AI now 5 times weekly CCU-LHR-CCU - Airliners-India

B772 · Member

AI now 5 times weekly CCU-LHR-CCU

Aseem · Member

typical question! where are they getting planes from?

Nimish · Member

{sarcastic}There's something wrong here, there can't be a market beyond BOM and DEL. THis is a conspiracy {/sarcastic}.

Glad to see AI waking up to the fact that India is larger than BOM/DEL!

HAWK21M · Member

Are the loads ex CCU that good.

regds

MEL

B772 · Member

The loads ex CCU must be good becoz it is extremely difficult to get a confirmed seat on AI or BA. These flights are always full.AI has been overbooked regularly.Infact their last flight was again overbooked by 23 pax.BA is averaging 90-95% loads.Infact even EK and GF are performing exceedingly well. EK has been oversold on 8 out of their last 10 flights and GF on 3 out of last 4 flights.This morning there were huge ques at the security hold of the airprot with more than 300 pax waiting to check into the BA flight. This evening's EK flight is completely sold out in first,business and economy and tomorrow morning they are oversold in economy.

JumboJet · Member

Sounds like a rosogulla

Sweet and nice for AI.

karatecatman · Member

If only Air India did its research and had a direct flight from South India (Chennai mainly) to the West!!!

Currently its a BA and LH dominated show with EK close behind.

PALatYWG · Member

B772 wrote:

The times of India reports that AI will add 2 weekly services on CCU-LHR-CCU route to make it now 5 times weekly.This will be effective winter 2006.

B772,would be great if you provide the link.

The increase in frequency is welcome news. And a few issues are at play here:

-Biman is going thru their worst possible time in terms of schedule, customer confidence and safety. AI is getting a lot of those unhappy passengers. DAC-CCU-LHR is ideal for some Bangladeshis since a majority of them has some connection at CCU. AI's current routing gives them the opportunity to stop over at CCU.

- Loads on AI would have been even bigger if these flights had a smooth connection to AI's LHR-JFK or LHR-ORD flights (let alone other numerous possibilities with AC, UA etc). I tried to buy a tkt (AC/AI combination) for YYZ-CCU-YYZ recently but agent couldn't sell it because the connection time for YYZ-LHR-CCU was under 1 hour!

- As far as Aircraft is concerned, I read somewhere AI was leasing one more (I guess 5th) 777 from one Kwait Leasing co( is that the 4th one?). If that happens then I guess it will be used for 2 addl frequency on ATQ-YYZ sector (as announced recently by one AI official in the US) and another 2 on DAC-CCU-LHR sector.

Let's hope AI regains it's past glory!

himmat01 · Member

Slightly off topic.

Do Bangaldeshi nationals require a transit visa to transit through Calcutta?

Nimish · Member

himmat01 wrote:

Slightly off topic.

Do Bangaldeshi nationals require a transit visa to transit through Calcutta?

From Timatic:

Transit visa requirements for INDIA (IN) for Bangladesh nationals:


Visa not required provided holding:
- confirmed onward ticket for next destination on first available flight and not leaving the airport transit area;
OR
- a PIO (Person of Indian Origin) card.

Non-compliance with transit regulations result in deportation to point of origin on same or first available flight.

B772 · Member

Strangely no link on the above subject can be found.However pick up the TOI Kolkata edition of 1st September and the article can be found.

himmat01 · Member

Nimish,

Thanks for the information.

regards,
Himmat

Nimish · Member

BTW - this is the KLM Visa Website (powered by Timatic) that I use to get 100% authentic visa information. This service has saved me 2 times already from needing to get a visa in advance (did you know that an Indian returning from the US, can take a months' break in S. Korea without a visa or fees!!?).

Karan69 · Member

B772 wrote:
- As far as Aircraft is concerned, I read somewhere AI was leasing one more (I guess 5th) 777 from one Kwait Leasing co( is that the 4th one?). If that happens then I guess it will be used for 2 addl frequency on ATQ-YYZ sector (as announced recently by one AI official in the US) and another 2 on DAC-CCU-LHR sector.

Let's hope AI regains it's past glory!

No mate that lease deal has already occurred ,it is one of the 3 772ER aircraft that AI operates,.

Karan

PALatYWG · Member

V.Thulasidas gave an interview with a bengali daily (anandabazar.com) Sept 19th online edition. Highlights:

- AI carried on an average 250 passengers per flight on DAC-CCU-LHR rtn sector between June-September

- Currently it uses the 777 which has 20 seats more than the other 3 777s. 747 could have been used on this route but they are busy on the Europe/USA route

- Once available, 777LR will be deployed on this route

-AIX will start service to BKK & SIN from CCU this winter provided the Pilot problem gets resolved.

Question:

777LR: Is this a viable option on this route( distance) also do they have more seating capacity than ERs?

vivekman · Member

777-300ER is a better option than the 777-200LR if they want more capacity on the route. The 773ER has a higher seating capacity than the 772LR.

Besides, the 772LR is a specialised aircraft meant for long haul non-stop operations and AI would need it for their India-US non-stop flights. A hop flight like the DAC-CCU-LHR can easily be served by the 773ER.

Maybe AI is planning to deploy the 772LR on a temporary basis till they get enough 773ERs.

PALatYWG wrote:

Question:

777LR: Is this a viable option on this route( distance) also do they have more seating capacity than ERs?