Airline update...

Yes yes... after a long break we're back... and in due time to announce (though by now its just old news... but I think its stature is such that it deserves a mention) that the first Airbus A380 has been delivered to Singapore Airlines who promptly put it to use on their Sydney route. And they've ordered it with a really spruced up interior...



In the meantime Jet Airways of India has been launching new routes on as it looks to expand its international operations to the West. The carrier currently operates flights to New York(both JFK and Newark) and Toronto, Canada from 3 Indian cities (New Delhi, Mumbai & Chennai). All flights have a stop at Brussels, Belgium which is the airliners hub in Europe. Within the past week an exclusive lounge was unveiled at the Brussels airport for Jet Airways' First and Premiere Class passengers.

Other routes in the pipeline are Shanghai(China), San Francisco (US) and Johannesburg (South Africa) pending delivery of new widebody aircraft orders from both Boeing and Airbus.

The airline is also waiting for approval from the Indian government to fly to several locations in the Gulf region which is a popular destination for Indian nationals.

Victory to Team India...

At Trent Bridge, Nottingham! Not often you hear that... And convincingly too, by a margin of 7 wickets... match scorecard

Cricinfo adds...
'The victory means India have now won at least one Test in ten of their last 12 tours, but have only won two of those series against a team other than Bangladesh or Zimbabwe. With the last Test at The Oval - a venue which has traditionally produced belters - India have an excellent opportunity to go on and get that rare overseas series victory.'



The next step will be to maintain it... consistency doesn't come easily...



A decent effort to shrug off their poor touring record which has been the main stumbling block in the overall rankings for the subcontinent.


The match photos... Zaheer Khan, Man of the match took a fiver in the 2nd innings.
A rare sight in the past, Sourav and Sachin actually running between the wickets in a Test!
Livewire DK (Dinesh Karthik) celebrates a catch...



Images courtesy: Cricinfo.com

Back to the airlines...

Just an alert to South African residents that Indian carrier Jet airways plans to fly to Johannesburg as of November this year. Times of India article

Kingfisher (International Ops)

Yes indeed… Kingfisher have big plans… Plans to become an international carrier between the lucrative western markets to the subcontinent. According to Indian law an airline can only apply to operate internationally after a proven 5 year domestic track record and a fleet of over 20 aircraft. Kingfisher is so keen to get started as soon as their widebody orders come through that they have been considering all alternatives to begin international operations asap… They’ve contemplated starting a US based airline by the same name (such restrictions to establish an international airline don’t exist in the US) and most recently they acquired a 23% stake in their domestic counterpart Deccan airways, this gives them majority stake in Deccan and ticket fares will most probably go up to prevent further losses for Deccan… However since Deccan was established before Kingfisher this now means that they should be able to commence international operations within 6 months if all goes to plan.

Kingfisher really mean business… they’ve got 5 airbus A380 on order (with the option of 5 more)… yes, that’s the super jumbo that’ll be the largest passenger aircraft when it is released. Recently they had one flown to India to commemorate their 2nd Anniversary since the airline started. However due to the production delays and issues experienced with this new Airbus model Kingfisher can only expect to take delivery of theirs’ after 2011. They indeed to begin international operations with the A340 aircrafts they have on order which should be ready much sooner. Latest info is that Kingfisher is set to make another widebody aircraft order (most prob Airbus A340-600) at the Paris Air Show in a couple of weeks. Kingfisher intend to offer top class service building on the reputation they have set on their domestic offerings and plan to employ an entirely international flight crew sourced from the US and Eastern Europe… They became only the second airline to be a sponsor in Formula 1 when they signed a deal to sponsor the Toyota F1 team for the 2007 season (and building on this they indeed to provide live F1 coverage on their flights! )

When they do receive their new aircraft they intend to launch non-stop flights from India to the US (one probable route is Bangalore – San Francisco) as the latest aircraft are able to have much longer fuel ranges than previous generation models.

Kingfisher Airlines

Let's kick off with Kingfisher my personal choice for air travel in india... Why? I hear u ask, the answers are pretty simple.

The one time I was able travel on Kingfisher (on a standard economy class ticket) I was whisked from the airport entrance by a dude in a red blazer to their counter, he even pushed my trolley for me (this was in India!) after a prompt check-in procedure I could spend a few more precious moments bidding farewell to loved ones before I had to go through the gates (quite a contrast to the usual where one has to wait in a queue hoping that you won't have issues with luggage weight and that sort of thing).


Secondly Kingfisher which was launched in just 2005 only purchases new aircraft and this means you get to travel in a fleet that is still very new (they're still to receive the bulk of their orders). Kingfisher were the first domestic Indian airliner to launch a First class service and their aircraft are well-specced with in-flight entertainment options even for the economy (Kingfisher) class. Services such as personalized video screens and headphones broadcasting 5 video channels of the trendy FUN TV and the exclusive Kingfisher Radio - 10 channels of chartbusting music from across the globe, and individual moving map on the personalized video screen which continually keeps track of your aircraft's altitude and speed, as well as flight time remaining to keep you on top of things at all times are noteworthy for a domestic flight in any country (so in India, they're damn impressive).

