Yearly Archives: 2020

Air India Phase 4 repatriation flights schedule. Vande Bharat flights from India to US, UK, Australia, ME and more

Air India Boeing 787-8 VT-ANE.

It has been over a month since Air India began operating the first set of flights under the Vande Bharat mission of the government of India to repatriate stranded Indian’s overseas and travellers stranded in India. The latest schedule of Air India flights departing from India has been released. Passengers can directly book seats on these flights on Air India’s …

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Can Jet Airways make a comeback operating repatriation flights?

Earlier this month, the government of India began allowing repatriation flights back to India for Indian’s stranded overseas. While all these flights were initially operated exclusively by Air India and Air India Express, they were recently expanded to be operated by private carriers as well. Read: How the government could spin repatriation flights to oil India鈥檚 stagnant aviation sector Since …

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The contactless procedure of flying through Bangalore airport

With domestic flights set to resume from tomorrow, the Karnataka government had outlined rules for passengers arriving into the state. Now Bangalore airport has outlined the process that will have to be followed by passengers to fly through the airport. As part of its precautions against COVID-19, the airport has launched a “Parking-to-Boarding contactless journey”. Which includes: Pre-Entry All passengers …

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Quarantine rules for air passengers traveling to Karnataka

With the government of India allowing domestic air passenger flights to resume from 25th May, there have been doubts about the quarantine rules that passengers will be subjected to when they arrive at their destination. The government of Karnataka has released a detailed a standard operating procedure (SOP) for all returnees to the state. The highlights of this document are: …

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How the government could spin repatriation flights to oil India’s stagnant aviation sector

A tail parade of each of Air India's Boeing aircraft as in 2011. The 747-400, 777-300ER, 777-200LR and 737-800.

Guest post by Shivam Vahia. The Government of India (GoI) has undertaken a massive exercise dubbed “Vande Bharat Mission” to bring back Indians stuck in other countries amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. These flights are technically “repatriation” flights and not “evacuation” because the passengers are paying for the seat, and the state isn’t bearing the end-cost. Unlike previous efforts like the …

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New repatriation flights from 16 May from Australia, Canada, Europe, Central Asia, Russia and more

Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner line number 35 test registered N1015 (later became VT-ANH) at the India Aviation show, Hyderabad March 2012. Photo copyright Devesh Agarwal.

Following the first week of repatriation flights operated by Air India and Air India Express, phase two of the Vande Bharat repatriation flights have now been released. Flights will be operated from the following countries which were not covered in phase one: Afghanistan – Kabul Armenia – Yeravan Australia – Sydney, Melbourne Belarus – Minsk Canada – Vancouver, Toronta France …

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How to book a repatriation flight from India to USA, UK and Singapore

When the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) announced repatriation flights to bring people back to India, it was unclear whether people would be allowed to fly out of India on the aircraft that would bring stranded Indians back. Yesterday, after a notification from the Ministry of Home Affairs, Air India began taking bookings for flights to the United States, United …

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Virgin Atlantic to leave Gatwick, retire 747s and cut 3,150 jobs

Virgin Atlantic has announced its plan for their “post-Covid19 future“. The airline expects that demand will take three years to return to post corona levels and that it will have to reshape and resize its business to adapt. The CEO of Virgin Atlantic Shai Weiss commented “We have weathered many storms since our first flight 36 years ago, but none …

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Fares for repatriation flights to India

Air India Airbus A320 VT-EXC.

Yesterday a schedule for the first seven days of repatriation flights to India were released. Unlike the initial evacuation flights that were operated by Air India, the flights that will be operated from 7 May 2020 will be charged. The fares for these flights have been released: Repatriation fares on Air India Repatriation fares on Air India Express For more …

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Schedule of Air India Express repatriation flights to India

On Monday, the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) announced that it would begin repatriation flights to India from 7 May 2020. Following that a schedule of flights that would be operated by Air India was released. Air India Express will operate flights from the below cities to India: Abu Dhabi Bahrain Doha Dubai Kuala Lumpur Kuwait Muscat Sharjah Singapore Links …

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Schedule of repatriation flights to India

VT-ALA Air India Boeing 777-200LR at Delhi Airport.

Earlier today we wrote that the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) has released a calendar of repatriation flights that will be operated to bring Indian’s stranded abroad back to India. All the flights will be operated by Air India and Air India Express. Links to register for these flights are available in our earlier story. In addition to the flights …

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Details of repatriation flights to India announced

Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner line number 35 test registered N1015 (later became VT-ANH) at the India Aviation show, Hyderabad March 2012. Photo copyright Devesh Agarwal.

The Government of India had previously announced that it would begin repatriation flights to India from 7 May. Details have now been released for flights being operated from the 7th to 14th of May. How to register for flights The flights will be operated from the following countries to various cities in India, to register click on the link of …

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Indian airlines operated over 1400 cargo flights during the lockdown

While passenger air traffic has come to a standstill since the beginning of the lockdown. Cargo movement has become essential for transporting essential and other goods into and across the country. While India has only one domestic cargo-only airline BlueDart (SpiceJet also operates three Boeing 737 freighters under the name SpiceXpress), every passenger flight carries an average of around a …

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Government will organise repatriation flights for stranded Indians, with a catch

Since the start of the lockdown in late March, all scheduled passenger flights to India had been halted. While foreign airlines have been operating to repatriate citizens of other countries out of the country. Only a few of repatriation flights have been operated back to India in this period. The government of India has announced that it will begin organising …

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Government extends flight cancellations till 17 May

Following the recently announced decision to the lockdown in India, the Ministry of Civil Aviation has officially extended cancellation of domestic passenger flights in India till 17 May 2020. On 23 March, airlines were ordered to temporarily stop their operations till the end of March. However, that period was extended with the announcement of the original lockdown. The grounding was …

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Austrian airlines plans fleet reduction. Will retire Dash-8, A319s and 767s.

A couple of weeks back we saw Lufthansa announce its plans to reduce its fleet by retiring some of their A380s and 747s amongst other aircraft. At the time it was also announced that subsidiaries Austrian and Swiss would also see reductions but no further details were given. Austrian has now laid out its future plan. The airline suspended its …

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The legendary Boeing 757 – a template for the future?

As Boeing struggles to get through the coronavirus crisis coupled with its own 737 MAX crisis, the Boeing 757 is an aircraft that has once again emerged as a hot topic of conversation. Particularly due to speculation on whether Boeing will be forced to revive the New Midsize Airplane (NMA). Initially designed as a replacement for the tri-engine 727, it …

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Cathay Pacific A350 collides with 777 at Hong Kong

Okay, airlines seem to be taking the Boeing – Airbus rivalry too far. After the recent British Airways A350 vs Emirates 777 accident – yesterday, a Cathay Pacific Airbus A350 had a ground collision with one of the airline’s Boeing 777-300ERs. The right wingtip of the A350 appears to have collided with the left horizontal stabilizer of the 777. The …

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Ministry gives airlines a pass to refuse passengers refunds

In a time where political leaders are appealing to citizens to do the “right things”, where some businesses highlight values of profit over purpose and where all need to come together to tide over this crisis collectively, the actions of airlines and the lack of accountability have left many perplexed. Specifically: the non-refunding of passenger monies – an unfair and …

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