Signs of Positive changes - Jet Airways from Pune to Bengaluru

I decided to jump jobs in Jan, which meant I was relatively free till I join the new assignment and take a day off to visit Aero India. I firmed up on Feb 20^th and 21^st as the days I would be at Yelahanka and proceeded with bookings.

Bengaluru from Pune opens up unlimited options across the day, with frequencies led by IndiGo – 5, Jet Airways & Go Air – 2 each, Spicejet & Air Asia – 1 each. To reach well in time and make it to Aero India – I decided to take up the first departure from Pune, the 0545 Jet Airways flight. This would also be my first after the airline moved to an all FSC model. The old flight number 9W 2363 is retained, which once indicated the LCC wing of the airline.

This is one the older flights of Jet Airways and for a brief period in 2009 operated by ATR. This rotation operates as PUNE – BENGALURU – KOLKATA – GUWAHATI – JORHAT / IMPHAL – GUWAHATI – KOLKATA – BENGALURU – PUNE.

Booking

I decided to download the Jet Airways mobile app to process my booking. The experience was new and good. Just that the app closed immediately after the PNR was generated. I received the tickets in my mailbox in 10 minutes.

About 23 hours to departure, I logged in and did a check in from the app, which again was effortless.

Check-in, Boarding & Airport Experience

I reached the airport at 0425, about 1:20 mins to departure and the standard two CISF checks at Pune led me to the check-in area. I only had a hand baggage and thus made my way to security. Within 7 mins of getting dropped off by the cab, I was in security hold area. The benefits of a small airport in a city like Pune!

I carried printout of the boarding card and thus did not visit the counters. The airline ground staff reached the boarding gate around 0500hours as soon people formed a line. Boarding started early and we were seated by 0525.

At this time, another Jet Airways ATR to Hyderabad was getting ready while two IndiGo birds were parked next to us which would make a trip to Chennai & Kolkata respectively. Spicejet aircraft arrived from Sharjah, which would then turn around for Bengaluru.

The aircraft was non Boeing Sky Interior (BSI) bird with yellow lighting in 12 business class seats and 156 economy. The loads were brilliant with 11 out of 12 seats occupied in Business and almost all occupied in economy.

Inflight & Meal

Doors closed at 0540 and we pushed back on time and were holding before entering active, probably for clearances since there was no other movement at that time of the day. We soon entered active runway 10 and took off in easterly direction, banked right to reach cruising altitude.

The seat belt signs were soon switched off and the meal service started. The meal consisted of a Paneer Roll or a chicken roll. I opted for the later. The tray comprised – the snack, a bottle of water, kitkat, the famous Imli and AVA discounted items card.

The meal was not adequate for that time of the day. I would have preferred tea/ coffee with lighter snack rather than chicken roll which wasn’t upto the mark in terms of taste.

There is a lot that the airline needs to do in terms of food improvements.

The aircraft on the other hand was clean. Not just the seats but also the windows.

Deplaning

We landed on runway 09 at Bengaluru and taxied to one of the aero bridges. Since the flight was going onwards to Kolkata – security staff at the gate checked our boarding passes before we set out.

Overall Verdict

In the last few months, Jet Airways is improving in leaps and bounds. I had an opportunity to connect with the top management with few suggestions and the promptness with which they were responded too along with the way of response was commendable.

The airline needs to work towards fleet standardization and improvements in food. The last year has seen it become number 2 in On Time Performance at all airports and in few months leading the pack too.

Will I fly Jet Airways again? – I think I will, costs matching the competition, good timings and Frequent Flier Program points – make it an attractive option.

Flight Summary

9W 2363 Pune to Bengaluru

VT-JGK B737-800 (WL)

MSN: 32579

13.3 years old

Configuration: 12J / 156Y

STD: 0545; ATD: 0545

STA: 0710; ATA: 0700

A delayed Air Asia India experience. Are they taking passengers for a ride?

Air Asia India (IATA:I5) has been operating in Indian skies from June 2014. Personally I have not been impressed by their overall strategy, plan and operations. From the selection of its hub and then moving it, to having a serious foot in mouth syndrome when it comes to declaring profitability predictions and fleet induction strategy. Nothing has gone as per what was published or planned.

I always wanted to fly the new airline, which now has a fleet of just three A320s, all with Sharklets, leased from the parent in Malaysia. The airline launched Pune operations in December 2014 with flights to Bengaluru and Jaipur. As I made my plan for Aero India 2015, I decided to return early but try out Air Asia.

