Birmingham: Air India Flights, New Routes & Schedule Updates

[Brummiegem]

With the arrival of the 17th 787, hopefully the BHX daily operation will be officially lauched soon.

According to the original announcement daily flights from BHX were due to begin following delivery of the 18th aircraft(VT-ANS).
I am interested to learn what Air India intend to do with the remaining aircraft still to be delivered.I think the order was for 26 aircraft,although I could be wrong on that!!

 

[Ray Finkle]

Not if Delta have their way.

NEW DELHI: Air India's woes may have just compounded with uncertainty over funding of its purchase of Boeing's Dreamliners.

"America's Delta Airlines has challenged US Export-Import (Exim) Bank's decision to extend a soft loan to AI for buying the Dreamliners in the US Supreme Court. Their plea is that helping AI acquire these planes harms the commercial interests of US carriers," said a source.

Full article: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Busi ... 146062.cms

 

[User0001]

I have just seen the pictures of what Air India have done to B787-8 VT-ANI.

Shocking and shameful.

If they can buy a brand new B787 and use it for spare parts, then
A) the airline must have more money than sense, and
B) Surely raises question of safety, because, if they are already cannibalising brand new aircraft to keep the rest of the fleet flying, then their engineering dept must be pretty s**t at their jobs!

Add to this the fact Air India only have 2 long haul routes that make a profit, just shows this is one basket case of an airline.

I hope BHX are getting paid for the BHX flights given the shambles the airline looks to be in, or, are BHX underwriting the cost to get the prestige?

 

[Ray Finkle]

Even though AI do seem to have had the shitty end of the stick with their 787's (I believe Boeing have offered them $24 million in compensation) I'd go for more money than sense. Apparently at the moment spare parts take approx 5 months to arrive, VT-ANI had some issue so is being used to keep the rest of the fleet flying and as parts arrive they will be used on ANI. I believe ANI was also the first 787 out of the Charleston plan.

or, are BHX underwriting the cost to get the prestige?

I seriously doubt it, in an email Mr Kehoe commented that EDI paying airlines to fly there was unsustainable and not something BHX could or would do and they are not exactly known for offering great deals to airlines. If they were to pay someone to open up a route purely for 'prestige' I'm sure there would be many more airlines above AI on the list.

 

[User0001]

I seriously doubt it, in an email Mr Kehoe commented that EDI paying airlines to fly there was unsustainable and not something BHX could or would do and they are not exactly known for offering great deals to airlines

See, I don't buy that. What bosses say in public and what they do in private can be 2 very different things.

I remember Keith Williams saying that BA would not be competing directly with the low cost airlines, as they know passengers appreciate BA for their 'all included' approach. Just 3 weeks later, BA introduced a 'basic' fare with no baggage included.

KLM were another one. 'We have no intention of pulling our Liverpool flights', a mere 16 hours before, erm, pulling Liverpool flights!

I still firmly believe BHX offered a zero charge fee to try and entice Biman (or more specifically Kevin Steele, given the Biman board were less than enthused about serving BHX).

Then there were the times when BHX had to 'start again' with previous Air India negotiations, due to the CEO resigning. Why would they have to 'go back to the drawing board' if the deal was with the airline, not a specific person.

Either there were some deals being offered, or, if the 2 CEO's of the 2 airlines were that pivotal to negotiations, then something far more shady was being done. (given that in the vast majority of large airlines, including those of state run airlines, d CEOs rarely take part in route negotiations, that's what the routes team do).

If they were to pay someone to open up a route purely for 'prestige' I'm sure there would be many more airlines above AI on the list

It all depends, who took the bite for the short term gain, and who actually sat down and thought 'no, I just don't see it working when the money dries up'. Some airlines see more sense than money. They would rather keep their reputation.

 

[Ray Finkle]

It all depends, who took the bite for the short term gain, and who actually sat down and thought 'no, I just don't see it working when the money dries up'. Some airlines see more sense than money. They would rather keep their reputation.

Airlines such as Etihad, Qatar, United etc who, according to the opinions of many, appear to be doing just this at EDI.

