The Chinese have a saying “May you live in interesting times”. 2008 was certainly “interesting” to say the least. As we bid adieu to the year, I briefly recap some of the topics that made the aviation world interesting. Private greenfield airportsBengaluru International Airport at Bangalore, and Rajiv Gandhi International Airport at Hyderabad, ushered in a new era for passengers …

Airbus today, met its revised A380 delivery schedule for 2008 of 12 aircraft. In Hamburg, Airbus delivered its 12th A380 of 2008, to its largest A380 customer Emirates. MSN020 registered as A6-EDD is the fourth of 58 ordered by Emirates, and the 13th overall A380 delivered out of 198 orders. Airbus has been steadily improving its A380 delivery performance by …

National airline, Air India, followed lead of its two private sector competitors Jet Airways and Kingfisher, and today, slashed its basic air fares in the domestic sectors ranging from 35 per cent to 82 per cent as per PTI. The fare cut was effective from 1500 hours today, an Air India spokesperson said. The maximum reduction in fares was 82 …

Honeywell did a test flight of this very odd looking Boeing 757. The small engine attached to the front part of the fuselage is being developed for regional jets and private commercial jets. See all the pictures here from Cupps at Flightglobal Airspace. Thanks to Jon at FlightBlogger for the tip. Incidentally, Jon has done a very interesting analysis which …

Following the announcement by alliance partner, Kingfisher, Jet Airways, announced “substantial” reduction in basic fares on Economy class, on all its domestic flights with immediate effect. The special fares are lowered by as much as 40%, but fuel surcharges remain high. The economy class basic fares will be as low as Mumbai – Delhi INR 2,000; Mumbai – Kolkata INR …

The much publicised bio-fuel test flight of Air New Zealand was conducted successfully. Congratulations to the teams at Air New Zealand, Boeing, Rolls Royce, and UOP division of Honeywell. The blend of fuel was 50% Jet A-1, and 50% Jatropha oil. The Jatropha plant is grown extensively in India, and bio-diesel is slowly inching its way in to the market. …

Airbus A330-343E, F-WWKZ, CN 978, pictured here in the cold grey skies of Toulouse, France, will soon be heading to the lush tropical city-state of Singapore, as 9V-STA, and joining the fleet of Singapore Airlines, who will become the newest operator of the Airbus A330 aircraft. Singapore Airlines will introduce its new Airbus A330-300, powered by Rolls Royce Trent 700 …

In an incident, that will definitely not please either the airline, or the airframe manufacturer, the world’s largest commercial airliner the Airbus A380 superjumbo, operated by Australian carrier Qantas was grounded in Fiji due to a computer glitch. VH-OQB, the second aircraft in Qantas’ A380 fleet, recently delivered, and which commenced operations just one week ago, was on a routine …

Singapore Airlines has announced a new low fare sale from India to select destinations in South East Asia and Australia. As per the ad in today’s Times of India, Bangalore edition, the fares round-trip ex-Bangalore to Singapore is INR 16,830, Denpasar/Bali/Kuala Lumpur/Penang/Langkawi/Kuching/Bangkok INR 23,980, Sydney/Perth/Brisbane/Melbourne/Adelaide INR 41,350. These include taxes and surcharges. Fares are for economy class travel. Tickets must …

In his weekly column “Rational Expectations”, Sunil Jain has written an excellent article titled “Mr. 20 per cent” highlighting the financial shenanigans played by the operator of Indira Gandhi International Airport, GMR promoted Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL), and the resultant negative impact not just on Airports Authority of India (AAI), but also on DIAL itself. His postscript says it …

PTI reports, Kingfisher Airlines, has said that it would effect fare cut across its network from January 1. Without specifying the quantum of reduction in fares, in a statement today, Kingfisher Airlines Chairman, Dr. Vijay Mallya said Kingfisher Airlines will begin the New Year on an aggressive note by slashing fares on its network, The current low prices of Air …

Harun Ornek captured two of the Boeing 777-300ER’s recently wet-leased by THY Turkish Airlines from Jet Airways. The aircraft retain their Indian registrations and flags. VT-JED has been named Akdeniz (meaning the Mediterranean Sea in Turkish).VT-JEE has been named Karadeniz (meaning the Black Sea in Turkish). Observe the Indian flag.This picture of VT-JEE from jetphotos.net.To see an extensive photo gallery …

Airbus SAS today handed over its 11th A380 superjumbo to Qantas Airways Ltd. of Australia. Airframe serial number MSN022 was registered VH-OQC and christened Paul McGinness. The plane was the third A380 for Qantas this year, Airbus spokesman Stefan Schaffrath said in an interview to Bloomberg. The first two VH-OQA (Nancy-Bird Walton) and VH-OQB (Hudson Fysh) have been operating between …

While many travellers in the US, had a miserable time last few days, thanks to the winter storms, this story from AP takes the cake. It is small solace, but I hope it at least brings a wry smile to some lips. Across the world in sunny Philippines, a Philippine Airlines airplane was stuck circling the Zamboanga airport, in southern …

I must tip my hat to the travel agents’ associations in India. Their strategy of targeting one airline at a time, has paid handsome dividends. From a paltry five per cent commission on the basic fare, they have successfully made all the airlines pay three per cent on the gross fare, which includes the fuel surcharges, on domestic fares. Passengers …

According to a PIB release, at a recent parliamentary session of the Rajya Sabha, Minister for Civil Aviation, Praful Patel informed that major work in modernisation of Air Traffic Control System (ATCs) has been undertaken at Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Trivandrum, Mangalore, Bangalore, Nagpur, Ahmedabad, Varanasi and Guwahati. The expenditure incurred by Airports Authority of India (AAI) on the …

At a time when airport authorities in Singapore, Thailand, Korea, and Taiwan, are reducing their airport charges to stimulate air travel, travellers flying from Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA), Mumbai will pay more soon. The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) has recently sent a letter to the GVK promoted, Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL), allowing the airport operator to increase …

Air New Zealand, the launch customer, of the much awaited, and much delayed, Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, in a statement announced “Boeing confirmed yesterday a further 12 month delay could be expected with the first 787-9 aircraft to be delivered to Air New Zealand in the first quarter of 2013,” Air New Zealand has eight 787-9 on order. Originally deliveries were …

Okay, now we know the festive season is upon us. Just as mother nature was letting up on the winter snow storm, “Shiner” the sea-lion decided to make Oakland airport home. Marine Mammal Center workers rescued the animal by 1:30 p.m. PST. Read the full story from San Jose Mercury News here.