MakeMyTrip sees a surge in student bookings as educational institutions open

After almost a gap of two years, students are returning to schools and universities and as per India's biggest online travel platform MakeMyTrip, there has been a 60% increase in searches and bookings from and for students in the first two weeks of February over previous weeks.

The company said nearly 80% of these searches are for travel within the next fortnight signalling a gradual increase in bookings for immediate travel.

MakeMyTrip sees a surge in student bookings as educational institutions open

In the coming days, as more institutes across the country announce the resumption of offline classes, the booking window is expected to shorten further - with many students booking tickets within a few days from the date of travel, the company said.

MakeMyTrip said it has observed a significant surge in air travel from non-metros to metros, with students migrating back to their educational base. Flight bookings by students between non-metros to metros, on the platform, have seen a 2X increase from February 1-15 this year.

Air routes including Guwahati to Delhi, Kolkata to Bengaluru, Kochi to Delhi, Lucknow to Bengaluru, Bhubaneswar to Delhi, Kolkata to Chennai, Guwahati to Bengaluru, and Lucknow to Delhi have seen around 100% growth in bookings in February.

It has observed a significant surge in air travel from non-metros to metros, with students migrating back to their educational base.

The company is also running a ‘Reward Young Minds referral program’ for students to earn credit and to avail extra discounts on their next flight booking through the platform.

Research firm Technavio in a report it put out in December 2020 said the travel services market will grow by $56 billion during 2020-2024, progressing at a CAGR of about 19% during the forecast period. The largest growth contributor to this (82%) will be online bookings.

Vistara plans to significantly ramp up its staff strength to a total of 5,000 by the end of this year as the full-service carrier focuses on increasing capacity utilisation, expanding fleet and further improving overall services.

Currently, the airline has around 4,000 people. After being significantly hit by the coronavirus pandemic, including the third wave that negatively impacted air traffic which was on the recovery path in late 2021, the airline industry is again seeing an improvement in traffic numbers.

Against this backdrop, Vistara CEO Vinod Kannan, in a not-so-common move, last week, admitted that the airline did not live up to customers' expectations and assured that steps are being taken to address the "gaps on a war footing".

Vistara CEO Vinod Kannan admitted that the airline did not live up to customers' expectations

"We wanted to make sure that we explain our side of the story... In February what we have seen is that demand has come back and people have started to travel and I think with cases going down, this, touch wood, will be the trend for the future," Kannan told PTI in an interview on Tuesday, February 22.

While emphasising that the airline is working on a multi-pronged strategy, he said that currently, it operates more flights compared to that in the pre-COVID period.

''We have about 220 to 250 departures a day. Since we have hit that momentum, (we have to look at) how do we continue to grow and how to make sure that the commitments we have made remain as we scale up. It also involves engaging our staff, partners...,'' he noted.

Vistara plans to hire 5,000 people in 2022 as air traffic improves

The airline, which currently has 50 planes, aims to have 70 planes by the end of 2023 after taking into account some aircraft that will be returned to lessors. Vistara carried 4.79 lakh, domestic passengers, in January and had a market share of 7.5%, according to data available with aviation regulator DGCA.

Vistara, a joint venture between Tatas and Singapore Airlines, started hiring for operational roles sometime in October 2021 before the third coronavirus wave.

''Our current staff strength is about 4,000... so, we expect to go up to 5,000 as we ramp up through the year. As we take new aircraft, deliveries and as we increase capacity utilisation, I think we will look at that number towards the end of this year.This will include everyone on Vistara's payroll but that will not include outsourced third party partners such as call centres or ground handling agencies.There is a requirement since we are utilising the aircraft better. Last two years, even though the fleet count increased, the utilisation of aircraft was lower... so there was no need to scale up. That process has now commenced and is in full swing.I have taken stock of things as they stood, and I want to assure you that we are addressing some of the gaps on a war footing."Vinod Kannan, CEO, Vistara

Before the pandemic, the airline, which started international operations in August 2019, had a fleet of around 40 aircraft and the number has increased to 50. He added that people are also being hired for back-office work.

In his message to customers last week, Kannan promised that many changes and enhancements are in the works, including fast-tracking of initiatives across its IT infrastructure to make the digital experience more convenient.

The airline, which currently has 50 planes, aims to have 70 planes by the end of 2023

''We are actively working with our partners to significantly reduce the length of time it takes for you to connect with us over a phone call and to ensure a consistent airport and on-ground experience,'' he had said in the message.

The airline has restored some of its onboard services to pre-pandemic standards, including restarting non-vegetarian meals in Economy Class on all domestic flights.

