Airlines

Middle-eastern carrier Etihad Airways will launch a third daily flight from Bangalore to Abu Dhabi from 26 March 2017. The new flight will allow the airline to offer passengers from Bangalore more connections to Europe and North America via it’s Abu Dhabi hub. The flight will be operated using a two class Airbus A321. The new flight’s late night departure …

It appears the Airbus A320neos ordered by original launch customer Qatar Airways, are getting diverted to the world’s largest A320neo operator, currently, India’s Indigo. The Gulf carrier had ordered 34 A320neos powered by the Pratt & Whitney PW100G Geared Turbo-Fan (GTF) engine, and was slated to be the launch customer. However the airline started cancelling airframes in their dispute with …

Airlines across the world, particularly the middle eastern and gulf majors scrambled to change their crew rosters to comply with the executive orders passed by U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday, which suspends the entry of citizens of seven nations, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen, in to the United States. All crew already need a special visa …

James Hogan President and CEO of Abu Dhabi based Etihad Aviation Group (EAG) will step down in the second half of 2017. He will be joined by Chief Financial Officer James Rigney. The EAG Board of Directors announced the departures and said a global search for their replacements is underway. Both Hogan and Rigney will join an investment company The …

National carrier Air India has announced it shall start direct flights between New Delhi (DEL) and Washington Dulles (IAD) in July 2017. This flight will be the fifth direct connection with the US and shall be operated by a Boeing 777 aircraft, though the carrier has not specified whether this will be on the 777-200LR or the larger 777-300ER. The …

Indian low fare carrier, Spicejet, has signed a record order with Chicago USA based Boeing for 100 737 MAX 8s thus signalling its resurgence from a near collapse two years ago. The carrier already has a firm order for 55 737 MAX 8s, and it has purchased options for up to 50 additional Boeing aircraft including wide-bodies, which are suspected …

Low cost carrier SpiceJet has maintained the highest on time performance (OTP) of all the domestic carriers operating from Delhi Airport in the month of December. Winter usually sees many delays and diversions in the smog of the capital – SpiceJet has posted the highest OTP at the metro for the last three months. Coming in the second slot was …

Bangalore based regional airline, Air Pegasus, has issued a statement it has entered into a strategic partnership with start-up airline Flyeasy to revive its operations from March 1, 2017. The airline had suspended operations on June 27, 2016, and the regulator the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had suspended the airline’s operator’s permit in November last year. The statement …

Low cost carrier IndiGo has grown it’s fleet to a 125 Airbus A320’s. The airline took delivery of it’s 125 aircraft VT-ITH in it’s 125th month of operation. The aircraft is Indigo’s 13th Airbus A320neo. The airline is also adding 10 additional frequencies connecting Hyderabad to Goa, Coimbatore, Bhubaneswar and Visakhapatnam effective the 1st of January. Aditya Ghosh, President and …

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) has fined American Airlines a record $1.6 million for violating rules prohibiting long tarmac delays. This is the highest fine against an airline for violating the tarmac delay rule, and matches the fine against Southwest Airlines in 2015 Under the DOT rules, U.S. airlines operating aircraft with 30 or more passenger seats are prohibited …

Etihad Airways and Lufthansa German Airlines have agreed to codeshare flights and lease aircraft. Codeshare is where one airline puts its flight code on a flight operated by the other. Lufthansa will place its ‘LH’ airline code on the twice daily flights operated by Etihad Airways (code ‘EY’) between Abu Dhabi and Frankfurt and the twice daily flights between Abu …

Flag carrier Singapore Airlines will upgrade its Singapore Manchester Houston Intercontinental service to its newest aircraft the Airbus A350-900 starting January 17 2017. The airline currently flies a Boeing 777-300ER on the route. The A350 will add a 24 seat premium economy (PE) class on the route while removing the under-used first class. The aircraft will additionally offer a 42 …

Deepening its partnership, India’s Jet Airways has partnered its frequent flier program JetPrivilege with Delta Air Lines’ SkyMiles. The two programs has discontinued their partnership in 2012. JetPrivilege members can earn and redeem JPMiles on Delta’s entire network of 323 destinations in 57 countries across six continents, as per the table below. Delta operates over 15,000 flights, daily, from its …

In 2012, in an exclusive interview with Bangalore Aviation, then Boeing India boss Dr. Dinesh Keskar advocated the need for both national carrier Air India, and India’s largest private airline, Jet Airways, to dramatically scale up their networks to utilise their widebody fleet (Boeing 777s, 787s, Airbus A330s) effectively. (Read the interview here, and Dr. Keskar’s advice is towards the …

IndiGo reported its second quarter (ending September 30) results for the fiscal year ending March 31 2017 (FY2017). With earnings of Rs 139.8 crores, the results yet again failed to meet analysts’ expectations. As reported earlier, intense competition in the market, consistent fare sales and aggressive capacity addition have added to the revenue pressures. Key numbers Passenger Revenue – Rs. …

India’s Jet Airways will operate a daily direct flight between Bangalore and Singapore from December 14, 2016. Flight 9W024 will depart Bengaluru Kempegowda at 11:10 and arrive at Singapore Changi at 18:10. Flight 9W023 will depart Singapore at 19:15 and arrive in Bengaluru at 21:15. The flight will be operated by a narrow body Boeing 737-800. Jet Airways intends to …

Australian flag carrier Qantas has given its aircraft livery a subtle modernisation. This includes the iconic Kangaroo logo on the tails of its aircraft. It is only the fifth time the iconic red-and-white ‘roo’ has been updated since its introduction in 1944. Continuing a tradition The livery change continues a tradition at Qantas, of changing its livery whenever a new …