Firstly, many thanks to all the Bangalore Aviation readers who participated in last week’s trivia question – Which is the longest scheduled commercial airline flight ? For the purpose of definition I placed four criteria for an ultra long-haul non-stop flight: Operated by a commercial airliner with a definite schedule No intermediate stop-over point within its scheduled duration More than …

A host of new and updated services to and from India announced this week. Saudi Arabian Airlines (Saudia) will launch new flights to Bangalore, Lucknow, and Kozhikode (Calicut) over the next few days. The airline has commenced operating three flights a week to Lucknow; two flights a week to Bangalore from today, March 30, 2009 and four flights a week …

Two deliveries of “first” of aircraft model occurred on March 27th. Airbus delivered the first A330-300 to Finnair, out of an order for eight. Powered by General Electric CF6-80E1 engines, the new aircraft is in a two class configuration 42 Business, 229 Economy for a total seating for 271 passengers. On the same day, Boeing delivered the first 777 Freighter …

Two Air India employees have been arrested after the vigilance department of the airline found they were allegedly involved in human trafficking and transported two women to the US showing them as their wives. Deepak Salvi, a office superintendent, and Hemant Morade, an operator, were arrested for allegedly illegally transporting two women posing as their wives to the US and …

As a part of its growing offerings to woo business passengers, SpiceJet announced the launch of a breakfast menu available for sale on all flights that depart before 9.30 am. The single type continental breakfast tray is available at a discounted price of Rs 100 ($2) if it is pre-ordered at the time of booking the ticket. The same is …

Some Friday trivia for you to ponder. Can you name the world’s longest non-stop flight by a commercial airliner ? Longest in terms of distance and in terms of time ? Send in your answer via a comment. And while you are pondering the answer, enjoy this rather unusual angle on a Jet Airways Boeing 737-800 Next Generation series VT-JGV.

From March 29, 2009, the start of the summer time table, Lufthansa and Brussels Airlines will deepen their cooperation and expand their existing partnership, ahead of Lufthansa’s plans to take a 45 per cent stake in Brussels Airlines (subsequently to be raised to 100 per cent), and Brussels Airlines’ entry in to the Star Alliance. Codeshare flights on cross-border routesFrom …

Follow Bangalore Aviation on Twitter For quite some time the rumour mill had it that the Indian Ministry of Defence (MoD) was going to scrap the $550 million tender for 22 attack helicopters. Earlier today this rumour was confirmed. According to a spokesman the tender had to be cancelled since ‘the remaining three companies still participating in the tender were …

An Indian Navy Kamov Ka-28 “Helix-A” helicopter crashed in the Arabian Sea, 22 nautical miles off the coast Goa, earlier day, but the three crew escaped unhurt. The Ka-28 is the export version of the Ka-27Pl Image courtesy Wikipedia The helicopter had taken off from the Indian Navy base at Goa INS Hansa at 11:00 (05:30 UTC) on a routine …

Effective March 29th, Gulf Air is withdrawing its flights from Bahrain to Bangalore and to Hyderabad. No explanation has been provided by the airline, but I suspect that they have been crowded out by the far more aggressive Emirates Airlines. Gulf Air flies a small Airbus A320 to Bangalore daily and a slightly larger A321 to Hyderabad four times a …

Kingfisher Airlines recently released its Summer schedule which comes in to effect from March 29th. Some of the highlights : Introduction of double daily flights between Mumbai and Vadodara. Introduction of direct daily flight between Mumbai and Thiruvananthapuram. Introduction of direct daily flight service between Aurangabad and Hyderabad to ensure Aurangabad is connected to Kolkata, Chennai and Bangalore via Hyderabad. …

The New Tokyo International Airport at Narita opened its main runway earlier this morning at 09:10 local (00:10 UTC) following yesterday’s accident and crash of a FedEx Boeing MD-11 freighter which claimed both the crew and the aircraft. The crash has shut down the 4,000 meter (13,123 ft) long main runway 16R/34L. The airport was forced to rely on the …

Follow Bangalore Aviation on Twitter On March 12th, I had written about the “urgent” safety recommendations by the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) regarding the Rolls Royce Trent 800 RB211 engines which are used by many Boeing 777 operators. It is estimated that there are currently about 220 Boeing 777s powered by Rolls-Royce Trent 800 engines in operation with …

Virgin Blue’s international airline V Australia and Delta Air Lines have negotiated and signed an Australia-U.S. interline agreement on the networks of each carrier and across the trans-Pacific route. An interline agreement allows the partner airlines to carry passengers or freight on behalf of each other and also enables luggage to be checked through. Effective immediately, the agreement allows travellers …

Follow Bangalore Aviation on Twitter First posted – March 23, 01:00 GMT A FedEx MD-11 freighter registration number N526FE performing flight 80, from Guangzhou, China crashed at Tokyo Narita International Airport in heavy winds, and burst in to flames. The two crew on board were killed. The main runway at the international gateway airport to Tokyo has been shut down. …

The crash of FedEx MD-11 freighter registration number N526FE performing flight 80, from Guangzhou, China at the New Tokyo International Airport at Narita has caused major disruptions in flight schedules. The crash has shut down the 4,000 meter (13,123 ft) long main runway 16R/34L. Map should not be used for navigation The airport is forced to rely on the secondary …

June 1, 2009 – The AF447 Rio to Paris story is here. Originally posted – 16:00GMT 21:30 local March 18 Something is in the air at the Bengaluru International Airport. For the second time in less than a week, an Airbus A330 is getting grounded at the airport with a technical fault. Following the five day grounding of a Dragonair …

Lufthansa is opening its Tower Lounge for First and Business Class passengers as well as customers with Hon Circle, Senator or frequent traveller status, at the Frankfurt airport by this month end. Located in the departures area above gate A65, the Tower Lounge offers the customary amenities in a floor area of 1,100 sq. meters (about 12,000 sq. ft.), big …

An Emirates Airlines Airbus A340-500, Emirates Airlines Airbus A340-500, registration A6-ERG performing flight EK407 from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, with 225 people on board, damaged and decommissioned the main runway at Melbourne airport while taking-off. The aircraft ran off the runway 16 (length 3657 meters / 12,000 feet) around 22:30 local (12:30GMT) March 20, during its …

The entry of Air India in to the Star Alliance is delayed by at least one year to the first quarter of 2010. Star Alliance founder, Lufthansa was a sponsor for Air India joining the Star Alliance. Since 2004, Air India has operated code-sharing flights with Lufthansa between Germany and India. 18 months ago, the Government of India decided to …