Last week Indian national carrier Air India took delivery of it newest Airbus A320 equipped with the new Sharklet wingtips. The aircraft is registered VT-EXA and was ferried to New Delhi on the 5th of February. The aircraft delivered under a 12-year operating lease agreement from China Aircraft Leasing Group Holdings Limited (CALC). CALC shall deliver an additional four new …
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With the Airbus A350 recently entering service, there have been quite a few launches and with them launch customers in the last few years. To look back over the years I have started compiling a list of the launch customers of various aircraft. So this first article will begin with the launch customers of all Boeing jet aircraft. (By launch …
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The Kempegowda International Airport at Bengaluru will be partially closing airport operations starting today due to upcoming Aero India 2015 air show to be held at the adjacent Air Force Station (AFS) Yelahanka. Bangalore airport closure timings Dates KIA airport closure timing in IST (UTC +5.5) Purpose February 10th to 16th, 2015 12:30 – 15:00 (12:30pm – 3:00pm) Practice Day …
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Last month the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a Safety Alert For Operators (SAFO) advising airlines about potential fire risks from e-cigarettes which use lithium batteries to heat nicotine in to a vapour inhaled by users. The SAFO issued after two instances of fire caused by e-cigarettes, called for banning of these popular devices from checked-in baggage. Though …
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Original story TransAsia airlines has suffered the crash of another ATR72. This time an ATR72-600 with 58 persons on board, registration B22816 performing flight GE235, from the capital Taipei’s Song Shan airport to Kinmen island, around 11:00 local (03:00Z) appeared to lose altitude and hit an elevated bridge soon after take off, and crashed in to the Keelung river. The …
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Yesterday Brazillan airframer successfully performed the first flight of the KC-390 military transport and aerial refueling jet. The aircraft bears the registration PT-ZNF and is powered by International Aero Engines (IAE) V2500-E5 engines. The aircraft was crewed by test pilots Mozart Louzada and Marcos Salgado de Oliveira Lima and flight test engineers Raphael Lima and Roberto Becker who flew the …
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Singapore Airlines has finally unveiled its previously announced premium economy class, and has opened up selected routes for sale which will commence operations on August 9, 2015, the island nation’s 50th independence anniversary, on the Singapore Sydney route. Singapore Airlines will invest $80 million to install the new class on 19 Airbus A380s, 19 Boeing 777-300ERs (B77Ws) and the first …
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Following up on my flight review of Etihad Airways business class from Mumbai to Abu Dhabi on their A340-600, this review covers my return journey which includes the chauffeur drive service for premium class passengers and a series of very unfortunate delays, though it was not the fault of the airline. Etihad’s chauffeur drive service Dubai to Abu Dhabi airport …
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In a bold move national carrier Air India has put errant employees and vendors who delay flights on notice. The airline will deduct salaries of employees and caterers found responsible for delays of flights. The Maharaja which has one of the worst one-time performance (OTP) records amongst Indian carriers, has been instructed by the top bureaucrat in the civil aviation …
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Singapore based low cost carrier Scoot has taken delivery of it’s first 787 dreamliner. The aircraft is a Boeing 787-9 which bears the registration 9V-OJA and is powered by Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines. The airline will take delivery of an additional 19 787 Dreamliners. The airplanes were originally ordered by it’s parent company Singapore Airlines, which included ten 787-9 and …
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The EU regulator European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has issued a Safety Information Bulletin (SIB) No. 2015-02 warning all national aviation authorities and aircraft operators of “an increased risk to flight operation safety due to potential terrorist attacks in Pakistan” The bulletin goes on to state “The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) recommends all operators to exercise extreme caution if …
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The US Air force has announced that the Boeing 747-8i will serve as the next presidential aircraft, commonly known as Air Force One. The decision, made official through a Determinations and Findings document, authorizes the commercial aircraft purchase by other than full and open competition. The Air Force intends to purchase three numbers of the aircraft platform as well as …
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A SpiceJet spokesperson has confirmed that its year old passenger inter-line agreement with Singapore based low cost carrier TigerAir has been “terminated based on mutual decision [since SpiceJet’s] network changes made it no longer commercially worth doing.” As per reports in The Business Standard and The Economic Times, Tiger had terminated the agreement due to SpiceJet’s “non-performance”. The financially troubled …
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It was inevitable. Singapore Airlines and Vistara (Tata-SIA) have announced a partnership between their KrisFlyer and Club Vistara frequent flyer programmes. The partnership enables KrisFlyer members to earn and redeem miles on Vistara flights and Club Vistara members can earn and redeem points on Singapore Airlines and SilkAir flights. The accrual of miles and points for members of both frequent …
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It appears that Air India’s troublesome Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner VT-ANI has finally completed its repairs and retrofits and is getting ready for flight. From a supporter of Bangalore Aviation comes this photo taken at Mumbai airport on India’s Republic Day, January 26, 2015. A hat-tip to the boss. Readers will recall, since April 2014, nine months ago, Air India’s Boeing …
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Dubai International airport (IATA: DXB) has officially become the world’s busiest international airport dethroning long time leader London’s Heathrow airport. As the the year-end traffic report released by airport operator Dubai Airports, in 2014 Dubai handled 70,475,636 passengers up 6.1 from the 66,431,533 passengers recorded a year earlier. In December, which sees significant holiday traffic, the airport saw 6,498,573 passengers …
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National carrier Malaysia Airlines suffered a DNS poisoning attack where visitors who typed in the airline’s website address www.malaysiaairlines.com were re-directed to a hacker site. However the carrier said all the passenger data remains secure. In a statement the airline said At this stage, Malaysia Airlines’ web servers are intact. The airline has resolved the issue with its service provider …
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President Obama is on a visit to India. Our photographer Uday Krishna caught the two VC-25A that transported the President, tail numbers 28000 and 29000 more commonly known as Air Force One on their approach to New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International airport. The President is on one aircraft and the other serves as a back-up. The two aircraft are maintained …
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Vistara (Tata-SIA) has announced that it will begin operations on two new routes, the first to Goa from 20th February and then to Hyderabad from 1st March, 2015. The airline began it’s operations in India earlier this month on 9th January. Vistara currently has a fleet of three Airbus A320s and aims to have a fleet size of five by March. Read our …
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National carrier Air India finds itself in a jumbo-sized problem. It has a huge excess of wide-body ‘jumbo’ and ‘mini-jumbo’ aircraft used for international flights, while facing a severe shortage of narrow body aircraft leaving it unable to capitalise on the increased winter demand and the additional demand shying away from SpiceJet due to the latter’s financial troubles. The current …
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Bangalore Aviation News, Reviews, Analysis and opinions of Indian Aviation