The next aircraft to enter the Air India fleet will be the ultra long range Boeing 777-200LR. MSN 36306 is registered VT-ALG and will be named after the state of Kerala – “God’s own country”. Equipped with GE GE90-110B1L engines, this plane has a three class configuration with 8 seats in First Class, 35 Business, and 195 economy. Compare this …

The great but under appreciated airport Volvo shuttle bus service of BMTC, Vayu Vajra, has received a new route – 7A. Starting from HSR Layout in the south-eastern part of Bangalore, the route proceeds to Koramangala first block opposite Wipro, NDS etc., on via the ST bed 80 feet road (Maharaja hotel, Halcyon serviced apartments etc.), to Sony World junction …

On July 13th, Air India took delivery of it’s latest Boeing 777-300ER. MSN 36313 was registered at VT-ALO and the aircraft name, which has a special significance, is Karnataka — the home state of Bangalore Aviation. The aircraft is fitted with two General Electric GE90-115BL2 engines and has a three class configuration. 4 First, 35 Business, and 303 Economy. Here …

Flightblogger Jon Ostrower captured this nice video of the Airbus A380 superjumbo performing at the Oshkosh 2009 air show. Nice moves.

Back in April, I sent this picture to Dr. Mallya saying “Kingfisher Rocks” and his passengers have a “rocking” good time. Today it appears the “King of good times” is quite literally on the rocks. In a hard hitting e-mail sent to its 6,000+ employees, Kingfisher Airlines management has admitted to a serious financial crunch and has asked employees to …

It is official. From September 15th, Kingfisher Airlines will restructure international operations from its “home town” Bangalore. The airline’s first international flight Bangalore London Heathrow will be suspended on September 15th. Bangalore Colombo will stop a day later. It is important to understand some of the factors that led to the demise of these flights: Bangalore is the technology capital …

Turkish Airlines has an extensive fleet-renewal programme including up to 35 long-haul jets and it appears that Boeing is benefiting from Turkish THY Airline’s leasing experience with India’s Jet Airways. Turkish Airlines has finalised an order for an additional seven Boeing 777-300ER (Extended Range) airplanes valued at $1.9 billion at current list prices. This order is in addition to the …

Last year 55% of domestic passengers in India flew by a full service carrier and 45% by value carriers. This year the number was inverted — 55% flew by value carriers. The shift has compelled the Full Service Airlines in India, to start re-thinking their business model and announcing plans to introduce ‘single-class, no-frills’ services and deploying considerable capacity to …

Qatar Airways is significantly increasing its flights to key European capitals as part of an aggressive expansion programme. Beginning October 25, the start of the Northern Winter schedules, the Doha-Paris route will increase from the current 11 flights to a double daily flight. Madrid will be increased from the current four a week to a daily effective December 2. Targeting …

The fifth Boeing 787 Dreamliner flight test airplane test registration N787FT has been painted in a special Boeing livery which is very different from the traditional blue-and-white Boeing Commercial Airplanes livery seen on the first 787 flight test airplane. The simplified paint scheme will be applied to the three remaining unpainted flight test airplanes (Nos. 3, 4 and 6). Airplane …

Boeing India President Dinesh Keskar while sharing the company’s market data and forecast says India’s commercial airplane market is viable, resilient and poised to rebound supported by the country’s strong GDP growth Boeing forecasts that over the next 20 years the Indian market will require 1,000 commercial jets valued at approximately $100 billion — which represents over 3 percent of …

British Airways has announced a limited time free upgrade offer on all its flights from its five gateways in India (Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad and Mumbai) to London. Passengers travelling from India with British Airways in World Traveller (economy class) would get an upgraded one-way to the airline’s premium economy World Traveller Plus cabin. World Traveller Plus is a dedicated …

Faced with an uproar in India, a criminal compliant, and unanimous condemnation across party lines in the Indian parliament, Houston, Texas based Continental Airlines apologised to former Indian President A P J Abdul Kalam for frisking him at the IGI airport at New Delhi. Read related story. In its apology to Dr. Kalam, Continental said it did not intend to …

With almost half of its 31,500 employees not directly involved in flying an airline, Govindraj Ethiraj raises an interesting question on whether Air India is an airline or much more in his article in the Business Standard. It is a very interesting read. The Mint has a seven step action plan to rescue Air India. I had covered many of …

This story is sure to raise the hackles of many in India as former President APJ Abdul Kalam is a highly respected and loved figure. Upon the directions of the Ministry of Civil Aviation, the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) has today registered an FIR (First Information Report) against Continental Airlines for carrying out pre-embarkation body check of the …

The Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Mr Murli Deora, informed the Lok Sabha (lower house of the Indian parliament) that Indian domestic airlines Kingfisher Airlines, Jet Airways, National Aviation Company of India Ltd (Air India), Paramount and SpiceJet, still owe a whopping Rs. 2,225.52 Crore ($445 million) to the stated owned oil marketing companies Indian Oil Corporation, Hindustan Petroleum …

Another video on YouTube showing a whole horde of very irate passengers who were to have boarded Singapore Airlines flight SQ117 from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore. The flight was delayed due to mechanical problems, something extremely rare for the airline. The lady keeps hollering “PPS passengers”. The PPS Club membership is one level above the regular Krisflyer frequent flyer program. …

On July 19, British Airways (BA) and Virgin Atlantic Airways (VS) confirmed that their check-in staff were instructed to turn away passengers suspected of being infected with pandemic (H1N1) “swine” flu. So far this policy only applies to main airports in the UK; these airports might include but are not limited to London Heathrow (LHR), London Gatwick (LGW), Manchester International …

The BBC reports “Now new allegations have been made that a number of passengers are being detained every month in the duty free area on suspicion of shoplifting, and then held by the police until they pay large sums of money to buy their freedom.” and goes on to describe how the scam works on its website, and includes a …

The recent rains have created a sudden bird problem at Ahmedabad (IATA: AMD) airport who come to feed on the insects. On Friday July 16th, a GoAir Airbus A320-214, performing flight G8-321 from Ahmedabad, Gujarat to New Delhi, India with 102 passengers and 6 crew, was taxing for take-off when a black kite (Milvus migrans) was ingested into the right …