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Straight to Vizag, no zig-zag, Sep'12

 
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sumantra
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Joined: 28 Oct 2007
Posts: 4685
Location: New Delhi

PostPosted: Wed Feb 27, 2013 11:16 pm    Post subject: Straight to Vizag, no zig-zag, Sep'12 Reply with quote

Straight to Vizag, no zig-zag, Sep'12
-------------------------------------
I didn't know that Vishakhapatnam (Vizag, or as we aircraft
enthusiasts know it by the airport code name, VTZ) had a
big-plane service to New Delhi. I had done a MAA-VTZ-DEL trip
once, to have a ride on Air India's CRJ-700 `the masked bandit',
in December, 2010.
``DEL-MAA on IC429 (A321), MAA-DEL on IC7602 (CRJ7)''
http://airlinersindia.s4.bizhat.com/airlinersindia-ftopic10401.html
I had seen the new terminal at the airport then, and when this
opportunity knocked on my door, I took it with pleasure. This
would be my first trip to Vishakhapatnam, the famous port-town,
which circa September, 2012, was rumoured to become the capital
of Telangana, in case such a political move came to fruition.
Oh, is this a direct flight?
What? A 321 to Vizag?
These were some common questions among my aviation enthusiast
friends, which were also doing the rounds in my head.
This report can be found at the following URL:
http://www.airlinersindia.s4.bizhat.com/airlinersindia-ftopic13049.html

The itinerary for this leg of the flight was as follows:

Set out 22 Sep (Sat) for Vishakhapatnam from New Delhi
AI 451: Air India (A321) [Seat: 10A; PNR: HBGR4]
IGIA T3, New Delhi - Vishakhapatnam Airport, Vishakhapatnam
New Delhi (DEL) - Vishakhapatnam (VTZ)
[03:20 pm - 05:30 pm]

The friendly cab operator did not refuse me, even though I had
given him not even 24 hours' notice. My requests usually result
in his missing sleep, or meals. He happily obliges.
And I patronise his services happily. IGI T3 had two new cars
again. There was a good-looking Toyota Camry, and close to the
food court, was the latest model of the Hyundai Elantra.
Not just was the Toyota Camry good-looking, so was the lady
seated beside the Camry. Here is a picture of the former.



And here are two pictures of the latter, the car, that is:





The date was 22 September, 2012. The Air India Boeing 787
`Dreamliner' services had commenced on Air India's first
Dreamliner to come in, NH, the `New Hope' plane (VT-ANH). This
was the DEL-MAA-DEL and DEL-BLR-DEL service. Air India's second
Dreamliners had also come in a few days before, the `connector'
plane, VT-AND. What were the chances of getting the Dreamliner on
the DEL-VTZ leg? I guess I was lucky to have a 321 service to
Vishakhapatnam (the `big plane', for all practical purposes, at
the place). Check-in and the security check were a complete
breeze, as I rushed towards my favourite spot, the escalator to
the food court. As usual, it was not to satisfy any hunger pangs,
it was to view the scene on the tarmac at the common ramp between
the domestic Air India finger, and the international finger. I
was pleased beyond words, to see the `new hope' plane standing at
a gate close to me, Gate 30.



Would I get gate 30? What was printed on my boarding pass?
I just hoped against hope. It said Gate 30!
Was I dreaming?
Sadly enough, I was.
With the Dreamliner lining my dreams, I had read `34' as `30'. I
reluctantly walked onwards towards the end of the domestic
finger. A Boeing 777-300ER was lining up for the new runway,
another came in towards the T2 side, and some time later, another
777 came out towards the new runway. Runways 29 and 28 were in use.

I ran into two acquaintances, who I knew were from
Bengaluru. One of them was the gentleman with whom I had shared a
few legs of my itinerary on my trip to Beijing last year.
Incidentally, I had shared one leg with the second one too, on
that trip. The duo had come back from Barri, Italy, via Munchen
and Frankfurt (Lufthansa), and then Air India (between Frankfurt
and New Delhi, and obviously, between New Delhi and Bengaluru. I
was struck with jealously. Here were two people who did not
even know what treat they would be in for. Further, they could
not even be bothered, as long as the plane would get them to their
destination, relatively on time. Out of sheer excitement, I
blurted out what they would be in for, and told them their
seat positions. Both were on seat `D' (on rows 36 and 37),
and couldn't be bothered about a window seat. They were due to
take AI 403 back to Bengaluru. Life is not fair!

