Click on image for high resolution image The announcement from Boeing says it all. The newest member of the Boeing [NYSE: BA] 777 family, the 777 Freighter, today received its formal stamp of approval from the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). EASA validated the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Feb. 3 type certification of the 777 Freighter. The certification formally …

Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) today lowered business and leisure fares in domestic markets served from its Cincinnati hub. The reductions offer more than 80 percent of customers flying to or from Cincinnati a significant savings on advance-purchase leisure and business fares to the hub’s most popular destinations, including select cities in Florida, the Northeast and along the West coast. …

The Supreme Court today stayed the Karnataka High Court judgement that quashed the decision of Bangalore International Airport Ltd. (BIAL), operator of the Bengaluru International Airport at Bangalore, to award the duty-free shops contract to Nuance Group AG of Switzerland and Shoppers Stop. On December 19 2008, on a plea by Flemingo Duty Free Shops Pvt. Ltd., the Karnataka High …

British Airways released it performance figures for January 2009. In the month, passenger capacity, measured in Available Seat Kilometres (ASKs), was 2.6 per cent below January 2008. Traffic, measured in Revenue Passenger Kilometres (RPKs), fell by 1.3 per cent. This resulted in a passenger load factor increase of 1 per cent, to 73.2 per cent. Reflecting the deepening impact of …

All Nippon Airways (ANA) of Japan, is planning strategies similar to their world-wide airline counterparts in these times of global recession. Suspending operations, reducing flights and switching to smaller aircraft, essentially slashing capacity to keep passenger load factors high, in an effort to keep the business going this year. India is one of the more badly affected countries by ANA’s …

It was a routine afternoon on January 15th, New York TRACON La Guardia departure (L116) was handling outbound flights, including the US Airways Flight 1549, known by its radio call sign as Cactus 1549 (an America West flight). The routine was rudely interrupted at 15:27:36 EST (20:27:36 UTC) by a terse transmission :“Ah this is uh Cactus fifteen thirty nine, …

All airlines in India have been slashing their fares since January. The sheer numbers of special offers, and schemes coming across my desk have overwhelmed me. However, these appear to be coming to an end. Despite a drastic cut in fares of nearly 50 per cent for full service airlines and over 40 per cent on low cost carriers the …

The financial woes at Kingfisher Airlines, forcing them to divert ordered aircraft to other airlines, continue. First it was the Airbus A340-500’s meant for the flagship Bangalore to San Francisco “Silicon to Silicon” flights, that were diverted to Arik when Kingfisher could not take delivery. Now it is the turn of Turkish Airlines THY, who is taking delivery of four …

The US aviation regulator, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), has delayed permission to a code-sharing agreement between Jet Airways (India) Ltd and United Air Lines Inc., as per the Mint. The code share agreement would have given Jet Airways passengers access to United’s five hubs of Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington, and access to 20 other cities across …

Contact Zone, a first of its kind service at Indian Airports, has been established near Gate 1 of Terminal 2 (International) at New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) for catering to passengers with special needs, like physically challenged passengers, and unaccompanied minors amongst others. Currently, facilitation for passengers requiring special assistance is coordinated directly by the airline. However, security …

The recent “hijack” incident involving Indigo airlines flight 6E344 from Goa to New Delhi, has created the furore all over India, and even on to the international stage. I am glad, Jitendra Kumar Mohala, a 42-year-old chartered accountant, and son of a retired air commodore of the Indian Air Force, has been booked under sections 336 (endangering life and personal …

The One World alliance is celebrating it’s tenth anniversary, and its member airlines have unveiled a special livery on their fleets. Hope you will enjoy the images. Click on the images to see the high resolution versions. American Airlines Boeing 777 British Airways Boeing 747Japan Airlines Boeing 777Finnair Airbus A340Royal Jordanian Airlines Airbus A319Iberia Airbus A320LAN Chile Boeing 767Malev Boeing …

A quiet change took place at Bengaluru International Airport Limited (BIAL), the operator of Bengaluru International Airport. Marcel Hungerbuehler took over as CEO of BIAL on February 1st, 2009 from Albert Brunner. Prior to this, Marcel was the the company’s COO for two years. Those inside the industry know how instrumental Marcel was, in the start-up process and the operations …

Congratulations to Airbus. With the newest order from Korean Air, the order book for the A380 superjumbo has crossed the 200 mark. Korean Air has placed firm orders with Airbus for two more double-deck A380 superjumbos, bringing the total number of A380s ordered by Korean Air to ten aircraft. The carrier will operate the aircraft in a three-class layout on …

Airline flight schedules went haywire on Monday, due to a re-fuelling problem at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) at Hyderabad. A technical hitch in the fuel hydrant system of Reliance, the fuel franchisee, led to disruptions and delaying almost all the morning flights by up to two hours. 27 flights were delayed due to ‘pressurisation problem’ in the Reliance …

BBC News and Aviation Herald are reporting a Cyprus Airways plane has slipped off a taxiway at Heathrow Airport, lodging its front wheel in a grassy area. The Cyprus Airways Airbus A330-200, registration 5B-DBS, was performing flight CY-332 from Larnaca, Cyprus to London Heathrow, United Kingdom, had landed at Heathrow and already turned off the runway onto the taxiways, when …

CNN-IBN is reporting on TV that a Russian man thought to be a crew member of Russian national airline Aeroflot has committed suicide by jumping out of the 16th floor at the Oberoi Hotel in Mumbai, India. Update 1 – 14:30 IST (09:00 GMT) The deceased has been identified as Alexander (22), a flight attendant with Aeroflot. Alexander, along with …

SpiceJet on Monday said Mr Wilbur Ross has been appointed director on the board of the company, along with Mr Ranjeet Nabha, of the private equity firm led by the billionaire investor. “Mr Wilbur Ross and Mr Ranjeet Nabha of WL Ross & Co LLC have been appointed as directors on the board of the company with effect from January …

Production of Boeing 787 Dreamliners resumed yesterday with the join of the fifth airplane designated for flight test. This airplane, designated ZA005, is the first to be powered with General Electric GEnx engines. The major assemblies were loaded in final body join over the past several days. The fuselage and wing joins occur simultaneously. Five of the six airplanes designated …

SCARY!!!!, there is no other word to describe the performance numbers and the forecast from IATA, the association representing 93% of the global commercial air transport industry. For the month of December, it is now official — ALL regions of the world, have reported major declines in cargo performance in December 2008 when compared to December 2007. Across the globe, …