German carrier Lufthansa finally revealed its new full flat business class cabin which will be on its new Boeing 747-8i aircraft which are expected to be deployed on the New Delhi and Bangalore routes later this year, thus bringing to Bangalore, at least, the most modern business class cabin in the skies. Click on any image for a high resolution …

When OneWorld members British Airways and Iberia together announced a 555 million Euro net profit under the umbrella of International Airlines Group (IAG), it provided almost a calming influence to the volatile European airline industry. After financial failures of Hungarian carrier Malev and Spanish carrier Spanair, earlier this year, many in the global analyst community predicted further pain amongst Europe’s …

The first A380 for Thai Airways International took off for its maiden flight on 6th March following completion of the airframe assembly and system tests in Toulouse, France. Click on the image for a high resolution view

Will the majority of future of India-Gulf flights go through Dubai? The first 9 months of 2012 will see a major re-shuffling by India’s airlines on the heavily trafficked India-Gulf sector, as airlines respond to higher fuel prices and a poor regulatory environment, and Air India continues to re-align its network strategy. Air India will be enacting the most significant …

Russian national carrier Aeroflot has released images of its new Sukhoi Superjet (SSJ) 100 in the SkyTeam Alliance livery. The carrier’s SSJ-100 becomes the first Russian built aircraft to ever be painted in an alliance livery. Aeroflot currently operates 5 of the 87 seat (12F/75Y) Superjets on regional routes, and has 25 more on order. Aeroflot SSJ-100 SkyTeam Livery Aeroflot …

The damning evidence against Kingfisher continues to mount, as a new report from the UK High Court claims that the embattled airline owes $21.6 million (Rs. 109.06 Crore) to the Bank of Scotland for overdue lease payments on 10 ATR 72-500 aircraft. The action was brought by Bank of Scotland on behalf of a consortium of lenders against Kingfisher parent …

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. …