In addition the luggage restrictions are reasonable, the onboard cuisine is more than satisfactory, the crew are professional (..and good looking ;) and the ticket prices are comparable to other carriers. These are the factors that draw me when I'm trying decide which flight to choose. Ahh... Go Ahead and 'Fly the Good Times' :)



About Kingfisher Airlines

Kingfisher Airlines is India's first and only private airline to receive the prestigious, 'Best New Airline of the Year' award in the Asia-Pacific and Middle East region from Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA). Kingfisher Airlines has also been voted as the 3rd Most Successful Brand Launch of the Year 2005, in the annual Brand Derby Survey conducted by India's leading business daily-Business Standard. In another Survey conducted by agencyfaqs.com, Kingfisher Airlines was voted as the 8th Buzziest Brand of 2006 amongst 2000 leading national and international brands. Kingfisher Airlines has also bagged the "Service Excellence for a New Airline" award from Skytrax, a UK based specialist global air transport advisor.

Another addition to the list of laurels is the "Best New Domestic Airline for Excellent Services and Cuisine" award from Pacific Area Travel Writers Association (PATWA). In a survey conducted by IMB for the Times of India, 46% of the participants voted Kingfisher Airlines 'The Best Airline" and "India's Favourite Carrier". Kingfisher Airlines has also won the “Brand Leadership Award” in the service and hospitality segment against several acclaimed hotels, leading banks and other airlines. Lastly Kingfisher Airlines won the Economic Times Avaya Award for Excellence in “Customer Responsiveness” for 2006. The Award is highly acclaimed and is presented by India’s largest selling Economic daily, “Economic Times. For more information on Kingfisher Airlines log on to flykingfisher.com. Fly the Good Times with Kingfisher Airlines.

[Airbus photo obtained from airliners.net]

The (new) Indian aviation industry...

And keeping in line with my new theme of providing interesting stuff that I think might interest you; I've decided to post a few items on the recent boom in the air travel industry in the motherland.

Here's a quick question to get you thinking:

Q: How many domestic airline carriers are in operation in India today? Care to name them...

A: I only realised the scale of growth on my recent visits in 2005 and 2006. A quick check on Wikipedia reveals the following list:
* 1 Air Sahara (now taken over by Jet Airways and soon to be rebadged 'JetLite')
* 2 Jet Airways
* 3 Air India Express
* 4 Alliance Air
* 5 Paramount Airways
* 6 Indus Airways
* 7 Air Deccan
* 8 Go Air
* 9 IndiGo Airlines
*10 Kingfisher Airlines
*11 Spicejet
*12 Jagson Airlines

Yes that's 12 domestic carriers in operation today. Just four years ago, before India liberalised aviation, there were only three main domestic airlines!

Here's a piece I read somewhere on the net... 'During the financial year 2005 - 06, India's civil aviation industry achieved the biggest ever growth in aircraft movement and passenger traffic. Passenger traffic in the domestic airports increased by 22.3 per cent to 59.54 million, while aircraft movement increased by 14.2 per cent to 730 000.'

India is now the fastest growing aviation market in the world according to a recent article by the BBC.

The next couple of posts will take a closer look at specific airlines that have been making the headlines of late.

iGoogle

Ever heard of iGoogle? Browse to google.com and have a look on the top right hand corner, you'll probably see a link that plainly reads 'iGoogle'.

iGoogle which was previously known as 'Personalized google homepage' is a way to customise your google page with all sorts of information that you frequently access on the net (by clicking on 'personalised home' once in iGoogle). From your mail, news, sport and even weather; all these can be added in the form of 'gadgets' to your personal iGoogle. You'll have to sign in with your gmail login (whats that... you don't have a gmail account?! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN all this time! Tsk tsk) and then you can search from hundreds (probably thousands of gadgets). Probably a good idea to save your login details (if you're using a private connection) and set your iGoogle as your homepage :)

Go ahead, try it out if you haven't already done so and if you're a regular on the net then you'll surely find it worthwhile.

Zamzar???

Zamzar is a free online file conversion site... and its brilliant. No need to register on the site, no cost involved and its legal; its plain, simple to use and very handy indeed!

Convert document, image, audio or video files (up to a size of 100MB) to another format. For example you can convert a Microsoft Word document (including the new 'docx' MS Word 2007 format) to 'pdf'; or a '3gp' (popular cellphone recording format) file to 'mpg' format. See the full list of available conversion formats here.

New Indian cricket kit on sale now...

The latest ODI kit for the 2007/08 season of team India by Nike is available on Amazon for $99 and from Cricshop (by cricinfo) for 40 pounds.

How safe is your car ???

Ever wondered how safe you and your loved ones would be in the event of a motor accident. Do various makes of vehicles offer various levels of safety and if so is the difference really tangible? The short answer to this question is YES! In fact, its so important there's an institute whose sole purpose is to assess the safety of new cars. You might have heard of it, Euro NCAP (thats pronounced 'n~cap'), based in Brussels, Belgium. They've come up with a system of rating cars according to how safe they are. There are various tests conducted (for example a frontal head on collision into a cement block at 64 km/h), more detail on this as well as test results for specific car models are available at www.euroncap.com. Oh, also note that your car's model (ie year of manufacture) will most likely have a different rating to a different generation of the same make (as in when a new model is introduced with a new shape this car's safety rating will usually be different to the previous model) with safety standards improving with newer models generally. So make sure you check the correct period of your model.