India's premier private airlines, Jet Airways started its operations on May 5, 1993. It has been adjudged many times as India's 'Best Domestic Airline'. Its fleet currently consists of 49 Boeing 737 aircraft, 3 Airbus 340-300E, 2 Airbus 330-200 and 8 turbo-prop ATR72-500 aircraft. The airline flies to 58 destinations - 43 destinations within India and 15 international destinations.
Everyday it operates over 340 flights to these 50 destinations. The first private Indian carrier to fly to international destinations, Jet Airways operates daily international flights to Kathmandu, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and London (Heathrow) among others.
Main hubs of Jet Airways India are located at Indira Gandhi International Airport, Delhi; Anna International Airport, Chennai; Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport, Kolkata; Bangalore International Airport, Bangalore; and Brussels Airport, Brussels.
Starting off on May 3, 1991, with a fleet of 4 Boeing 737-300 aircraft, Jet Airways has grown tremendously. Jet Airways flight has bagged a number of awards for its high standards of service. Besides setting up call centres for Jet airways international and jet airways domestic flights & services, it has introduced many facilities like City Check-In, Same Day Return Check-in, Tele-Check-In, Web Check-in, Kiosk Check-in and many other facilities. It has interline agreements with 126 international airlines which allow passengers to use interline documents on Jet Airways for their travel.
Among the many schemes it has launched, mention may be made of the special "VISIT INDIA USD FARES" for 7-day, 15-day and 21-day travel. It also offers innovative Jet Escapes travel packages in association with India's leading hotels and resorts.
In April 2007, Air Sahara was bought over by Jet Airways for 14.5 billion rupees ($340 million). The deal is expected to give Jet Airways a combined domestic market share of about 32%. Though there were long-drawn negotiations between Jet and Sahara airlines over the buy-out of Air Sahara and the matter even reached the courts, finally a deal was sealed amicably. It was announced that Air Sahara will be renamed as Jetlite.Based in Bangalore, Kingfisher Airline is a private airline owned by Dr. Vijay Mallya. It started its operations on May 9, 2005 with a fleet of 4 leased Airbus A-320 aircrafts. Presently it covers destinations like Agartala, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Bhubaneswar, Chennai, Coimbatore, Delhi, Dibrugarh, Guwahati, Goa, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Jammu, Kochi, Kolkata, Mangalore Mumbai Nagpur, Pune, Srinagar , Udaipur, Varanasi, Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam
It offers several specialized services to its customers like personal valet at the airport to assist in baggage handling and boarding, exclusive lounges with private space, audio and video on-demand, extra-wide personalized screens in the aircraft and three-course gourmet cuisine.
Currently operating aircraft like Airbus A320, Airbus A319-100 and ATR-72, Kingfisher was the first airline in India to operate with all-new aircrafts. Kingfisher Airlines has notched up several firsts to its credit like being the first Indian airline to order the new Airbus A380.
In June 2005, it hit the headlines by placing an order for 5 A380s, 5 A350-800 aircraft and 5 Airbus A330-200 aircraft in a deal valued at over $3 billion.
At the Dubai Air Show in November 2005, Kingfisher Airlines placed an order for 20 ATR 72-500s in a deal estimated to be worth $500 million alongwith an order to acquire 30 more A320s in a deal estimated to be worth $2 billion.
The Airbus A380-the largest passenger liner in the world visited India as part of Kingfisher Airlines' Second Anniversary celebrations from May 7, 2007 to May 10, 2007. Kingfisher has set high standards in terms of product and service offering and has been constantly innovating.
