Vistara begins nonstop flights from Delhi to Paris

Full-service carrier Vistara has commenced non-stop flight services to Paris from Delhi under the air bubble agreement between India and Europe.

The airline operated its inaugural direct flight to Charles de Gaulle Airport, Paris from Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport on Sunday, November 7, a company release said on Monday, November 8.

Vistara's Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner

Under the pact, Vistara will fly twice a week between the two cities – on Wednesday and Sunday — with Boeing 787-9 (Dreamliner) aircraft, it said.

Paris is the seventh overseas airport for the Tata Sons-Singapore Airlines joint venture, where it currently operates its flight's services under the air bubble agreement.

"We are delighted to expand our global footprint as we bring India’s finest airline to Paris.Paris is one of the most popular destinations in Europe and Charles de Gaulle is an important airport for any airline intending to serve the region.Given the strong economic and cultural ties there is a high demand for direct connectivity between India and France, and therefore Paris fits our network very well."Leslie Thng, Chief Executive Officer, Vistara

London, Frankfurt, Dubai, Doha, Sharjah, and Male are the other international destinations besides the newly-launched Paris.

Bookings for the flights are open on all channels, including on the airline’s website, mobile app, and through travel agents, Vistara said.

https://twitter.com/airvistara/status/1457408771961987075

Vistara has a fleet of 50 aircraft comprising Airbus A320, Airbus A321neo, Boeing 737-800NG, and Boeing 787-9 planes.

A top official told ET that Adani Group has paid the Airports Authority of India (AAI) a one-time payment of INR 2,440 crore for the six airports that the state-owned airport operator has transferred to the Ahmedabad-based company after it won bids for six airports.

"The payment has been made against capital work in progress and investments in regulated assets," AAI chairman Sanjeev Kumar said. He said AAI has also repaid some working capital loans it had taken last year to pay salaries from this one-time payment.

As a result of the impact of Covid on its earnings, the state-owned airport operator had to borrow to pay employee salaries and took loans from the SBI totalling around INR 1,500 crore in various tranches to meet its working capital requirements in 2020-21. Kumar stated his opinion.

It had posted a record loss of INR 1,962 crore in 2020-21. AAI has already repaid about INR 600 crore of these working capital loans - INR 500 crore in April-May and INR 100 crore in July 2021.

"As of date, AAI has availed INR 850 crore and limits available with AAI is INR 650 crore," Kumar said, adding that the repayment was also from a one-time payment the authority received from Adani Group.

Adani Group won airports in Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Mangaluru, Jaipur, Guwahati and Thiruvananthapuram through a competitive bid announced in 2019. It operates its airports business under Adani Airports Holding Limited (AAHL) and also operates Mumbai airport that it bought from GVK Group.

It now holds 74% in the airport company and the remaining 26% is with AAI.

An industry expert said the focus of the group is to create a business around these airport assets that are beyond aviation to complement the business from air passengers.

"With the current strategy in place and travel restrictions across the globe, the company is focused on capitalising on airports acting as a nucleus through which the company can catalyse aviation-linked business, including urban developments that offer entertainment facilities, e-commerce and logistics capabilities, aviation-dependent industries, smart city developments, and other innovative business concepts," said the person who did not want to be identified.

(With Inputs from The Economic Times)

Due to air bubble restrictions, Air France-KLM's Indian services are limited, but the airline is hopeful that the Indian government will allow it to increase its flights to meet rising demand, according to a senior executive of the carrier.

India has allowed limited special international flights with passenger restrictions under air bubbles formed with approximately 28 countries, including France and the Netherlands, since July 2020.

Since March 23, 2020, scheduled international flights have been suspended in India.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the airline operated 38 weekly flights from three Indian cities -- Bengaluru, Delhi and Mumbai -- to Paris and Amsterdam, Jean-Noel Rault, General Manager (Indian Sub-continent), Air France-KLM, told PTI in an interview.

Currently, Air France-KLM is operating 17 weekly flights from four Indian cities -- Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai -- to Paris and Amsterdam as per the air bubbles formed between India and France in July 2020 and India and The Netherlands in November 2020.

When asked if he sees the demand rising on Indian flights, Rault stated, "India has a very strong VFR (visiting friends and relatives) market. This in my opinion is one of the key factors to drive demand."

"We have also seen the student segment develop favourably thanks to the convenient connections we offer and have received a positive response to the ChennaiParis direct operations launched in June by Air France.The airline's expectation was business and corporate travel will progressively grow in the second half of 2022.However, the carrier's scope was still limited in terms of frequency and destinations under the air bubble restrictions.We are hopeful with the progressive opening of borders we will be allowed to increase our frequency to meet the evolving demand.Air France-KLM in the current specific circumstances in India has been operating services intending to cover the variable costs of each flight operation.In trends, the variation has been high in load factors in the past 12 months...On a positive note, for the first time since the pandemic we see load factors moving up for flights to India."Jean-Noel Rault, General Manager (Indian Sub-continent), Air France-KLM

Air France-KLM believes that an increase in flights' frequencies should be considered with the progressive opening of international borders and growing demand, he said.

"We continue to interact with relevant authorities along with the French embassy and The Netherlands embassy in India. Together with our embassies, we continue to explore opportunities with the Indian authorities to expand the number of flights from India," Rault noted.

When asked if he thinks India should open scheduled international flights now, he replied it could be prudent for India to consider moving towards "a normal world with the progressive reopening of international commercial operations" as the country is doing very well with the vaccination drive and the COVID-19 situation improving globally.

