A prototype of the Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. Intermediate Jet Trainer HJT-36 Sitara serial number S-3466 crashed near Krishnagiri about 80km (50mi) south-east of Bangalore around 15:10 local (09:40 UTC). HAL HJT-36 Intermediate Jet Trainer S-3466 at Aero India 2011. Photo by Vedant Agarwal. Both pilots Wg Cdr. Patra and Mathur (rank not sure) ejected safely, though one of them has …

Earlier today passengers cheered hearing that the Supreme Court of India ruled that the charging of Airport Development Fee (ADF) by the private airport operators was incorrect. The initial cheer of air passengers flying out of Delhi though is short lived. A detailed reading of the record of proceedings of the case (read page 42 onwards) allows the operators of …

“Message expired by service” For the last two years I have been facing this problem in the SMS service of Airtel when using a Blackberry handset. Today after many attempts with the Airtel technical team, who appear determined to find a solution, I have confirmed this problem with other Blackberry users of Airtel. In normal course, if I send a …

The Supreme Court of India has ruled that the private consortia running the Delhi and Mumbai airports will not be allowed to charge an airport development fee (ADF) on passengers. The stock prices of both the GMR group which leads Delhi International Airport Ltd. (DIAL) and GVK Group which leads Mumbai International Airport Ltd. (MIAL) were hammered on the stock …

Recently, on an on-line forum, there was a great debate on how the legacy domestic carriers could deal with the issue of an empty premium class on many of their flights. Be it Air India, Jet Airways, or Kingfisher, many a time, fliers will observe just about three or four passengers in the premium class which has 20 or more …

After spending a week in bed with severe gastritis, it appears my mind and imagination are stuck in neutral. For the first time in many years, I am stuck for want of ideas for articles. Some suggestions from Bangalore Aviation readers on subjects you would like covered. Thanks in advance Devesh

Sorry for being out of action, but a combination of summer heat, irregular working hours and even more irregular eating, combined with stress and most likely some dodgy food gave me a most severe case of gastritis and left me in bed for five days. Do these conditions sound familiar to fellow frequent fliers? Yesterday, an Airbus A380 superjumbo of …

Indian low cost carrier IndiGo, which signed a memorandum of understanding on January 11, 2011, for the largest ever jet aircraft order in aviation history of 180 Airbus A320 including 150 A320neo, has selected the Pratt & Whitney PW1100G Geared Turbo Fan (GTF) engine to power its A320neo fleet. In January, IndiGo had not announced an engine choice. Pratt & …

In our survey two weeks ago, we asked the discerning readers of Bangalore Aviation to inform us on your top influencing factors on how airlines should secure your international travel business. Ticket price was the top most factor, followed by the airline’s service reputation and seat/cabin comfort in close order. Surprisingly, not many readers were concerned about an airline’s alliance …

The acquisition of ten Boeing C-17 Globemaster III strategic heavy lift transporters by the Indian Air Force, which was one the cornerstone deals during the recent visit of US President Barack Obama to India, has hit a price hurdle. The Indian Express newspaper is reporting that the Indian Air Force had estimated the 10 aircraft deal to be around $3 …

India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation reported domestic performance metrics of the seven Indian carriers for February 2011. Overall traffic was up 18.46% to 4.576 million passengers from 3.863 million passengers a year earlier. Cumulative traffic for 2011 is up 19.62% to 9.511 million from 7.951 in 2010. The Jet Airways group, comprising of Jet Airways, Jet Airways Konnect and …

Japan, which suffered a devastating earthquake recently, has long been a major player in the air transport industry with a total market size of $62.5 billion annually. While it is too early to assess the long-term infrastructural impact of the quake on the industry, an understanding of the industry structure in Japan can provide us with some insights. The most …

Boeing’s largest passenger jet aircraft the 747-8 Intercontinental or 747-8i successfully completed its first flight earlier today. Painted in the new Sunrise livery of red-orange, a significant departure from Boeing’s traditional blue livery, the aircraft registered N6067E, and designated RC001, lifted-off from runway 34L at Paine Field at Boeing’s Everett factory at 9:59am local (16:59Z, 22:29IST) in front of several …

Kingfisher Airlines as a member elect of the oneworld alliance has entered in to a frequent flier partnership with alliance member Finnair allowing members of their King Club and Finnair Plus programmes to earn and redeem miles on each other’s networks. Effective March 11, 2011, members of each programme can earn and redeem miles when flying with the other airline. …

From the Summer 2011 time-table which commences this Sunday, Air China is increasing its frequency on the Shanghai-Chengdu-Bangalore flight from two to three times a week. The Wednesday, Saturday arrivals with Thursday, Sunday departures will be complemented by an additional frequency arriving in to Bangalore on Mondays and departing early morning Tuesdays. Aircraft type continues to be an Airbus A319-100. …

A massive earthquake with an 8.9-magnitude hit northern Japan earlier this morning triggering tsunamis. The epicenter was estimated at 373 kilometers (231 miles) north-east from the capital, Tokyo. Narita and Haneda airports are shut down and there is major disruption to all flight schedules to and from Tokyo. Osaka Kansai and Sapporo airport are operational but they are going to …

Both Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal are reporting that India’s largest carrier Jet Airways is in talks with Air France-KLM, Alitalia and Delta Air Lines Inc. about joining the SkyTeam alliance. Jet has long practised a policy of bi-lateral and code-share agreements and officially, its management has steadfastly refuted any speculation of carrier joining an alliance, but with Air …

Low fare carrier SpiceJet is expected to announce commencement of their regional operations using their recently ordered 15 Bombardier Q400 turb0-prop aircraft which are expected to start arriving from end June onwards. It appears SpiceJet will commence their regional operations from Hyderabad using their first four or five aircraft and then commence another hub from Bangalore in late 2011 or …

For the last few years, thanks to the well known financial problems at its parent AIG, the world’s largest aircraft lessor by value, International Lease Finance Corporation (ILFC), was on the quiet. Yesterday, ILFC announced its comeback with two big orders. One with Airbus S.A.S. for 75 A320neo and the first orders for the A321neo for 25 aircraft. From the …

BASIC and BRIC economic group partners India and Brazil signed a new bi-lateral air services agreement (ASA) recently superseding an earlier 2006 agreement, with an intent to drive greater trade, economic investments and tourism between the two nations. The new agreement allows for any number of designated airlines (which was previously limited to one per country), to operate up to …