I have always admired Fred Smith of FedEx. Yesterday, he addressed a town hall meeting in Los Angeles, on the economy’s impact on industry, and offered three very sensible suggestions for governments to consider. I an excerpting from the speech “Keeping America Competitive: the View from ‘Commerce Street’” by Frederick W. Smith, Chairman, President and CEO, FedEx Corporation. The fact …

Over the last year, IndiGo has been on a steady march, taking an increasing share of the Indian passenger market. While most of its competitors contracted during the torrid 2008, IndiGo and fellow value carrier SpiceJet, have gained in actual passenger numbers. The secret to IndiGo’s success ? Read this article “Fine Strokes” by Business Standard.

The Indian Express is reporting The Joint House Committee set up to probe into the alleged lapses in the establishment of Bengaluru International Airport (BIA) will submit its final report on February 16. The 20-member house committee headed by Chickpet MLA Hemachandra Sagar met the BIA officials on Monday. Committee members said that the final report will be submitted to …

Due to the approaching storm Quinten, French authorities have decided to suspend all commercial traffic all all Paris airports. Charles De Gaulle, Orly, and Le Bourget, from 20:00 local 9 February to 10:00 local 10 February. Over 500 flights are estimated to be cancelled as a result of the closures. Storms with winds of up to 120 km/h are expected …

Over 20 years ago I watched a fascinating video on the Discovery Channel program Wings. I recorded the show on to VHS tape, but the tape lost its quality over the years. This program was re-christened as the “Great Planes” series. Thanks to Jon at Flightblogger, I re-discovered my favourite video. On this the 40th anniversary of its first flight, …

February 6th saw Airbus A380-861 MSN033 destined for Air France taxiing around Toulouse Blagnac (LFBO) airport. Click on the images for high resolution pictures We can expect to see the first flight VERY VERY SOON. Air France is expected to put the aircraft on the Paris Montreal route. Thanks to pictaero for the images.

Read the official investigation report here. February 9, 2009, 10:00 IST (04:30 GMT) TV channels are reporting that an Air India Airbus A321 performing flight IC866 was involved in a rejected take-off/near miss at Mumbai Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport earlier this morning. The flight had commenced its take-off run, when a helicopter which was given permission to land, strayed across …

More sneak pictures (courtesy Karatecatman) of the preparations at Air Force Station Yelahanka for Aero india 2009. Enjoy. Can you guess the aircraft ?

Even as Boeing grapples with problems and assembles the first 747-8, it is quietly celebrating of the first flight of the 747 which took place today, 40 years ago, on Feb. 9, 1969. With 1,412 delivered, the 747 launched the wide-body era and for nearly four decades has steadfastly remained the “Queen of the skies”. At Paine Field in Everett, …

The Government has approved the levy of Development Fee (DF) by the Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) @ Rs.1300/- per departing international passenger and @ Rs.200/- per departing domestic passenger with effect from 1 March, 2009. The DF which is being levied purely on an adhoc basis, is inclusive of all applicable taxes and is for a period of 36 …

Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL), is readying to hand over its first competitively won contract of the Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH), the Dhruv. HAL won an order for 7 helicopters from Ecuador beating out global heavyweights like Eurocopter, on performance and and a price of just $7 million per helicopter. Dhruv ALH in peacock livery of the Indian Air Force Sarang …

Some sneak pictures of the ongoing preparations and arrivals at Aero India 2009,which will start February 11th at Air Force Station Yelahanka, Bangalore. Thanks Karatecatman.

Air New Zealand has adopted a different approach to marketing. It has created a parody of a low cost airline Saverjet.com. Enjoy the video.

The role of the US Federal Aviation Administration in that it is both the promoter and protector of aviation in the United States, has always produced contradictory situations. Dominic Gates of the Seattle Times is reporting that the Boeing 787 Dreamliner cannot meet the Federal Aviation Administration’s current stringent standards for preventing sparks inside the fuel tank during a lightning …

The last few days may have brought bad news to both Boeing and Airbus in the form of order cancellations, which have put both manufacturers in an unenviable situation of being negative on their net order book for 2009. They can take heart in the procurement actions of India’s national carrier Air India, which will be taking delivery of ordered …

Virgin Group’s new V Australia, the long haul airline of Virgin Blue, took delivery of its first Boeing 777-300ER. The plane livery as deliveredThe livery at the time of the order The airplane, delivered by Boeing to International Lease Finance Corp. and leased to V Australia, is one of seven leased and purchased 777-300ERs V Australia will deploy on trans-Pacific …

Click on image for high resolution image The announcement from Boeing says it all. The newest member of the Boeing [NYSE: BA] 777 family, the 777 Freighter, today received its formal stamp of approval from the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). EASA validated the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Feb. 3 type certification of the 777 Freighter. The certification formally …

Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) today lowered business and leisure fares in domestic markets served from its Cincinnati hub. The reductions offer more than 80 percent of customers flying to or from Cincinnati a significant savings on advance-purchase leisure and business fares to the hub’s most popular destinations, including select cities in Florida, the Northeast and along the West coast. …

The Supreme Court today stayed the Karnataka High Court judgement that quashed the decision of Bangalore International Airport Ltd. (BIAL), operator of the Bengaluru International Airport at Bangalore, to award the duty-free shops contract to Nuance Group AG of Switzerland and Shoppers Stop. On December 19 2008, on a plea by Flemingo Duty Free Shops Pvt. Ltd., the Karnataka High …

British Airways released it performance figures for January 2009. In the month, passenger capacity, measured in Available Seat Kilometres (ASKs), was 2.6 per cent below January 2008. Traffic, measured in Revenue Passenger Kilometres (RPKs), fell by 1.3 per cent. This resulted in a passenger load factor increase of 1 per cent, to 73.2 per cent. Reflecting the deepening impact of …