by Devesh Agarwal The 24% stake sale by India’s Jet Airways to Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways has been finally cleared by India’s Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB), albeit with conditions, after the share holder agreement (SHA) was changed to incorporate the apprehensions of the government of India. One of the conditions imposed by the FIBP requires prior Government approval before …

by Devesh Agarwal The consortium of banks which lent vast sums of money to Vijay Mallya promoted Kingfisher Airlines seem to be making a mockery and charade of recovering almost Rs. 7,000 Crore worth of loans from the airline and its guarantors. The question is why? As per a Mint report, SBI, the leader of the creditors’ consortium, has the …

by Devesh Agarwal According to a PTI report, Air India has tied up with Deutsche Bank and Investec Bank to raise up to $500 million as bridge loans to take the delivery of five Boeing Dreamliners, according to airline sources. India’s flag carrier had invited bids for this on June 26. A bridge loan is normally a short term loan …

by Devesh Agarwal LoganAir. Photo by Dave Wheeler. Used under CC license. While many of us will be aware of the longest non-stop flights; Singapore Airline’s soon to be withdrawn Newark Singapore and Los Angeles Singapore, and Qantas’ Sydney Dallas-Fort Worth which become the longest; how many of us are aware of the shortest non-stop flights? The world’s shortest flight …

by Devesh Agarwal and Vinay Bhaskara Dallas-Fort Worth headquartered American Airlines recieved its first Airbus narrow body aircraft, an A319-112(WL). MSN 5678 is registered N8001N, is the first A319 delivered, equipped with Sharklets, and the 100th A320 family aircraft delivered, fitted with the new wing-tip devices. The engines are from CFM. Our Vinay Bhaskara captured these exclusive photos at the …

India’s only publicly listed low fare carrier, SpiceJet Ltd., faced turbulence in the stock market after newspapers reported the resignation of its Chief Executive Officer Neil Mills. The stock price of the Kalanithi Maran controlled airline fell as low as Rs. 26.50, its lowest price since June 27. Mills joined the airline in October 2010 from flyDubai. While there is …

by Devesh Agarwal Majority of Jet’s A330 fleet parked at New Delhi’s IGI airport In what is not a very uncommon development, The Economic Times reports, India’s financial markets’ watchdog, the Securities Exchange Board of India, better known as SEBI, has written to the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB), the approver of FDI proposals, expressing concern on the agreement to …

By Devesh Agarwal In late April, on a business trip, I flew from Bangalore to Frankfurt aboard Lufthansa’s newest Boeing 747-8i D-ABYH. She is named Thüringen after the state located in central Germany with its capital at Erfurt. While the business class was packed, the First Class was strangely empty. As we were flying over Europe, a kind and cooperative …

by Devesh Agarwal The United Kingdom’s Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) has issued a special bulletin (read PDF here) on the fire that broke out on Ethiopian Airline’s Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner ET-AOP, parked at London’s Heathrow airport last Friday. In the report, the AAIB said the fire occurred in the rear upper fuselage where the fixed Emergency Locator Transmitter (ELT) …

by Devesh Agarwal The Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA) of the erstwhile Indian Airlines, who fly the narrow body A320 family fleet of national carrier Air India is resorting to scare tactics accusing the airline “of arbitrarily changing the flight operating procedures for narrow-body A320 aircraft, affecting flight safety.” The issue revolves around the carrier’s decision to reduce the acceleration …

The renaming of Bangalore’s Bengaluru International Airport (BIA) to Kempe Gowda International Airport received approval from the Union Cabinet yesterday. The lower house of the state legislature, the Karnataka Legislative Assembly, passed a unanimous resolution on December 10, last year and the upper house, the Karnataka Legislative Council, also passed a similar resolution two days later to rename the airport. …

Dubai Airports is inviting bids from food and beverage operators and selective retail-service providers for the award of concessions in Concourse D at Dubai International. Construction of Concourse D is well under-way with the facility’s opening slated for 2015. The opportunity is available to food and beverage providers in the categories of popular restaurants, 24-hour casual dining, licensed bars, coffee …

by Devesh Agarwal We welcome your feedback and comments on the Jet-Etihad deal. Without a doubt the humongous increase in seat capacity offered to the Abu Dhabi government by India has some quid-pro-qua links to the Jetihad deal. There is also talk that the bilaterals seat increase was to pacify the UAE government after their telecom company allegedly lost over …

by Devesh Agarwal The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced today that it is increasing the qualification requirements for first officers who fly for U.S. passenger and cargo airlines. The rule requires first officers – also known as co-pilots – to hold an Airline Transport Pilot (ATP) certificate, requiring 1,500 hours total time as a pilot. Previously, first officers were required …

Small portion of existing Boeing 777-300ER (77W) fleet also to be refitted. by Devesh Agarwal National carrier Singapore Airlines unveiled its next generation of cabin products, which will be deployed on its Airbus A350 XWB aircraft which recently celebrated its first flight on June 14th, and is due to enter service in late 2014. The airline will also initially introduce …

by Devesh Agarwal The Asiana Boeing 777-200ER which crashed at San Francisco International airport was powered by Pratt and Whitney PW4090 series engines. Three engine manufacturers have offered power plants for the Boeing 777. Pratt and Whitney offered the PW4000 series. Rolls Royce offered its Trent 800 and General Electric offered its GE90 series. The infographic below shows the share …

by Devesh Agarwal Asiana Boeing 777-200ER. Image courtesy Wikimedia An Asiana Airlines Boeing 777-200ER bearing registration HL7742 has crash landed at San Francisco International airport (SFO). Flight OZ 214 from Incheon airport Seoul, South Korea to San Francisco, California, USA, appears to have touched down short of runway 28L. Major portions of the aircraft broke apart, fuselage, tail, landing gear, …

Aviation insiders have known for many years what AirAsia boss Tony Fernandes dared publicly state the day before yesterday, after his meeting with civil aviation minister Ajit Singh. Vested interests have shaped, nay, distorted Indian civil aviation policy. One of the more shameful rules of Indian civil aviation is the policy of allowing Indian carriers to operate international flights only …

by Devesh Agarwal After many a false start, it appears national carrier Air India is scheduled to commence its Australia service at the end of August. The airline will use its Boeing 787-8 Dreamliners to operate the route. A schedule for a triangular service between Delhi, Sydney and Melbourne has been loaded in to global distribution systems, but inexplicably, the …