This week on Monday, I read an editorial in favor of the European Union’s Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) in the New York Times, and decided to respond with a op-ed. In your editorial published on Monday, February 27th, your paper made the claim that Washington and other critics of the European Union’s (EU’s) new Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). Your editorial, …

Hong Kong based Cathay Pacific Airways has taken delivery of a new Boeing 777-300ER registration B-KPY which is the first aircraft to feature its new Premium Economy Class product and new long-haul Economy Class seats. The new Premium Economy class features a quieter and more spacious cabin with between 26 and 34 seats per aircraft. The seat pitch is 38 …

Member airlines of the “Lufthansa Group” — Deutsche Lufthansa Airlines, Swiss Airlines, Austrian Airlines and Brussels Airlines, have increased their baggage allowance on trips between USA/Canada and India to TWO checked bags each weighing up to 23 Kgs. As per the website Free Baggage Allowance UPDATE For tickets issued on or after February 17th, 2012, the free baggage allowance for …

A picture is worth a thousand words. The picture below shows the size of the new engines like the Rolls Royce Trent XWB, the GE90, the GEnx, that power the jetliners of today. Crew of the maiden flight of the Rolls Royce Trent XWB engine Share your thoughts.

With the on-going crisis at Kingfisher Airlines, we share with you the official Government of India Civil Aviation Requirements (CAR) for facilities to be provided to passengers, by airlines, in the event of denied boarding (read over-booking), cancellation of flights, or delayed flights. The Civil Aviation Requirements, Section 3 – Air Transport, Series M, Part IV, Issue I, dated August …

The past few days have been admittedly brutal for Kingfisher. Whether it was suspending flights entirely from Kolkata, or dealing with a particularly critical journalist, the events that befell Kingfisher stopped just short of catastrophic. The immediate pressure appears to have been relieved by loans from State Bank of India, which will go further onto the hook for Kingfisher to …

The second financial analysis for the third quarter in India is of low fare carrier SpiceJet, who mirrored the performance of the industry by losing Rs. 39.26 crore in Q3 of Fiscal Year 2011~2012 (FY2012). Revenue growth for SpiceJet was strong, rising 41% to Rs. 1,175.8 Crore from Rs. 759 Crore Passengers carried were up 29.2% to 3.08 million; beating …

In a statement to clarifying the on-going crisis, Kingfisher Airlines has virtually blamed the Income Tax department of India for seizing the airline’s bank accounts. Since the airline has never made a profit since commencement, the airline would not be past due on income tax. What it could be past due on, is, Tax Deduction at Source (TDS). Tax Information …

The engine for Airbus’ new A350 XWB jetliner made its successful maiden flight on 18 February, 2012. Installed on the A380 flying testbed aircraft, the Rolls-Royce Trent XWB powerplant was tested for performance and fuel efficiency during an airborne evaluation that lasted more than five hours. Click on the picture below for a high-resolution view.

Once again, we will be beginning our financial analyses for Q3 of FY 2012 with an analysis of India’s largest airline Jet Airways, who posted a modest net loss of Rs. 101.2 Crore, down sharply from a net profit of Rs. 217.9 Crore in the same period last year. Q3 is typically the best quarter for Indian carriers, so to …

Late yesterday, embittered Kingfisher Airlines released its quarterly results for Q# of FY 2012. The struggling carrier saw its net loss deepen to Rs. 444 Crore from Rs. 254 Crore in the same period last year. Revenues fell 5% to Rs. 1,547 Crore, while expenditures grew 4.8% to Rs. 1778.06 Crore. EBITDAR was Rs. 125 Crore, down from Rs. 284 …

Two days ago, The Mint newspaper reported an incident in which a Jet Airways Boeing 737 captain put a trainee fresh out of flight school, who was not even trained, let alone certified, in any form of jet transport, into the co-pilot’s seat during a landing at Chennai. The airline is accused of trying to hush up the incident from …

Lion Air, Indonesia’s largest private airline, has placed on US airframer Boeing, the largest commercial airplane order ever in Boeing’s history by both dollar value and total number of airplanes. The carrier finalised a firm order for 201 737 MAXs and 29 Next-Generation 737-900ERs (extended range), worth $22.4 billion at list prices, which was first announced last November in Indonesia. …

Given our recent shift in focus towards an analytical bent on Indian aviation (most of the guilt lies on my shoulders), there has been a dearth of some of the lighter content here at Bangalore Aviation. I think it also gets lost sometimes, just how much the both of us love flying and love this industry. Aviation is a mystical, …

Lufthansa group member Austrian Airlines will suspend services between Mumbai and Vienna, most likely from the start of the Summer 2012 time-table which will commence from end March. Austrian is facing seat load factor pressure from the two other members of the group; Swiss and Lufthansa. All three members of the group, have departures from Mumbai to their Europe hubs …

Earlier this week, reports surfaced that India’s national carrier Air India was asking for roughly $1 billion in compensation from US original equipment manufacturer (OEM) Boeing for the roughly 3 year delay of the Boeing 787-8. With Air India’s initial delivery having been pushed back almost 2.75 years by the natural program delays and further delay of the delivery of …

Last Thursday, Airbus S.A.S. delivered to New Delhi based low fare carrier, IndiGo’s 50th A320 aircraft, which has been registered with the tail number VT-IEP. See picture here. Here is a video showing the construction of an IndiGo A320.

Photo by Flickr user Star5112. Australian carrier Qantas is the big winner at Business Traveller’s 2011 Cellars in the Sky airline wine awards, winning in six categories. Other winners include Delta, Jetstar, LAN Chile, Qatar Airways, TAM, Emirates, Air France and Cathay Pacific. The awards recognise the best business and first class wines served by airlines worldwide, with around 250 …

Korean Air has become the first airline in the world to operate both freighters from the Boeing stable — the 747-8F and 777F. Three days ago, the national carrier took delivery of the two aircraft at Everett, Washington, USA. Korea’s flagship carrier, a member of the SkyTeam alliance, is also the first Boeing customer to order both the passenger (747-8i) …