Hong Kong based Cathay Pacific Airways has produced an excellent series of videos showing a typical work day of one of their ground staff at Hong Kong International Airport. These staff work ten hours each day, often commencing work at 5am (which many a frequent flier day-tripper will realise, requires them to get up well before 4am). While we can …

The Pratt & Whitney (PW) PurePower PW1100G-JM engine meant for use on the upcoming Airbus A320neo successfully completed its first flight May 15, launching the engine family’s flight test program. Ironically, the engine which is meant for an Airbus aircraft flew on a Boeing aircraft. Pratt & Whitney’s 747SP flying test bed at the company’s Mirabel Aerospace Centre, in Mirabel, …

Airbus S.A.S. has announced the six person crew which will go aboard the first flight of the first A350 XWB to fly, known as MSN1. Two test pilots and the project test flight engineer will be seated in the cockpit: Peter Chandler, an Experimental Flight Test Pilot with Airbus since 2000 and Chief Test Pilot since 2011; Guy Magrin, an …

To boost flagging passenger loads, Dubai based Emirates airline, has announced a sale on its’ Business Class fares worldwide ending on June 6, 2013 for travel between July 12, and August 4, 2013. Ex Bangalore, tickets prices start at Rs. 72,356 for Dubai, Rs. 141,916 for London, and Rs. 206, 871 for New York. Mr. Essa Sulaiman Ahmad, Vice President, …

A319-112     3660     OK-NEP     CSA Czech Airlinesseen at FRA 30/05/13 with a special “90 1923-2013” anniversary sticker on the fuselage instead of the standard CSA logohttp://www.planepictures.net/netshow.php?id=1224431 A320-212     187     F-GFKS     Air France (SKYTEAM cs)      last service 21/04/13, ferried 07/05/13 CDG-NWI, seen at NWI 03/06/13 in basic SKYTEAM cs, for part out and scrap A320-214     4699     OK-HCA     Holidays Czech Airlinesferried 29/04/13 JED-PRG after …

Through the month of May, on two separate occasions I had the pleasure to do plane spotting at Houston’s two airports, Hobby and Intercontinental. The Houston airport system authorities support their local spotters well, making both airports amongst the most friendliest to spot at in the United States. A special thanks to the friendly folks at the Houston Spotters who …

Boeing has commenced final assembly of the first 787-9 Dreamliner, the newest variant of the new generation largely composite aircraft. The 787-9 is the longer version of the existing 787-8 with its fuselage stretched by 20 feet increasing the aircraft length to 206 feet. The 787-9 will be able to carry 40 more passengers an additional 300 nautical miles (555 …

As part of the preparations of its first flight, the Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engines have been run for the first time on the Airbus A350 XWB (MSN1) following the start-up of the Auxiliary Power Unit (APU). The A350 XWB is the all-new mid-size long range product line comprising three versions and seating between 270 and 350 passengers in typical three-class …

US airframer Boeing made deliveries of the first Dreamliners to China and the United Kingdom when it delivered 787-8 aircraft to China Southern Airlines and UK’s Thomson Airways on May 31. China Southern has 10 Dreamliners on order. The airline will follow the patterns of other 787 operators and first operate the aircraft on shorter domestic flights before introducing the …

The Media India Group recently conducted an interview with Indian civil aviation minister Ajit Singh.

The Breitling Jet Team is the largest civilian aerobatic display team in Europe. The team which commenced sponsorship by the Swiss timepiece manufacturer in 2010, is based in Dijon, France, and flies the Czech made Aero L-39 Albatros, the most widely used jet trainer in the world. As one of the pilots in the video says “Flying is an art” …

Earlier this week in a press conference at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport, Etihad CEO broke the news that Indian full service carrier Jet Airways will be transferring its European scissors hub from Brussels to Amsterdam. Thanks to the recently created Jetihad partnership (Etihad owns 24% of Jet Airways), Etihad exerts significant control over Jet’s international strategy. Jet Airways currently operates daily …

Digital marketing agency LBi has created a very interesting Infographic about the fleet of Abu Dhabi based Etihad Airways. Etihad is a key supporter Formula 1 and of the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi, so naturally LBi could not help but including a few F1 racing comparisons. You can download the infographic after it opens in the light box …

by Vinay Bhaskara When Abu Dhabi based Etihad Airlines announced in late April that it had acquired a 24% stake in Mumbai Will the MEB3 hold sway? based full service carrier Jet Airways for $379 million, it marked a paradigm shift in the state of the Indian air travel market. The newly formed “Jetihad” partnership would hold a nearly 18% share …

by Devesh Agarwal Photo copyright Devesh Agarwal. All rights reserved. A chastened IndiGo airline, hurried modified portions of its much annoying seat pricing policy after facing the irritation of passengers and the rap of the civil aviation ministry. A late night statement from the airline says The feedback of our flyers is of utmost importance to us and as a …

Finnair has always marketed itself as an airline offering fast connections. In India they target the India to US traffic, while from the far and near east they offer fast connectivity in to Europe. To achieve this, the airline needs a state of the art network control centre (NCC) that monitors developments across the world that may affect flight operations, …

A student team from SRM University is one of the five teams selected by Airbus to compete in the third edition of the Fly Your Ideas (FYI) challenge. The other teams making the final are from Australia, Brazil, Italy and Malaysia. Team AVAS will now travel to France on June 12, 2013, to present their ideas to a jury of …

The first A350 XWB emerged from the paint shop at the Toulouse, France plant with its Airbus livery on 13 May 2013, marking a new milestone toward this jetliner’s maiden flight in the summer. Rumours abound that Airbus is trying to make the first before the Paris air show. All that aside, what do you think of how the plane …

Mittu Chandilya has been appointed as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of AirAsia India (Private) Limited. Mittu will assume office effective the 1st of June 2013. As per Mr. Chandilya’s LinkedIn profile his last position was Head of Services Practices for APAC, Egon Zehnder International at Singapore. His specialisation is in senior executive search and succession planning. In his words …