I was still skeptical about why VTZ was seeing a `big plane'
operation. I had set out from the common sitting area near the
shopping complex, almost as the boarding call was announced.
There wasn't too much of a crowd when I approached the gate. There
was a trickle after a while, before a large number of people boarded,
in a group. I would estimate the loads as something in the region
of 75% or so. What disappointed me however, was while the plane
looked relatively clean, some of the plastic surfaces had a bit of
grime and dirt. The arm-rests, the area around the PTVs, the
window shades - all had grime marks.
This would be something new for me, after quite some travel on
the Air India narrow-bodies.

The soft-spoken and suave-voiced Captain Shakeel Naqvi was in
command. We took off towards Dwarka, on the new runway, and
turned left after climbing out of runway 29. Even after the seat
belt sign went off, the In-Flight Entertainment system was not
switched on. When asked, a member of the cabin crew was extremely
apologetic, and said that it had been switched off, since there
had been some problem with it. The not-perfectly-clean cabin and
the non-functioning IFE were a first for me, a fairly regular
flyer on Air India.

The snack started with a coleslaw sandwich, which had a generous
filling on the inside. The white-and-brown bread around tasted
very fresh. The main box had something that has become quite
staple on Air India flights, the cheese-corn-and-spinach quiche. I
absolutely love this preparation, and always look forward to it.
The other item was three pieces of skewered boneless chicken done the
South Indian way. I have come across numerous experiments with the
said item, but this was marinated in some Southie spice
combination, which included coriander powder, Sambhar powder, and
ginger paste. Oh yes, and a subtle touch of asafoetida (hing)
powder. The pieces were soft, and succulent. The
marination had penetrated inside quite well, and had been tossed
around lightly in a small quantity of oil, with some kadhi-patta/
curry leaves. This was served with the now-standard light coriander
chutney, and a ketchup/sauce sachet. sachet.

I seem to be getting lucky with this fusion dessert, something I
have written about on quite a few trips. The inner layer was one
which looked and tasted like a solid form of the North Indian
`Sohan Halwa', with a outer covering being layers of the North
Indian `balushahi' or the South Indian `badusha'. This was served
in a bed of semi-solid custard. The differential sweetness levels
of the three components lent magical properties to the work of
art. The beverage service saw me go in for the coffee as usual.
As it was poured into my neighbour's cup, I noted with delight,
that it would not be the run-of-the-mill usual serving. The
darker-than-usual colour of the liquid served from the old Indian
Airlines tall and thin jug gave me hope. This tasted nice, and
brought about a nice conclusion to an excellent snack.

We landed well before schedule at Vishakhapatnam. As with most
current Air India flights, the no-photography rule at certain
defence airports is announced only when the aircraft is coming in
to land at them, or taking off from them. We had been travelling
over some pristine wet green undulations, when Captain Naqvi came
over the PA system, and announced that he had commenced descent
from 37,000 feet. The chief member of the cabin crew then made
the customary announcement, including the no-photography rule. By
then, the aircraft had gone in over the sea over some two small
deltas, where two small rivers had merged with the ocean, over a
nice beach area, over the continental shelf and the deeper
waters, finally turning around over the port of Vishakhapatnam,
some defence establishment, the refinery, and onto the naval air
base, which was the Vishakhapatnam airport. Captain Naqvi
executed an amazing landing which we passengers barely felt. I
had seen the civilian conclave at the airport from the outside.
This time, I saw two aero-bridges on either side (we got the one
to the right), with the middle one not having an aero-bridge
attached to the stub. We entered the impressive new structure
through the first floor. The airport was clean and
well-maintained, and the view out of the large glass windows was
very nice. There were two belts on the ground
floor, and my luggage came out soon.

