India’s largest domestic airline IndiGo, has entered in to a firm agreement with European airframer Airbus S.A.S. to procure 250 A320neo (new engine option) narrow body jetliners. This memorandum of understanding will be the largest single order in the history of Airbus by number of aircraft. Earlier to this, IndiGo has placed a 100 aircraft order for A320 classic and …
Read More »Exclusive photos: Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner VT-ANI being retro-fitted for reliabilty
Update: Oct. 14, 2014. 21:00 IST An Air India spokesperson sent us an e-mail and said “Aircraft VT-ANI is currently undergoing reliability improvement retrofit (modification) and will resume operations in November.” This is nice to hear. Can someone with subject matter expertise please explain what is the retro-fit being done? Why is this specific to only this aircraft? Why does …
Read More »Rohit Nandan’s tenure at Air India extended for up to 10 months
In a smart move that should benefit the national carrier, the Government has extended the tenure of Air India’s Chairman and Managing Director, Mr. Rohit Nandan up to August 2015. As per an order issued by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet approved the extension “till August 21, 2015 or till the appointment …
Read More »British Airways to start Boeing 787 service to Chennai
British Airways has announced that it will commence operations with it’s Boeing 787 Dreamliner to Chennai from 27th October 2014 (Monday). The service will also be upgraded to a daily direct flight from six weekly flights on the Boeing 777 as per the current schedule. After Hyderabad, Chennai will become British Airways second 787 service to India. Christopher Fordyce, Regional …
Read More »Etihad Airways plans global flights using leased Jet Airways’ aircraft
Airline Route reports that Abu Dhabi based Etihad Airways is planning to deploy wide body A330-200s and Boeing 777-300ERs it has leased from India’s Jet Airways on flights around the world in the Winter 2014 schedule which commences from October 26th. Etihad holds a 24% share in Jet. Etihad plans to deploys Jet’s A330-200s on: Abu Dhabi – Johannesburg as …
Read More »Etihad Airlines launches new airline alliance Etihad Airways Partners
Abu Dhabi based Etihad Airways has unveiled a new airline alliance called Etihad Airways Partners (EAP). The alliance is initially made-up of six airlines in which the Gulf behemoth has equity stakes, though it claims to offer partnership opportunities for any airline wishing to join, even if it is part of any existing alliance such as airberlin which is a …
Read More »AirAsia under-serves Bangalore, hub of its Indian subsidiary
A confusion exists on the website of AirAsia with regards to its ‘Fly-Thru’ connectivity service on flights to and from Bangalore. While the flight schedules page of the website offers the connecting service between Bangalore and domestic Malaysian destinations like Penang, Langkawi, Denpesar-Bali, to international destinations like Singapore, Sydney, Perth, and Manila, the booking page does not allow booking of …
Read More »China Airlines receives first Boeing 777-300ER featuring “family couch” economy seat
Taiwan’s China Airlines’ first Boeing 777-300ER aircraft has landed at its home base of Taipei. Line number 1227, registration B-18051 is part of a 10 aircraft order. The carrier will induct two more 777-300ERs in October and November this year. The 777-300ERs will feature a new cabin product designed by award-winning Taiwanese architect Ray Chen. China Airlines will seat 358 …
Read More »Lufthansa to fly Airbus A380 to New Delhi from October 27
German carrier Deutsche Lufthansa has officially announced that it will fly the world’s largest passenger jetliner, the 520 seat Airbus A380 to New Delhi effective October 27, 2014. This confirms our analysis published earlier this year. Big boost in economy class seating Lufthansa currently operates its other VLA (very large aircraft) the Boeing 747-8i. Lufthansa’s A380 is configured with eight …
Read More »Photos: Qatar Airways’ first A350-900 XWB progressing to year end delivery
Airbus A350-900 MSN006 (manufacturer’s serial number), the first aircraft that will be delivered to launch customer Qatar Airways is proceeding through its paces for delivery by the year end. Airbus has received the EASA type certification for the A350-900 as we reported yesterday. The aircraft which will be registered A7-ALA when it enters service is seen here exiting the paint …
Read More »Vistara gets second Airbus A320 VT-TTC, IndiGo gets A320 VT-IAS
