The entry of Air India in to the Star Alliance is delayed by at least one year to the first quarter of 2010.

Star Alliance founder, Lufthansa was a sponsor for Air India joining the Star Alliance. Since 2004, Air India has operated code-sharing flights with Lufthansa between Germany and India.

18 months ago, the Government of India decided to merge Air India and the erstwhile Indian (formerly Indian Airlines). The process of merger, which was to have been completed in 2008, has been severely delayed due to "integration" issues. Apparently there is major confusion at even the most basic levels between the staff of the two airlines, with no clarity on who is responsible for what. Where have we heard of this before?


While Star Alliance and Air India signed a non-disclosure agreement last year, the compliance is yet to be done. The IT systems are no where close to integration and Air India has not yet, even informed the Star Alliance, on which of the two systems it will finally be using. This is proving to the major sticking point for Air India's entry in to the global alliance.

Adding complexity to this issue are reports that mandarins at the Ministry of Civil Aviation of Air India owner, Government of India, are "upset" at reported talks between Jet Airways and the Star Alliance, whom they perceive as a threat to Air India.


Previously Jet Airways had an announced policy of remaining alliance neutral preferring to sign one-on-one bi-laterals instead. Delays by the US Federal Aviation Administration on Jet's code share deal with Star Alliance founder United Airlines have launched a diplomatic protest by the Indian government.

However, the extreme operating environment due to the on-going economic slowdown, the sheer size of India, and the desire of the Star Alliance to grow to 50 members especially regional airlines, may be tilting the scales in favour of Jet Airways joining the Star Alliance.

and I see not reason why can India not have two airlines participating in the alliance.

The US aviation regulator, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), has delayed permission to a code-sharing agreement between Jet Airways (India) Ltd and United Air Lines Inc., as per the Mint.

The code share agreement would have given Jet Airways passengers access to United’s five hubs of Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington, and access to 20 other cities across the US, while United passengers would have been able to connect to 13 cities in India, including Bangalore, Kolkata, Mumbai and New Delhi.

India currently enjoys a category I status in the United States and the delay in permissions are very surprising. Jet Airways has has lodged a complaint against the delay at India’s civil aviation ministry, which will be taken up by India through diplomatic channels.

The FAA intends to do an IASA (international aviation safety assessment) review of infrastructure and safety procedures followed by India’s regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in the next three months, and India is facing the threat of downgrade to Category II status.

This will surely create relationship problems in the aviation sector, one of the key areas of trade and cooperation between the two countries. The upcoming 126 multi-role fighter aircraft deal, in which Lockheed Martin and Boeing are leading contenders, may also be threatened.

Read the full Mint article.

"Ladies and gentlemen, from the flight deck, ....... we advise you to always keep your seat belt fastened when seated, even when the 'fasten seat beat' sign is switched off"

How many times have we heard this advice during our flights ?

How frequently do we follow this advice ? The road warriors, and frequent fliers will probably say they do, but most of us do not.

Just as most of the 285 passengers of a Northwest Airlines Airbus A330-300, flight NW022 from Tokyo Narita, Japan to Honolulu, Hawaii, USA on January 22, 2009. The aircraft experienced severe turbulence for about 20 seconds while en-route near the Midway Islands.

One flight attendant received serious injuries, three passengers minor injuries. The flight attendant suffered serious head and neck injuries and was delivered to a hospital in Honolulu after the flight crew elected to continue and land safely. Two passengers with injuries, one to the hip, the other with neck and arm injuries, were also delivered to a Honolulu hospital, a third passenger was treated at the airport.

In the din of geese and a water landing, most of us missed this incident, one that occurs with far more frequency than bird strikes, and unlike bird strikes, this is something, we passengers can protect ourselves against.

One of the worst incidences of Clear Air Turbulence occurred on December 28, 1997. A Boeing 747-100 performing United Airlines flight UA826, and flying the same route as NW022, from Tokyo, Narita to Honolulu. Two hours into the flight, at 31,000 feet, the plane received reports of severe clear-air turbulence in the area and the seat belt sign was turned on, but before passengers could fully react, the aircraft suddenly dropped around 100 feet, seriously injuring many passengers and causing damage to the aircraft. The plane turned around and landed safely back in Tokyo, but was not put back in service. One passenger died of her injuries after landing in Tokyo. (Read NTSB press release of the incident).

Do you fasten your seat belt for the duration of the flight ? Share your thoughts via a comment.

In 2009, Delta Air Lines will add its first-ever daily nonstop service between Los Angeles and Sydney, Australia* effective July 1; three-times weekly service between Los Angeles and Sao Paulo, Brazil* beginning May 21; and increased service between Los Angeles and New York-JFK starting March 2.

The current seven daily flights between Los Angeles and New York-JFK will increase to eight in an effort to improve connections for New York and Northeast customers on long-haul international flights via Los Angeles. Additionally, Delta customers in the Southeastern U.S. will benefit from same-plane service between Atlanta and Sydney via LA.

Delta’s focus on Los Angeles is being supported by the recently announced expanded marketing agreement between Delta and Alaska Air Group that will make the two companies preferred partners on the West Coast.

Starting July 1, 2009, DL17 will depart Los Angeles at 2240 and arrive Sydney at 0640 two days later (after crossing the international date line).

Starting July 3, 2009, DL16 will depart Sydney at 0915 and Los Angeles at 0600 the same day (time saved by crossing the international date line).

The flight is expected to be 14 hours in one direction and 13 in the other.

