Airliners-India.com

malQ · Last edited by malQ on Wed May 09, 2007 9:55 am; edited 3 times in total

I have been commuting on the Delhi - Pune - Delhi (DEL-PNQ_DEL) route for the past eight years now, and never really got around to doing a trip report, but here it is. Need to start somewhere.

So let me start with "old faithful", our very own Indian Airlines, the oldest existing civil operator to Pune. As Lohegaon Airport is a "Civilian Enclave" within an active IAF base, photography is not allowed, so that's one part. IC no longer operates the venerable Boeing 737-200s on this route, with their signature roars, so that's another part. Indian Airlines and Alliance at Pune have been good to me in the past, when there were no other operators and waiting lists were as long as jet-streams. So even when Jet Airways came along, I stayed loyal, so that is another part.

Till Air Sahara arrived in February 2002, and started the mother of all fare wars as well as a double-daily, which brought Jet Airways into the discounting game too. And then there was no stopping the rest. But GoAir has now withdrawn, Kingfisher has come down to a single flight, and Air Sahara has moved from 2 x 737 to 3 x CRJ. So, it was time to try Indian Airlines again, though I did not much care for their late afternoon departure from Delhi. Still, in the interests of honest reportage, and getting facts right. Now, with just one flight a day on this route, they are certainly no longer the dominant carrier, close to the last, actually. As far as capacity is concerned, they would be last, behind Jet Airways, SpiceJet, Air Deccan, Indigo, Kingfisher and Air Sahara, roughly in that order.

The only thing they have going for them, then, and mainly for Delhiites, is the best timing for the return Pune - Delhi leg. Departing Pune/PNQ at a very reasonable 6:40 pm, they get into Delhi/DEL just minutes before the post 9pm madhouse rush over the skies of Palam, which goes on till around midnight. And more recently, they also have the relatively new Airbus-319 aircraft on this route, with very comfortable seating.

Buying a web-ticket on the Indian Airlines website is a breeze, and their web-check-in is simple, too. You get to choose your seats on the Internet, and the best seats in economy have to be 17A and 17F (double leg-room, emergency row window); these can not be pre-selected as they are airport allotment. However, 16B/C and 16D/E are equally comfortable, with extra leg room and recline, while 15 in front of you can not recline. There are 12 rather ratty looking Business Class seats too, which can at best be called "biggie economy", and no, I am not being as green as their upholstery, I did not use the AmEx upgrade coupon I had because I wanted to write about Economy which is what most people fly. Cost me 5,050/- rupees.

Departure from Terminal 1-A at Delhi is far far superior to the night shelter beggar house that Terminal 1-B has evolved into. What's more, the place is squeeky clean and shiny, and the toilets remind one of Singapore. Well, almost, there is no angry Singaporean screaming at people who do not flush. But that's it. There is a Business Lounge, your Gold card may or may not get you in. Mine did.

The Indian (Airlines) bus that took us to the terminal was wierd. Really sad and wierd. Even the driver looked sad, though not wierd, actually he looked kind of embarrased. The bus had seats facing inwards, and badly bolted on, this almost tripped up a lady in a sari. IC needs to change these, and soon, and make their drivers smile too. Boarding is smooth, no complaints, but the aircraft was hot-hot-hot inside. Tarmacs in April, Delhi, are not cool at all. They boil. I got a good frame of the "Indian" written in Devnagri along the Port Side while embarking, and I think it looks very pretty.

Cabin crew was a young, read inexperienced, lot. Under the control of one elderly lady, who sat in the rear galley most of the time, so passengers did as they pleased. Seat belts not on, no briefing for the emergency row occupants, mobile phones buzzing galore, the works. All these youngsters were keen on getting over with was "the service", which was a lot of toffees, a lot of water and one apple juice in a tetrapack. This part, they were better than Jet Airways or Air Sahara, the sealed Tetrapacks win over the poured glasses every time.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/vm2827/470323837/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/vm2827/470249855/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/vm2827/470182603/

The Airbus 320 family is certainly bigger than the Boeing 737 family, and provides a better flight experience, especially for domestic flights that can stretch to beyond a couple of hours, which is what invariably happens on at least one end of the DEL-PNQ route. This time, we hovered for 30 minutes overhead Pune, before landing. Due to fighter training movements. Fair enough.I love watching those fighters when I am waiting and stuck at Pune.

Take-off was on the shorter runway out of Delhi, heading West on 27, which saves 5-10 minutes if you are headed West towards Pune anyways. I like to sit on the right side here, and was rewarded with a view of the Air India 747-400 getting ready for a chartered flight for one of our leaders. I don't like taking photos of the technical Area, my vintage car carries IAF Pegasus colours, so that's that. But I do like to take photographs of aircraft coming in from the East, landing on the same runway, and one of my favourites is of a Pegasus Boeing-737-200 landing over an Aeroflot plane waiting ahead of us.

On DEL-PNQ, afternoon full service flights, IC operates their new A-319 at 4pm, and Jet Airways is there with an oldish 737-400 about 45 minutes later. Sahara runs a getting long in the tooth CRJ at 7:30pm and then Kingfisher has a brilliant brand-new Airbus-320 at 9:10 at night. The snacks were so-so, nothing worth writing about, and the coffee was the usual dishwater.

Sitting on the right side while flying DEL-PNQ means that you first get to see a lot of Rajasthan desert. Then you get to see a lot of shiny Gulf of Khambat/Cambay. After that, you suddenly turn left before Mumbai, and dog-leg towards Pune, with a few bouncy bits over Matheran and Lonavala. In the winters, you get crisp and clean skies, and fantastic sunset shots. But it gets dark early, so photography is restricted by light. In the summers and monsoons you get a lot of clouds. They all look the same, and quite silly, when viewed through a small point-and-shoot digital.

One foul-up, big time, was that the Airport Check-in at DEL placed a dear old lady and her dear old husband in the emergency row. That is not correct. Another thing was that the (inexperienced, young, wet behind ears) cabin crew did not shut the overhead bins till well after we started rolling. Then they ran and did it very loudly. And then on arrival, they just kept sitting and sitting while the usual maelstorm starts well before the plane reaches the bay. Somebody has to teach these youngsters that their main role is not to serve and clear food, but safety, and being prepared for emergencies.

Arrival Pune is always great fun. I know everybody, and they all know me, and we take the mickey out of Delhi together. I have song on my lips as I stride out to duel with my friends the cool-cab taxi operators, and do not have to tell any of them where I want to go, they just know. Day arrival, office. Evening or night arrival, home.

All my photos are at http://www.flickr.com/photos/vm2827 and reasonably well tagged, so searching for them should not be a problem.

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the_380 · Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2007 6:55 pm Post subject:

Nice and well detailed...
Pics are also good...
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VABBy · Member Joined: 19 Dec 2006 Posts: 823 Location: DEL

Nice TR Veeresh keep them coming Very Happy

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malQ · Posted: Tue Jun 12, 2007 10:30 am Post subject:

Something is really rocking, the photos I took along with these trip records are clicking along on the hit counter on my flickr pages. Especially those of the food served/not served.

Could it be linked with the aviation event on in Mumbai right now?

Nimish · Posted: Tue Jun 12, 2007 11:10 am Post subject:

HAWK21M · Posted: Tue Jun 12, 2007 2:21 pm Post subject: