WAV Travel News - Monday Edition
Bill Vervaeke, CDME
West Palm Beach, FL 33411
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Airlines, airports at loggerheads over raising federal facility tax
Thrown into legislation likely to tackle the role of drones in aviation and NextGen air traffic control funding, the Passenger Facility Charge (PFC), a tax that funds airport improvements, is not likely to garner many national headlines. But within the industry, two sides are engaged in a heated exchange over whether it should be raised.
The PFC, a federally regulated tax, is currently capped by Congress at $4.50 per passenger per flight. Whether to raise that cap will be decided as part of reauthorizing the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) budget, which expires in September.
The current FAA budget authorization was introduced in 2007 but was not passed until 2012. Five years and 23 short-term FAA operating extensions later (a record), President Obama signed it into law.
Understandably, the administration and the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, chaired by Bill Shuster (R.-Pa.), are eager to see the bill pass on time. But within the aviation industry, two competing sides of the PFC debate, airports and airlines, are vying to see it passed in their favor.
Though it is a local tax, the PFC is federally regulated; airports decide whether or not to propose a project to be funded by PFCs and how much money the project would need. The FAA then reviews and approves the project.
Airports and other groups, including the U.S. Travel Association, are pushing for a PFC cap increase to be included in the FAA reauthorization in order to fund airport infrastructure improvements. The Airports Council International-North America (ACI-NA), recommends that the cap be increased to $8.50, noting that the $4.50 cap, set in 2000, has not been indexed for inflation and in 2015 dollars is worth about $2.50. The Obama administration’s 2016 budget released in February proposes raising the cap to $8.
Airlines, which collect PFCs at the time of the ticket purchase, have lobbied to keep the cap at its current level on the grounds that higher fees would make air travel more expensive. Groups like Airlines for America (A4A) argue that airports have adequate resources to fund any needed improvements without asking passengers to pay additional taxes.
As part of lobbying efforts, each side has produced surveys indicating that Americans support its position. U.S. Travel released one in March saying that U.S. flyers are willing to pay up to $4 more per ticket for a better travel experience, while A4A, the trade organization for U.S. airlines, found that registered voters “overwhelmingly oppose an increase” to PFCs.
The difference between the two studies is the sample: U.S. Travel surveyed only flyers, while A4A surveyed registered voters.
During the last FAA reauthorization debate, Congress rejected raising the cap on PFCs, but some analysts said this might be the year the airports are successful.
“There is more chance of it going through than there were on previous occasions, quite simply because the airlines have some money,” said Kenneth Button, professor of public policy at the George Mason School of Policy, Government and International Affairs in Fairfax, Va.
“Their operating margins have basically been zero since 1980, [but] they have more money now so it’s difficult to say they can’t afford [the increase in ticket price].”
And because airlines have added so many of their own charges, from baggage and change fees to charges for food, drink and entertainment, they don’t have as strong a leg to stand on when they assert that the public won’t pay more fees.
“Customers are complaining they have to pay for bags and sandwiches and whatever else,” Button said. “And then they arrive at the airport and find the airport scruffy.”
According to a recent report from the ACI-NA, U.S. airports need an estimated $75.7 billion in infrastructure investment through 2019 in order to accommodate growth in passenger and cargo activity, rehabilitate existing facilities and support aircraft innovations.
George Kelemen, the ACI-NA’s senior vice president of government and political affairs, also argued that because no airport has to collect PFCs and because there is no minimum set within the cap, “it’s the epitome of local control and free market.”
“Airlines have the option to weigh in at the local level, with the airport and the county commissioners, etc.,” he said. “It’s not like you’ll see airports overnight jump to $8.50. They have to present a project to justify it. … It will be gradual as it is needed. The decision is made at a local level.”
A4A, on the other hand, argues that U.S. airports are creating a sense of urgency around their infrastructure that doesn’t exist.
“We and others have been very clear that airlines support infrastructure investment, as evidenced by the $70 billion in projects either completed, underway or approved at the 30 largest airports since 2008,” said A4A spokeswoman Jean Medina. “We believe airports have adequate resources without further burdening passengers.”
A4A also said that additional PFCs are an unnecessary additional tax when air travelers are already “overburdened by a staggering number of government-imposed taxes and fees.” The group said that taxes currently total 21% of a typical $300, one-stop, roundtrip domestic ticket.
“The airports’ proposed increase would hike the taxes paid on that same ticket to 26%,” according to A4A.
Concerns about higher ticket prices were shared by other travel industry groups.
“Travelers don’t need to be the piggy bank,” said Global Business Travel Association Executive Director and COO Michael McCormick. “Beyond the investments made by airlines, airports have more than $11 billion in unrestricted cash and investments while bringing in more revenue every year — a record-high $24.5 billion in 2013.”
Button thinks the side with strongest lobbyists ultimately will win.
“The four major airlines are very powerful; the airports are very powerful,” he said. “It’s the traveling public that is in the swim and can get carried away with the tide.”
2 kayakers die, 1 injured after rescue in rough waters
SEQUIM, Wash. — Two kayakers have died and one is in serious condition, part of a group of friends paddling near Dungeness Bay when beautiful weather turned tempestuous.
Jacob Austin, 52, of Lacey, Wash., and 39-year-old Mandi Walkley, 39, of Chehalis, Wash., died. William Kelley, 50, of Lacey remains in serious condition Monday at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.
Bystanders spotted the kayakers in trouble at about 2:45 p.m. PT Saturday.
"It just feels unreal, people we were friends with, that were there, and then they weren't," said Linda Caines, who was kayaking with her husband, Dennis.
Video they recorded from a waterproof camera on their boat shows calm weather as the group headed out to a lighthouse on Dungeness Spit, about 5 miles north of Sequim and 55 miles northwest of Seattle and across from Victoria, British Columbia. The seven kayakers enjoyed a break and then turned around to go back.
That's when the wind picked up, quickly scattering the group.
"Within 10 minutes I couldn't see anybody or another kayaker anywhere," Dennis Caines said.
The video shows their kayak pitching and rolling in the waves. Linda Caines' panicked voice can be heard urging them to get back to shore. The Caineses fought their way back to a beach, far from their church-affiliated group, and wondered what happened to the others.
The seven kayakers encountered 35-mph winds and 3-foot seas, U.S. Coast Guard officials said. A Coast Guard swimmer and response boat plus sailors in a helicopter from Whidbey Naval Air Station assisted in the rescue.
Some of the kayaks capsized, and four members of the group swam to shore, said spokesman Jim Borte of the Clallam County Sheriff's Office.
"The sheriff came up and said 'I have bad news,' and my heart just sank," Dennis Caines said. "We lost two good friends, and one is struggling."
All in the group were wearing life jackets, he said. The friends also had hiked together on previous trips, and Dennis Caines choked up as he looked at pictures he had taken of Walkley previously.
"She was such a beautiful person," he said.
Boeing lands blockbuster order for 61 of its 737 jets
Boeing has landed a blockbuster 61-jet order from Copa Airlines of Panama. The order would be worth $6.6 billion at list prices, though big airlines receive significant discounts on such orders.
The deal was announced on the sidelines of the Summit of the Americas, a gathering of North and South American leaders that's being hosted this year in Panama's capital city.
Copa CEO Pedro Heilbron and Boeing CEO Jim McNerney signed off on the order for 61 Boeing 737-MAX jets at a Friday ceremony attended by President Barack Obama and Panamanian President Carlos Varela. Trade officials said the deal is the biggest ever between U.S. and Panamanian companies.
Copa has long been a staunch Boeing customer. The carrier's current fleet of 98 aircraft includes 72 Boeing 737 jets of various models, according to the carrier's website. The remaining planes in Copa's fleets are mid-size E190 jets made by Brazilian manufacturer Embraer.
The Copa order announced Friday with Boeing is for the 737 MAX, a "next generation" update to Boeing's best-selling model. The aircraft, scheduled to debut in 2017, includes newer fuel-efficient engines as well as other design updates.
An analysis by The Seattle Times shows Copa's new 61-jet order comes while it also moved to cancel an existing order for five current model 737s. "So the net new order is for 56 airplanes," the Times writes. The newspaper suggests the actual value of the deal for 56 planes is be about $2.9 billion with "standard discounts," according pricing data the Times attained from aircraft valuation firm Avitas.
Copa has been on a growth spurt in recent years, capitalizing on the strategic position of its Panama City hub to expand both within Latin America and on routes to the United States. The airline bills its Panama City base as the "Hub of the Americas."