The Sydney service will be operated on Delta's new Boeing 777-200LR in a two class configuration, fitted Delta's latest seating including fully flat-bed seating in business class in a herringbone layout.

Currently, the route is operated by Boeing 747-400's of Qantas and United in a 3 class configuration, but United is upgrading its aircraft, and Qantas is planning to introduce the Airbus A380 super jumbo with a 4th class, premium economy, on this route. More competition also coming in the form of Virgin Australia commencing operations with a Boeing 777-300ER in a three class configuration.

With this addition of capacity, fares are bound to head south (sorry for the pun), which while good news for the passengers, is not for the airlines. Will Delta or any of the other three airlines suffer the same fate as American and Continental and withdraw ? Only time will tell.

With the Sydney flight Delta will become only U.S. airline to fly to six continents, and is good news for the SkyTeam alliance, which is severely under-represented down-under. The Sydney service adds the crucial and missing Australia-North America link for the alliance.

Delta will operate Sao Paulo with a Boeing 767-300ER, in a two class configuration.

Starting May 21, 2009, DL233 will depart Los Angeles at 2100 Tue, Thu, Sun, and arrive Sao Paulo at 1320 the next day.

Starting May 22, 2009, DL234 will depart Sao Paulo at 2225 Mon, Wed, Fri, and arrive Los Angeles at 0730 the next day.

Jet Airways, will forge a frequent flyer partnership with United Airlines, one of the largest international carriers based in the United States, effective November 15, 2008.

With this partnership, Jet Airways’ JetPrivilege members may now earn and redeem JPMiles on the entire global network of United Airlines, and, United Airlines’ Mileage Plus members may now earn and redeem their miles on Jet Airways' services to 64 destinations in India and beyond. More details are available on Jet Airways' website.

United Airlines operates more than 3,200 flights a day to more than 200 U.S. domestic and international destinations from its hubs in Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington D.C.

United, along with German carrier Lufthansa, had commenced the Star Alliance. Readers will recall that recently Lufthansa has committed itself to helping Air India become a partner of the Star Alliance. It will be interesting to see how this partnership evolves. Ideally, I would like to see Jet Airways become a full fledged Star Alliance member.

As a regular flier around the world, I would always experience the mental shock of coming down the levels as I transited from my Singapore Airlines flight, on to a domestic US carrier. It did not matter whether it was American, Continental, Delta, United, or US Airways, it did not matter if the transition was from economy to economy, or from Business class to domestic First class, it was a always a jarring, thud of a drop. Never mind that I was probably the only person in the domestic First class who had actually paid a First class fare, compared to my upgraded cabin mates.

In my life, with over a million flown miles on Singapore Airlines, and the highest level of frequent flier (Solitaire PPS) achieved after 5 continuous years of loyalty, I have been upgraded only once.

I am not complaining. It was this fanatical devotion to non-dilution of their premium classes, and slavish offering of the best customer service, that put the premium classes of foreign airlines like Cathay Pacific, Emirates, Etihad, Singapore Air, Virgin Atlantic, and others, way way above, their full service "cheap" US carriers, even on international routes.

The US "full service" carriers led the world in, to the glamorous world of air travel, and also in, to the decline of mediocrity, with their generally poor service, all the way from the reservation till baggage collection, or in many a case, attempted baggage collection. Distributing free class upgrades like candy, only lowered the quality of service in the premium classes, and with it, brand equity, even further.

Twice, I have faced drinking water rationing on an international flight, both with a US carrier, both in Business or First class. Once with United ex Heathrow to JFK, and once on Delta from LAX to Tokyo. 8 or 10 hours with one small bottle of water ?!?! Why ? The catering department forget to load enough water!!!! Compare this with Emirates which offers its First class passengers showers on-board its Airbus A380.

Global road warriors will agree that Emirates and Singapore Airlines are the two airlines which epitomise the highest levels of commercial aviation passenger comfort and customer focus, in all classes. If Emirates is the King of full service carriers, Singapore Airlines is surely the Queen.

Photo by : Lianhe Zaobao
I was shocked to read, the queen has decided to move its guests out from her full service 5 star palace. On November 4, Singapore Airlines announced it has decided to start charging passengers a US$50 surcharge for confirmed exit row seats in economy class. On the same date the same airline also announced it was lowering its fuel surcharges.

This follows most US airlines deciding to charge for "options" like check-in baggage, flight attendants are resisting US Airways' moves to charge for soft drinks, US Airways even charges for pillows and blankets. What aspect of these airlines' actions would even remotely, make us consider them "full service" ? "Full dis-service" may be.

Many of us have seen this spoof of an airline announcement by MAD TV. In 2007 we all laughed at the ludicrousness of this announcement. No more.

In India, in their quest to show low "airfares", airlines have taken "componentisation" of the total fare to extremes. Basic airfare, fuel surcharge, congestion surcharge, transaction fee, and the list goes on. Gentlemen, we know our basic math, and can total up all the charges. Treat us as adults.

Coming back to Singapore Airlines. Previously, the economy class exit rows were normally occupied by the Krisflyer members. At a time when company budgets are shrinking and executives are required to fly economy, the additional legroom of an exit seat is one of the soft perks the loyal, but harried traveller, can look forward to.

With only 2 to 8 seats per flight, even Singapore Airlines' spokesman Stephen Forshaw will agree, it is not a revenue raiser. My question to CEO Cheong Choong Kong, why risk the alienating your passengers by this move ?

There could be logic in this move, but customer perceptions do not follow logic. Either you are a "5 Star" airline or you are not.