbai airport on Wednesday. The trophy was brought for a promotional event as the cricket tournament is scheduled in the city early next year.

According to the customs officials, the trophy arrived via baggage from Dubai while

 the rules suggest that it can only be brought into the country through cargo.
The officials also revealed that one needs to seek prior permissions in order to bring the trophy via baggage. As per the regulation, the authorities will have to pay a duty on it.

Also, the BCCI had sent a letter to the customs officials requesting an exemption from taxes. But, the officials said that without documents signifying the approval of the central government, the trophy will not be released.

Read More

Air India-Indian Airlines feud hits 787 training

You may have never been allowed to choose your examiner who will determine whether you fail or pass an exam, but the animosity between pilots of erstwhile Air India and Indian Airlines has for the first time led to such a demand - and that too to fly a brand new plane! The reason: IA pilots claim they want to choose 'fair' AI trainers.

IA pilots 

have so far refused to be trained for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner by AI instructor-examiners and were being taught by Boeing's own trainers. The aircraft manufacturer has prepared a number of AI commanders who can now, in turn, train IA pilots for the Dreamliner.

AI pilots got trained faster as they were flying the similar Boeing-777 aircraft while IA pilots are migrating from the Airbus A-320/330 to Boeing's latest product.
The return of Boeing trainers has sparked a crisis that threatens to put a shadow on training IA pilots for the new plane as more B-787s are poised to join the airline's fleet from next month.

Read More

Niki starts repainting its fleet in Airberlin’s colors

Niki (flyniki.com) (Vienna), as planned, has started repainting its fleet in the 2008 livery of parent Airberlin (Berlin). The distinctive large fly logo (as in flyniki) is being retired. The first to be repainted is the pictured Airbus A320-214 OE-LEU which still retains the Niki oval logo with an added “The Spirit of Niki” inscription.

Read More

SkyTeam welcomes Xiamen Airlines

SkyTeam, the global airline alliance, (November 21) welcomed China’s Xiamen Airlines (Xiamen) as its 19th member. Xiamen Airlines is also the fourth member from Greater China. The airline strengthens SkyTeam’s footprint in China and its overall #1 position in the Greater China Region by adding three new hubs – Xiamen, Fuzhou and Hangzhou – combined with a compreh

ensive domestic and growing international network.

China’s sixth largest carrier, Xiamen Airlines is also one of the world’s most profitable, having posted positive financial results for 26 consecutive years. The airline flies more than 15 million passengers annually to more than 50 cities including Macau, Hong Kong and Taipei. Founded in 1984, it is headquartered in the coastal city of Xiamen in the dynamic province of Fujian. This area of China boasts a thriving and diverse industrial economy as well as a growing tourism market.

Xiamen Airlines’ fast expanding international network includes Southeast and Northeast Asia and the airline has announced plans to launch flights to Europe, North America and Australasia by 2014 after the introduction of the Boeing 787. SkyTeam membership offers Xiamen Airlines’ customers greater connectivity onto international routes from China operated by other alliance members. This includes carriers from the region: China Airlines, China Eastern and China Southern, and nine additional SkyTeam airlines: Aeromexico, Aeroflot, Air France, Alitalia, Delta, Kenya Airways, KLM, Korean Air and Vietnam Airlines.

Read More