My gracious hosts picked me up in a car, and we drove in the
falling darkness towards Tuni, in the East Godavari district. For
the first night, I was put up at the Prakasa Nilayam, the Guest
House of the Annavaram temple - the second richest temple in the
state, after (obviously) Tirupati. And Tirupati is perhaps the
richest place of worship in the world, after...the Vatican City.
At this point, I must make a slight digression.
The reader may have guessed what this would be related to.
The Wife had often wondered as to why a relatively
religiously disinclined person as Yours Truly, showed an
unusual interest in famous temples in India, such as the famous
one at Tirupati, Annavaram, or the one at Villiputtur (where the
famous Tamil poetess Andal composed her poems). No guesses, one
can do a one-to-one match with the Laddus, the Halwa, and the
Srivilliputtur Palkova. Precisely, while the overall feeling was
supposed to be in the heart, but to me, it was at a point slightly
far from the heart, but close enough, for all practical purposes.
The stomach.
The Wife has always found this quite hard to stomach.

A very busy next day started with a trip to the temple at
Annavaram, followed by the place where my work took me.
Here is a picture of the Guest House at Annavaram, from where I
had a nice view of the surrounding region.



After a tiring day and an official dinner (which was surely not
tiring in any way, it was a fulfilling experience in more ways
than one), I tucked in quite early, as I was to set out around
5am in the morning, from Tuni, to the Vishakhapatnam airport. My
itinerary for the my return trip was as follows.

Set out 24 Sep (Mon) for New Delhi from Vishakhapatnam
AI 452: Air India (A321) [Seat: 11A; PNR: HP60S]
Vishakhapatnam Airport, Vishakhapatnam - IGIA T3, New Delhi
Vishakhapatnam (VTZ) - New Delhi (DEL)
[08:45 am - 10:55 am]

We set out from the small town of Tuni in the East Godavari
district, for the Vizag airport early in the morning. The roads
in this part of the country have been constructed well, and
maintained very well. It took about an hour and a quarter to
reach the impressive new terminal building. The check-in and
security check were a breeze. Security check done, I went to the
upstairs portion. We would possibly get an aero-bridge boarding
gate, Gate No. 4. I had woken up at around 4am, and as the reader
would have well-guessed, hunger pangs were setting in. I
had politely refused my hosts' offer for some breakfast as I
didn't want to get late for the flight. Hmmm...

I watched out of the double glass enclosure, as PN, the `Diode'
plane VT-PPN) came in, and docked at the leftmost gate (from the
air-side) at 08:05 am. I was the first to board the plane, from
the aero-bridge numbered `3', which we accessed from Gate 4. As I
entered, the captain and the cabin crew were having a pleasant
chat - there were smiles all around. Two members of the cabin
crew had boarded from Vizag - young ladies. On board were a very
senior lady, and two young ladies - members of the cabin crew. I
went towards my pre-designated seat 11A, and made myself
comfortable. Captain V. H. Ram was in command, who announced a
flying time of an hour and 50 minutes, at a height of 34,000
feet. The loads were good, about 75%. The Spicejet flight to
Hyderabad and New Delhi had arrived a bit after our plane - this
was a newish-looking VT-SZA, a Boeing 737-800 with winglets. Just
as we would push back, an Indigo A320 VT-IEL arrived and parked
beside us. Both the Spicejet and the Indigo birds got bus gates.
Captain Ram made a long and very powerful take-off on runway 10, as
we did an about-turn, and flew beside the runway for a while,
before going further in-land. I got a chance to have a look at
the angled cross runway (which looked about 75% of the length of
the main runway 10-2Cool. Its markings had not faded, possibly
indicating that it too is used occassionally. Vishakhapatnam is a
Naval base - I wonder what Naval aircraft stay around the place.
Dornier Do-228s, perhaps, and a few helicopters.
Or is it used for business traffic? Vishakhapatnam has a number
of large heavy industries, but as locals sometimes lament, not
too many medium or small-scale industries.