Dubai on Tuesday, February 22 removed the requirements for Indian travellers to undergo rapid RTPCR at Indian airports before departing to UAE. An advisory issued by the Dubai Airport updated the travel requirements for passengers from India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

The fresh advisory requires Indian nationals to produce a negative COVID-19 test certificate taken up to 48 hours before the scheduled departure of the flight, from an approved health service provider. The passengers will require to undergo a PCR test upon their arrival in Dubai.

The responsibility of ensuring that conditions of travel are met will lie with airline operators.

For transit passengers, the rules governing entry at the final destination will be applicable. The responsibility of ensuring that the conditions of travel are met will lie with the airline operators.

The revision in travel requirements will ease the situation for a large number of Indians who either reside in or travel frequently to the city.

The relief is two-fold for passengers — one not shelling out INR 3,000 for the test at the airport and relief from the anxiety of testing positive just before boarding the flight and having to deal with the trauma of planning the trip again amidst all the confusion.

Dubai removed requirements for travellers to undergo RTPCR at Indian airports before departing to UAE.

India retained its position as the top destination country for Dubai by passenger volume, with traffic for 2021 totalling 4.2 million, followed by Pakistan with 1.8m, Saudi Arabia with 1.5m and the United Kingdom with 1.2m passengers, according to Dubai Airports Company that owns and manages the operation and development of both Dubai International Airport and Dubai World Central Airport.

An Air India flight to the Maldives was welcomed at Male airport with a customary water cannon salute on Monday, February 21 to commemorate 46 years of air service between India and the Maldives.

A video shared by Air India showed its flight AI-267 being welcomed at Male airport. It showed the plane taxiing through two water cannons forming an arch. Air India flew its first plane to Male from Trivandrum (now Thiruvananthapuram), Kerala, in February 1976.

The caption read, “AI-267 was welcomed with a water cannon salute as it landed at Male airport #MACLmedia today to commemorate 46 years of air service between India & Maldives.”

https://twitter.com/airindiain/status/1495707559654989825

A water cannon salute is a mark of respect. Within a couple of hours of being shared, the clip was viewed over 3,000 times.

Moreover, despite the COVID pandemic, India and the Maldives have maintained their air bubble system. 'Transport Bubbles' are temporary agreements between two governments that allow commercial passenger services to resume while regular international flight suspensions continue.

In January 2022, after almost 7 decades, Tata Group regained control over the airlines. The Tata group officially took over Air India from the government on January 27. “We are delighted to have Air India back at the Tata group and are committed to making this a world-class airline,” Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran had said then.

Tata group officially took over Air India from the government on January 27.

A few days later, Air India also shared a welcome message for its passengers by Ratan Tata, chairman emeritus of Tata Sons. In the pre-recorded message, Mr Tata was heard saying, “The Tata Group welcomes Air India's new customers and is excited to work together to make Air India the airline of choice in terms of passenger comfort and service.”

Recently, two Air India pilots received a lot of praise for their skill and expertise as they successfully landed a Boeing Dreamliner aircraft at London's Heathrow airport amid the raging storm Eunice. Big Jet TV, a YouTube channel that live streams aircraft landings and take-offs, praised the Indian pilots. “Very skilled Indian pilot there,” said the commentator.

Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL), operator of Kempegowda International Airport (BLR Airport) has been awarded the prestigious PEER (Performance Excellence in Electricity Renewal) platinum certification by Green Building Certification Inc. (GBCI), the foremost authority on sustainability in building design, construction, and operations.

The honour makes BIAL the first airport operator in the world to receive an outstanding score of 92/100 for its airport power infrastructure, stated BIAL in its official statement on Tuesday, February 15.

To ensure that the BLR Airport's power system continues to support its sustainable development goals, BIAL sought PEER certification to analyse and improve the airport's power system performance and was awarded the 'Platinum Rating' based on GBCI's rigorous certification and review process.

GBCI is one of the world's leading sustainability and health certification and credentialing body and is responsible for administering the LEED green building program.

BIAL has demonstrated exceptional performance through its commitment to building sustainably. About 98% of the project's distribution circuit is protected with distribution redundancy and auto restoration. It also has a 6.8 MW onsite solar PV system that supports essential services during grid failure and long-term blackout and 100% of its energy mix come from renewable energy.

Further, to achieve permanent reductions in its energy demand and consumption, BIAL has implemented energy conservation programmes such as replacement of all CFL (compact fluorescent lamp)/ Halogen lights with LED fixtures, PLC (Programmable Logic Controller) based Terminal Light Automation System (TLA) to monitor and minimise the energy consumption of terminal lights, and Chiller Plant Optimizer (CPO) solution for monitoring the operation and optimising the chiller plant performance under various load conditions.

