Etihad Airways and Jet Airways have signed an agreement with the Government of Maharashtra to promote tourism to the state.

Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, and strategic partner Jet Airways, India’s full-service, premium international carrier, have signed an agreement with the Government of Maharashtra to promote tourism to the western Indian state.

The partnership will enable both airlines to capitalise on their strong links with Maharashtra and further propel domestic and international arrivals into the state capital Mumbai and beyond. It is the first time an Indian state has signed a tourism collaboration agreement with airlines.

The Honourable Chief Minister of Maharashtra Shri Devendra Fadnavis presided over the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding in Mumbai today. The agreement was signed by Valsa Nair Singh, IAS, Principal Secretary, Tourism and Culture, Government of Maharashtra; Neerja Bhatia, Vice President, Etihad Airways Indian Subcontinent; and Jayaraj Shanmugam, Chief Commercial Officer, Jet Airways. It followed months of discussions between the leadership of both airlines and the state government on exploring ways to collaborate in promoting tourism.

Under the agreement, the three entities will pool marketing resources to participate in travel-trade events in key international markets such as the UK and the UAE, jointly promote ‘Destination Maharashtra’ through advertising campaigns, and organise inbound familiarisation trips for media and travel agents.

Etihad Airways and Jet Airways are key contributors to India’s thriving travel and tourism sector carrying the biggest combined share of international traffic to and from India with one in five travellers choosing either carrier. 

Collectively, they operate five flights a day between Abu Dhabi, the UAE carrier’s operational hub, and Maharashtra’s main international gateway of Mumbai with domestic connections across the country. In addition, Jet Airways flies daily between Maharashtra’s second largest city of Pune and Abu Dhabi.

Maharashtra, the third largest state in India, is one of India’s most popular tourist destinations. Mumbai ranks second after the Indian capital Delhi in terms of first port of entry for foreign tourist arrivals into India, and fifth in domestic tourist visits.

"Mumbai is Jet Airways’ home hub and the airline shares a warm and emotional bond with Mumbai and the state of Maharashtra. We operate our highest number of flights from the city and have always positioned and promoted Mumbai as the gateway to the state and the country. Our mutual network represents a huge market that can be potentially accessed in support of this initiative."

Maharashtra is home to a diverse range of tourist attractions, from beaches, caves, forts, wildlife, tiger reserves, national parks and hill stations, to monuments, palaces, festivals, places of worship, and adventure sports. Mumbai, the international gateway to Maharashtra, is the country’s financial hub and home to numerous museums, architectural heritage and Bollywood, the world’s largest film industry in terms of movie production.

Since Jet Airways began operations from Mumbai in 1993, the airline has flown millions of guests to and from its main hub over the past 24 years.

Mumbai was also the first Indian city to be served by Etihad Airways with the launch of daily flights in September 2004. A second daily service was introduced in November 2013, followed two years later by a third daily frequency. Etihad Airways has carried more than two million guests on the route over the past 13 years with key inbound markets including Abu Dhabi, London, New York, San Francisco and Chicago. 

Etihad Airways’ Indian network to and from Abu Dhabi covers 11 cities that also includes Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, New Delhi, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kochi, Kolkata, Kozhikode and Thiruvananthapuram. Jet Airways offers the additional Indian cities of Pune, Lucknow, Mangalore and Goa to Abu Dhabi, as well as numerous domestic connections. 

During 2017, Jet Airways is scheduled to launch flights from Kannur and Chandigarh to Abu Dhabi, subject to appropriate regulatory approvals and completion of operational readiness at these airports.

Combined, both carriers operate over 250 flights each week between Abu Dhabi and 15 Indian cities.

- Jet Airways Press Release.

Since when did a routine "Go Around" become a 'scare'? 

SpiceJet in a statement said "the approach unstabilized in the last 200 feet and the pilot decided to do a go around". 

A 'Go-around' is when the pilot of a landing aircraft decided to abort the procedure and 'go around' back to the beginning of the approach procedure, somewhat like a speed bowler in Cricket who aborts his delivery mid-way for some reason and goes back to his starting position start his bowling run-up! At a busy airport like Hyderabad, this might mean circling a bit while awaiting their turn in a queue for landing.

Go-arounds are a regular phenomenon at busy airports. This poorly researched article which hinges on the opinion of a passenger wrongly portrays the incident as though it was a major catastrophe averted!! 

C'mon The Times of India, lets not sensationalise such matters for the sake of eyeballs.

New Aerobridge under construction at Coimbatore Airport.

A Fixed Link Bridge under construction at Coimbatore's airport in Tamil Nadu, India. AAI plans to add two aerobridges to increase passenger handling capacity of the terminal building.

Air India's NEO addition and the continuing A320 saga.

Air India has become the latest A320neo operator after taking delivery of the first of 14 aircraft leased from Kuwait headquartered ALAFCO Aviation Lease And Finance Company.

As of January 2017, Air India operates the oldest A320s yet in operations. And VT-EXF, delivered to the carrier in February 2017 is only one month old! The age gap is a record-breaking 27.9 years!!! 

The oldest of A320s, MSN 24 joined the Indian Airlines (IC) fleet in 1987, when the cutting-edge, 'fly-by-wire' aircraft were as much a rage as the NEOs are today.. These A320s were specially configured, featuring 'double bogey' Main landing gear to cope with weaker runways in India. They were the mainstay of  Indian Airlines' domestic and regional international fleet right through the 1990s and the 2000s, working alongside IA's jet fleet of A300s and B737-200s. They were the sole A320 operators in the 90s when all private operators chose to bring in Boeing narrow body jets. When IC and AI were merged in 2007, the old A320s got repainted in the Air India Livery.

Seven of those beauties are still operating today, although news reports that the National carrier plans to phase them out keep appearing in the headlines..

Indian Airlines next big wave of Airbus family inductions happened in 2006 when it placed an order for 43 aircraft comprising 20 A319s, four A320s and 19 A321s, valued at approximately $2.2 billion. Airbus began delivering these planes in 2007, bang in the midst of the merger process. These new airbuses allowed IC to phase out its ageing Boeing 737-200 fleet. Some of the 732s were hived off to Alliance Air and a few more were converted to cargo. Some of the A320 family deliveres were made in the new livery. A few A319s still sport this interim livery.

In 2015, Air India leased five winglet equipped A320s in an 'all economy' configuration from Chinese lessors in a bid to replace the ageing A320s. This was soon followed by the ALAFCO deal for 14 NEOs, which are being delivered now. Another eight NEOs will be sourced from GECAS and the airline has issued tenders for a further seven A320s.

Incidentally, according to Airbus, more than 6,000 professionals in India contribute directly and indirectly to all Airbus programmes through a network of over 45 Indian suppliers, and every aircraft produced today is partly made in India!