SpiceJet's hub in Kolkata to start more flights

KOLKATA: SpiceJet will make Kolkata its hub both for domestic and international flights, airline chairman & managing director Ajay Singh said on Monday . The city will be the low cost carrier's third hub after Delhi and Hyderabad and will be a base for both Boeing B 737-800 and Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 aircraft. Emerging from a meeting with chief minister Mamata Banerjee, Singh who had started the airline in 2004 and scripted its turnaround after it went into a tailspin and crash-landed in 2014, said the airline was now ready for expansion and had decided to start with Kolkata as the mar ket was under-served and offered great potential.

"We are looking at expanding domestic and international network from Kolkata. In the immediate future, departures will go up 40% from 15 to 21. Apart from adding two more frequencies to Guwahati, we will connect to Aizwal, Sil char and Gorakhpur from October 4. We will also connect Vizag and Jaipur from November-December. The CM has requested for connec tions to Durgapur and Bhubaneswar. We will examine the former proposal but the latter looks feasible," Singh said.

While Bombardier aircraft will be used for regional connections, Jaipur and Vizag markets are likely to be serviced by Boeing planes.

Apart from the surge in regional connectivity, SpiceJet is also firming up plans to increase its international operations from Kolkata that is currently restricted to a daily Bangkok flight. The airline plans to increase the frequency on the Kolkata-Bangkok sector to twice daily from December and daily to Dhaka and Chittagong with Bombardier from the same month.

"We are also evaluating flights to Yangon, Dubai and Sharjah from Kolkata. There is a good demand for low-cost flights to these cities from Kolkata," said Singh. At present, full service carriers Emirates, Qatar and Etihad operate to the Gulf.

The issue of exemption of landing and parking charges for sub-80 seater regional aircraft at Kolkata airport. Though a policy exists, it is not enforced in metro airports. Offering her assurance, Mamata said her government would extend full support to the airline.

She also requested Singh to introduce a direct flight to Europe and Far East from Kolkata. Speaking to TOI, the airline boss said the airline did not have planes to do the distance. "We will continue to explore possibility in shorthaul flights in a 4-hour radius. That restricts us to West and South-East Asia," Singh pointed out.

27 new cities including Thane in Smart City list

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Lok Sabha constituency Varanasi along with holy cities of Amritsar and Ajmer has made it to the list of 27 smart cities announced on Tuesday.

Under the Smart City Mission, the government aims to have 100 smart cities by 2022. Sixty have been chosen so far, including 20 in January and 13 in May this year. The remaining will be picked by 2018.

The residents of the cities which are selected under the mission, will enjoy uninterrupted power and water supply, Internet connectivity, e-governance along with quality infrastructure.

"I am happy to inform that the transformational Smart City Plan is running ahead of schedule. In the latest round of selection, we have shortlisted 27 cities under this plan," Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu told reporters in New Delhi.

For these 27 cities, the proposed investment will be Rs 66,883 crore (Rs 668.83 billion), he said.

With this new batch of 27 cities, the mission has spread to 27 states and only nine states are left out. In this round of competition, Nagaland and Sikkim have made it to the implementation stage of the mission.

In the latest round of selection, five cities are from Maharashtra including Thane, Kalyan and Nagpur, four each from Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, three from poll-bound Uttar Pradesh, two each from Punjab, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh and one each from Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Gujarat, Nagaland and Sikkim.

Amritsar scored the highest marks while almost half of the shortlisted cities are from NDA-ruled states.

Under the mission, each city will receive central assistance of Rs 200 crore (Rs 2 billion) in the first year and Rs 100 crore (Rs 1 billion) over the three subsequent financial years.

IndiGo plans new domestic flights in mid-Sep 2016

IndiGo this week expands domestic operations from Delhi, with a total of 7 daily flights being added on various markets. From 12SEP16, planned new flights as follow.

Delhi – Bhubaneswar NEW 3rd daily flight
Delhi – Chandigarh NEW 2nd daily flight
Delhi – Jammu NEW 3rd daily flight
Delhi – Kolkata NEW 12th daily flight
Delhi – Nagpur NEW 5th daily flight
Delhi – Ranchi NEW 4th daily flight
Delhi – Vadodara NEW 4th daily flight
Kolkata – Bhubaneswar NEW 4th daily flight 
Mumbai – Thiruvananthapuram NEW 2nd daily flight (launched on 10SEP16)

SriLankan Airlines plans Lahore service from Sep 2016

SriLankan Airlines later this month is introducing expanded service to Pakistan, which sees the offering of Colombo – Lahore route. From 27SEP16, the oneWorld member plans to operate this route twice a week, with Airbus A320 aircraft.

UL185 CMB2010 – 2335LHE 320 24
UL186 LHE0035 – 0505CMB 320 35

This service is currently scheduled until 28OCT16.

Air India Express Flight from Sharjah given water salute on landing, brings 129 passengers

THE MUCH-AWAITED first international flight from Chandigarh finally took off from the city to Sharjah (UAE) on Thursday evening, carrying more than 180 passengers, including a delegation led by Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal.

