Airbus SAS delivered two new A320 family aircraft to Chinese airlines recently. Juneyao Airlines, a Shanghai-based privately-owned carrier, has taken delivery of its first purchased A320 during a delivery ceremony in Toulouse, France, adding to its currently leased 10 leased Airbus aircraft fleet – two A319s and eight A320s – with 10 more A320s, via operating lease and purchase, due …

Singapore Airlines is refurbishing the cabins of its Boeing 777-300 fleet from later this month. This does not include the 777-300ERs which already features the uber-luxurious interiors. First class in the newly refitted aircraft will be same as in the current Boeing 777-300ER in a 1-2-1 configuration. Singapore Airlines will offer eight of luxurious seats down from the current 18. …

Singapore Airlines is commencing an Airbus A380 superjumbo service to Melbourne, Australia from September 29 2009. The daily A380 flights will replace an existing daily Boeing 747-400 service (part of a triple daily) to Melbourne and will help the airline increase capacity by 10%. SQ227 will depart Singapore Changi Airport at 2100hrs and arrive in Melbourne at 0610hrs (0710hrs from …

I still recall with great fondness hearing the communications between Apollo 11 and Houston live. I was only five years old, and it was early in the morning in Mumbai. Forty years ago to this day, three human beings commenced a unique journey to another world. Neil A. Armstrong, Michael Collins and Edwin E. “Buzz” Aldrin Jr. lifted off at …

It is difficult to believe that the global economic slowdown commenced one year ago. Since July 2008, airlines across the world began to cut back on their seat capacity, and parking their aircraft. In it’s July 2009 report on trends in the supply of airline flights and seats, the Official Airline Guide OAG reported that airlines are offering 315 million …

The monsoon season is upon India, finally, though the spectre of drought is not fully removed. This is a traditionally low season for air travel and SpiceJet has launched special five day advance purchase fares to encourage travel during this period. Tickets to all 18 SpiceJet destinations are available starting from Rs. 2,429 all inclusive. For full details visit SpiceJet …

On the morning of May 5th an Airbus A321 operating Air India flight AI-179 with a seating capacity of 172 passengers was accidentally pushed back from the gate at Mumbai airport while the aero bridge was still connected to the aircraft. The door was badly damaged, and the passengers had to be transferred to another aircraft. In the ensuing accident …

At the 65th annual general meeting and world air transport summit held in Kuala Lumpur in early June, Giovanni Bisignani, CEO of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) put India’s two largest airports — New Delhi Indira Gandhi International and Mumbai Chhatrapati Shivaji International on the ‘IATA Wall of Shame’ for their steep hikes of 207% in fees which, he …

Another dis-satisfied customer of United Airlines ….. but Dave Carroll decided to hit United back in a rather unique and entertaining way. As per Dave’s website In the spring of 2008, Sons of Maxwell were traveling to Nebraska for a one-week tour and my Taylor guitar was witnessed being thrown by United Airlines baggage handlers in Chicago. I discovered later …

Today’s post is a guest post courtesy of Bangalore Aviation regular Rupam Singh – a performance engineer. Follow Rupam on Twitter. Despite the tremendous advances in navigational technology incidents of pilots landing at the wrong airport continue to occur – most often when two airfields are located in close proximity. Similar wind patterns and airspace safety dictates that the two …

Air France has released it’s first official photos of it’s Airbus A380 superjumbo MSN033 registration F-HPJA. The aircraft is expected to be delivered in late October 2009 and will be deployed on the Paris Charles De Gaulle (CDG) to New York John F Kennedy (JFK) route. Click on the images for a larger view Air France will seat 538 passengers …

Defence minister A.K. Antony informed the Rajya Sabha that the Indian Air Force (IAF) is extremely happy with its front line air superiority fight, the Sukhoi Su-30MKI, and will increase its fleet to 230 aircraft by 2015, notwithstanding the recent crash of one. China has been increasing it’s belligerence over the north eastern state of Arunachal Pradhesh and has a …

Boeing has the best video of the taxi tests of their new Dreamliner ZA001. Why should we not be surprised that they knew EXACTLY where to get the best shot. Randy Tinseth, vice president, marketing for Boeing Commercial Airplanes in Seattle has a blog with more details.

American Airlines has entered into a frequent flyer agreement with GOL Airlines that will provide benefits to members of both American’s AAdvantage(R) and GOL’s Smiles programs. Additionally, the two airlines intend to enter into a codeshare agreement in the near future. Beginning Aug. 1, 2009, AAdvantage and Smiles members will be able to earn miles on all eligible GOL and …

In recent years, we have heard about a number fires and subsequent safety recalls on cell phone and laptop batteries most notably of Dell and Apple, but also of Toshiba, Hewlett Packard. Sony, Lenovo/IBM, Hitachi, Fujitsu, Sharp, and Nokia. On February 7, 2006, about 23:59 eastern standard time (06:59Z), a United Parcel ServiceCompany (UPS) McDonnell Douglas DC-8-71F, registration N748UP, performing …

It is official now. Boeing announced today that it has agreed to acquire the business and operations conducted by Vought Aircraft Industries at its South Carolina facility, where Vought builds a key structure for Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner airplane. The transaction is expected to close by the third quarter of this year. The Vought facility, located in North Charleston, performs fabrication …

A lot has been interpreted over France’s Bureau d’Enquêtes et d’Analyses (BEA) initial findings in to the crash of Air France AF-447 from Rio to Paris. I do not want to add to the interpretation. Two good starting points for Bangalore Aviation readers. The official initial report of the BEA which can be downloaded in PDF format here. Simon Hradeck’s …

As per media reports, civil aviation minister Mr. Praful Patel announced in Chennai yesterday, there would be no job cuts despite the hugely over-bloated workforce at Air India. This is precisely the political meddling and easy options approach that I had warned about in my earlier article. Mr. Patel, if you are unable to help Air India management, at least …

A Saudi Arabian Boeing 747-300 registration HZ-AIT performing flight SV-744 from Jeddah via Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to Mumbai, India, burst the number 2 and 3 tyres of the left hand main gear while landing on runway 27 at 18:24 (12:54Z) in heavy monsoon rains. Since the aircraft was heavily loaded, it was stopped on taxiway N8 and passengers were disembarked …