Breakfast would be served on the flight - so went the
announcement. I was pleased to see a fruit platter bowl inviting
me to partake of it, as the plate was handed over by the pleasant
senior lady. There was a currant/black grape on top of a
pineapple slice, which in turn was wedged between two slices each
of papaya and watermelon, with a mint leaf added, for flavour.
What a superb way to start the day!
There was a bun, with a butter chiplet, and a strawberry jam
case. The main case had a cheese omlette with spinach shreds in
the centre, baked beans in tomato sauce on the left, and a nice
ball of shredded orange carrots in a potato base, which had just a
hint of of being lightly fried. The coffee came before the tea,
but a look at the coffee being served to my neighbour on seat 11C
told me that it was the bog-standard instant coffee, which is
usually served on most Air India flights.

Captain Ram made a feather-touch landing on runway 29. As we got
out, I got an opportunity to peek inside the front office, and express
my admiration for the landing, to Captain Ram. He gave me a
hearty smile and a `thank you!', as I sped off towards the ramp,
up to the baggage claim, and back home!
But not before I clicked a picture of a beautiful old plane SD,
the `Memory Card' plane: VT-ESD. This is an old Indian Airlines
A320, looking grand in the new Air India Flying Swan livery, even
though illuminated from behind.


---
Links to my previous trip reports:

39. Routes and Shoots: The Garden City, August 2012
http://www.airlinersindia.s4.bizhat.com/airlinersindia-ftopic13030.html

38. 2012: Jabalpur in July
http://www.airlinersindia.s4.bizhat.com/airlinersindia-ftopic13001.html

37. Calcutta: A Short and Sweet Trip, June 2012
http://www.airlinersindia.s4.bizhat.com/airlinersindia-ftopic12982.html

36. Indore again in 2012, April
http://www.airlinersindia.s4.bizhat.com/airlinersindia-ftopic12937.html

35. Can't Cut Calcutta Calls! CCU, Mar'12
http://www.airlinersindia.s4.bizhat.com/airlinersindia-ftopic12909.html

34. Tinsel-town ahoy! Mumbai, Mar'12
http://www.airlinersindia.s4.bizhat.com/airlinersindia-ftopic12885.html

33. Indoor/Indore in 2012
http://www.airlinersindia.s4.bizhat.com/airlinersindia-ftopic12835.html

32. Colour Range over the Orange City: NAG, Jan'12
http://www.airlinersindia.s4.bizhat.com/airlinersindia-ftopic12803.html

31. AI strike(,) PAT in the back: Patna, Jan'12
http://www.airlinersindia.s4.bizhat.com/airlinersindia-ftopic12781.html

30. Regressive TR: Shuttling between Delhi and Mumbai
http://www.airlinersindia.s4.bizhat.com/airlinersindia-ftopic12742.html

29. No Eyesore in Mysore; Part II: Mysore Memories; HAL Museum
http://www.airlinersindia.s4.bizhat.com/airlinersindia-ftopic12730.html

28. No Eyesore in Mysore; Part I: Mysore
http://www.airlinersindia.s4.bizhat.com/airlinersindia-ftopic12686.html

27. Hampi Hamper, Part 2: Hampi!
http://www.airlinersindia.s4.bizhat.com/airlinersindia-ftopic12661.html

26. Hampi Hamper, Part I: Banashankari, Badami, Pattadakal, Aihole
http://www.airlinersindia.s4.bizhat.com/airlinersindia-ftopic12623.html

25. JAI Ho! Jaipur, Sep'12, My Double Standards?
http://www.airlinersindia.s4.bizhat.com/airlinersindia-ftopic12592.html
(This is out of sequence, only to report on something that is
very recent, circa Sep'12)

24. PNQ: PeNning Queued Reports, Dec 2011
http://www.airlinersindia.s4.bizhat.com/airlinersindia-ftopic12557.html

23. Little BHO-Peep, Nov 2011
http://www.airlinersindia.s4.bizhat.com/airlinersindia-ftopic12496.html

22. The Call of the Vaigai! Madurai, Oct 2011
http://www.airlinersindia.s4.bizhat.com/airlinersindia-ftopic12465.html

21. Eats, Shoots, and Leaves: Beijing, 2011 Part 3
http://www.airlinersindia.s4.bizhat.com/airlinersindia-ftopic12452.html