"We are proud to receive this recognition from GBCI for our relentless efforts in the energy conservation and energy resilience domain. As the operator of a world-class airport, BIAL has undertaken a variety of steps to deploy onsite renewable energy generation systems, offsite renewable power procurement, to meet our long-term goal of becoming Net Energy Neutral in 2020-21. Certified with PEER Platinum Rating will only motivate us to keep fast tracking our sustainability journey, even as we keep enhancing our infrastructure to meet the ever-increasing air transportation needs of passengers."Hari Marar MD and CEO, Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL)

Overall, through procurement of renewable energy, energy conservation measures and a modernised system that prioritises sustainable, efficient power has helped the airport achieve energy savings of 14.7 million units (or kWh), cost savings of INR 84 million (USD 1.2 million), and mitigate about 46 kilotons of CO2 emissions annually.

"The Bangalore International Airport is an excellent example of how buildings and organisations can work together to achieve sustainability. At GBCI, we often say: the greenest building is the one that is already built. It can take up to 80 years to make up for the impact of demolishing an existing building and replacing it with a new one, even if the new building is extremely energy efficient.Existing buildings will be critical to decarbonisation efforts, as buildings account for nearly 40 per cent of all carbon emissions, and GBCI India is committed to working with developers, manufacturers, as well as small and medium enterprises to advance the greening of existing buildings. The Bangalore International Airport has excelled in its dedication to sustainable development. We would like to congratulate Bangalore International Airport Ltd on achieving its PEER Platinum certification and urge other existing Airports to consider going green."Mili Majumdar, Managing Director, GBCI India and Senior Vice-President, USGBC

Over the past decade, BIAL has been recognised in many ways as an industry leader in sustainability. BLR has been rated as the Most Sustainable Airport at the International Airport Review Awards (2019), Won the Best Greenfield Airport at India Cargo Awards (2020), FICCI Smart Urban Innovation Award for Solar & Renewable Energy (2021), and Environmental Best Practices 2021 Award under the Climate Change Impact Mitigation and Adaption category.

In what can be termed as a major announcement from the aerospace behemoth, Airbus, in collaboration with CFM Partners- GE Aviation and Safran, has presented a ZEROe demonstrator aircraft-and guess who's back?

Representative | Source

The company has chosen the mighty "Jumbo Jet"- a heavily modified A380 prototype to test its new hydrogen-powered engines for its ZEROe program. The demonstrator will be used as a testbed to experiment with new hydrogen technologies on the ground and in air.

The aircraft type being a little old at this point of time, considering it entered services almost a decade back, together with the fact that its design characteristics make it sort of unpopular during these pandemic times, makes it a suitable option for such demonstration experiments.

A380 Hydrogen Flight Demonstrator- Tech and specs

The A380 hydrogen flight demonstrator-MSN 1, was the first Superjumbo to be ever built. This model is suited to be a testbed for the testing of various technologies and hence would be a perfect aircraft for the testing of equipment and functioning of propulsion systems.

Airbus

Apparently, the company has plans of mounting a special hydrogen engine along the rear fuselage on the upper deck of the A380.  The GE Passport Biz-jet engine used in the Bombardier Global 7500 long-range business jet appears to be the choice of engine for the company. The engine is light enough to be mounted and also features modern core engine architecture which is critical for H2-combustion trials and the NOX gas residues that form along with this combustion.

Hydrogen test installation components | Airbus and Leeham Co

The A380 MSN1 is an excellent flight laboratory platform for new hydrogen technologies. It's a safe and reliable platform that is highly versatile to test a wide range of zero emission technologies.Mathias Andriamisaina, Airbus ZEROe demonstrator leader

The placement of the engines high up and away from the A380s main engines is equally important. These hydrogen engines would be used to measure how the water vapour from the burn of H2 with the air’s Oxygen forms into water vapour contrails and thus separated from the A380 main engine exhausts by a trailing measurement aircraft.

Numerous tests will be performed around the behaviour of the Cryogenic (-253°C) tanks and subsequent data will be collected.

Acquired data will be evaluated in real-time, both by engineers onboard and flight crew on the ground via various data link feeds.

What the future holds for the Airbus 380 Hydrogen flight demonstrator?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esMV-T1T6ug

Youtube

This is the most significant step undertaken at Airbus to usher in a new era of hydrogen-powered flight since the unveiling of our ZEROe concepts back in September 2020.By leveraging the expertise of American and European engine manufacturers to make progress on hydrogen combustion technology, this international partnership sends a clear message that our industry is committed to making zero-emission flight a reality said Sabine Klauke, Airbus Chief Technical Officer

Airbus ZEROe Demonstrator program | Representative | Threatpost

This eco-demonstration marks Airbus's maiden foray into its ZEROe demonstration program and although there are many hurdles to cross, this is definitely a step ahead towards achieving zero-emission aviation in the not-so-distant future.

SOURCE(s)

COVER: AIRBUS