American airframer Boeing kicked off the first day of the 2018 Farnborough airshow with orders for the 777 frighter from DHL and Qatar Airways. DHL has placed an order for 14 Boeing 777 Freighters and purchase rights for 7 additional freighters. The list price of the order is $4.7 billion. A portion of the order was previously unidentified on Boeing’s …

European airframer Airbus has officially revealed the new name and branding of the former Bombardier CSeries. The Airbus A220 as it will be called was revealed at a ceremony held at Airbus’ Delivery Centre, near Toulouse. The larger CS300 will be rebranded as the Airbus A220-300 and the smaller CS100 as the Airbus A220-100. The aircraft are designed to seat …

Over the last year, the media has covered the various challenges AirAsia India is facing. Ranging from executive level departures late in 2017 onwards, to filing a First Information Report (FIR i.e. a criminal complaint) against former officers of the airline, to CBI (Central Bureau of Investigations) investigations of its director. In this analysis, we explore how the hyper-competitive Indian …

Portuguese leasing company, Hi Fly has taken delivery of it’s first Airbus A380. The delivery marks the first time an A380 has been picked up on the second hand market. It makes the airline the world’s 14th and Europe’s fourth A380 operator. The airline which specializes in widebody aircraft wet leasing to other airlines and governments had announced that it …

American airframer Boeing and Brazilian airframer Embraer have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to establish a strategic partnership to form a joint venture comprising the commercial aircraft and services business of Embraer that would strategically align with Boeing’s commercial development, production, marketing and lifecycle services operations. Under the terms of the agreement, Boeing will hold an 80 percent ownership …

Airlines are constantly re-inventing their inflight safety videos to get the attention of passengers. British Airways has just debuted the newest edition of their safety video made in partnership with Comic Relief. The video features British stars (in order of appearance); comedian Asim Chaudhry playing the “director” of the safety video, Chabuddy G., and as themselves Sir Michael Caine, Bond …

Dad and me reached the Chennai airport at around 0430 for our scheduled 0530 flight. This was because British Airways (BA) had 24 hours in advance updated the status of their flight on their app as delayed to 6.40 due to technical problems with the incoming aircraft. (I just found that hilarious that BA could predict that their was going …

Yesterday, Bangalore Aviation was invited to view India’s first Boeing 737 MAX. VT-JXA was delivered to Jet Airways on June 20, 2018. Jet Airways has configured its 737 MAX 8 in a two class cabin carrying 174 passengers; 12 in business and 162 in economy. The aircraft which is the first of a 225 aircraft order is fitted with a …

United Airlines has opened its new United Polaris lounge at San Francisco International Airport (SFO), located near gate G92 of the international terminal. United Airlines operates from San Francisco to India in partnership with Lufthansa. We also write about this lounge for the benefit of premium class passengers on other Star Alliance carriers like Lufthansa, Air India, Turkish Airlines, or …

Spanish flag carrier, Iberia, also a member of IAG, has taken delivery of the first of its 16 A350-900 XWB on order. While it is the 18th carrier overall to operate the new generate aircraft, MSN219 is the first A350-900 to feature the latest performance improvement package (PIP) including a wing twist, extended winglets and increased maximum take-off weight (MTOW) …

Low cost carrier SpiceJet has launched a training center called the Spice Star Academy. The academy will offer students cabin crew training through a six month classroom program and a online course for a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Amity University. The airline has stated it will offer placement to all students trained under this program. Spicejet is planning …

Turkish ground handling company Çelebi Airport Services has been awarded a ground handling license by Bengaluru International Airport Limited (BIAL). The contract was won after a bidding process which saw multiple global ground handling participate. The company will begin to provide ground handling services from August 2018 under a 10 year concession. The company plans to invest $7-9 million in …

Low cost carrier GoAir has announced the appointment of Cornelis Vrieswijk as its new Chief Executive Officer effective June 4, 2018. Vrieswijk has over 25 years of experience in aviation and travel industry. He has experience in driving ventures, transitions, turnarounds and large-scale projects for diverse and multifaceted organizations with emphasis in aviation/travel and aircraft maintenance industry in Europe. He …

Bloomberg is reporting that the Tata Singapore Airlines joint venture Vistara has selected the Boeing 787 Dreamliner over the Airbus A330neo as its wide-body aircraft for long distance international operations. Why did Vistara choose the 787 Just some of the reasons for Vistara choosing the 787 over the A330neo are: The 787 is a newer generation aircraft compared to the …

Oneworld member, Qatar Airways is upgrading its on-board dining for its business and first class passengers, initially on its European routes. The new concepts include newly-designed tableware, in-flight dining menus, cutlery and china. I am impressed that Qatar will place mini condiment grinders for fresh ground black pepper and Himalayan pink salt on the passengers’ tables. The airline has increased …