20. No Panda-monium: Beijing, 2011 Part 2
http://airlinersindia.s4.bizhat.com/airlinersindia-ftopic12389.html

19. North By Northwest...er, AI and CA: Beijing, 2011 Part 1
http://airlinersindia.s4.bizhat.com/airlinersindia-ftopic12348.html

18. Going Bananas over Oranges: Nagpur, Aug'11
http://airlinersindia.s4.bizhat.com/airlinersindia-ftopic12333.html

17. To the City of Joy and back, on Air India: Aug'11
http://airlinersindia.s4.bizhat.com/airlinersindia-ftopic12238.html

16. To Chennai, Mar'12 with a Celebrity Captain!
http://airlinersindia.s4.bizhat.com/airlinersindia-ftopic12196.html
(This is out of sequence owing to sheer excitement, and nothing
else!)

15. Marble Rocks, Marbles Rock; Jul 2011
http://airlinersindia.s4.bizhat.com/airlinersindia-ftopic12157.html

14. The Fish-Eye Beckons! Madurai, on Air India. Jul 2011
http://airlinersindia.s4.bizhat.com/airlinersindia-ftopic12136.html

13. To Russia, with Awe: Moscow, 2011, Part 3: Monino!
http://airlinersindia.s4.bizhat.com/airlinersindia-ftopic12091.html

12. To Russia, with Awe: Moscow, 2011, Part 2: The Central Museum
of the Armed Forces
http://airlinersindia.s4.bizhat.com/airlinersindia-ftopic12016.html

11. To Russia, with Awe: Moscow, 2011, Part 1: The Overall Trip
http://airlinersindia.s4.bizhat.com/airlinersindia-ftopic11717.html

10. The City of Lakes: Mother's Heart, Heart of the Motherland
http://airlinersindia.s4.bizhat.com/airlinersindia-ftopic11556.html

9. Mostly Indoors, in Indore:
http://airlinersindia.s4.bizhat.com/airlinersindia-ftopic11533.html

8. Inter-metro Shuttling on AI: DEL-BOM on AI810, BOM-DEL on AI888
http://airlinersindia.s4.bizhat.com/airlinersindia-ftopic11449.html

7. On the cusp: DEL-BOM on IC863, BOM-DEL on AI660
http://airlinersindia.s4.bizhat.com/airlinersindia-ftopic11160.html

6. DEL-BOM on IT308, BOM-DEL on IC166
http://airlinersindia.s4.bizhat.com/airlinersindia-ftopic10986.html

5. DEL-MAA on IC439, MAA-DEL on IC802
http://airlinersindia.s4.bizhat.com/airlinersindia-ftopic10809.html

4. DEL-PNQ on IC849, PNQ-DEL on IC850
http://airlinersindia.s4.bizhat.com/airlinersindia-ftopic10510.html

3. DEL-MAA on IC429 (A321), MAA-DEL on IC7602 (CRJ7)
http://airlinersindia.s4.bizhat.com/airlinersindia-ftopic10401.html

2. DEL-NAG-NDC, NDC-BOM-DEL on G8
http://airlinersindia.s4.bizhat.com/airlinersindia-ftopic10169.html

1. IGI T3, AI 314 DEL-HKG and AI 311 HKG-DEL
http://airlinersindia.s4.bizhat.com/airlinersindia-ftopic10018.html


Last edited by sumantra on Fri Mar 01, 2013 7:37 pm; edited 1 time in total
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ameya
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Location: Pune,Maharashtra

PostPosted: Thu Feb 28, 2013 12:13 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Nice refreshing TR, sumantra-jee, (I have managed to not call you Sir ! )
I suppose you meant VTZ as capital of AP and not telangana, you might create another stir Razz
Reading about your description of food, asafoetida (hing) on the day SpiceJet has named their plane VT-SZC the same !