Booking

Effortless booking experience on Air Asia website, which is common for the entire group and not country specific. I find the websites of SpiceJet & IndiGo clutter free as compared to the home page of Air Asia. Quick selection of seats, in which I choose the first free seating, 8F followed by meal selection – Rs. 150 for a Masala Omlette and I was done. The ticket was quickly in my mailbox.

The airline allows check-in up to 14 days in advance and I did not know this. The airline sent an email mentioning that my flight was open for check-in. Indeed very helpful.

The Fiasco!

As I booked the ticket, the flight was showing as a departure of 1530 from Bengaluru (BLR) arriving into Pune (PNQ) at 1700. Going by the past experience of air space closure at Bengaluru, I cross checked on the air space closure. The airport website had official information that airspace will be closed from 1400 – 1700 from 19^th February to 22^nd February which happens to be the air display time at the Aero Show.

I tweeted tagging Air Asia asking if the flight would change. Since Pune airport is closed on all Saturdays from 1100 – 1700 hours, I was sure the flight could not be advanced, it can only be delayed. Yet there has to be a confirmation. As all other airlines continued adjusting the timings, Air Asia did not !

My twitter interaction with the Air Asia team was as below,

After this I got a call from Air Asia team in Bengaluru informing me that in no case will the flight be delayed.

Snapshot of information from BIAL website

On the day of departure, I got an email saying that my revised time of departure is now 1700 hours and not 1530. This was expected because the airport operator will have given a new slot to the airline and cancelled its slot in the closure hour.

Wonder why the airline did not initiate information to passengers till the last minute.

Check-In

I reached the airport early keeping in mind the traffic conditions which I experienced since morning at Bengaluru. The airport was deserted due to the closure and quickly made my way to the check in counters which had some rush.

A quick chat with the check-in agent of Air Asia about the delay and I was informed that the airline wanted to advance the flight to before the closure hour and hence the last minute delay. This reason again does not make sense considering the closure at Pune.

Fail #2

Check in was a smooth experience otherwise with boarding card handed over. I headed for security which was a very quick affair because there were no flights departing till 1700.

Airport Renovation

I have always considered BIAL as an air conditioned warehouse building until recently when they went for an expansion. The expansion has been done very well with gates on the ground floor in addition to the contact gates. The renovation is still in progress and some good food options are coming up. It was very nice to see the expansion work in progress and on track.

Soon the airport will start work on second runway and another terminal. Overall it should be good for the city and the airport.

Boarding

This was utterly messed up affair. The airline said that boarding will commence at 1625 hours. The flight had a load of roughly 163 pax and all of them were at the gate by then. As people started queuing up around 1630, the lone staff informed that there will be a delay of 10 mins or so due to the runway still being closed. Now this was always known !

As the queue became longer, there were conversations between the ground staff and somebody either on the ramp or in office about revised timing for Pune departure. Whatever the passengers could hear on the walkie talkie, it created an impression that everybody was clueless on when this flight would depart.

What is surprising is that an aircraft was available in Bengaluru and the airline was not waiting for an aircraft to land before they can board this flight.

The ground staff kept on delaying boarding, even as two busses of Air India waited for the passengers to board. Finally the staff informed passengers that the runway is still closed and just when the sentence ended, JetAirways B737 took off which led to some cheers and jeers from the waiting passengers.

Slow boarding commenced and we made our way to the aircraft as more and more people came in. I was seated in seat 8F and from what I saw, the baggage loading had completely stopped for a while which led to further delay.

Eventually doors closed at 1743 hours, a good two hours 13 minutes from the scheduled time of departure and 43 minutes from the revised time.

Fail#3

Inflight and meal

The pilot came on PA to apologize for the delay and this was followed by a safety demo while we taxied past Kingfisher and Blue Dart aircraft and lined up on active runway 09 to take off before another Air Asia bird bank left and set course for Pune.

The aircraft was clean, the seats very comfortable as compared to the slim seats of IndiGo and the seat belts neatly arranged. Bright red color of the seat belt along with the black leather seats is a great color combination.