Earlier, the same flight landed at the airport, bringing 129 passengers from Sharjah to the city.

The flight was given a water salute by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) as soon as it landed around 5 pm. The passengers were received by Union Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal, chairman and managing director of Air India Ashwani Lohani and other senior officers.

On Thursday afternoon, as the passengers travelling in the first flight started arriving at the international departure gates, the excitement was quite visible. Those who lined up for the flight included families and business delegations.

“I cannot express my happiness,” said Modan Singh Gill, a businessman from Ludhiana who is now settled in Sharjah. “With this flight, now I can travel more frequently as the travelling time has reduced.”

A group of 12 friends too travelled in the first international flight. “It is a different experience,” said Ashok Kumar, a businessman who along with 11 friends went on holiday and will come back on September 19. “We had decided to travel in the first flight only.”

Some passengers went in hope to get sponsors for their start-ups. “People abroad are looking at start-ups in India. So I am travelling with the hope to meet some people in UAE,” said K S Bhatia, who heads a start-up and was in one of the business delegations travelling in the flight.

The flight from Sharjah brought 129 passengers to the city airport from UAE. At 5.35 pm, as the passengers came out at the arrival hall, they had nice words for the authorities for starting the much-needed flight. “This flight has saved my time. Earlier, I used to go to Delhi or Amritsar,” said Paramjeet Singh, a businessman and a city resident. “The flight experience was very good and I am happy.”

The flight, most passengers maintained, would save time of those belonging to Punjab. “At least I won’t face the traffic jams of Delhi. Now there is a direct flight to Chandigarh which is superb,” said a passenger.

A proud moment for the pilots

THE FIRST international flight was a historic moment for the City Beautiful. It was also a proud moment for both the pilots of the aircraft as they belonged to Chandigarh. After the arrival of the first flight, 32-year-old Guruchetan Verdi said that the first flight to the city was nice. “It is a proud moment for me because I am flying the flight to Sharjah,” Verdi, the co-pilot of the aircraft, told Chandigarh Newline. Commander of the aircraft Satinder Singh too belongs to the city.

The new terminal constructed at a cost of Rs 1,400 crore was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 11, 2015.

Union Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju on Thursday inaugurated the executive lounge at the airport. A statement said it was a new venture of CITCO, allotted by the Airports Authority of India. “The minister appreciated the efforts put in by the CITCO staff in ensuring that the passengers are given best of the services,” it said.

3 days a week

The Air India Express flight will operate three days a week: Monday, Thursday and Saturday. The next international flight will be from Chandigarh (IXC) to Dubai (DXB). A daily flight, it will start on September 26.

Brussels Airlines adds Mumbai service from March 2017

Brussels airlines earlier this week has opened reservation for planned Brussels – Mumbai route, previously announced by the airline. In the report filed on Monday (05SEP16), it was stated that this 5 weekly flights will commence on 26MAR17, however this should be corrected to 06MAR17.

Airbus A330-200 aircraft operates this route.

The following schedule is effective from 26MAR17.

SN601 BRU1050 – 2305BOM 332 x26
SN602 BOM0105 – 0715BRU 332 x37

Qantas / Jet Airways expands codeshare partnership from Oct 2016

Qantas Airways and Jet Airways from next month will commence expanded codeshare partnership, providing additional travel option between Australia and India. Planned codeshare service will commence in 2 phases.

QANTAS operated by Jet Airways (effective 01OCT16. Routes marked with * effective from 15OCT16)
Chennai – Singapore 
Delhi – Bangkok *
Delhi – Hong Kong

Mandi, Sindhudurg Emerge Cleanest Districts In India

Mandi, Sindhudurg Emerge Cleanest Districts In India

NEW DELHI:  Mandi in Himachal Pradesh and Sindhudurg in Maharashtra have emerged the cleanest districts in India according to a report released in New Delhi by Drinking Water and Sanitation Minister Narendra Singh Tomar.

A total of 22 hill districts and 53 plain areas were assessed under the Gramin Swachh Survekshan launched in May this year. Mandi was judged as the cleanest district in 'Hills' category and Sindhudurg cleanest in the 'Plains' category.

Besides, the districts of Shimla (Himachal Pradesh), Nadia (West Bengal) and Satara (Maharashtra) feature at the top of the index.

The Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation had commissioned Quality Council of India (QCI) to carry out the assessment.

Each district has been judged on four distinct parameters. Maximum weightage was placed on accessibility to safe toilets and water.

The parameters to judge sanitation status include households having access to safe toilets, households having no litter around, public places with no litter in the surrounding and households having no stagnant waste water.

Mr Tomar congratulated the district administrators, councillors and gram panchayats of all the 75 districts which were assessed for participating in the survey and for giving their feedback.

He also went on to congratulate Mandi and Sindhudurg for leading the Swachh Bharat Mission by example and driving the much needed behavioural change needed in rural society.

The Minister said that this exercise would foster a healthy spirit of competition amongst districts in the race to achieve the cleanest district tag.