I have always found AI pilots do a very smooth landing, besides my experience which is limited, have always heard others say so and thats a huge number. Perhaps the training is the best in the skies and its no cutting corners may be ?
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PAL@YWG
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 28, 2013 1:24 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
Straight to Vizag, no zig-zag
- Nothing can get better than this, Sumantra!

Quote:
The Wife had often wondered as to why a relatively
religiously disinclined person as Yours Truly, showed an
unusual interest in famous temples in India, such as the famous
one at Tirupati, Annavaram, or the one at Villiputtur (where the
famous Tamil poetess Andal composed her poems). No guesses, one
can do a one-to-one match with the Laddus, the Halwa, and the
Srivilliputtur Palkova. Precisely, while the overall feeling was
supposed to be in the heart, but to me, it was at a point slightly
far from the heart, but close enough, for all practical purposes.
The stomach.


Hmmm...here comes another Bong who is "relatively religiously disinclined person " Very Happy My little statistics over the years indicate that Bengalis might have highest % of Atheists as compared to other similar groupings in India. I may be wrong. Bongs are either devotees( or simply scared) of goddess Kali OR Communists Very Happy

Great TR Sumantra!
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sabya99
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 28, 2013 1:57 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Good to learn that Vizag has well equipped airport .
Mr. Pal it better to use the term anarchist in place of atheist.
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PAL@YWG
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 28, 2013 2:36 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

sabya99 wrote:
Mr. Pal it better to use the term anarchist in place of atheist.

Can't agree more, Sabya! Bengal at it's peak (in lawlessness) right now.
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sumantra
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 28, 2013 1:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks a lot for going through this report, Ameya, Mr. Pal, and Mr. Ganguly!

Ameya: that asafoetida part was a nice observation! Second, yes, I have had some rather smooth landings on AI/IC in the past - they do have some excellent captains! One BOM-DEL flight in 2003 which I cannot forget was flown by Captain Manoj Jahiya. There was severe buffeting around Delhi, and the pane was tossed around in high and low winds - it was in the middle of a thunderstorm, an yet the Captain made a feather-touch landing - there was clapping all around from all passengers! On another occassion, it was Captain J.K. Ghosh, captaining IC 273 - the night flight from CCU to BOM in 2004, where he made a feather-touch landing in the midst of a squall with severe wind shear.

Mr. Pal - nice observation with regard to Bongs!
The title continues to have my cheap puns all around Sad

Mr. Ganguly: your lament about the steady decline of Bong-land and your laments are very true, you have written about it in many posts, and trip reports.

Cheers, Sumantra.
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rajeev.jaya
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 28, 2013 2:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The same a/c proceeds to DXB via HYD from VTZ. That may be the reason for the 321.
Heard the DEL-VTZ leg generates healthy loads of above 75% for most of the days.
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Nimish
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 28, 2013 4:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Great TR - thanks for posting. Quite good that AI manage a 75% LF for this sector - I was expecting much lower.
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shivendrashukla
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 28, 2013 11:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Great TR as usual from you Professor. VTZ is a naval airport and since it is Headquarters for Eastern Naval fleet, it is quite busy airport too. The longer runway has recently been constructed which has enabled big aircrafts to use the airport. Earlier it used to get only turbo props and Paramount's embraer.

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The_Goat
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 01, 2013 2:20 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thank you for another one of your tr's Sumantra. Lucky you, you get to see almost every inch of Bharat Mata...by air Very Happy



sumantra wrote:

This
would be my first trip to Vishakhapatnam, the famous port-town,
which circa September, 2012, was rumoured to become the capital
of Telangana, in case such a political move came to fruition.


No, Visakapatnam would have become the capital of Andhra Pradesh (or what would be left of it) if Telangana had come into being. The capital of Telangana would have been Hyderabad.



shivendrashukla wrote:

The longer runway has recently been constructed which has enabled big aircrafts to use the airport. Earlier it used to get only turbo props and Paramount's embraer.


