karatecatman wrote:

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Unconfirmed reports are that Airbus may be helping in training and simulator training for flight and maintenace crew while the training for cabin crew will be at IA's centre at Hyderabad. 

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karatecatman wrote:

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Unconfirmed reports are that Airbus may be helping in training and simulator training for flight and maintenace crew while the training for cabin crew will be at IA's centre at Hyderabad. 

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"The two aircraft being leased from a French company are five years old and would be utilised to operate flights to international destinations in Europe and expand our services to existing and new destinations in the Far East. The routes on which the aircraft are to be deployed are yet to be firmed up," official sources told Business Line.

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Clues to search for the French company that is leasing the 2A330s to IA.

There are five French companies that operate regular flights and are IATA members.

Four have, surprisingly, 2 A330-200s. And all are less than 5 years old and have full IFE in 2-class. 

The fifth Company is Air France, but that can be ruled out.

The companies are:

Aircalin (Air Caledonie International) is the international airline of New Caledonia and is based at Nouméa. It operates scheduled services to 10 regional destinations, reaching as far as Japan. Its main base is La Tontouta International Airport, Nouméa. Air Caledonie is the domestic airline for New Caledonia.

Air Caraïbes is the regional airline of the French Caribbean which comprises the overseas departments of France: Guadeloupe and Martinique. The airline is based in Pointe-à-Pitre in Guadeloupe. It operates scheduled and charter services and now also operates transatlantic flights to Paris using Airbus A330 aircraft. Its main base is Pointe-à-Pitre International Airport, with a hub at Le Lamentin Airport, Fort-de-France.

Corsairfly is an airline based in France. It was formerly known as Corsair. It operates international charter air services worldwide, serving over 60 destinations in Europe, the French overseas territories, Africa, North America and Southeast Asia. The hub airport of Corsair is Orly Airport, Paris.

Star Airlines is an airline based in Paris, France, and dedicated to tourist traffic. Its main hub is at Charles de Gaulle International Airport. The carrier operates scheduled flights mainly to long-haul destinations in Africa and the Middle East and charter flights to medium-haul destinations in the Mediterranean, and it also serves destinations to the Caribbean. Star Airlines is now owned by the Avion Group of Iceland.

All these companies seem to operate regular and chartered flights from Paris to the favourite French haunts in the Indian Ocean -- Mauritius and Seychelles. 

  

the_380 wrote:

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AKLDELNonstop wrote:

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Dude i had heard from an IC pilot tht the had got slots at LGW. So I am assuming they'd be going there.

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Ur right they are planning to operate a frequency of 4 days a week. They didnt get slots at LHR

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I read a note today attached to the Indian Airlines Notice Board at the Hyderabad Airport that said they are planning to lease 2 A330s and planning to start flying to London. Now I know this memo is a little old as the deal seems to be finalised now, but they clearly mention London as their destination.

Just thought you guys should know...

aM

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/2070154.cms
Fear of loss: Indian to rethink UK flying plan
Byas Anand
[ 2 Oct, 2006 2351hrs ISTTIMES NEWS NETWORK ]
 
 
RSS Feeds| SMS NEWS to 8888 for latest updates

NEW DELHI: The cut-throat competition in the India-UK route and resultant red mark in rival Jet Airways' balance sheet is now giving the state-owned Indian Airlines cold feet.

Indian is re-examining plans for operating flights to London, and is instead looking at cruising into emerging and more profitable destinations like South Africa, Australia and Hong Kong.

"The yields on the India-UK route have been falling and it is now turning into a financially unviable sector for any new entrant. So, we may not look at flying into London, at least not as yet," a senior airline official told ToI.

"However, passenger yields on other sectors, like Johannesburg, Australia and Hong Kong are much better and improving. So, we may now look at deploying our aircraft that were earlier planned to be put on the India-London route, on these emerging sectors instead because of certainty of profitability," the official said.

The airline had planned to operate flights to London using two Airbus A330 aircraft it is set to lease.

