From the Times in London Rhys Blakely in Bombay Emboldened by its first mission to the Moon, India is to take on a target closer to Earth: Google. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), which is based in Bangalore, the Silicon Valley of the sub-continent, will roll-out a rival to Google Earth, the hugely popular online satellite imagery service, by …

DIAL has dedicated a “Child Play Area” at the Security Hold Area (SHA) of Terminal 1A of Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA). IGIA is perhaps the first Airport in India to open a Child Play Area, which is free of cost. The Child Play Area has been professionally designed with safe climbing structures, swings, balls, and other play equipment. Children …

Jet Airways, will reintroduce daily service on the Bengaluru – Mangalore sector, effective December 01, 2008, using an ATR-72 aircraft. Jet is trying to target business passenger with a same day return facility. 9W 3561 will depart daily from Bengaluru at 0855 hrs in the morning, and arrive at Mangalore at 0955 hrs. On the return leg, 9W 3562 will …

Jet Airways, has become the first airline in India, to have obtained regulatory approval for the use of RNAV1 (Area Navigation) across its entire jet aircraft fleet. This is subsequent to the recently introduced Performance Based Navigation (PBN) procedures in India. Additionally, Jet Airways has also become the first airline in India to have obtained regulatory approval for the conduct …

About 40 days ago, I had raised the issue of a “Sanity Check” on the proposed High Speed Rail Link (HSRL) to Bengaluru International Airport. The issues I raised were : Sanity Check 1: Who is the target customer of the HSRL ? Sanity Check 2: Convenience Sanity Check 3: Close integration with Namma Metro and BMTC Sanity Check 4: …

State run oil marketing companies (OMCs) have reduced Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) prices by Rs. 5,580 per kilolitre (KL) in line with global reductions in crude prices. This is the fifth cut in ATF prices since August 2008, when rates rose to an all time high of Rs 71,028.26 per KL. ATF prices have reduced by more than 30% during …

Between October 24th and November 26th, the five year anniversary of an event will pass; an event which Jeremy Clarkson described as “a giant leap backwards for all mankind”. For the first time in our history, we went backwards in aviation, retiring a plane, which had no replacement then, has no replacement even today, and has no replacement appearing on …

After steadily loosing market-share, low cost carriers (LCCs) like IndiGo, SpiceJet, and Kingfisher Red (former Air Deccan), have clawed back from 41% during the July-September 2008 quarter, to 46.4% in October. Indian domestic passenger numbers and passenger numbers growthJanuary 2007 to October 2008 Source: Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation and Ministry of Civil Aviation While passenger number rose in October, …

According to a Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA) report, Air India has almost doubled its bailout request from the Indian Government, in the form of an equity injection and a soft loan (30:70 split), to USD 813 million from USD 467 million requested just two months ago. The amount is roughly equivalent to the revised expected losses for the …

The United States’ space shuttle Endeavour roared into the clear moonlit sky from the Kennedy Space Centre with a seven-member crew, carrying bedrooms and a bathroom, on a house keeping mission to repair and upgrade the International Space Station.Photo courtesy NASASpace shuttle Endeavour’s STS-126 flight will feature important repair work and prepare the International Space Station to house six crew …

E!Online reports, crowds of photographers and fans went crazy for a glimpse of Victoria Beckham, aka Posh Spice, the former Spice Girl, after she landed at Los Angeles International Airport. When Posh arrived from Europe in her trench coat, sunglasses, hat and boots, all signs of civility vanished. The crowd of photographers and fans waiting for Posh became unmanageable. “The …

The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] just reached a tentative agreement with its engineering union, the Society of Professional Engineers in Aerospace (SPEEA). Hopefully, this will put to rest the labor woes that have been casting a shadow over the company since September. On November 1, Boeing settled a 54 day strike with its machinists union, that has had its impact …

India marked its presence on Moon tonight to be only the fourth nation to scale this historic milestone after a Moon Impact Probe with the national tri-colour painted successfully landed on the lunar surface after being detached from unmanned spacecraft Chandrayaan-1. Joining the US, the erstwhile Soviet Union and the European Union, the 35-kg Moon Impact Probe (MIP) hit the …

This is way too cool to pass up. The New York Times reports Google researchers have added sophisticated voice recognition technology to the company’s search software for the Apple iPhone. Users of the free application, which Apple is expected to make available as soon as Friday through its iTunes store, can place the phone to their ear and ask virtually …

Deliveries delayed 9 months; deliveries of 747-8 Freighter to begin third quarter of 2010; deliveries of 747-8 Intercontinental passenger model to begin second quarter of 2011. Company working with customers to minimize disruption. Boeing [NYSE: BA] today announced an adjusted schedule for production and delivery of the 747-8 Freighter and Intercontinental airplanes. Source Boeing via Bloomberg The delays have been …

I have added a new star ratings widget from Outbrain that allows you to rate blog posts and provide instant feedback. This widget is available to bloggers on Blogger, WordPress or TypePad. I am very impressed by the widget. It’s light, requires no registration and very intuitive, automatically blending in to the current blog design. I also like the fact …

My sincere thanks to all the visitors of Bangalore Aviation. Over the last two weeks you will observe that I have implemented changes in the site. I seek your feedback and comments on these changes. Good, great, bad or ugly. Snap Shots I installed a tool on this site called Snap Shots that enhances links with visual previews of the …

The Deccan Chronicle reports that the ministry of civil aviation (MoCA) is ready to roll out the User Development Fee (UDF) for Bengaluru International Airport Limited which is likely to cheer air passengers but leave the promoters red faced. While the UDF for domestic passengers will be Rs 375, international travellers will have to fork out Rs 1,000 every time …

Photo courtesy WikipediaAir New Zealand and Boeing [NYSE: BA] announced Dec. 3 as the date for the airline’s sustainable biofuels flight from Auckland using a 747-400 jetliner. Conducted in partnership with Rolls-Royce and UOP, a Honeywell company, one of the airplane’s four Rolls-Royce RB211 engines will be powered in part using advanced generation biofuels derived from jatropha. Air New Zealand …

Book with SpiceJet on the 13th and 14th November and fly your kids under 12 for free. SpiceJet, announced a special promotion to commemorate Children’s Day, November 14th. Children fly free on all bookings done on November 13 and 14, 2008, only the statutory PSF of Rs. 225 will be charged. All children booked should be under 12 years on …