Not really. VTZ used to get IC's 737-200s even way back in the 1980s. The routing used be CCU-BBI-VTZ-HYD . There also used to be a daily 737 flight doing HYD-VTZ-HYD.
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I don't know which is the more pampered bunch : AI's widebodies (the aunties) or Jet's widebodies (the planes).
-Jasepl
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sumantra
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Joined: 28 Oct 2007
Posts: 4685
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PostPosted: Sat Mar 02, 2013 1:16 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thank you for going through this report, Rajeev, Nimish, Shulka
Sir, and The_Goat!

First, I am pleasantly surprised to see two prominent AI.net
members, who are very active on other fronts, but have yet not
patronised this section on Trip Reports, much. Rajeev of the
routing details fame, and The_Goat, who can often be expected to
have the last word in everything ranging from small nuances of molecular
biology; to myriad details of almost every Indian language, from
Malayalam and Tamil right up to chaste Urdu, and the dialects of
Bihar; to the correct doomsday predictions about the way Indian
cricket is headed (or tailed/de-tailed, for that matter).

rajeev.jaya wrote:
The same a/c proceeds to DXB via HYD from VTZ

Yes, Rajeev, the same plane does DEL-VTZ-HYD-DXB-HYD-VTZ-DEL as
follows (I guess you know all this by heart, but just for the
record):
AI 451 DEL-VTZ [04:45 pm - 06:55 pm]
AI 951 VTZ-HYD [07:40 pm - 08:40 pm]
AI 951 HYD-DXB [09:30 pm - 11:25 pm]
AI 952 DXB-HYD [01:00 am - 05:55 am]
AI 952 HYD-VTZ [07:00 am - 08:00 am]
AI 452 VTZ-DEL [08:45 am - 10:55 am]

Nimish wrote:
Quite good that AI manage a 75% LF for this
sector - I was expecting much lower.

Yes, Nimish, I was in fact, quite shocked. When I had done this
route in 2010, I had noticed healthy loads on VTZ-DEL on the CR7
`masked bandit', but to see Air India's largest narrow-body plane
- an A321 on this route, and that too, getting about 75% loads,
was beyond my expectations. The interesting point is that these
are loads on the DEL-VTZ and VTZ-DEL segments, and not due to the
DXB tag, since the DXB connection from VTZ is time-viable only
via the one-stop same-plane flight AI 951/952, as I have
mentioned above. From VTZ, the other Air India connections are
bad: via BOM (AI 651 VTZ-BOM, 02:40 pm - 04:20 pm, AI 983 08:30
pm - 09:55 pm), and horrid:
via DEL (AI 452 VTZ-DEL 08:45am - 10:55 am, DEL-DXB AI 955 08:45
pm - 10:45 pm), both being pointless, since the same-plane flight
via HYD reaches DXB at just around the same time, anyway.

shivendrashulka wrote:
The longer runway has recently been
constructed which has enabled big aircraft to use the
airport
Shukla Sir, can you give some more history here,
for the two runways? Was the 05-23 the original single runway
(it was certainly in use in 2007 with the CD 732s at least,
please see below), and is the 10-28 the new one, or is it an
extension of an old runway originally there? The larger aircraft:
primarily civilian ones, or was it mainly for naval aviation use?
The latter would imply occasional visits by the Tu-142 `Bears'
and the Il-38 `Mays'.

The_Goat wrote:
The capital of Telangana would have been Hyderabad

Yes, Ameya mentioned that in a subtle manner, too! I pondered whether
to let the blooper remain, or edit it - I
decided in favour of the latter, to let my political ignorance be
out for the world to see Smile

The_Goat wrote:
VTZ used to get IC's 737-200s even way back in
the 1980s. The routing used be CCU-BBI-VTZ-HYD . There also used
to be a daily 737 flight doing HYD-VTZ-HYD.

Not just that, there was a MAA-VTZ Alliance Air flight CD
There is a 04 Jun, 2007 on A.net by member UK_Dispatcher (Ian
Madigan), a link to which is below: most of the images unfortunately,
are missing, as of today (02 Mar, 2013):
http://www.airliners.net/aviation-forums/trip_reports/read.main/124318/?threadid=124318&searchid=124318&s=VTZ#ID124318
The runway in use on the return trip was 23, so this would have
been the old runway.
This flight became AI/CD 7602 in 2010, when I had taken the MAA-VTZ-DEL
flight for two reasons: the `masked bandit' experience, as well
as seeing VTZ!