Its vision is to constantly deliver a safe, value-based and enjoyable travel experience to all its customers. It has placed a strong emphasis on safety.Based in Bangalore, Deccan (formerly called Air Deccan) is India's first low-cost carrier. A wholly owned subsidiary of Deccan Aviation, Air Deccan in India has been growing rapidly since it began its operations on 23rd August 2003 with a single flight and 4 destinations. Now it has over 300 Air Deccan flights to 61 destinations with a fleet of 40 aircraft. Air Deccan flights entry into the domestic aviation sector has spurred the evolution and growth of many other similar airlines like Kingfisher Airlines, SpiceJet, Indigo and GoAir. It has forced behemoths like Indian Airlines, Jet Airways and Air Sahara to slash their fares. Part of Deccan Aviation Private Limited, India's largest private heli-charter company, Air Deccan started out with regular scheduled flights from Bangalore to Mangalore and Hubli.
The Managing Director of the company is Captain GR Gopinath, who is also one of the founders. Air Deccan Airlines undoubtedly deserves the credit for revolutionizing air travel in India and was the first airline in India to link second-rung cities like Hubli, Madurai, Visakhapatnam, Nashik, Belgaum, Gwalior, Pathankot and many others. Deccan went public in May 2006.
It operates a range of aircraft including Airbus A320-200, ATR 42-320, ATR 42-500, and ATR 72-212A. It has acquired 30 Airbus A320s, which will be deployed starting 2007.
The main base of Deccan is HAL Bangalore International Airport, with a secondary hub at Chennai International Airport, Chennai. Air Deccan's vision is to empower every Indian citizen to fly. Its mission is to demystify air travel in India by providing reliable, low-cost and safe travel to the common man. The number of passengers carried by Air Deccan India has been constantly increasing from 0.4 million passengers during the financial year 2003-2004 to 9 million passengers during the financial year 2006-2007.
On December 19, 2007, the Premier domestic airline Kingfisher and low-cost carrier Deccan decided to merge and operate as a single entity from April 1, 2008. Post-merger, Deccan will be renamed as 'Kingfisher Airlines'. After the merger, Vijay Mallya will takeover as chairman and CEO of the new Company and Captain Gopinath will be its vice-chairman.The national-flag carrier of India, Air India is India's largest international airline. Air India presently flies to 95 destinations around the world.
Founded by J.R.D. Tata as Tata Airlines in 1932, it restarted regular commercial services in India after the end of World War II and became a public limited company in July 1946 taking the name Air India.
The Government of India bought a 49% stake in the airline in 1948 and the airline was allowed to operate international services from India with a flight from Mumbai to London via Cairo and Geneva. After the Air Corporations Act of August 1953 nationalized the airline industry in India, Air India International Limited was born. It entered the jet age in 1960 when its first Boeing 707 was delivered. It started flying to New York via London in the same year. In June 1962, the airline's name was shortened to Air India.
It operates various types of aircraft which include Airbus A310, Boeing 747, Boeing 747-300M, Boeing 747-400, Boeing 777, Boeing 777-200ER, Boeing 777-200A, Boeing 737-800 and Boeing 767-300ER.
It has expanded its fleet by inducting 22 aircraft - four B777-200ER, five B747-400s, one B747-400 Combi and 12 Airbus 310s during the recent years. Many new flights have been introduced. The new sectors include:
India-Paris-Newark (NJ)
Delhi-Los Angeles via Frankfurt
Shanghai from Mumbai via Delhi-Bangkok
Seoul from Mumbai via Delhi-Hong Kong
London from Ahmedabad, Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai
Delhi-Amritsar-Birmingham-Toronto sector
Delhi-Dhaka-Kolkata-London sector
Air India has ordered 68 new aircraft from Boeing - 50 for Air India and 18 for Air India's low budget subsidiary airline - Air India Express. The aircraft ordered for Air India include B777-200LR, B777-300ER and B787 aircraft. Air India Express is scheduled to receive the delivery of 181-seater B737-800W aircraft. All these aircraft will be inducted by 2012.
A new subsidiary airline - Air India Express has been launched by Air India from April 29, 2005. It presently operates 57 flights per week from nine locations in India, namley Amritsar, Chennai, Delhi, Kochi, Kozhikode, Mangalore, Mumbai, Pune and Thiruvananthapuram to six destinations in the Gulf. In the financial year ending March 31, 2006, Air India made a net profit of Rs. 97 million.
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