Kochi: Air India Express to Reschedule Flights from Feb 15
Media Release
Kochi, Feb 3: Air India Express has recast its schedule effective February 15 to comply with the new DGCA, Civil Aviation Requirement (CAR) guidelines.
In accordance with the new CAR guidelines which emphasizes on safety and also addresses fatigue of pilots, Air India Express has made certain changes in its flight schedules. Majority of the flight timings will be changed to day time effective February 15.
Certain flights will be combined so that the sectors remain connected and only in a minuscule cases flights have to be cancelled.
In case a flight is cancelled the passenger will be informed by Air India Express reservations staff and alternative arrangements will be made available.
The schedule of flights operating to and fro Mangalore is as follows:
Departure of IX 813 / 814 Mangalore-Dubai-Mangalore will be postponed to 2200 hrs with 1 hour ground time in Dubai.
Mangalore-Abu Dhabi-Muscat-Mangalore flight will operate thrice weekly on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays.
Mangalore-Doha-Bahrain-Mangalore flight will operate twice weekly on Wednesdays and Fridays.
IX 383 / 384 Mangalore-Dubai-Mangalore will be operated by Dubai based aircraft.
Second Dubai-based aircraft will operate 3 Dubai / Pune / Dubai and 2 Dubai / Jaipur / Dubai at night and 3 Dubai / Mangalore / Dubai and 2 Dubai / Lucknow / Dubai in day. This aircraft will also operate Dubai / Mumbai / Mumbai and park in Mumbai overnight
Other Schedules:
1) Kozhikode / Abu Dhabi / Kozhikode will be advanced to depart Kozhikode at 1800 hours.
2) All Kuwait flights from Kozhikode will be advanced to depart at 1600 hours instead of 1900 hours.
3) IX 371 / 372 Kozhikode / Doha / Bahrain / Kozhikode and IX 373 / 374 Kozhikode / Bahrain / Doha / Kozhikode will originate from Kochi.
4) Additional Kozhikode / Mumbai / Kozhikode flights on Wednesdays
5) Al Ain flight will be operated as Kozhikode / Al Ain / Kozhikode and there will be no connection to Al Ain from Kochi
6) Kochi / Dubai / Kochi and Kochi / Abu Dhabi / Kochi flights will be combined to operate daily Kochi / Abu Dhabi / Dubai / Kochi, departing Kochi at 1825
7) IX 455 / 456 Kochi / Trivandrum / Doha / Bahrain / Trivandrum / Kochi and IX 457 / 458 Kochi / Trivandrum / Bahrain / Doha / Trivandrum / Kochi will not operate. Instead there will be a daily flight IX 473 / 474 Kochi / Kozhikode / Bahrain / Doha / Kozhikode / Kochi (with Bahrain first and Doha second on all flights)
8) Two flights each Kochi / Kozhikode / Dammam / Kozhikode / Kochi and Kochi / Trivandrum / Dammam / Trivandrum / Kochi will be operated for Air India
9) Trivandrum / Dubai / Trivandrum and Trivandrum / Abu Dhabi / Trivandrum flights will be combined to operate daily Trivandrum / Abu Dhabi / Dubai / Trivandrum departing Trivandrum at 1730.
10) Trivandrum / Mumbai / Trivandrum will be advanced by 1 hour departing Trivandrum at 0655.
11) Trivandrum / Muscat / Trivandrum flight will operate thrice weekly on Tuesdays, Fridays, Sundays.
12) Trivandrum / Sharjah / Trivandrum flight will operate twice weekly on Thursdays and Saturdays.
13) IX 682 / 681 Chennai / Tiruchirapalli / Singapore / Tiruchirapalli / Chennai flight will operate daily.
14) Chennai / Kuala Lumpur / Chennai flight will operate 4 times a week and will connect to Chennai / Tiruchirapalli / Chennai leg of IX 682 / 681 to provide a Tiruchirapalli-Kuala Lumpur-Tiruchirapalli connection
15) 1 Dubai based aircraft will operate Dubai / Amritsar / Dubai 5 times a week at night, Dubai / Tiruchirapalli / Dubai 4 times week and once a week Dubai / Lucknow / Dubai in the day time. Aircraft will also operate Dubai / Mumbai / Mumbai and will be parked in Mumbai overnight
16) 3 flights each Kochi / Muscat / Kochi, Kochi / Sharjah / Kochi and Chennai / Colombo / Chennai will be operated by A320 aircraft. The schedule of these flights will be circulated shortly.
Since the requirements of pilots have gone up substantially, the airline has already initiated a recruitment drive to meet the increase in requirement of pilots.
Some of the curtailed frequencies will be restored as more and more pilots become available.
The most important area the new CAR has addressed is the WOCL phase which is as follows.
Window of Circadian Low (WOCL) is best estimated by the hours between 0200 and 0600 for individuals adapted to a usual day-wake / night sleep schedule. This estimate of the window is calculated from scientific data on the circadian low of performance, alertness, subject report (i.e., peak fatigue), and body temperature. For flight duty periods that cross 3 or fewer time zones, the window of circadian low is estimated to be 0200 to 0600 home-base / domicile time. For flight duty periods beyond 3 or more time zones, the window of circadian low is estimated to be 0200 to 0600 home-base / domicile time for the first 48 hours only. After a crew member remains more than 48 hours away from home-base / domicile time, the window of circadian low is estimated to be 0200 to 0600 referred to local time at the point of departure.