Copa has added several new U.S. destinations since early 2012, most recently announcing new service to New Orleans. The airline's other recently added U.S. cities include Boston, Fort Lauderdale, Las Vegas and Tampa.
Copa's new order includes both the 737 MAX 8 and 737 MAX 9 versions of the jet. Copa says it will use the planes both to replace existing older planes in its fleet and to "support the carrier's plans for strategic growth."
"The Next-Generation 737 is the backbone for our fleet today," Copa CEO Pedro Heilbron says in a statement.
Heilbron adds that "our order for the 737 MAX shows our continued commitment for the future to bring people together across all of the Americas using the most modern and efficient airplanes in the sky as well as our Hub of the Americas, in Panama City."
Crash at Disney World Racecar Attraction Kills 1
The Exotic Driving Experience at the Walt Disney World Speedway near Orlando, Fla. was the scene of a fatality Sunday when a Lamborghini lost control and collided with a guardrail, the Associated Press reported.
It isn’t known yet whether the driver was an employee or customer, but the deceased passenger was a 36-year-old man from the nearby city of Davenport. The driver was hospitalized with minor injuries.
According to the website, the speedway’s “exotic cars by Ferrari, Lamborghini, Porsche, Audi, and Nissan ... gives you the unique, firsthand opportunity to test the extreme power, speed and handling of these luxurious supercars. Program offerings include 6-lap driving experiences with additional lap upgrades available and 2-lap Thrill Rides where you ride shotgun with a professional.” This costs between $200 and almost $400.
Petty Holdings operates the track, and has other Exotic Driving Experience attractions around the country. The Exotic Driving Experience is set to close this summer at Disney World for unrelated reasons.
There was no immediate comment by Disney, but Petty Holdings said in a statement, "On behalf of everyone in the organization, it is with a very heavy heart that we extend our deepest sympathies to those involved in today's tragic accident in Orlando."
Bomb Threat Causes Evacuation of Germanwings Jet
A Germanwings flight taxiing to the runway Sunday evening at Cologne-Bonn airport in Germany aborted takeoff after a bomb threat was emailed to German federal police, the Associated Press reported.
Flight 826, an Airbus A320, was bound for Milan, Italy’s Malpensa airport when the threat was received, and the Cologne tower alerted the pilot, who steered the aircraft toward an area of the airport designated for planes under bomb threats.
Once there, passengers and crew evacuated, and bomb-sniffing dogs went in. Nothing was found.
The details of the threat have not been released.
This is the latest bad news associated with Germanwings. Just last week, two of the regional carrier’s flights made unscheduled landings, one for a mechanical issue, the other for passenger health problems.
Then, of course, the tragedy of Germanwings Flight 9525, which occurred in late March. The ongoing investigation seems to be pointing to co-pilot Andreas Lubitz purposefully crashing the airliner into a mountain in the French Alps.
JetBlue’s New Menu for Mint Travelers Lives up to the Hype
Traveling in luxury can be the difference between a good trip and a great trip, and JetBlue’s new premium Mint transcontinental service has taken its spring menu to the next level.
According to Ashley Day of USAToday.com, JetBlue has taken the launch of its premium section very serious and the luxury feeling of the Mint class has been carried over into a menu that has been developed by world-renowned Chef Brad Farmerie.
Farmerie is the head chef at Saxon + Parole restaurant in New York City, and he spent two years developing the menu. There were five dishes unveiled that included “courgette and feta frittata, green goddess salad, roasted Atlantic cod, a black Angus burger, and ricotta gnudi,” and passengers would be given a choice of any three.
When asked about where the food comes from, Farmerie told Day, “We're also lucky to use and support the same purveyors that we have at the restaurants, with relationships that we have built over the years ensuring that the quality will be top notch every time.”
JetBlue will still provide the typical share of beer and liquor for Mint customers, but there are also five wines specifically chosen by an expert to fit with each meal. Expert Jon Bonne explained that all of the wine comes from California and that JetBlue would be the first airline to feature a rose wine on a domestic flight.
The available wine options include “Roederer Estate Brut, Lioco Indica Rose, Copain Tous Ensemble Chardonnay, Broc Cellars Eaglepoint Ranch Conoise and Turley Juvenile Zinfandel,” according to USAToday.com.
