Last Tuesday, I had the opportunity to interact with Mr. Axel Hilgers, Director South Asia for German carrier Lufthansa, which was recently voted by CNBC as the best foreign airline in India. I began by asking him about Lufthansa’s newly launched 44 seat all business class Boeing 737 Business Jet (BBJ) service between Mumbai and Munich five times a week, …

Steve Frischling, the author of Flying with Fish, has written two excellent and must read articles, for any traveller, on thieves at airports and on-board flights – yes even on board flights, thefts do occur. He goes in to extensive details on how thieves operate and how best to avoid being a victim. Article on airport thievesArticle on in-flight thieves …

Image copyright Airbus, photographer C. Brinkmann This second-generation of CFRP (Carbon Fibre Reinforced Plastic) fuselage demonstrator was designed to be very close to the final design of the A350 XWB fuselage as it will be used for certification of design principles and sizing methods. The barrel demonstrator measures 18 metres in length and more than six metres in diameter. Its …

About two weeks ago, Air India announced it was going to extend its low cost operation Air India Express in to the domestic market. Across Twitter, Facebook and other social networking sites I detected a snigger from many fellow aviation bloggers and enthusiasts – Air India, a national carrier going low cost ? How low can Air India fall ? …

Blue Dart Aviation is a dedicated freight only airline in India, and the only operator of the Boeing 757 in India. Aircraft name ‘Vision VIII’ registration VT-BDM is a Boeing 757-200 PCF (passenger converted freighter) and here it is coming to to land on runway 27 at the Bengaluru International Airport in the early morning of June 14th. My friends …

British Airways is reducing the free baggage allowance for its trans-Atlantic economy class passengers. World Traveller (economy class) passengers who take trips to or from the Americas (except Brazil) from October 7th or later will get only one free checked bag instead of the current two, according to the policy change announced Friday, July 31. On the same date sports …

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has approved the Aero-Instruments 0851HL-AI Pitot Probe as a replacement part on Airbus Airbus A318, A319, A320, A321, A330 and A340 series airplanes airplanes flown worldwide. Each Airbus commercial aircraft has three Pitot Probes, which are the primary air speed sensing components on aircraft and are designed with integrated electrical heaters to prevent icing. …

Two milestones were achieved last week on Thursday July 30th. In Toulouse, Airbus S.A.S. delivered its 1000th A330/A340 family aircraft an A330-343X. MSN1035 test registration F-WWKS was handed over to Thai Airways International at a special ceremony. The aircraft equipped with Rolls Royce Trent 772B-60 engines is registered HS-TEP. Thai increases its in-service A330/A340 fleet to a total of 25 …

Air France has decided to auction 380 seats on each of its two inaugural flights on the Airbus A380 superjumbo, operating from Paris to New York on 20 November and from New York to Paris on 21 November 2009. This exclusive auction sale, the terms of which will be presented at a later date, will take place on the Internet …

Within the weekend the threatened strike action by the Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA) on August 18th has fizzled out. On Friday July 31, the FIA members barring state owned Air India, took India by storm and announced they would suspend all domestic flights on August 18th in protest of the vindictive tax policies on the aviation industry specifically aviation …

On a recent spotting trip I took a rather rare picture of four Kingfisher aircraft, two Airbus A321-200s flanking the two Airbus A330-200s lined up in a row at the Bengaluru International Airport. From left to right all Kingfisher all Airbus : A321-200 VT-KFZ, A330-200 VT-VJK, A330-200 VT-VJP, A321-200 VT-KFS. Come September 15th we in Bangalore will miss this sight …