Jaime J. Bautista, President & COO of national carrier Philippine Airlines and Fabrice Brégier, President & CEO of European airframer Airbus announced that the two companies have signed an MOU (memorandum of understanding) for the order of six A350-900s, with options to purchase up to an additional six planes. The aircraft which will be used primarily on long distance North …
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Cathay Pacific unvieled it’s new livery yesterday at a special event held at Hong Kong International Airport. The livery has been launched on B-KPM, one of the airline’s Boeing 777-300ER’s. The new livery will replace the current livery which was unveiled in 1994. The airline’s Airbus A350 fleet will be the first aircraft type to be in only in the …
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Singapore Airlines which just two days ago announced re-commencement of the world’s longest non-stop flights using the new generation Airbus A350-900ULR aircraft has seen its first A350-900 exit the Airbus paint-shop at Toulouse. The aircraft which will be registered as 9V-SMA is expected to be delivered in January 2016. The 9V-SMx series was given to the Boeing 747-400 Megatops that …
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Singapore Airlines which used to operate two of the world’s longest non-stop flights, between Singapore and both Los Angeles and Newark, will re-launch these flights in 2018. The island nation’s flag carrier has signed an agreement with European airframer Airbus, to be the launch customer for the new A350-900ULR (ultra-long-range) variant of the itself new, A350 aircraft. The airline has …
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Singapore Airlines is known for its luxurious approach to passengers, some would call it over the top (OTT). A similar approach seems to be applied to the airline’s new Premium Economy (PEY) class which is being retrofitted on to the airline’s existing Airbus A380 fleet of 19 aircraft, and another 19 Boeing 777-300ERs (airline internal designation 77WN). The first 20 …
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National carrier Vietnam Airlines took delivery of its first Airbus A350 XWB, thus becoming the second airline in the world, after launch customer Qatar Airways, to operate the new generation aircraft. The airline has 10 A350 on direct order with the European airframer, and four with aircraft leasing companies. At a special ceremony in Toulouse, the A350-900 was officially delivered …
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On any other day the SIA Training Centre is a fortress. Restricted, where visitors are admitted only after a specific invitation and a thorough security checking. But, only July 25, 2015, Singapore Airlines is throwing open this secretive centre open to the public as part of the 50th anniversary celebrations of the island nation’s founding. Called the SIA Open House, …
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National carrier Garuda Indonesia has announced its intent to purchase 30 Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners, as well as up to 30 737 MAX 8 airplanes. Boeing will officially post this order to its orders & deliveries website once the airline finalises the order. In addition to the announcement today, the flag carrier also reconfirmed its intent to purchase 50 737 MAX …
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The 1st of June was a day of revival for Malaysia Airlines. As of that day all 20,000 odd employees were served termination letters and all assets transferred to a new entity. The new company will subsequently re-employ 2/3rds of the staff but on new terms and contracts. This drastic but necessary decision is being carried out given the precarious …
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Vietnam Airlines is due to become the first Asian airline and second carrier globally, after launch customer Qatar Airways to operate the Airbus A350 XWB. The first of the airline’s 14 ordered A350-900 completed its first flight in Toulouse, France yesterday. Vietnam Airlines has a very recognisable blue and gold livery which looks good on the new aircraft. The aircraft …
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Singapore Airlines has painted two of it’s Airbus A380’s in a special livery for the island nations Golden Jubilee celebration. The livery features the Singapore flag on both sides of the aircraft and the official SG50 logo on the two inboard engines. The first aircraft in the special scheme is 9V-SKI is expected to be in service from early June …
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Call it a sheer coincidence, but despite my frequent travels, I had never flown the Airbus A380 till October 14, 2014. Given my years of loyal patronage of Singapore Airlines, divine providence ensured my first A380 flight would be with the island nation’s carrier who was the launch customer of the A380, and coincidentally on the first A380 delivered in …
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Last month the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a Safety Alert For Operators (SAFO) advising airlines about potential fire risks from e-cigarettes which use lithium batteries to heat nicotine in to a vapour inhaled by users. The SAFO issued after two instances of fire caused by e-cigarettes, called for banning of these popular devices from checked-in baggage. Though …
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Singapore Airlines has finally unveiled its previously announced premium economy class, and has opened up selected routes for sale which will commence operations on August 9, 2015, the island nation’s 50th independence anniversary, on the Singapore Sydney route. Singapore Airlines will invest $80 million to install the new class on 19 Airbus A380s, 19 Boeing 777-300ERs (B77Ws) and the first …
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A SpiceJet spokesperson has confirmed that its year old passenger inter-line agreement with Singapore based low cost carrier TigerAir has been “terminated based on mutual decision [since SpiceJet’s] network changes made it no longer commercially worth doing.” As per reports in The Business Standard and The Economic Times, Tiger had terminated the agreement due to SpiceJet’s “non-performance”. The financially troubled …
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It was inevitable. Singapore Airlines and Vistara (Tata-SIA) have announced a partnership between their KrisFlyer and Club Vistara frequent flyer programmes. The partnership enables KrisFlyer members to earn and redeem miles on Vistara flights and Club Vistara members can earn and redeem points on Singapore Airlines and SilkAir flights. The accrual of miles and points for members of both frequent …
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National carrier Malaysia Airlines suffered a DNS poisoning attack where visitors who typed in the airline’s website address www.malaysiaairlines.com were re-directed to a hacker site. However the carrier said all the passenger data remains secure. In a statement the airline said At this stage, Malaysia Airlines’ web servers are intact. The airline has resolved the issue with its service provider …
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National carrier, Malaysia Airlines is equipping its Airbus A330 fleet with electronic flight bags consisting of Apple’s iPad Air tablets installed with electronic navigation charts from Lufthansa Systems and integrating the Airbus Flysmart application. The iPad will replace the bulky hard copy charts, route navigation, and other information with a paperless cockpit solution containing all the information required for routes …
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Singapore Airlines is now serving the Prelude “Grands Crus” from the world renowned Champagne house, Taittinger, one of the few remaining family-owned Champagne houses. Prelude “Grands Crus” is comprises only cuvée (first pressing) and is a blend of 50% Chardonnay from the Côte des Blancs (Avize, Le Mesnil sur Oger) and 50% Pinot Noir from the Montagne de Reims area …
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Bangalore Aviation has always promoted the wearing of seat-belts when seated on-board an aircraft. An incident on-board a Mumbai bound flight highlights our safety campaign. On Saturday October 18, 2014, at around 21:30 IST (16:00Z) approximately 30 minutes before arrival, a Singapore Airlines A380-800 9V-SKJ performing flight SQ424 from Singapore to Mumbai with 408 passengers and 25 crew on-board, suffered …
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Bangalore Aviation News, Reviews, Analysis and opinions of Indian Aviation