As per the latest update from AirlineRoute.net, published today, Jet Airways is downgrading its Mumbai-Hong Kong-Mumbai daily service from a  3-class flight flown by a Boeing 777 ER to a 2-class service flown by an Airbus A330 (200 or 300) series aircraft.

The new scheduling will be as follows:

till 30APR13 A330-300
01MAY13 – 11MAY13 A330-200
21MAY13 – 08JUN13 A330-200

While the reasons can be loads, or efficiency (not having to fly empty first class suites and waste fuel), this sure allows passengers in business to try the new Jet Airways Business Class on the A333, something I flew a few days back. This should also be a relief from the bone crushing 10 abreast configuration on the B777ER for economy passengers.

Cathay Pacific, the main competitor on this route, continues to operate a 4 class configuration with a Boeing 747-400, with Economy, Premium Economy, Business & First Class configuration.

Signs of things to come? I don’t know… keep watching this space.

Related Posts:

• Air India and Cathay Pacific offering discounts on India – Hong Kong
• Going Dutch: Flight 9W227 (BRU-BOM), Jet Airways, Premiere (A333)

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Jet Airways has recently made some amends to the international passengers who use their gateway in Mumbai and need to transit further into the country. Till a few days back, one would have to arrive at Mumbai’s terminal 2, clear immigration & customs and collect their baggage, redeposit it with the transfer desk, and then go to Terminal 1B using an airport operated shuttle bus, which used to frequent about every 30 minutes making it a very cumbersome process.

Now, they’ve secured a couple of gates at the International Terminal (Terminal 2) where incoming international passengers on Jet Airways flights between 0230 AM and 0645 AM at Mumbai will be able to transit directly to their flights from Terminal 2C. The process remains similar where the passenger is responsible for clearing immigration & customs, collect their bags and arrive at the transfer desk. Once there, they go through the process of security check and depositing their bags at Gates 4 or 5, rather than having to go to the domestic terminal and boarding the flight.

While I have not tried this out and perhaps won’t because BOM is my home airport, it should be good to know for those who transit via Mumbai. Also, at this point of time, the press release only states “arriving on Jet Airways flights”, so I am not sure if passengers arriving on another airline and connecting on Jet Airways are eligible or not, but I will check and update this accordingly.

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On my last trip out of Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Sivaji International Airport terminal 2 (Going Dutch), I noticed a new thing I hadn’t seen the last time I was there in December 2012. I was going to fly Jet Airways Premiere (Business class) to Brussels, and after clearing Immigration/Passport Control, I headed into what I thought was going to be a long serpentine queue for the security check.

However, I was pleasantly surprised when there was a new signage in the security hall, which said “First Class/Business Class” passengers. To me, this indicated that there was a priority queue put in place for premium travellers and for disabled passengers, which, incidentally was much smaller than regular queue. Your boarding pass had to be inspected before you were allowed in this queue, to prevent everyone from bluffing their way in. Since this was the security area, I did not click any pictures.

However, it did take a while, because it turns out the various airlines are also sending all their crew for security clearance in this queue now. And they turn up by the dozens and try to cut into the queue for the passengers, bringing everything to a standstill for a while.

Luckily, there was a proactive security in charge lurking somewhere, who after five minutes of lurking around, decided to open a new queue for the crews (I think Delta and Cathay Pacific crews were floating around!). Eventually it all worked out, but I guess the airport needs to work some more on this initiative to make sure the premium cabin queue is just that, and not crowded out by all sorts of exceptions (except for whom it is already marked).

Related Post:

• Mumbai airport finally has internet check-in!

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