Inflight service started soon. With the cabin crew coming with a tray to passengers who had pre-booked their meals. This makes a huge difference. Couple of points to ponder here for the market leader IndiGo

• Air Asia allows you to choose the exact meal and not a veg or non veg option like IndiGo 
• This ensures that you get exactly what you have ordered unlike in IndiGo where one has to still go through the lucky draw process. Even with a pre booked meal, your choice may not be available.
• You get served first before the on board sales commence.
• Hot Meals! 

These four factors are huge differentiators for Air Asia India and when the expand between Metro routes, could tilt the balance in favor of them especially of the corporate passenger.

The meal was tasty, filling and cheap! This was one case where the taste and cost in air is comparable to that on ground.

The airline should do everything possible to highlight this as part of its sales strategy.

#SuperWin

Deplaning

We landed smoothly on runway 28 at Pune and parked at Gate 2. The pilot came on PA informing the cruising altitude of 36000 feet and the outside temperature of -45 degree C. The airline could also announce the outside temperature at destination post landing. Just a additional brownie point.

I did not have any check in luggage but while I walked till the baggage belts, the luggage had started arriving, which is very fast and commendable.

Overall verdict

The airline will give tough fight to the competition if it gets it operations in order. While this was my first flight, I have read about the delays from a lot of friends and also some news items in the newspapers here in Pune. The delay experience was certainly something which has not been handled well.

I would give full marks to inflight – seating, comfort, service and food.

Now the last question – Will I fly again? I will, but not immediately. I will wait for the operations to stabilize and have more positive feedback on this before I book again.

Also, with the fog season behind us, the airline operations to the north should stabilize and February – May On time performance will be a good parameter to judge the airline.

Flight Summary

I5 – 1424 Bengaluru to Pune

STD: 1530, RTD: 1700; ATD: 17:55

STA: 1700, RTA: 1830, ATA: 19:05

Aircraft: VT-RED

MSN: 5824 Airbus A320 with Sharklets. Operated before as 9M- AQW

Aviation Weekly

The WS14 schedule comes in effect from 26^th October’14, airlines in India and world over are busy making schedule changes. Across the world, leading airlines make changes in the schedule well in advance to ensure that bookings are open for right flights.

However, the story changes completely in India. An airline like Jet Airways which has a large & extensive network, simply replicates the schedule of last winter to this winter and same for summer. People tend to see a lot of flights, which the airline has not flown and will not fly, open in the reservation system. The same would get cancelled few weeks before the start of schedule and inconvenience the passengers.

This also has financial impact, since every GDS change is charged to the airline, and hence large number of transactions has a drag on the company finances.

This winter schedule will see Jet Airways shifting focus to Abu Dhabi, launching flights from more cities in India to Abu Dhabi along with further changes on the domestic network, IndiGo trying to expand and prevent Air Asia from expanding, Spicejet trying to consolidate and stabilize with reduction in capacity and Go Air launching a new station with the existing fleet.

GoAir launches Bhubaneshwar

Go Air is launching flights to Bhubaneshwar, effective winter schedule. The flights would connect Bhubaneshwar to Kolkata, Mumbai & Delhi. The flights would operate as below.

G8161 DEL0610 – 0815BBI D

G8162 BBI0845 – 1110DEL D

G8163 DEL1645 – 1855BBI D

G8164 BBI1925 – 2130DEL D

G8243 CCU0920 – 1030BBI D

G8244 BBI1830 – 1940CCU D

G8243 BBI1100 – 1335BOM D

G8244 BOM1540 – 1755BBI D

This will be 22^nd station for Go Air and a new station after 2012, when Chennai & Port Blair were launched. Go Air has launched this without any addition to its fleet and operates 19 aircraft across its network.

IndiGo is the dominant player at Bhubaneshwar with flights to Delhi, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Vizag, Mumbai, Chennai & Hyderabad. Go Air is attempting to fill in the void created by Jet Airways when it pulled out of Bhubaneshwar as part of network restructuring. Jet Airways was a dominant carrier once upon a time with double daily flights to Kolkata and direct flights to Bengaluru, Mumbai, Delhi, Raipur and Chennai.

IndiGo expands, again!

IndiGo, recently in news for placing a 250 aircraft A320 NEO order, and a deal with Tiger airways is adding capacity on domestic sector.

Effective winter schedule, it is adding flights on Bengaluru – Delhi and Delhi – Goa sector. This will be 9^th Daily flight on Bengaluru – Delhi and 4^th Daily on Delhi – Goa.

