Thai Lion Air's Boeing 737 flight grounded at Kolkata airport after tech snag
However, it developed a flap-related problem, following which it returned to the parking bay after pushback and subsequently, the flight had to be cancelled, they added."Flaps are very important components of an aircraft. The flaps are extended during take off to produce lift for the aircraft. Similarly, they are extended during landing to create drag to slow down the aircraft," Sumanta Roy Choudhury, a retired captain who worked in multiple airlines, told PTI.All the passengers were provided with hotel accommodation, an airline official said.The aircraft had to be grounded in Kolkata as the company engineer on board could not solve the technical problem, he said.Two more engineers will be flown in on Saturday night from the airline's base in Bangkok, and they will help in fixing the problem, he added.As a result of this incident, a Qatar Airways plane from Doha to Kolkata got delayed for parking by 25 minutes, an Airports Authority of India official said.- Ends
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Time of India
14 hours ago
- Time of India
Thai plane stranded in Kol flies out 28 hrs behind schedule
Kolkata: The Thai Lion Air flight stranded in Kolkata with a technical snag since the early hours of Saturday finally took off 28 hours behind schedule on Sunday morning. Of the 130 passengers booked to travel on Saturday, 96 flew out on Sunday, with the rest cancelling their tickets. The Boeing 737-800 aircraft developed an AC problem shortly after it was pushed back for departure. The plane returned to the parking bay. Passengers were accommodated in a hotel. TOI reported engineers arrived on Saturday afternoon. Airport officials said the snag was rectified, and the flight took off for Bangkok Don Mueang International Airport at 6.17 am on Sunday. You Can Also Check: Kolkata AQI | Weather in Kolkata | Bank Holidays in Kolkata | Public Holidays in Kolkata Meanwhile, a Boeing 777-200 LR belonging to Air India that suffered a snag when it stopped at Kolkata airport for refuelling on June 17 is still stranded here. Its 211 flyers were accommodated on other flights. — Subhro Niyogi
Indian Express
15 hours ago
- Indian Express
With Manchester and Amsterdam services, IndiGo boards the long-haul flight to chase its ‘global airline' ambitions
After establishing dominance in Indian skies and building a dense short-haul international network over 18-plus years, the country's largest airline IndiGo has finally forayed into the long-haul segment, marking the beginning of a new chapter in the carrier's evolution. Early July, the airline started flying non-stop to Manchester and Amsterdam from Mumbai, a milestone in its ambition to become a global airline by 2030 with its 'internationalisation strategy' as a key cornerstone. The plan involves product development to serve specific markets, building a global network by growing mid- and long-haul operations and deepening codeshare partnerships with global airlines, and inducting long-range narrow-body and wide-body aircraft, and all that while maintaining cost leadership. IndiGo—for long seen as a classic low-cost carrier (LCC)—is shaping into what its chief executive Pieter Elbers likes to call a 'fit-for-purpose' airline—one with varied product offerings in line with the demands of specific market segments, instead of the typical budget airline. Over the past year, IndiGo launched a tailor-made business class product—IndiGo Stretch—on select domestic routes, and a loyalty programme. The airline felt that there were sizable market segments within India where these offerings would work well. And beyond that, these were also part of the groundwork for the carrier's log-haul operations. On its just-launched long-haul flights—currently using damp-leased Boeing 787-9 aircraft from Norse Atlantic—IndiGo has hot meals and in-flight entertainment included for all flyers. It is also offering the international version of its Stretch product complete with complimentary alcoholic drinks service, choice of three-course hot meals, some free amenities, and even lounge access. And this could very well be the broad template for IndiGo's long-haul operations. 'I don't think our product here is what one can label or classify as an LCC or a ULCC (ultra-low-cost carrier) product. We have hot meals and baggage included. So, it's a fit-for-purpose product and operation. For a nine-hour or 10-hour flight, we choose to have a product where food is included, instead of going through all the complexities of selling it on board. Does it mean that we have to do it all across the network, and for our five and six-hour flights? No, not at all. The fit-for-purpose for 10 hours looks different than that for four or five or six hours,' Elbers told The Indian Express after IndiGo's inaugural Mumbai-Manchester flight. 'I believe very much that IndiGo should be a fit-for-purpose airline. That means that the hundreds of routes we operate in the nation itself should have a very cost compelling basis, and with that, a very attractive price. But some of the other routes in the nation, like its busiest, might need something more, and that's why we started with IndiGo Stretch. And the same goes for these European flights. It's fit for purpose and a value-for-money proposition. It's going to be very competitive with some of the fares offered by our competitors. And importantly, it's a direct connection,' the IndiGo CEO added. IndiGo sees significant potential in the international segment, given that Indian airlines account for 45 per cent of India's international air passenger traffic, while overseas carriers account for around 55 per cent. When it comes to India-Europe passenger traffic, overseas carriers have an even higher share of around 70 per cent, some of which is up for the taking, believes IndiGo. As part of its 'internationalisation strategy', IndiGo plans to induct extra-long-range narrow-body Airbus A321 XLR aircraft starting this year and wide-body Airbus A350 planes from 2027 to operate medium- and long-range international flights. With the A350s, IndiGo should be in a position to launch non-stop services between India and North America. But Elbers—a former KLM CEO whose nearly three years at IndiGo have been focused on internationalisation—does not want to wait for its own long-range aircraft to fuel its international expansion. He and the airline are in a hurry to emerge as trailblazers on a number of long-haul routes. Therefore, IndiGo decided to enter the long-haul market using damp-leased planes. IndiGo's agreements with Norse Atlantic are for six Boeing 787-9 wide-body aircraft, one of which has been inducted and is operating the thrice weekly Mumbai-Manchester and Mumbai-Amsterdam services. The remaining five jets will be inducted over the course of this year and early next year. Over the past two to three years, IndiGo has expanded its international network by adding destinations in regions including Central Asia and the Caucasus, Southeast Asia, and Africa using its narrow-body fleet. Europe, where Air India is the only Indian carrier that operates direct flights, was expected to be the next frontier for IndiGo. According to Elbers, the fact that 65 per cent of the world's population lives within the range of IndiGo's existing narrow-body fleet underscores the potential of international expansion within this radius and beyond. In addition to Manchester and Amsterdam, IndiGo will be adding another eight international destinations in the current financial year (2025-26), growing its international network to 51 destinations. It intends to launch services to London, Copenhagen, Athens, Siem Reap, and four undisclosed Central Asian destinations. Barring Athens, the destinations in Europe and the UK are expected to be operated using the Norse Atlantic aircraft that IndiGo is taking on damp lease. Flights to Athens will be operated using the Airbus A321 XLR aircraft that IndiGo expects to start inducting in the current financial year. Siem Reap and the new destinations in Central Asia are likely to be operated using IndiGo's mainline fleet of Airbus A320 family jets. 'When it comes to building the international network the opportunity is enormous and we have indeed demonstrated that with Central Asia, and even some places in Southeast Asia. But the way I would like to see the network developed is we start to expand the range step by step. You will continue to see a lot of new routes in, let me call it the region, Southeast Asia, Gulf…So, we are expanding the density of the regional international network, and at the same time continuously expand the borders of that network and stretch the scope of where we fly,' Elbers said. IndiGo also sees its codeshare partnerships with other international carriers as a tool for network development as it would help the airline study the traffic flows and demand and plan its own long-haul network densification over the coming years. Specific to IndiGo's foray into Europe and the UK is the carrier's recently announced partnership with Delta Air Lines, Virgin Atlantic, and Air France-KLM, which will help it offer connections to other points in Europe and the US from points that IndiGo would be flying to in Europe. 'I think partnerships, until a few years back, were very much foreign airlines flying to India and then putting their passengers on our domestic network, benefiting from IndiGo's enormous domestic network. I think we are now making it much more reciprocal. So, for example, KLM has 30 destinations in India connecting on their flights from some major Indian cities. Now, we're going to have connections on KLM from Amsterdam. With Virgin (Atlantic), same story. We'll have connections with Virgin here in Manchester itself. So, it's going to be more reciprocal now, and it's surely going to help the further development of our network,' Elbers said. The reporter was in Manchester at IndiGo's invitation for the launch of the airline's Mumbai-Manchester non-stop service. Sukalp Sharma is a Senior Assistant Editor with The Indian Express and writes on a host of subjects and sectors, notably energy and aviation. He has over 13 years of experience in journalism with a body of work spanning areas like politics, development, equity markets, corporates, trade, and economic policy. He considers himself an above-average photographer, which goes well with his love for travel. ... Read More
Time of India
19 hours ago
- Time of India
Bullish on international expansion, IndiGo says Amsterdam important point for connecting rest of Europe, America
Live Events (You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel Expanding its international wings, IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers has said Amsterdam will be an important point to connect with the rest of Europe and North America and highlighted it is a "fit for purpose" India's largest airline with a domestic market share of 64 per cent, is fast expanding its overseas reach with new routes and the foray into Europe, IndiGo this week, commenced direct services from Mumbai to Manchester and Amsterdam, with Elbers describing the launches as a "momentous occasion"."I think the story now is by touching in Europe. The change is much more profound than just two new destinations. It's a change of product. It's a change in some of the partnerships. It's a change of profile," Elbers told a fleet of more than 400 planes, IndiGo flies to over 90 domestic and 40 overseas destinations, with the latest additions being the start of services to Manchester and Amsterdam on July 1 and 2, said Amsterdam airport is great for connectivity and it certainly will become an important point to connect from here to the rest of Europe and North airline plans to add 10 new international destinations to its network in the current fiscal year ending March 2026. Other planned destinations include London, Copenhagen, and an interview with PTI in Amsterdam, a day after its inaugural flight landed in the Dutch city, the IndiGo CEO said the launches mark a new chapter in the airline's wonderful book and that more chapters are to on the internal changes in moving to long haul services, Elbers said IndiGo is a "fit-for-purpose airline" and the carrier had one clear sort of product from the start."What we have now done is we have made kind of groups of products depending on the routes we operate. So the product we have now on Manchester, we can also use the same for London or for Copenhagen."And the product we have on domestic sectors, we can just keep adding domestic sectors. So there's some change internally," he to him, the aim is to make Indian passengers feel at home and non-Indian passengers have a flight on IndiGo that will also be the start of their journey to India."So, it should be sort of contemporary Indian or Indian with a global twist type of approach. I think that is what's the objective," Elbers the long haul operations, IndiGo is damp leasing six wide-body Boeing 787-9 aircraft from Norway's Norse Atlantic one of them is being used for the three weekly flights each to Manchester and Amsterdam from said IndiGo expects to take three more planes from Norse Atlantic in October-November time frame and the remaining two are expected to come in the first quarter of airline is set to induct long range narrow-body A321 XLR planes by the end of this year or early 2026 and this aircraft will allow the carrier to add destinations like Athens."It (A321 XLR) will allow us to add new destinations such as Athens. It will also allow us to do destinations from different points in India..."Today, we fly to Nairobi from Mumbai. Perhaps in the future, given the huge Gujarati community in that part of Africa, we may operate out of Ahmedabad. I'm not saying we do, but we may," Elbers said.
