Boeing has achieved some peace of mind, by making the first flight of Qatar Airways’ first 787 Dreamliner, just ahead of the upcoming Farnborough air show. The airline’s capricious CEO, Mr. Akbar Al Baker, is known for his non-diplomatic criticism, often seen as tantrums, of airframe manufacturers, especially at air shows. Boeing’s competitor Airbus, was at the receiving end of …

Following fellow ASEAN national carriers, Singapore Airlines and Malaysia Airlines, Thai Airways International will become the ninth operator of the Airbus A380 superjumbo when it receives the first of its six ordered A380 aircraft later this year. Enjoy the three photos from Airbus, of the Thai A380 leaving the paint shop in Hamburg resplendent in its beautiful “smooth as silk” …

Malaysia Airlines (MAS) and Airbus revealed a special celebration livery on the national carrier’s first A380 ahead of the aircraft’s entry-into-service next week on the Kuala Lumpur-London Heathrow route. The livery was designed by MAS specifically for it its new A380 flagship and was applied post-delivery by Airbus in Toulouse. MAS has ordered six A380s with a seating for 494 …

The congested Air Traffic Control (ATC) system at Mumbai airport is under-going a major leap forward with trials of the SITA Departure Clearance System (DCL) through Data Link Communication (DLC). The Datalink Control and Display Unit (DCDU) the pilot interface for CPDLC messages. Image courtesy Wikipedia. The Airports Authority of India (AAI) which manages civilian ATC operations across most of …

Less than a year after it commenced international operations, India’ s largest low cost carrier (LCC) IndiGo, is planning a massive expansion of its Dubai operations, adding four new flights to its current two daily flights (one each from Mumbai and Delhi). Additionally, the carrier will add a second daily flight between Delhi and Bangkok. The carrier, which operates 57 …

British national carrier is supporting the 2012 London Olympic games encouraging the citizens of the island nation not to fly during the games. Enjoy the advertisement, and then see the video where the creators explain the idea behind the ad. We think its an innovative ad, but would like to ask British Airways if they paid the congestion charge for …

Richard Branson promoted, British carrier, Virgin Atlantic will introduce a new Airbus A330 aircraft equipped with a re-designed and upgraded Upper Class (business class) Cabin National, on its London Heathrow New Delhi service starting July 11, 2012. The state of art cabin boasts of the longest bed in business class in a modified herringbone layout, a 2.7 meters long bar …

The following was posted as a guest post over at The Wandering Aramean, a great travel blog written by Seth Miller which also doubles as a travel tool site. Be sure to check his site out, and stay tuned, as we will have some guest content from him this week. When India’s Jet Airways, Kingfisher Airlines, and SpiceJet all recently …

Japan’s largest airline, All Nippon Airways (ANA), has announced that it will be launching flights between Tokyo Narita and New Delhi later this fall as part of a broader plan to increase its international capacity by 22% by the beginning of fiscal year 2014. The expansion will be enabled by a growth in ANA’s long haul fleet, as it will …

A revamp of taxi operations at the Bengaluru International Airport has taken place, with the airport operating company BIAL launching an all new fleet of taxis under a new unified service brand called “The Airport Taxi”. Bangalore becomes the first airport in India to develop and offer a taxi service with a unique identity. The all white taxi fleet will …

Source  Even as chief rival Emirates Airlines reported a sharp 72% decline in net profit to $408 million in fiscal 2012, fellow Middle Eastern juggernaut Qatar Airways is continuing with its exuberant pace of expansion. Earlier this year, the airline, which serves 116 destinations on a fleet of 108 aircraft, announced plans for 65-77 new weekly flights to 13 new …

Will SriLankan Airline’s entry into oneworld force a change in the carrier’s network strategy? Image courtesy Wikimedia Early Monday, SriLankan Airlines, the flag carrier of India’s southernmost neighbor, is set to be announced as the newest member of the oneworld, the global alliance of airlines. The carrier, which serves 60 destinations on a fleet of 21 aircraft, will add Kochi, …

Last week, Bangalore Aviation introduced the BAASA Index, the world’s first index of 30 airline stocks measured from a 3,000 point base value and designed to provide a broad based measure of airline financial performance and investor confidence in the airline industry. Over the past week, the BAASA index fell 0.49% to close at 2985.80 points. Performance was mixed across …

Norwegian Air Shuttle AS which operates under the brand Norwegian has confirmed an order, earlier announced in January, with Airbus S.A.S. The order makes Norwegian a new Airbus customer, and as well, one of the biggest A320neo customers. In January this year, Norwegian had also announced a firm order for 100 737 MAX airplanes which was developed by Boeing in …

Singapore Airlines (SIA) will introduce a fourth flight between Singapore Changi and London Heathrow from September 9th onwards. The fourth flight will be operated by a Boeing 777-300ER which features the ultra-luxurious Raffles business class, along with the latest cabin product of the airline which has a state of the art in-flight entertainment (IFE) system with full AVOD (Audio-Video On …

AirAsia Japan, a 67%-33% joint venture between Japan’s ANA Group, which owns All Nippon Airways, and Malaysia’s AirAsia has taken delivery of its first Airbus A320 aircraft in Toulouse, France. The Japanese low cost carrier will start commercial services on August 1st from Tokyo’s Narita International Airport to the Japanese cities of Sapporo and Fukuoka, and from August 3rd to …

After almost two years after it commenced international flights, low fare carrier SpiceJet is expanding its destination portfolio by adding Dubai. The airline will commence daily flights from Delhi and Mumbai to Dubai later this month from June 25th. The flights will be operated by narrow body Boeing 737-800 aircraft and SpiceJet has announced a special inaugural fare of Rs. …

When Kingfisher Airlines, once India’s second largest domestic airline, reported a Rs. 2,328 Crore (1 Crore = 10 Million) net post-tax loss for fiscal year 2012, it was simply an affirmation of the dire straits that a once proud airline has fallen into. Of the Rs. 2,328 Crore net loss, a whopping Rs. 1151.5 Crores were lost in the fourth …

The topic of the week is the on-going pilot’s strike at national carrier Air India by members of the Indian Pilots Guild (IPG) which began last month on the 7th making this strike almost a month old. The strike has caused estimated losses exceeding Rs.350 Crore ($64 million) to airline. This at a time when the airline is on life …

Just a little over nine months ago, Indian low fare carrier SpiceJet took delivery of its first Bombardier Q400 turbo-prop on August 26th last year, and commenced commercial flights with the aircraft on September 21st. In a recent internal publication, aircraft manufacturer Bombardier, claimed a 99.8% despatch reliability for the Q400 at SpiceJet, an enviable number considering the high and …