IndiGo festive sale: Flights for as low as Rs 999! Bookings open from today

Budget carrier IndiGo on Monday announced all-inclusive discounted fares starting as low Rs 999. The sale fares will go on for four days, starting today, September 3.

As part of this four-day special sale, the airline will also offer 1 million seats and this sale is valid for travel between September 18, 2018, and March 30, 2019. This offer is valid only on non-stop flights in various sectors across IndiGo’s domestic and international networks. The airline's website also states that the discounts are valid for bookings made during the 'Offer Period', at least 15 days prior to the date of departure, provided that the date of travel is no later than March 30, 2019.

Apart from that, the carrier is also offering special offers on online transactions. Customers can avail of a 20 per cent MobiKwik super cash discount of up to Rs 600. This offer is available for single use by a customer during the offer period.

GoAir international ops launch in Oct, first flight on Mumbai-Phuket route

Wadia group-owned budget carrier GoAir is all set to fly international from October, with the first flight to operate on the Mumbai-Phuket route, a source privy to the development said. 

The bookings for the maiden international flight will commence soon and an announcement to this effect is expected to be made by Thursday, the source said.

The Mumbai-based airline, which became eligible to fly overseas more than two years ago when it took delivery of its 20th aircraft, which was also the first Airbus A320 Neo for the airline, will be the fifth domestic carrier to have international operations.

"We will be launching our international operations with a flight to Phuket (Thailand) from Mumbai in October. We have all regulatory approvals in place and the flight is expected to go into the system (bookings) in a week's time," the source told PTI.

The source said the airline is looking to launch three to four international destinations by March next year, adding the proposed Mumbai-Phuket service will be a daily operation.  

Charging less than Rs 10/km, Indian airlines among world's cheapest five

Low-cost carriers IndiGo and Air India Express have been ranked among the top five cheapest airlines in the world in providing international connectivity.

Air India Express, the wholly-owned subsidiary of state-run carrier Air India has been ranked second and the budget carrier IndiGo placed at fifth position in a Global Flight Pricing Report prepared by Melbourne-based Rome2rio -- a multimodal travel planning site.

Two other Indian carriers also figured in the list. Jet Airways gained the 12th place followed by Air India at 13th position.

The report compared 200 major airlines across continents by the average price per kilometre with Air Asia X taking the pole position.

Air India Express, mostly connecting Gulf countries and Singapore, has an average cost of $0.08 per km and IndiGo $0.10 per km. The latter connects Indian cities with Gulf countries besides Bangkok, Colombo and Kathmandu.

Air India's new owners to inherit planes, prime slots, and $5 bn of debt

India is selling a controlling stake in its flagship carrier along with two-thirds of the loss-making airline’s about $7.8 billion debt, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi moves ahead with the nation’s most high profile asset sale in decades.
The government will sell 76 percent of Air India Ltd., according to a document uploaded on the civil aviation ministry’s website on Wednesday. The airline’s overseas budget carrier will be completely sold in the offer, while the state will sell a 50 percent stake in the ground handling unit separately. The administration may also ask the buyer to conduct an initial public offering.

A successful sale of Air India, which is surviving on taxpayer-funded bailouts, is seen as test case for Modi to burnish his credentials as a reformist attempting to steer the state away from running businesses and boost spending on health and education. The national carrier has five subsidiaries, a joint venture and a combined workforce of as many as 27,000.

“Selling a 76 percent stake is the second-best option for the government; the best option would have been to exit completely,” said Kapil Kaul, South Asia CEO at CAPA Centre for Aviation, “There’s also a caveat there that the acquirer will have to list the company, which means the government is looking at exiting through an IPO route, which is fair enough and very positive.

GoAir flight with 176 passengers makes emergency landing at Delhi

A Mumbai-bound GoAir flight carrying 176 passengers on Monday made an emergency landing at the airport here following a technical glitch, according to the airline.
An airport official said the aircraft made the emergency landing at around 10 p.m. The plane was an A320 sharklet.
"G8 446 (Del- Mum) with 176 passengers had a technical glitch right after becoming airborne.

The flight crew chose to return back to Delhi," GoAir said in a statement.
The aircraft is on ground and being inspected. All passengers have been accommodated in an alternate aircraft, it added.
This is at least the second incident of emergency landing reported on Monday in the country. Earlier in the day, engine failure forced an IndiGo plane to make an emergency landing at Ahmedabad airport.
"At GoAir, the safety and security of passengers and crew is always accorded high priority and never compromised under any circumstance," the statement said.

IndiGo removes altitude restriction on the snag hit planes

Despite continuing teething problems, the largest operator of Airbus A320 neo, IndiGo has removed the altitude restriction on the snag hit planes. This is after the engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney informed the customer airlines that altitude restriction will not increase the durability of the air seal around the No 3 bearing compartment.

Footage from flight tracker website Flightradar24 showed that the other Indian airline A320 neo operator GoAir is still adhering to the altitude restriction and flying the neos at 30,000 feet.

In a notification to pilots, the airline said that from September 1, altitude restriction on Neo aircraft stands revoked.

“Commencing from September 1, planning of cruising flight levels will be as earlier on performance, environmental and other common factors irrespective of the engine type IAE, CFM or NEO up to Airbus limits as per flight command,” IndiGo wrote in the note which was reviewed by Business Standard.

Sources familiar with the situation said the altitude restriction did not serve any purpose of solving the problem with the No 3 bearing component which was resulting in glitch in the engine’s lubrication system. “Pratt and Whitney told us that flying at lower altitude is not a solution, while they are working on the solution, we will fly at normal altitude which will give us the best results in terms of fuel consumption,” an airline official aware of the developments said. Flying at lower altitude consumes more fuel which may negate the advantage of efficiency that the 1100G geared turbofan engines provide.
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Security breach on IndiGo flight as passenger opens emergency exit door

Latest News - Budget passenger carrier IndiGo on Friday reported an incident of security breach on-board its Mumbai-Chandigarh flight.

According to the airline, the incident occurred on its flight 6E 4134 from Mumbai to Chandigarh on Friday morning, when a passenger opened the emergency exit door of the aircraft.

"Just after the boarding got completed (while the aircraft was stationary), a passenger seated on seat number 12C suddenly opened the emergency exit door and inflated the slide," the airline said in a statement.

"In this process, a co-passenger seated on 12A received bruises. Taking a precautionary measure, the captain immediately informed the ground staff about the situation on board and instructed the team to arrange for (Read More)