The firm has already set up a special committee under its commercial department to assess the feasibility of operating on the London route. The committee will also explore the viability of emerging international destinations.

This committee will shortly meet airport authorities, travel agents, ground handling agents and even other airlines in these countries to understand the cost of operation and tourism packages that can be offered to passengers.

"The airline will talk to travel agents to frame some packaged deals, particularly for South Africa, which is emerging as a hot tourist spot," the official said.

"A final decision of which new international routes will be operated by Indian will be taken after the committee's report is properly analysed," the official added.

In any case, these new international operations are expected to start only in the winter of 2007 as it is scheduled to take delivery of the first A330 in June next year, followed by the second aircraft in October.

For the initial few months after the delivery of the first aircraft, the A330 is expected to be deployed on some of Indian Airlines' existing domestic and international routes like Mumbai-Chennai-Singapore, and Mumbai-Calicut-Middle East.

Meanwhile, Indian has succeeded in reducing its entire insurance premium burden by as much as $5 million or 31% over the previous year.

Public sector New India Assurance Company has been selected for providing a coverage worth $750 million.

"The 31% reduction (in the premium) is for the entire fleet of Indian and its feeder subsidiary Alliance Air," an official said adding that the valuation of the aged Boeing 737s and the A-300s have been rationalised and reduced. Indian Airlines today has a fleet of 56 planes, while Alliance has another 17 aircraft.

I would prefer IC flying to SA and Australia rather than UK.

Secondly cougar IC has already planned for the replacement for its A300s afaik its gonna be a A320 temporarily till its replaced by IC's owned brand new A321s. Thats the largest aircraft they've ordered so far.

There is a strong possibilty of IC not operating to UK, SA or Australia and deploying A333 on Middle East for a longer time but as for IC leasing or buying more wide bodies is currently hypothetical and as for whatever IC has released in the media it states its desire to operate the A330s on routes to SA and Aus but NOT Middle East and evaluating their current fleet including those on order except for the A330s "to come" the A321s are the largest after A300s so its definate they will use A321s on these routes. Otherwise if heaven blesses IC and it gets some more wide bodies

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2006/10/30/stories/2006103003431000.htm

Indian mulls Gujarat-UK flight

Ashwini Phadnis

Flight to Birmingham on cards

New Delhi , Oct 29

The Indian diaspora living in the interiors of the UK could soon have the option of flying with another Indian carrier.

Indian is evaluating the option of operating to Birmingham with the leased Airbus A-330 aircraft that are to soon be inducted into its fleet.

"Birmingham is one of the cities being considered along with destinations in Australia, South Africa and China. Our teams have visited the cities and a decision on which routes the A-330 aircraft would be deployed is expected soon," a senior airline official told Business Line.

As part of the study the airline is also examining the possibility of operating on the Gujarat-Birmingham route as several requests have been received from the Gujarati community both in the UK and India, sources said.

The airline was earlier evaluating the option of deploying the Airbus A-330 aircraft on the India-London sector. However, there was a rethink in the airline mainly on account of drop in yields and intense competition on the India-Heathrow route.

Currently, Air India and Jet Airways operate regular flights from various cities in India to Heathrow, while British Airways and Virgin Atlantic operate regular flights from Heathrow to various Indian cities.

The intense competition on the route has seen return fares drop to as low as Rs 18,000.

Air India, however, is the only airline from India and the UK side to operate regular services to Birmingham.

With the news about the new designed look for Air India's interiors being put on hold, and then this about IA evaluating the routes for the A330, the confusion over the AI-IA merger is getting crazy. Accenture says there should be an evaluation of the route structure, and now IA talks of flying long distance!!! IA management is going ahead with its plans while the Ministry is saying something totally different. 

Cougar,

Are you so confident that IA will be around? Seeing the latest news items, I think I need to take a day off.

Really depressed to know that the GoI is thinking of a new corporate identity and new colours for a merged airline. This might be a real mess. Hope they have thought this through.