The Outlook magazine and Open magazine have blown the lid of the behind the scenes networks of lobbyists and power brokers in India. [Also read Outlook’s story on the 2G tapes] One of these was Ms. Niira Radia the head of Vaishnavi Communication, a lady so formidable and well connected, she boasted both Mr. Ratan Tata led Tata group and …

Post the Air India Express crash at Mangalore, there have been calls across the country for greater transparency within the administration, policy, regulatory, and investigative units of India’s civil aviation system. With the exception of the famous incident involving President Pratibha Patil’s helicopters in a near-miss with an Air India aircraft at Mumbai, with a view to increasing transparency, for …

Taken just about 18 hours ago, VT-IGW is the newest member of low fare carrier IndiGo’s fleet. Like all her other fleet sisters, she is an Airbus A320-232 equipped with IAE V2500 engines. Delivered less than a week back, her paint coat is still so shiny that the lights reflecting off her tail fin, engine and even “forehead” show the …

India’s Kingfisher Airlines continues to deepen its member-elect relations with the oneworld alliance. Along with alliance founder American Airlines, it has announced entering in to a code-share and frequent flier program relationship due to commence in 2011. This agreement finally gives Kingfisher its long awaited access to the US market, one of the biggest destination markets for Indian travellers. The …

Domestic air traffic in India surged a whopping 18.3% to almost 42 million for the first ten months of the year compared to 35.5 million for the same period last year. For the month of October which marks the start of the peak travel period third quarter of the fiscal, the growth was 16.3% to 4.62 million compared to October …

Passengers from the Bengaluru International Airport should brace themselves for a significantly foggy winter, thanks to an extended rain season that is continuing even now. As per aviation experts within the airport operating company and air traffic control fraternity, rains in Bangalore normally cease within October thus giving the ground and the air to dry out before the onset of …

After 17 months of delay, India’s environment minister Mr. Jairam Ramesh announced approval for the new Navi Mumbai International Airport, which many consider a half-baked idea for meeting the growing civil aviation needs of India’s financial capital. Earlier this month the environment and civil aviation ministries had reached a compromise agreement on the environmental impact of the new Mumbai airport, …

At the recently concluded EADS Global Investor Forum 2010, John Leahy the chief operating officer for Airbus S.A.S. the commercial airframe manufacturer owned by the consortium revealed plans on its proposed New Engine Option (NEO) for its ultra-popular A320 family of aircraft. In this slide, Mr. Leahy unveils an artistic impression of the re-engined single-aisle narrow body airliner and outlines …

The first Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner due for delivery to national carrier Air India, VT-ANA, moved out of the paint shop on the flight line at Paine field in Everett, Washington. This is the 25th aircraft in the production line. By sheer co-incidence, the launch airline for the Dreamliner is All Nippon Airways better known as ANA. Thanks to moonm who …

Mumbai based Jet Airways (mobile website)is celebrating the crossing of 100,000 fans of its Facebook page. It is a significant statement on the growth of social networking in India that this achievement has been reached in less than a year of the airline launching its social media efforts and January 19, 2010. The airline is marking its celebration with a …

On 30th October I took an AirAsia flight from Kuala Lumpur to Bangalore. Was rather disappointed that the ground crews at the airline actively discouraged spotting, especially keeping in mind how PR savvy the airline is. Rather dejected I was walking to board my flight when I saw the AirAsia Airbus A320 9M-AFY in the Formula 1 Team Lotus livery. …

Malaysia Airlines took delivery of the airline’s first Next-Generation Boeing 737 with the new Boeing Sky Interior. The national carrier, is the first full-service airline to operate the 737-800 with the new Boeing Sky Interior. 9M-MXA also sports the new livery of Malaysia Airlines.

Since yesterday, India and Indians across the world are celebrating the festival of light — Diwali or Deepavali – the most significant festival in India. The closest equivalent I can think of is in the US, the period between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Since the Dussehra festival last month, there have been sales across the land, with people shopping away much …

US President Barack Hussien Obama extends his Diwali wishes in a White House first.

Gurgaon based low fare carrier SpiceJet, announced its fourth successive quarter of profits today. Even though, the carrier declared a meagre Rs. 100 million net profit for the second quarter (ending September 30, 2010) of the financial year 2010~2011, this is in sharp contrast to the loss of almost Rs. 1 billion compared to the same quarter last fiscal. The …

The Winter 2010 schedule for airlines commenced from Sunday and as expected major airlines, domestic and international, have announced a raft of new flights. Austrian AirlinesLufthansa group member has introduced five flights a week between Mumbai and Vienna and increased its five a week New Delhi Vienna flights to six. The Mumbai Vienna flight will be operated by a Boeing …

Last week I read an interesting article by Ajai Shukla in the Business Standard newspaper. Ajai argues that India should abandon its $10+ billion Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) tender and directly purchase the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lighting II fifth generation multi-role fighter. While the article does tend to get a little bogged down by the politics surrounding Indian defence …

Effective November 14, 2010, Singapore based low cost carrier Tiger Airways is withdrawing its four a week Airbus A320 service between Bangalore and Singapore. The move is rather surprising since the winter season between November and February is the busiest travel period in the year. While no official reasons have been given, there are two possibilities.Singapore Airlines and its subsidiary …

In the early hours of October 23, at about 02:05 local (20:35-1 UTC) a Jet Airways Boeing 737-800 registration VT-JBR with 122 passengers and an unknown number of crew [we estimate 8], was being pushed back from parking bay 85 at Mumbai Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, to perform flight 9W-540 from Mumbai, India to Muscat, Oman. The wing-tip of the …