6E399 DEL1150 – 1450GOI D

6E398 GOI1445 – 1720DEL D

6E507 DEL1840 – 2050BLR D

6E508 BLR0820 – 1050DEL D

Considering the long gap at Bengaluru, from 2050 till 0820, an international leg in future may not be ruled out. The international leg could be to one of its existing stations, with Dubai being the most likely and the alternative being Singapore.

IndiGo adding second daily to Coimbatore

IndiGo will add one rotation from 17^th November from Delhi, which will operate Delhi – Coimbatore – Chennai – Kolkata and vice versa. This will be 2^nd Daily non-stop service on the Delhi – Coimbatore sector, 3^rd Daily on Chennai – Coimbatore and 5^th Daily on Chennai – Kolkata sector.

IndiGo has monopoly on the non-stop Delhi – Coimbatore sector, whereas it would have maximum seats & frequency on Kolkata – Chennai sector, where Air India and Spicejet operate one and three daily flights respectively

The new flights would operate as below.

6E397 DEL0640 – 0925CJB D

6E272 CJB1000 – 1055MAA D

6E272 MAA1140 – 1345CCU D

6E275 CCU1415 – 1645MAA D

6E275 MAA1715 – 1820CJB D

6E396 CJB1850 – 2200DEL D

This rotation will start after delivery of its 100^th aircraft on order and last of the initial order placed in 2005. The aircraft is likely to be registered as VT-IAY.

Jet Airways, operated the Coimbatore – Chennai – Kolkata leg as part of its Ahmedabad – Bengaluru – Coimbatore – Chennai – Kolkata rotation but pulled out after operating for two seasons.

This is a classic case of how a lean airline with low cost base can sustain, survive and grow as compared to one with financial liability. Only IndiGo has survived on the Ahmedabad – Bengaluru sector, which has been tried and shut by other airlines like Jet Airways, Go Air and Spicejet.

Air India takes delivery of another Dreamliner, upgrades flights to Bangkok

Air India recently took delivery of its 17^th B787 Dreamliner aircraft, registered VT-ANR.

Air India which operated Mumbai – Bangkok – Mumbai and Delhi – Bangkok – Delhi flights on A321, is upgraded these sectors to B787 Dreamliner, effective 14^th October.

The timings are as below

AI330 BOM0200 – 0745BKK D

AI333 BKK0855 – 1200DEL D

AI332 DEL1340 – 1935BKK D

AI331 BKK2050 – 2340BOM D

These new flights give another swapping opportunity and better rotate the B787 in Air India’s fleet.

The domestic segment of this flight, AI330 Goa – Mumbai, continues to be operated at existing timings with A321.

This comes after Air India started flying direct on the Mumbai – Singapore sector, changing its earlier rotation of Mumbai – Chennai – Singapore – Chennai – Mumbai. The new rotation, Mumbai – Singapore – Chennai – Singapore – Mumbai, gives it an edge over relatively lucrative Mumbai – Singapore sector but has to compete with Singapore Airlines A380 flights at similar timings along with Jet Airways which operates double daily flights onboard the B737.

Chennai – Singapore sector is considered one of the lowest in terms of RASK and thus timings may not make a big impact either ways

Air India re-introduces flights to Vadodara

With the Minister of Finance of Gujarat Government going public and requesting Air India to re-start flights to Vadodara, Air India seems to have taken note and restarted flights. Earlier the flight was operated by CRJ-700 and now this would be operated by A320

The flight would operate as below,

AI819 DEL0625 – 0800BDQ D A320

AI820 BDQ0835 – 1015DEL D A320

The flights will be operated by all economy A320

Spicejet cancels select flights

SpiceJet, the only operator on Mumbai – Surat sector has withdrawn flights till further notice. The announcement was done on Twitter. The airline started Surat with operations from Delhi and Mumbai and last season changed to have separate flights to operate Kolkata – Bengaluru – Mumbai – Surat and vice versa, and Delhi – Surat – Delhi with one way connection to Kolkata.

The Bengaluru – Mumbai – Bengaluru leg of the flight is not available for booking till the beginning of Winter Schedule.

Spicejet re-delivers another aircraft

Spicejet has re-delivered another aircraft, VT-SPT, which was named Clove. The aircraft was ferried to Dublin, Ireland via Ankara, Turkey. VT-SPT was B737-900ER and with Spicejet for close to 7 years. The number of B737-900 in fleet is down to 5.