Jet Airways suspending operations created a big void in the Indian aviation market. On the domestic front, Ministry of Civil Aviation has temporarily distributed some of Jet Airways flights to other carriers, and they have quickly launched a slew of new temporary flights especially out of Mumbai and Delhi.
- Vistara and AirAsia India add more flights from Mumbai
- SpiceJet added flights from Mumbai including an international flight
- 12 new SpiceJet flights from Mumbai and Delhi
- 15 additional new SpiceJet flights from Mumbai and Delhi
- IndiGo launched 11 new flights from Mumbai Terminal 2
- Massive expansion by IndiGo from Mumbai and Delhi Terminal 2
On the international front, both SpiceJet and IndiGo have added quite a few flights especially to Saudi Arabia taking advantage of the recent increase in bilateral rights.
MOCA had a meeting with all the airlines regarding the distribution of slots and international bilateral rights on a temporary basis on May 17, 2019. All airlines were supposed to submit respective fleet addition plans and a wishlist for international expansion.
According to CNBC, MOCA has temporarily withdrawn some international bilateral rights held by Jet Airways.
| City/Airport/Country | Bilateral rights earlier held | Bilateral rights temporarily withdrawn | Bilateral rights left |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dubai | 12,979 seats/week | 5,825 seats/week | 7,154 seats/week |
| Hong Kong | 3,584 seats/week | 1,792 seats/week | 1,792 seats/week |
| Singapore | 12,076 seats/week | 1,620 seats/week | 10,456 seats/week |
| Qatar | 8,559 seats/week | 5,670 seats/week | 2,889 seats/week |
| London Heathrow | 28 flights/week | 14 flights/week | 14 flights/week |
Air India had earlier added a new 5x weekly Mumbai – Colombo flight from May 1, 2019. But due to the terror attacks in SriLanka, the launch of the new flight is postponed to May 31, 2019. On the domestic front, Air India added only a couple of new flights.
Currently, Air India operates a single daily 787-8 flight on Delhi – Dubai and a single daily A321 flight on Mumbai – Dubai sector. Jet Airways, on the other hand, used to operate 7 daily flights on Mumbai – Dubai and 5x daily flights on Delhi – Dubai route with 737s.
Now, Air India is expanding its presence, by adding an additional daily 787-8 frequency on both the Mumbai – Dubai and Delhi – Dubai sectors from June 1, 2019.
Air India Boeing 787-8 Business Class Bed
The schedule for the new Air India Dubai to Mumbai and Dubai to Delhi flights are,
AI911 BOM2335 – 0130(+1 day)DXB 788 D
AI912 DXB0250 – 0735BOM 788 D
AI915 DEL1650 – 1930DXB 788 D
AI916 DXB2040 – 0200(+1day)DEL 788 D
The flights are currently bookable till September 30, 2019, for now.
This is great news for those who fly to Dubai a lot for work, or fly over for work. Now, will the DGCA also consider the Qatar Airways request for additional flights, which will reduce the pressure on fares?
It would be nice to see a daily flight of Air India from Mumbai to Hong Kong on board the B787-8.
@Sidharth, no rights and no planes yet 🙂
Would be nice if they added to SIN in particular and HKG as well because of the lost Jet capacity.
BTW they’ve been interested in BOM-HKG for ages but have been unable to secure slots.
The BOM-SIN-MAA-SIN-BOM rotation was downgraded from the 787 to the A320neo in November. It should have been restored to the 787 by 2 May, but this never happened.