Less than a week after the two airlines each received new Airbus A320s, both Vistara, the Tata Singapore Airlines promoted carrier, and India’s leading domestic carrier, IndiGo took delivery of new aircraft. Coincidentally both aircraft are powered with the International Aero Engines V2500 power-plants. IndiGo received Airbus A320 MSN6289 which will be registered VT-IAS. (Read our aviation humour story on …
Read More »AirAsia reconnects Hyderabad and Kuala Lumpur
After a gap of nearly four years, Malaysia low cost carrier AirAsia returns to Hyderabad airport. The airline will commence daily services between its Kuala Lumpur hub and Hyderabad from December 8, 2014. The airline had pulled out from Hyderabad on January 11, 2011 citing high airport charges. The airline will use an ‘all night’ over-night red-eye schedule which is …
Read More »Videos: Etihad unveils new livery on its first Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner
UAE national airline, Etihad Airways unveiled the new ‘Facets of Abu Dhabi’ livery on its first Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner a few hours ago. Here are four videos showing the time-lapse assembly and painting of the aircraft, and a 42 minute video of the unveiling ceremony itself. The aircraft looks a lot better in this video that in does in the …
Read More »Etihad unveils ‘Facets of Abu Dhabi’ livery on first Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner
A little over a day after it unveiled its new ‘Facets of Abu Dhabi’ livery on its first Airbus A380 super jumbo, Etihad Airways unveiled the same livery on its its first Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner. Following tradition, Boeing rolled the aircraft A6-BLA, out of the Everett, Washington plant’s paint hangar close to midnight a few hours ago. Boeing follows these …
Read More »Etihad unveils new livery ‘Facets of Abu Dhabi’ on its first Airbus A380
Abu Dhabi based Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), has unveiled its new ‘Facets of Abu Dhabi’ livery created by brand consultants Landor Associates for the airline. The new livery inspired by traditional Emirati design patterns, and the geometric style of the modern architecture of Abu Dhabi, features the colours and hues of the Arab …
Read More »Air Pegasus takes delivery of its first plane, former Kingfisher Airlines ATR72
Bangalore based Air Pegasus has reportedly taken delivery of its first aircraft, an ATR72-500 which was originally leased and operated by Vijay Mallya promoted Kingfisher Airlines. The aircraft is configured in an all-economy class with 66 seats. The aircraft returns back home in a manner of sorts. This aircraft bears airframe number MSN 699 (manufacturer’s serial number) and was first …
Read More »Singapore Airlines and Air New Zealand alliance code-share flights on sale now
Star Alliance members Singapore Airlines and Air New Zealand who announced an alliance in February, will launch their flights under the alliance from January 6, 2015. Tickets for their code-share flights are on sale now. The alliance will see the two airlines operating one daily round-trip flight each, between Singapore and Auckland, and Singapore Airlines operating a daily flight between …
Read More »Air India and Air Canada enter in to code-share agreement
While not officially announced, it appears Air India (airline code AI) and Air Canada (airline code AC) have entered in to a code-share agreement to place their airline codes on certain flights of operated by each other. Both the airlines are members of the Star alliance, and reflects for recently joined Air India, the first tangible benefits of joining the …
Read More »IndiGo getting ready to please the IAS with its next plane
As we head in to the weekend, a bit of tongue in cheek aviation humour. India’s largest domestic airline IndiGo has been inducting Airbus A320 aircraft on a regular schedule averaging about one a month. The last aircraft to join the fleet was VT-IAR, delivered on September 22. The civil servants of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) will be pleased …
Read More »BREAKING NEWS: Vistara’s new Airbus A320 arrives at New Delhi today
The first aircraft of the Tata Singapore Airlines joint venture airline, Vistara will arrive at New Delhi this evening around 17:00 local time. The aircraft MSN6223 (manufacturer’s serial number) will be registered as VT-TTB. The aircraft took off on its first flight on July 11, and was delivered yesterday at Tolouse Blagnac airport in France. The delivery flight flew to …
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