 

[Brum X]

Lets not forget most of us were "praising" Air India a few months ago with how they have turned there airline around.
I do still think however that they are making progress with this, however as with most things in this part of the world, things take a long time, politics plays a role and also corruption is rife.

 

[Ray Finkle]

I agree, progress is being made. Entering the Star Alliance is not easily done and AI had a lot of issues to address before even being considered, that said Air India, and the country in general, are/were such a shambles that it's going to take a very long time.

 

[User0001]

Airlines such as Etihad, Qatar, United etc who, according to the opinions of many, appear to be doing just this at EDI.

Etihad and Qatar have been sniffing at EDI for years. GIP and their cash pot merely sweetened the deal.

United are the only ones that I feel went a bit OTT at EDI this year.

I do still think however that they are making progress with this

Really? Cannibalising 2 brand new aircraft, loosing money on nearly every single long haul route barring 2? Flying certain routes purely because a baords family member lives there? If that's an airline making progress, then airlines like BA/EK/AA etc must be wizards!

 

[Brum X]

I must admit that Cannibalising 2 brand new 787s (How dare they) does seem a bit extreme. The 787 is a beauty of an aircraft.

Does this also mean that the BHX daily flights will go back as a result of them now needing more 787s ??????

 

[Ray Finkle]

VT-ANI hasn't flown since April I believe, so it will have been factored in. VT-ANR had the delivery date pushed back and has only recently arrived so I guess it's not out of the question that BHX could be pushed back a little too. AI just need conformation of the delivery date for VT-ANS before they can give a date, either that or Mr Kehoe's cheque is taking a long time to clear 🙄

 

[Ray Finkle]

According Planespotters.net fleet info VT-ANS made her first flight on 19/10/14 🙂

http://www.planespotters.net/Production ... -India.php

 

[Ray Finkle]

Well November is here and still only 4x weekly is bookable although I guess there is another 29 days left yet 🙂

In fairness to AI it seems there is still no delivery date for VT-ANS so I imagine nothing can be done until they get one. According to Airlineroute.net Moscow is temporarily increasing from 4x weekly to daily for the next two weeks until 16th November.

 

[Brum X]

Well November is here and still only 4x weekly is bookable although I guess there is another 29 days left yet 🙂

In fairness to AI it seems there is still no delivery date for VT-ANS so I imagine nothing can be done until they get one. According to Airlineroute.net Moscow is temporarily increasing from 4x weekly to daily for the next two weeks until 16th November.

I dont think we will see anything daily until feb/march 2015, thats my gut feeling.


Also noticed tonights AI is delayed and wasnt expected into BHX until 8pm so a delay of a couple of hours.

 

[Ray Finkle]

AI's 18th Dreamliner VT-ANS is back at Charleston after being painted, sadly in the regular AI livery rather than a Star Alliance scheme. Hopefully we'll be hearing something soon.

 

[Aviador]

Air India have confirmed they are to increase flights to daily.

Air India said that it has committed to increase its Birmingham-Delhi-Amritsar operation from four flights per week to daily services from November, when its 18th Boeing 787 ‘Dreamliner’ aircraft is inducted into service.

The daily service will provide an extra 1,500 seats a week and give passengers greater choice, flexibility and opportunity to travel from Birmingham airport to Delhi and Amritsar.

http://www.daijiworld.com/news/news_dis ... _id=275629

 

[Brum X]

How can it be November though ??? We are in November now.

As said in a previous post, my gut feeling will be Feb/March 2015 when we will see daily flights and this will give them a couple of months to sell the seats as well.


But still good to see this in the Press that they are committed to BHX.

Another positive development in BHX for 2015.

 

[Ash]

At first glance that looks like a re-hash of the old press release?

 

[Ray Finkle]

That's what I thought.

The 17th and 18th Dreamliners have both had quite lengthy delivery delays with VT-ANS still waiting for a date. I reckon they would like daily up and running by December though as a couple of the flights around New Year have been sold out for a while.

 

[thunderchild]

Currently, Air India has 17 Boeing 787 Dreamliners in its fleet, most of them deployed to international destinations.

And one of them criminally stripped for parts!