At the start of this month, Irish low-cost carrier Ryanair announced it has invited proposals from both its sole vendor till date, Boeing, and competitor Airbus for 200 to 300 new single-aisle aircraft in the Boeing 737 and Airbus A320 category, for delivery between 2012 and 2017. I had a chance to interact with senior Airbus executives during the recently …

Image Courtesy Matt CawbyBoeing delivered the second of eight 777-200LRs (Longer Range) ordered by Qatar Airways on February 24th. A7-BBB took a near 15-hour journey to its new home in Doha with guests on-board who included a selection of journalists from the United States, India and the Gulf and a high-profile delegation of bankers and financiers. Along with its sister …

I received call earlier this evening from the news media soliciting my reactions to the news that Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa has proposed to the Union Government the renaming of the Bengaluru International Airport, after the founder founder of Bangalore, Kempegowda. The name of an airport may not mean much, but I am happy and thankful that the airport is …

Turkish Airlines THY released the names of their staff killed in crash of their Boeing 737-800 flight TK 1951 at Amsterdam, Schiphol. A total of nine persons perished, including 3 pilots, 1 flight attendant and 5 passengers. The pilots who died were Captain Hasan Tahsin Arısan, Murat Sezer and Olgay Ozgur and the flight attendant Ulvi Murat Eskin. The bodies …

The airport operators at Delhi and Mumbai airports have a mantra as far us passengers go. “Heads I win, tails you lose” After a messy process, in May 2006, the Delhi Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) was handed over to the Delhi International Airport Ltd. (DIAL) consortium led by the GMR group, for modernising, handling and management. GMR won the …

A heart-warming and amazing experience occurred over this week which highlights the power and reach of blogging. On February 4th, I wrote an article about my friend, Marcel Hungerbuehler, taking over as CEO of BIAL, the company which operates the Bengaluru International Airport. In that article was a picture of Marcel. Two days ago, I received a comment from a …

Qantas announced plans for its new Indian services via Singapore, which will replace the discontinued direct services between the two countries. From June 2, flight QF51, will fly to Mumbai via Singapore on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. The return flight QF52 to Singapore will operate on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Qantas will use its Singapore hub to offer passengers connections …

Turkish Airlines has just released a statement refuting rumours in the media, circulating after the crash of their Boeing 737-800 VT-JGE at Schiphol airport near Amsterdam yesterday, and clarifying their aircraft maintenance procedures. The maintenance work of our aircraft has been carried out according to appropriate procedures. It has become an absolute necessity to make the statement given below over …

Airline body, International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced international scheduled traffic results for January showing a deepening year-on-year demand slump. International passenger demand fell by 5.6% in January 2009 compared to the same month in 2008, a full percentage point worse than the 4.6% year-on-year drop recorded in December, and the fifth consecutive month of contraction. Air cargo is a …

The new domestic departure terminal T1D at New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) was inaugurated today by Mr. Praful Patel India’s Civil Aviation minister. The new terminal is located between the existing Domestic Arrival T1C and Domestic Departure T1A, and will raise the capacity of domestic departures to 10 million passengers per annum. The terminal is a dual level …

A Turkish Airlines (THY) Boeing 737-800 registration TC-JGE performing flight TK1951 crashed at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport at 10:30 local (09:30Z) The plane carrying 135 passengers on a flight from Istanbul, broke in to three parts when attempting to land on Runway 36L near motorway A9. There is a massive presence of emergency vehicles and crew on the scene, and there …

Airbus A380-861 MSN045 currently registered as F-WWSG, and destined as the 10th A380 for launch customer Singapore Airlines made its first flight on February 23 and flew straight to Hamburg, where it will undergo outfitting for the Singapore Airlines’ luxurious interiors, and is expected to be delivered late this year and registered 9V-SKJ. The plane had a rejected take-off the …

A preliminary report into a crash of an Air New Zealand Airbus A320 jet last November off the coast of France, is pointing the cause toward its aircrew who were performing low speed tests, claiming “the flight crew’s failure to adhere to standard operating procedures”. As a result of the interim finding air safety regulators have issued urgent advice on …

Last week Air France took delivery of the first Boeing 777F freighter. Every new aircraft is given a water cannon salute, and for aviation romantics like me, it is always a poignant occasion, and one we do not see too often. Courtesy Liz Matzelle enjoy these two videos of the new “Le Freighter” being given its first shower, and then …

Bahrain based Gulf Air has confirmed an agreement to lease four new Boeing 777-300ERs (B77W in industry parlance) from Jet Airways of India. The agreement which was signed on February 22nd, calls for three aircraft to join its fleet in March, and the fourth in May. This deal was expected since January. Gulf Air is already wet-leasing two Airbus A330-200s …

A Lion Air Boeing MD90 registration PK-LIO performing flight JT-972, on February 23, 2009, had to perform an emergency landing while on a flight from Medan to Batam, both in Indonesia. The flight with 156 passengers and 6 crew, could not lower the nose gear while on approach to runway 04. While on approach to Batam the crew noticed, that …

Very rarely do I get an opportunity to combine my two passions of aviation and wine and write about it. A very special thanks to the In-flight Supervisor on a recent Singapore Airlines flight who went in to the first class cellar and served me a superlative Chateau Leoville Poyferre, St. Julien, Bordeaux. Even at 35,000ft, it was one the …

On February 9th, there was a near miss incident at Mumbai airport which involved the President of India. The Indian Air Force is at the receiving end of an article by 737 instructor pilot Captain A. Ranganathan, who complains that poor navigation, lack of communication with the control tower and non-conformation with procedures on the part of the navy pilots …

The natural tendency during a recession is to batten down the hatches, freeze all spending, and ride out the storm. There is also a school of thought which advocates increasing investments and advertising spend during a recession to increase market share, when customers are looking to change in an effort to obtain better value for their spend. Quite evidently, Sheikh …

This photograph by Digital Airliners taken just two days ago at Toulouse shows two Airbus A340-500’s. One is still painted in Kingfisher Airlines’ colours. Kingfisher had ordered five A340-500s, but defaulted on taking delivery last year. Three were diverted to Nigeria’s Arik Air, but it appears the balance two have become the dreaded white tail for Airbus, i.e. a jet …