(Image Courtesy - Bloomberg.com)

"This would be instrumental in facilitating travel to and from India, boost incoming tourism to India, which is much needed to help the economy and local operators who have been impacted severely due to the pandemic," Rault added.

Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia had in September said that the Centre has to look to put in place certain systems to boost long-haul international flights of Indian carriers to places such as Europe and South America.

Lufthansa Group CEO Carsten Spohr had last month said that restricting air traffic between India and Germany is hurting both the economies and the airline group was eagerly waiting for the Indian government to allow more flights between the two countries.

Cover Image - Skift

Starting November 14th, Dubai, the jewel among the Arabian sands would be hosting what would be the only global airshow to take place since 2019.

samchui.com

Held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE, the Ruler of Dubai and the UAE Minister of Defence, the Dubai Airshow 2021 is set to feature all sorts of major industrial announcements. With renowned market leaders coming together to showcase their global products and sophisticated innovations, the airshow would see an array of next-generation state-of-the-art aircraft on display.

The 2021 edition would exhibit innumerable aircraft models, many of them which would be unveiled for the first time by the parent companies. Below are a few models from India that would be showcased at the event:

Indian Air Force (SARANG)HAL Dhruvs

Airplane Pictures

2. Indian Air Force (SURYAKIRAN)HAWK MK-132 (Twin concept tandem-seat)

Inset: Captain Anoop Singh, new Suryakiran CO | India Sentinels

3. Indian Air Force-TEJAS

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Boeing B777X to make its international debut

FreightWaves

According to a major announcement by the company, the much-awaited B777X would also finally make its presence felt before the thousands of spectators who have been waiting patiently to grab an official view of the model after many delays and roadblocks in its certification process.

Originally scheduled for a 2019 entry into service, the bird is now slated for a 2023 release(tentative).The B777-9, a test model, would be a part of the flight program in addition to a static display.

VISTA- where aerospace start-ups meet opportunities

Players from the industry to outline their ideas for the future roadmap of the aviation industry | Dubai Airshow

Promoted in tandem with the airshow, VISTA is a unique, golden opportunity for aerospace start-ups to pitch their ideas to potential customers and globally ranked investors to launch and scale up their projects.

This would be the region's only venture dedicated exclusively to aerospace start-ups from around the globe.

Start-ups would be taking part in programs that would include 5 days of mentorship clinics, workshops, competitions, networking and face time with investors.

According to reports, this year VISTA would be welcoming start-ups from the following key sectors:

1. Artificial Intelligence2. Future Mobility3. Space4. Aerospace5. Defence6. Robotics7. Drones and8. Sustainability, to name a few

COVER: EMIRATES PROJECTS - TPG Media

IMAGE(s): Credits to all respective owners

Saudi Arabia has now launched what would later go down in the annals of aviation as the first-ever "museum in the skies".

As per reports, the one-of-a-kind journey would feature archaeological discoveries made from the ancient city of Al Ula, which is known to attract foreign and domestic visitors alike, with its round-the-year display of local and seasonal activities.

LocalBH

According to the Saudi Press Agency, passengers aboard Saudia would be treated to a documentary titled "Architects of Ancient Arabia"- courtesy Discovery Channel, with the airline using this opportunity to unveil its new inflight entertainment system.

The flying museum-a collaboration between the national flag carrier Saudia and the Royal Commission for Al Ula would display a replica of artifact collections unearthed from AlUla's various archaeological sites.

Visitors aboard would be given a brief introduction about the documentary and an insight into the replica collection by Rebecca Foote, director of archaeology and cultural heritage research at the commission.

Al Ula welcomes guests as SAUDIA makes the first-ever "MUSEUM IN THE SKIES" flight | EatnStays

There is a major load of work ongoing in Al Ula by local and international archeologists, and yet we are just beginning to understand the complicated nature of Al Ula’s past. Al Ula is a hidden gem in the Arabian Peninsula, and we are slowly discovering its secrets. I am looking forward to sharing more information about our work with passengers of the Museum in the Sky trip, operated by SaudiaRebecca Foote

According to Khaled Tash, vice president of corporate communications at the airline, this collaboration would go a long way in promoting archaeological work at AlUla which is touted to be the biggest archaeological program in the world as of today.

The flight took off from Riyadh to AlUla on the 4th of November 2021.

COVER: Wikimedia

Omnipresent Robot Technologies, an India-based robotics and drone company has reported that it has successfully conducted a 51km drone flight in India, something which the company claims is the longest that has been achieved in the country currently.

Indian Business Times

According to Aakash Sinha, the CEO of the firm, the previous standing record in the country was 42 km, and that this drone, named "Omni Hansa V5", had successfully managed to bypass that.

We had a tracker mechanism on the drone. We could track it over our 4G network with our trackerAakash Sinha

He further mentioned that the entire flight was on auto-pilot right from take-off to landing emphasizing the autonomous nature of the operation.

Omni Hansa V5 is a hybrid fixed-wing eVTOL drone that can take off and land like a helicopter, thereby eliminating the need for an active runway. Once airborne, flying is comparable to that of a normal aircraft.

Representative | Rediff

Apparently, the operation was carried out to survey the pipeline of the Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HCPL), which runs between the capital city of Delhi and Haryana.

And according to reports, HPCL now wants the range of the drone to be increased further from 100 to 200 km.

Officials of HCPL were in attendance to witness the event that saw the drone hitting 400 feet, which is the current maximum permissible limit set by the DGCA.

Omnipresent Robotic Technologies has registered a growth of a 100% in the past year and is currently collaborating with e-commerce entities for the delivery of goods in the country.

The flight took place on November 3.

COVER: DIY Photography