As if the meals weren’t good enough, Farmerie has added his own personal touch to desert and post-meal specialties. With Blue Marble Ice Cream, coffee and espresso from Brooklyn and New York’s famed Mah-Ze-Dahr Bakery providing the pastries, the end of the meal could be the sweetest part.
Suspected Norovirus outbreak on cruise ship
Almost 100 passengers have become sick during a suspected Norovirus outbreak aboard the Celebrity Infinity.
Officials from the Centre for Disease Control (CDC) said 95 out of the more than 2,000 passengers, along with five crew members, have been struck down with a gastrointestinal illness.
The CDC website is still listing the cause of the outbreak as 'unknown' until a team of inspectors board the ship on its return to San Diego later today.
Celebrity crew have beefed up cleaning and disinfection procedures on board to stem the spread of the virus.
The ship is on a 15-day Panama Canal cruise which left Fort Lauderdale on March 29.
This is the ship's third incident in a decade, with previous outbreaks occurring in 2006 and 2013.
Virgin faces legal action over 33-hour flight delay
Virgin has apologised to nearly 100 passengers on a flight from Las Vegas to London Gatwick who suffered a series of delays last week.
Angry passengers on Flight VS44 have set up a Facebook group to fight for more compensation for the delays, which ended up reaching 33 hours.
The flight was set to leave Las Vegas's McCarran International Airport at 4.30pm on Monday, but didn't leave until Wednesday morning.
At first, passengers were told the delay was due to a problem with the air-conditioning, but were then told it was a problem with the plane's rudder.
They were put up in hotels on the Monday night but had to spend Tuesday evening at the airport terminal.
Passengers took to Twitter to vent their frustrations.
Suzi Mitchell tweeted: "Cannot begin to describe the terrible customer service from @VirginAtlantic. Flight delayed from Las Vegas for over 30 hours. So mad."
Simon Turner said: "@VirginAtlantic still stuck at Las Vegas airport for 30+ hour delay. Is this the new script for the hangover4? You couldn't write this stuff."
A Virgin spokesperson said it was 'sorry for the inconvenience caused'.
"On this occasion, the initial delay was caused by a technical fault with the aircraft and the delay was then extended because of strong winds around the McCarran airport area which hampered our engineers carrying out the repairs.
"All of our customers were provided with hotel accommodation and meals while they waited, and we will reimburse them for any reasonable out-of-pocket expenses. In addition, we will be providing eligible customers with EU compensation to the equivalent of €600 per person."
But some passengers said they would be taking legal action to get more than the standard compensation.
Pilot saved flight after it was struck by lightning
A pilot saved a flight when the plane was struck by lightning and went into a steep dive with only seven seconds to spare.
The Loganair flight fell to 1,100 ft before he regained control and restored full power stopping it from crashing into the North Sea.
The plane was carrying 30 passengers and three crew as it approached Sumburgh Airport in Shetland, reports the Telegraph. It was diverted to Aberdeen after the captain applied full power and managed to get it climbing.
An interim report by the Air Accident Investigation Branch said that a ball of lightning appeared in the cockpit and a bolt struck its nose.
There were reports of thunderstorms, snow, hail and 70 mph winds.
No technical problems were found with the plane but the AAIB investigation into the December incident is continuing, looking at crew training, autopilot design, and any 'human factors'.
New Chicago campaign airing 'epic' TV ads nationwide
Chicago launches a new $2.2 million nationwide ad campaign today aiming to change perceptions about the city.
The 'Chicago Epic' campaign is showcasing its music scene, festivals, shopping and fine dining in a bid to broaden tourism.
The campaign will go coast-to-coast including main target markets such as Denver and San Francisco running ads on satellite provider DirecTV.
"A lot of San Franciscans will think nothing about flying to New York for a long weekend. We have a destination that's worthy of their consideration and it's a lot closer, and in many cases, a lot more affordable," said Don Welsh, president of Choose Chicago, the city's tourism bureau.
"We think this spot, when you see the geographic beauty and the action and all the different elements, it will probably change people's perceptions," Welsh added.
About half of the budget will go on TV and online ads with the remainder going on digital advertising and social media.
The campaign will also air in traditional Midwest markets closer to home including Detroit, Grand Rapids, Indianapolis, Milwaukee and St. Louis.
Australia to issue three-year Chinese tourist visas
Minister for Trade and Investment Andrew Robb has announced the Australian government will offer new three-year multi-entry tourist visas for Chinese visitors, underscoring China's importance as a key source market for tourism.
