Bangalore-Abu Dhabi-Chicago, Mumbai-Abu Dhabi-New York, Delhi-Abu Dhabi-Newark amongst new flights requested by Devesh Agarwal and Vinay Bhaskara Image Credit: Etihad Airways   On the back of the new bilateral air services agreement which has almost quadrupled capacity, Etihad Airways, the national carrier of the United Arab Emirates, will greatly increase both seats and flights for travel to and from India, …

By BA Staff The General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA), the sole regulator of all licensed airfields within the UAE, has certified Al Maktoum International Airport at Dubai World Central (DWC) for passenger operations after assessing and confirming full compliance of the aerodrome with its stringent requirements. In a letter issued by GCAA’s Air Navigation and Aerodrome department yesterday, the regulator …

 By BA Staff Boeing and Air Lease Corporation (ALC) announced today that they have completed an order for 30 787-10 and three 787-9 Dreamliners. The order, valued at $9.4 billion at list prices, fulfills the commitment originally announced during the 2013 Paris Air Show in June. ALC Chairman and CEO Steven Udvar-Hazy had this to say about the partnership: “We …

by Vinay Bhaskara A 767-300F – Image Credit: Boeing American aircraft manufacturer Boeing has released its latest aircraft pricing update, and there were several changes made. Firstly, the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) has dropped the 767-200ER and 767-400ER variants from its 767 product line. These aircraft can no longer be purchased by customers, though if a sizable enough order comes …

by Devesh Agarwal Delhi based low fare carrier SpiceJet will commence international flights from Bangalore on October 28. The first destination is Bangkok with four flights per week. The carrier will be the only Indian carrier to service this route. As per the SpiceJet website on which tickets which are available for purchase, the schedule is on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, …

by Devesh Agarwal The rumour mill has that Jet Airway’s Chief Commercial Officer Sudheer Raghavan will be leaving the airline soon and is expected to be succeeded by Mr. Wayne Pearce, currently the CEO of Oman Air. Pearce reportedly enjoys a good rapport with Etihad CEO James Hogan. Etihad which is in the process of completing a 24% stake purchase …

by Devesh Agarwal Taking advantage of India’s recent liberalisation of the aviation sector, the country’s most famous conglomerate, Tata Sons, and flag carrier Singapore Airlines (SIA) have signed a memorandum of understanding and applied for Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) approval to establish a new airline in India, thus adding a well financed full service carrier with strong customer service …

German carrier also orders 25 Airbus A350-900 XWBs by Devesh Agarwal The Supervisory Board of Deutsche Lufthansa AG, at its meeting yesterday, has approved the purchase of 59 ultra-modern aircraft for the Group, comprising of 34 Boeing 777-9Xs and 25 Airbus A350-900s worth EUR 14 billion (approx $19 billion) at list prices, the largest ever jet order. Computer generated image …

by Devesh Agarwal The operator of the Bengaluru International Airport, Bengaluru International Airport Ltd., has announced the launch of its official ‘Airport Guide Application’ for BlackBerry® smartphones for all information relating to services at the airport. The free app is designed for both BlackBerry® 10 and BlackBerry® OS smartphones (running OS 5 or higher), and is available for downloads on …

by Devesh Agarwal The second member of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner family, the 787-9 successfully completed its first flight, beginning a comprehensive flight-test program leading to certification and delivery in mid-2014. The aircraft performed a 5-hour, 16-minute flight, taking off from Paine Field in Everett, Washington state, at 11:02 a.m. local time and landing at 4:18 p.m. at Seattle’s Boeing …

by Vinay Bhaskara MEB3 carrier Emirates is launching daily nonstop services to Kabul, its first Afghan destination, from 4th December, 2013. The route will be served using 258 seat Airbus A340-500 aircraft in a 3-class configuration (12F / 42J / 204Y).Flight Schedules for the new route are as follows: Route Depart Arrive Duration Aircraft Dubai – Kabul 0955 1315 2:50 …

By BA Staff Boeing projects that the Asia Pacific region will continue to lead the globe in demand for hundreds of thousands of new commercial airline pilots and maintenance technicians to support expanding demand for new airplane deliveries over the next two decades. The 2013 Boeing Pilot and Technician Outlook calls for 192,300 new commercial airline pilots and 215,300 new …

by Vinay BhaskaraEarlier today at Montreal’s shuttered Mirabel Airport (YMX), Bombardier’s new CSeries jet flew for the first time today. The flight of CSeries flight test vehicle 1 (FTV1 – a CS100) was performed under perfect weather conditions in Montreal, and also represented the first flight for engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney’s new PurePower geared turbo fan (GTF) engine. The …

By BA Staff Harbin Hafei Airbus Composite Manufacturing Centre (HMC), a joint venture between Airbus and its Chinese partners, has started to deliver elevators for the Airbus A350 XWB programme. A ceremony was held today in Harbin for the delivery of the first ship set of elevators. The elevators manufactured at HMC are delivered to Spain-based Aernnova Aerospace (ANN), who …

By BA Staff Starting today, Alaska Airlines will inaugurate nonstop service between Portland, Oregon and Dallas/Fort Worth. Joe Sprague, the airline’s vice president of marketing, had this to say about the route: “Portland-Dallas is the eighth new route we’ve added from the Rose City since June of last year. Our customers will not only enjoy convenient nonstop flights, but also …

By BA Staff Image Credit: Virgin America San Francisco-based Virgin America reported its preliminary operational results for August and August year-to-date. Virgin America’s August 2013 traffic (revenue passenger miles) decreased 5.1 percent on capacity (measured in available seat miles) that was 5 percent lower than in August 2012. Load factor was 82.2 percent, which is unchanged from the same month …

By BA Staff Photo Courtesy Lufthansa Group At Lufthansa’s First Class terminal at Frankfurt International Airport, Lufthansa received the International Five Star Diamond Award from the American Academy of Hospitality Sciences (AAHS). The academy honoured three accomplishments of Lufthansa’s premium service portfolio: the Lufthansa First Class onboard its intercontinental fleet, the Lufthansa First Class Terminal in Frankfurt and the Lufthansa …

By BA Staff Photo Courtesy Embraer Executive Jets Embraer Executive Jets presented its China Executive Aviation Market Outlook 2014-2023 during the press conference held today at the Chinese International Business Aviation Show (CIBAS) 2013, in Beijing, China. The Company forecasts that a total of 805 executive jets will be in demand the Chinese market over the next decade. The large-cabin …

By BA Staff VistaJet, the leading Global business aviation company, and Jet Aviation, a leading business aviation services company, announced today that Jet Aviation Flight Services will operate and manage a U.S.-based fleet of Bombardier Global jets for VistaJet’s Flight Solutions Program. Service on the first three aircraft is scheduled to begin in March 2014, with the U.S. fleet expected …

By BA Staff Japan Airlines is set to introduce its “original aroma” at its international and domestic lounges in Japan starting from September 20, 2013. JAL has two original aroma oils that are aimed towards creating a more comfortable and graceful atmosphere with a peace of mind to their customers when they are waiting for boarding at their lounges in …