On the eve of delivering the first Q400 NextGen turbo-prop passenger aircraft to Indian low cost carrier SpiceJet at Toronto Downsview airport, Bombardier gave a product briefing to the visiting journalists including Bangalore Aviation. The first two aircraft VT-SUA and VT-SUB which departed last Friday arrived at New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) just as I was boarding my …

Continuing the series of financial analyses of India’s airlines, today we take a look at Q1 for Jet Airways. JetLite will be covered in a separate post, as will overall analysis of the Indian market. Previous Analyses: (Kingfisher, SpiceJet) Surprisingly enough, Jet Airways, often considered the most stable of India’s 3 full service carriers, slid to a pretax loss of …

Earlier this morning, the board of Boeing officially approved the launch of a new engine variant of the Boeing 737. Boeing says that the 737 MAX 7/8/9 (coinciding with the 737-700/800/900 in terms of size), was launched “based on order commitments for 496 airplanes from five airlines and a strong business case.” Of those 496 order commitments, only 100 have …

SpiceJet’s first Bombardier Q400 VT-SUA named Saunf flew past the delivery hangar on her ferry flight to New Delhi. She came up very quickly as we were rushed out from the hangar in which the delivery ceremony was being conducted. So apologies for a shaky and rushed video I flew a Porter Airlines Q400 between Toronto’s Billy Bishop airport and …

At a simple ceremony at Downsview Airport in Toronto, Canada on Friday 26th August, Indian low cost carrier SpiceJet took delivery of the first four Bombardier Q400 NextGen turbo-prop aircraft. SpiceJet has ordered 15 aircraft. The first aircraft VT-SUA named Saunf left on its ferry flight to India immediately after the ceremony. In fact the formal delivery ceremony was conducted …

In case you hadn’t heard, there’s a hurricane coming for the US East Coast. Irene is expected to make landfall in North Carolina on Saturday; and hit New York City and the like by late Sunday/early Monday. Therefore, I’ve put together a list of resources and advisories regarding the hurricane; I’ll be updating these over the next two days as …

Earlier this month, all 3 of India’s publicly traded carriers announced their results for the first quarter of Fiscal Year 2012. Devesh has already taken a look at the operating parameters for the quarter, so I’ll be digging into the raw data itself. The three carriers to be studied are; Jet Airways Group; composed of full service carrier Jet Airways …

Indian low fare carrier Spicejet will take delivery of its first Bombardier Q400 next gen turbo-prop aircraft this Friday at Downsview Airport, Toronto, Canada. SpiceJet, late last year, ordered 15 of these advanced regional turbo-prop aircraft with an option for 15 more. The airline has already announced a strong regional route network from its first Q400 base at Hyderabad, which …

India has three airline groups which are listed on the stock market and therefore regularly release information on their quarterly and annual financial and operating performance. Jet Airways group comprising of full service carrier Jet Airways and its low cost subsidiary JetLite, (the low fare service Jet Airways Konnect’s numbers are rolled in to those of Jet Airways), fellow full …

Earlier this week, QANTAS, the beleaguered Australian national carrier, announced part of its major restructuring plan for the international division; doing so ahead of the initially planned August 24th date. There were numerous changes announced, but the carrier plans to hash out the details in the coming weeks so more news is still forthcoming. QANTAS Airbus A380-800 VH-OQD lifts off …

Low cost carrier SpiceJet over the weekend revealed its initial Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 operations, with 225 weekly flights operating on 17 distinct city pairs (see end of post for the full operation). The new flights will all commence between September 21st and October 4th. Operations will be made possible by the delivery of 5 brand-new Q400s from Bombardier by …

Earlier this week, Cathay Pacific Airways and Singapore Airlines both announced new orders for Boeing 777s. For Singapore Airlines, the order for eight Boeing 777-300ERs comes in addition to the 15 Airbus A330s that were ordered from Airbus (leased via Airbus as well) in late June. Singapore Airlines Boeing 777-300ER at Mumbai. Photo copyright Vedant Agarwal. Deliveries of the new …

I am pleased to inform you that we have a new additional contributor to Bangalore Aviation — Vinay Bhaskara. Vinay is an aviation analyst and history buff based in New Jersey, United States and will bring a more global view of Asian aviation to Bangalore Aviation. Vinay does the monthly Asian aviation podcast along with Innovation Analysis Group (IAG) and …

Another edition of the Asian air scene podcast featuring Addison Schonland, Vinay Bhaskara and Devesh Agarwal. We covered the share swap between AirAsia and Malaysia Airlines and what benefits would it offer and what would it take away. In the India scene we covered the suspension of the application of national carrier Air India and the reported fait accompli presented …

India’s national carrier Air India has achieved a rather dubious first — the Star Alliance network of airlines, has suspended Air India’s membership application indefinitely — the first time it has done for any applicant airline. In a diplomatically worded release, the network says The member airlines of the Star Alliance network and Air India have jointly concluded that the …

Earlier this morning I had the opportunity to record a podcast on the state of Indian airline market along with IAG’s Addison Schonland and The Gate at FlyerTalk author Vinay Bhaskara. Amongst the topics covered — the mess called Air India, and the mega A320neo order by IndiGo. We hope to make this podcast a monthly affair.

After the announcement, yesterday, of the massive order by American Airlines to Airbus and Boeing, I took some time to read the analyses and views, of some of the people for whom I have high respect, especially when it comes to field of aviation. Addison Schonland of Innovation Analysis Group (IAG) highlights the monopolisation of production slots by the early …

AMR Corporation (NYSE: AMR), the parent company of American Airlines and American Eagle, today announced the largest order in aviation history of 460 narrow-body single aisle jet aircraft with another 465 on option. This tops the recent record setting orders of 180 Airbus A320 family aircraft by India’s IndiGo, and 200 A320neo aircraft by Malaysia’s AirAsia. The deliveries will commence …

Last week saw yet another dastardly attack against the citizens of India in general and Mumbai in particular. As per the Government of India, there was no prior intelligence warning of the Mumbai blasts. Across the world, governments have realised the importance of involving and engaging the local community to ensure a flow of information, especially on strangers or unknown …

The Mid-Day is quite a famous newspaper in the financial capital of India, Mumbai. On July 8th, the Mumbai Police quite literally terrorised one of the papers accredited photographers Sayed Sameer Abedi who recounts the horrors he faced in this article. His alleged crime? Taking photographs of an airplane without the permission of the Mumbai Police. Bangalore Aviation readers can …