This expands on a programme which offered the same validity only for business travellers and increases the visa available for leisure travellers from one year to three.
Speaking at the the Qantas Australian Tourism Awards, Robb noted that 47% of Chinese travellers are now repeat visitors.
"Repeat visitors are an increasingly important market sector as they tend to stay for longer periods and are higher yielding in terms of their spending," Robb said.
In the last year to September 2014, almost 790,000 Chinese tourists visited Australia spending A$5.4 billion, according to Australian government data.
Globally about 100 million Chinese travel overseas which is expected to double in just five years.
"Tourism and hospitality is one of Australia's great strengths. It is our largest services export - worth $30 billion in export income - and directly or indirectly employs one million Australians, including large numbers in regional Australia," Robb said.
St. Pete-Clearwater Airport all in with Allegiant for better or worse
CLEARWATER — If the Tampa Bay area’s secondary commercial airport breaks all passenger records this year, as expected, the reason for that success will lie almost entirely with a single carrier, Allegiant Air.
The low-cost airline with a penchant for small cities makes up more than 90 percent of the passenger traffic at St. Pete-Clearwater Airport, which is among Allegiant’s busiest spots with 41 non-stop routes and counting.
Pinellas County’s modest-sized airfield hardly could ask for a stronger anchor than Allegiant, a rapidly-growing, vacation-centered travel company that ranks among the world’s most profitable airlines.
Its dominance here also means that troubles within the Las Vegas-based air company could have a pronounced effect on the Clearwater airport’s daily operations.
An ongoing labor dispute with Allegiant pilots about employment benefits and scheduling nearly resulted in a strike during the Easter holiday that virtually would have halted the airport’s commercial traffic.
That battle is set to continue through the end of this month, when a federally mandated mediation is scheduled, and the threat of pilots refusing to show up for work remains on the table.
St. Pete-Clearwater is not unique in its reliance on a single airline; Allegiant makes up nearly all of Orlando Sanford International Airport’s domestic air traffic and accounts for all flights at other small airports in places such as Punta Gorda and Mesa, Arizona.
The local airport’s retiring director, Noah Lagos, isn’t blind to the exposure that situation creates.
“It is always a risk for an airport to have almost 95 percent of their traffic vested in one carrier,” says Lagos.
Unlike a decade ago, though, when the Pinellas airport lost 72 percent of its air service in one year after two major carriers abruptly left, Lagos says the county-owned facility is in a much better financial position to absorb a short-term disruption or even a big loss in service.
The airport’s $2 million in reserves at that time has grown to $14 million, enough to keep it in the black for more than a year even in the unlikely case that its prime carrier suddenly pulled out, Lagos said.
So far this year, a big winter tourism season with several new Allegiant routes coming online has generated $1.4 million in profits at the airport known as PIE.
A pilot strike for several days would hurt business, but it wouldn’t be crippling.
“If there is no service for a short amount of time, sure, it’s going to hurt our profit, but it’s not going to hurt our sustainability or hurt our reserves,” Lagos said.
Allegiant had to get a court order to stop a strike by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 1224 union, which could have grounded 124 flights out of the Clearwater airport over the busy holiday weekend.
The strike would have cost the airline millions of dollars and affected tens of thousands of customers nationwide.
A Friday court hearing in Las Vegas regarding the union’s right to strike was continued into this week and the company doesn’t except any disruption to flights in the interim.
The union has accused Allegiant’s executives of pocketing huge profits while reducing benefits for pilots.
Members also publicly have blamed the company for skimping on maintenance, only performing the minimum work needed to pass inspections, though Allegiant strongly has disputed those assertions.
The airline has said it plans to continue with mediated negotiations scheduled for late this month.
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Pilot strikes are exceedingly rare with the last one initiated by pilots for another budget carrier, Spirit Airlines, in 2010, says Brian Sumers, an editor for the air industry trade publication Aviation Week.
“It’s really hard in this country to strike as an airline pilot,” Sumers said, noting that unions typically must be released to strike by the National Mediation Board, which hasn’t happened so far in Allegiant’s case.
About 53 percent of Allegiant’s employees are represented by unions, which is less than United, American and Southwest, but more than Delta.
