India has finalized a deal for 36 Dassault Rafales during Prime Minister Modi’s visit to France. The deal comes after three years of Dassault and the Indian Air force (IAF) working on the larger Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) contract. The Rafale was shortlisted in 2012 as the final aircraft during the IAF’s MMRCA competition. The original MMRCA tender was …
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Dubai based Emirates airline has revealed its plans for the world’s largest configured scheduled passenger airplane with a whopping 615 seats. The airline is configuring some of its A380s in to a two class configuration, eliminating the first class, and reducing its business class to 58 seats and increasing its economy class to a whopping 557 seats. This 615 seat …
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The United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has formally issued a press release announcing the restoration of India to Category 1 status under its International Aviation Safety Assessment (IASA) program. Press Release – U.S. Transportation Secretary Foxx Announces Improved Aviation Safety Rating for India NEW DELHI, India – U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx announced today that India complies with international …
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The United States Federal Aviation Administration has restored Indian civil aviation back to Category 1 status in its IASA (international aviation safety assessment) program. This information was conveyed to Director General Ms. M. Sathiyavathy by Associate Administrator Ms. Margaret Gillian in a letter earlier today. India was relegated to category 2, implying unsafe, on January 31, 2014. Since then the …
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Call it a sheer coincidence, but despite my frequent travels, I had never flown the Airbus A380 till October 14, 2014. Given my years of loyal patronage of Singapore Airlines, divine providence ensured my first A380 flight would be with the island nation’s carrier who was the launch customer of the A380, and coincidentally on the first A380 delivered in …
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National carrier Air India’s newest Boeing 787-8 is the first Dreamliner in the world to wear the special Star Alliance livery. The carrier celebrated the milestone delivery of its 20th 787 Dreamliner. The aircraft bearing the registration VT-ANU was built at Boeing’s final assembly facility in North Charleston, South Carolina, USA. Air India serves more than 60 domestic and 37 …
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Japanese carrier All Nippon Airways (ANA) has finalized an order for three 787-10 Dreamliners, valued at approximately $900 million at current list prices. With this order ANA will become the first airline in Asia to operate the entire family of 787 Dreamliners. ANA is the launch customer of the 787 and is currently the largest 787 operator in the world …
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Bangalore’s Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) is once again the third busiest airport in India after New Delhi IGI and Mumbai CSI airports. KIA has gone past Chennai to claim the top spot for southern India. KIAB statistics The airport will cross 15.24 million passengers for the fiscal year 2014-15 which ended on March 31, 2015. A 75% increase from the …
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Middle Eastern carrier Qatar Airways will be up-gauging its Doha Bangalore service from the current Boeing 787-8 to a Boeing 777-300ER from August 1, 2015. The up-gauge will see a increase in number of seats from 254 to 335. Qatar is the second airline after Emirates to bring the 777-300ER on a regularly scheduled service. READ ONLINE: Walk through of …
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This second article in our launch customer series will be on the launch customers of all Airbus aircraft. We have also included the predicted launch customers of some aircraft in this list. Airbus A300 Family A300B2-100 Air France A300B2-200 South African Airways A300B4-100 Germanair A300B4-200 Hapag-Lloyd Flug A300B4-200FF Garuda Indonesia A300C4 South African Airways A300-600 Saudi Arabian Airlines A300-600R American …
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Bangalore Aviation had covered the launch of the Tata-Singapore Airlines joint venture, Vistara, on January 9, 2015. We reviewed the premium economy class at that time. I was looking for an opportunity to experience Vistara’s business class and it came on March 1, 2015. READ ONLINE: Review of Vistara premium economy class I was invited by Vistara to experience the …
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An Indian Navy Dornier Do-228 has crashed into the sea near Goa. The aircraft was on a routine training sortie when the incident occurred late last night. The navy has begun a search and rescue operation for the two officers on board the aircraft. 1/2Navy Dornier on routine training sortie off Goa "ditched" into sea at 10 pm on Tuesday. …
Read More »Germanwings flight 4U 9525 operating from Barcelona to Dusseldorf crashed in the French Alps today. It has been confirmed by the first Search and Recovery teams that there have been no survivors. The aircraft has crashed in a section of the mountains which is very difficult to access and is slowing down SAR activities.
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A Germanwings Airbus A320 operating flight 4U 9525 from Barcelona to Dusseldorf has crashed in the French Alps. The aircraft is believed to have crashed near the small town of Barcelonette in the southern Alps. The aircraft is D-AIPX a 24 year old Airbus A320-200 which was delivered to Lufthansa in February 1991. Germanwings is a low cost arm of …
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Fellow aviation geeks alert. Budget carrier SpiceJet is selling special limited edition scale models of its Boeing 737-800 VT-SZK, something sure to be of interest to dedicated model collectors like me. This is the first time I have seen an Indian airline selling these high quality models. VT-SZK is Red Chilli the airline’s flagship aircraft wearing the special ‘with all …
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AirAsia India has painted its fourth Airbus A320 aircraft with a special livery in homage to JRD Tata, considered the father of Indian civil aviation in the Indian sub-continent. The aircraft bears the registration VT-JRT (Jehangir Ratanji (Dadabhoy) Tata) and has been named ‘The Pioneer’. The livery feature a portrait of JRD Tata with the Puss Moth, the aircraft he …
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Lufthansa Cargo has named an MD-11 freighter ‘Namaste India’. The aircraft which bears the registration D-ALCJ, is a 15 year old McDonnell Douglas MD-11 which is powered by three General Electric CF6-80 engines. The aircraft was named by Dr. Alexis von Hoensbroech, Board Member Products & Sales of Lufthansa Cargo and Pusapati Ashok Gajapathi Raju, Union Minister of Civil Aviation, …
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American airframer Boeing has received 330-minute Extended Operations approval from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for the Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental. It is the first time a four-engine airplane has received this type of design approval. Extended-range Twin-engine Operational Performance Standards (ETOPS) has been a requirement for twin-engine airplanes since the 1980s, the regulations have recently been applied to the …
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American airframer Boeing has delivered the first 787-9 Dreamliner assembled at its North Charleston, South Carolina, facility to United Airlines. The airplane also marks a milestone for the 787 program as the 250th Dreamliner to be delivered. The aircraft is the fourth 787-9 for United Airlines. The airline has a total of 16 787’s in service including 12 787-8s. Beverly …
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For over 25 years, the venerable ‘Queen of the skies’ the Boeing 747-400, of the national carrier, Air India, has served as India’s VIP (very important person) international transport. Tagged as ‘Air India One’ two of these aircraft are used by the President, the Vice President, and the Prime Minister of India on their international trips, even if to neighbouring …
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Bangalore Aviation News, Reviews, Analysis and opinions of Indian Aviation