Thanks once again, Sumantra.
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Spiderguy252
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PostPosted: Sat Mar 02, 2013 2:53 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Another interesting TR, Sumantra. Thanks for sharing.

Have fun on SG next up. Razz
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shivendrashukla
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PostPosted: Sat Mar 02, 2013 9:41 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The_Goat wrote:

Not really. VTZ used to get IC's 737-200s even way back in the 1980s. The routing used be CCU-BBI-VTZ-HYD . There also used to be a daily 737 flight doing HYD-VTZ-HYD.


Ok, my bad. I should have researched properly before posting Embarassed

The old runway is 05/23 and the new one is 10/28 which was opened in 2007. VTZ still cannot accommodate the large naval aircrafts and only Do-228 and IAF aircrafts are used by Navy for their needs.
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The_Goat
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Location: South of France

PostPosted: Sat Mar 02, 2013 2:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

sumantra wrote:
The_Goat, who can often be expected to
have the last word in everything ranging from small nuances of molecular
biology; to myriad details of almost every Indian language, from
Malayalam and Tamil right up to chaste Urdu, and the dialects of
Bihar; to the correct doomsday predictions about the way Indian
cricket is headed (or tailed/de-tailed, for that matter).



Mate, it is already quite cold where I am. Putting so much ice on my head will do me no good, I tell you Laughing Wink
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I don't know which is the more pampered bunch : AI's widebodies (the aunties) or Jet's widebodies (the planes).
-Jasepl
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sumantra
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PostPosted: Sat Mar 02, 2013 10:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks a lot, Varun!
Spiderguy252 wrote:
Have fun on SG next up. Razz
As Varun mentions, the next trip will have an SG component, with a Q-400. The destination is relatively exotic, Nanded. I have been there quite a few times, and have written one trip report on it, but how does that matter? I am incorrigible, I will report on this, too. I have cleared a bit of my backlog, but I hope I will not be the first to report on a Q400 experience!
Cheers, Sumantra.
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stealthpilot
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Joined: 19 Dec 2006
Posts: 2325
Location: BLR, DXB

PostPosted: Sat Mar 30, 2013 9:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I can tell you're a regular AI flyer .... all the aircrafts have registration names!
Great TR .... sorry not going to say a lot I want to read your other 2 Wink
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sumantra
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Posts: 4685
Location: New Delhi

PostPosted: Wed Apr 03, 2013 7:45 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

stealthpilot wrote:
I can tell you're a regular AI flyer .... all the aircrafts have registration names!
Thank you, Sir Smile I liked the earlier AI policy of naming planes, I believe each and every plane to have a `personality', and names are one way to look at this. Since Air India stopped this practice, I started my own PJs.
Cheers, Sumantra.
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jbalonso777
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Posts: 1501
Location: Never, never land

PostPosted: Thu May 30, 2013 2:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Amazing trip report, sir!
I really do not like the kind of people who 'cannot be bortherd' to know what an interesting aircraft they get to fly in, but then again, a few may be very very tired.
Last morning, Big Brother and Dad flew CMB-MAA-DEL, both on Sky Interior aircraft. While I jealous, Dad was ecstatic, Big Brother could 'not be borthered' to notice the differences.
Anyways, there is a lot I have read about the Delhi T3 common area between Intl. and Dom., I shall let Dad know about this, and hopefully take a few pictures!

Strange to see that AI A321 be a little run down on the inside!

Regards
Jishnu
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sumantra
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PostPosted: Thu May 30, 2013 7:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

jbalonso777 wrote:
I shall let Dad know about this, and hopefully take a few pictures!
That will be really welcome - I really admire your Papa's love for aviation, and his lovely photography. You have got him on-board the FB site, can we urge you to get him on-board here as well? It will be wonderful to have a father-son duo, both of whom are excellent writers, and good photographers! Thanks, Sumantra.
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