Despite the recent spate of negative attention, Allegiant still is widely seen as a model company in the industry that is sought aggressively by airports in smaller markets, Sumers says.
Many of Allegiant’s competitors with low-cost fares, such as Spirit, JetBlue and Southwest Airlines, fly out of big hub airports that serve major cities.
Allegiant generally has avoided these locations, flying into a tiny airport in suburban Mesa, Arizona, rather than the much larger Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport; or into St. Pete-Clearwater rather than Tampa International Airport.
The smaller facilities typically offer much lower fees than nearby hubs and often hand out generous incentives to lure successful air companies such as Allegiant.
Some of the airports probably couldn’t justify their existence if Allegiant hadn’t come along, Sumers says.
“Really, the whole idea behind the business model of Allegiant is they serve unserved or underserved markets and they try to not have a whole lot of competition,” Sumers said.
“A lot of these smaller airports don’t really have a choice; if they don’t hang onto Allegiant, they’re going to have no service whatsoever. The airports are stuck having their eggs in one basket.”
A good number of these airports would be in trouble if something happened to Allegiant, but, “if you have to put your eggs in one basket as a smaller airport, Allegiant isn’t a bad airline to be aligned with,” Sumers said.
PIE boasts some of the lowest fees of any airport Allegiant serves and quickly has become the carrier’s third largest hub in the nation, growing from 12 routes in 2006 to 41 currently with more to come this year.
Last month, Allegiant CEO Maurice J. Gallagher Jr. was awarded the prestigious Tony Jannus Award here for extraordinary accomplishments in the field of commercial aviation.
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A contract renewal with Allegiant in 2013 waives airport fees for up to two years on new routes and the airport also agreed to pay for direct marketing in several new cities.
The payoff for the county has been rapidly increasing passenger counts that are expected this year to break a previous record in 2004 of 1.3 million.
March was the airport’s biggest single month ever for passenger traffic with 167,263.
Because Allegiant makes a large share of its money bundling tickets with hotel packages and rental cars, much of that passenger traffic translates into vacation spending, adding to the area’s booming tourism economy.
“Over 1 million (people) coming and going out there this year, I think it has a huge impact to the tourism base out here,” said John Morroni, chair of the Pinellas County Commission and the Pinellas Tourist Development Council.
The risk of betting so much on one carrier is offset by PIE’s strong management and hefty financial reserves, Morroni says.
“I would have been concerned, but even if they [Allegiant] shut down tomorrow, we’re fine for a while, because of the reserves,” he said.
The airport also has invested heavily in recent years on loading bridges, parking and other infrastructure that makes the facility a more attractive option for airlines that are looking to grow, Lagos said.
PIE currently operates a handful of flights to Canada on SunWing and limited service to Gulfport, Mississippi, in addition to the Allegiant service.
New service announced earlier this year on Silver Airways to Key West and Fort Lauderdale was scrapped before it began due to poor advanced bookings.
Diversifying the airport’s list of carriers will be a priority in coming years as Lagos passes the torch to deputy director Tom Jewsbury, though its size only can accommodate modest future growth based on how much space Allegiant already occupies and the facility’s relatively limited capacity.
In a worst-case scenario, Lagos says Allegiant’s success here has proven PIE’s viability to the broader market and he would anticipate another company quickly grabbing up that market if a vacancy opened.
“We feel very confident that in the very slim possibility that at some point in the future should Allegiant decide for whatever reason or whatever the market conditions are not to operate out of PIE that others will fill the void based on their track record,” Lagos said.
Landing gear failed: 59 Jet Airways passengers in India lucky to be ok
Passengers on Jet Airways Khajuraho flight in India noticed smoke on the left wheel, the left landing gear collapsed and had a hydraulic leak, when flight 9# 2423 landed at at Khajurao airport in India today. Passengers evacuated the aircraft using emergency slides.
Jet Airways released this statement:
“Jet Airways flight 9@ 2323 from Varanasi was involved in an incident on landing at Khajunraho airport earlier today.
The aircraft, a B737-800 experienced a technical problem with the landing gear after landing.
Safety chutes were deployed and all 59 passengers and 8 crew on board the aircraft disembarked safely and were transferred to the terminal.
Jet Airways is making arrangements to transfer outbound guests to Varanasi and Delhi. An additional flight is also being operated on the Delhi- Varanas sector to assist in accommodating the outbound guests.