“I know it looks like a baaji but it’s in custard Richard, custard. It must be the pudding. Well you’ll be fascinated to hear that it wasn’t custard. It was a sour gel with a clear oil on top.” I am still doubled over with laughter after reading this complaint letter from a passenger on Virgin’s Mumbai to London Heathrow …

AP is reporting a FedEx cargo plane crashed during landing Tuesday at Lubbock Preston Smith International Airport (KLBB), in my home state of Texas, USA. Wikipedia ImageAirport director James Loomis says both crew members were taken to a hospital, but FedEx spokeswoman Sandra Munoz says both were able to walk from the crash. A supervisor at University Medical Center in …

Delta Air Lines today reported financial results for the quarter and year ended Dec. 31, 2008. Delta’s 2008 net loss was $503 million, or $1.08 per diluted share. When all charges are added Delta reported a net loss for 2008 of $8.9 billion, or $19.08 per diluted share. Total revenues for the 4th quarter ending December 31, 2008, stood at …

In my previous article I highlighted the faulty glideslope at Bengaluru International Airport (BIA) being a contributor to delays, especially in times of fog. Last Sunday January 24, 2009, BIA, again, experienced significant delays due to fog. This issue has been hanging fire at Bengaluru International Airport since opening day. I came across an article by Capt. A. Ranganathan, an …

The proposed merger of British Airways and Iberia are threatened, and may be heading for the rocks, after the UK carrier warned it was not prepared to merge with its Spanish counterpart on the basis of current market valuations for the airlines. Thanks to good performance by Iberia shares, poor performance by British Airways shares, and the sharp decline of …

Qantas’ problems on their Airbus A330 fleet just don’t seem to end. This time a Qantas A330 aircraft from Auckland to Melbourne was grounded. The reason — a distressed pet dog escaped from his kennel in the cargo hold, and chewed up the wiring. Must have been a big dog, and extremely distressed to chew through the panel covers to …

Frankfurt airport, one of the busiest in the world, was shut down for 50 minutes this morning, due to a technical glitch in its Air Traffic Control. The airport, was shrouded in fog, and the data transmission from the German weather service and the ATC broke down between 0635 and 0725, as per a spokesman for air traffic control. This …

Singapore Airlines took delivery of its first Airbus A330-300 aircraft, 9V-STA, today, and also unveiled the cabin product. Acquired under a lease agreement with Dublin-based AWAS, and powered by Rolls-Royce Trent 700 engines, the aircraft was handed over to the airline at a ceremony in Toulouse today attended by Mak Swee Wah, Executive Vice President Operations and Services, Singapore Airlines, …

Delta Airlines which recently commenced its Atlanta – Mumbai non-stop is feeling the pinch of the economic slowdown affecting India’s IT industry. Effective March 29, it will reduce the frequency of its service from a daily to five flights a week. The service will not operate on Tuesdays and Sundays ex-Atlanta, and Mondays and Wednesdays ex-Mumbai. In my opinion, it …

The Mint is reporting that GoAir recently started offering uniform fares, inclusive of surcharges and other taxes, for purchases made 21 days in advance. For short sectors, defined as less than 750 kms travel distance, the airline will charge Rs 1,700 a ticket and Rs 2,700 for distances greater than 750 kms. According to the company statement, in effect a …

Agence France-Presse is reporting, the entire crew of a South African Airways flight from Johannesburg to London Heathrow, were arrested Tuesday after about $450,000 worth of cannabis and cocaine were found in their suitcases, by British customs officials. As per officials, British customs agents found 110 pounds (50 kilograms) of cannabis, worth about $210,000, and 9 pounds (4 kilograms) of …

My post The world’s most delayed and most punctual airports, seems to have ignited a media frenzy within India. Times of India carried snippets from the article Sunday 11th January, which became a national story, and was picked up later that morning by the TV networks. A lot of Bangalore Aviation readers have been asking me questions relating to the …

Lufthansa has opened its new design, super lounge for its premium passengers, in Terminal 1 at New York’s John F. Kennedy airport. The new lounge is spread across 3 levels and has a total area of 1,500 square meters (about 16,000 square feet). The highlight of the new lounge is the First Class area for HON Circle members and First …

In its Summer 2009 time-table, effective March 29, Singapore Airlines will revert back to servicing Bangalore Singapore with the Boeing 777-300, an upgrade from the existing Boeing 777-200. The slowdown in the global economy caused significant impact in the Information Technology sector, which constitutes a bulk of Bangalore’s international traffic. In response Singapore Airlines had downgraded services from a daily …

An era came to its end as Australian carrier Qantas retired its last Boeing 747-300. The fleet of six, which entered service between 1984 and 1987, clocked more than 524,000 flying hours. Along with the retirement of the fleet, comes another retirement — flight engineers. Modern airliners with their “glass cockpits” have eliminated the flight engineers’ station. Qantas will no …

David Learmount at FlightGlobal has done an excellent analysis of the Global airline accidents. In the last ten years, 2008 is the second lowest, after 2004, in terms of fatalities. Simple figures paint the picture: in 2003 there were 27 fatal airline accidents causing 702 deaths, and in 2008 there were 34 fatal accidents and 583 deaths. In the interim …

2008 was a torrid year for domestic airlines in India, as recently released figures by the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) show. Domestic passenger traffic for the year 2008 fell 5% from 42.58 million to 40.77 million (Fig. 1), driven by the increase in fuel costs, and the massive hikes in air fares, which are yet to fully retreat, and …

Singapore Airlines will introduce the the Airbus A380 super-jumbo, on its Singapore-Paris route from June 1, 2009 . Using the A380 in precisely the manner Airbus intended, i.e. lower frequency with a ultra-large aircraft, Singapore Airlines will cut down the frequency from the current 10 a week Boeing 777-300ER flights to a daily Airbus A380 flight. Paris will be Singapore …

Effective June 1, 2009, Delta Air Lines will change the aircraft and flight number on its Amsterdam to Mumbai service. The current NW34/NW33 service operated by an Airbus A330-200 will be replaced by NW792/NW791 operated by a Boeing 767-300.