Airlines

Continuing our analysis in to national carrier Air India’s international operations which loses money on all but two flights, yesterday we published part 1 of the three part analysis which focussed on the numbers, today’s analysis comes from Bangalore Aviation guest analyst and former co-author Vinay Bhaskara. Vinay’s strength is finance, and he focusses on the costs of Air India. …

Last week we reported on the massive loses made by national carrier Air India on 57 of its 59 international flights. Over the next few days we will bring you differing points of view on Air India’s international operations. Today is from a professional analyst at one of the world’s leading aviation consulting and advisory practices. He cannot be named …

Last evening a little before 6pm, our family received devastating news that the matriarch of our family passed away in New Delhi. Naturally the family elders, my aged mother included, had to rush from Bangalore to New Delhi. Getting anywhere in Bangalore during evening rush hour is difficult, all the way from south Bangalore (Koramangala) to the airport is a …

National carrier Air India will introduce an all Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, all non-stop flights strategy to Singapore from October. The airline already operates the new aircraft on the New Delhi Singapore route, and currently operates an Airbus A330-200* a Boeing 787-8 on the Mumbai Chennai Singapore return route. The new flight schedule is : AI342 will depart Mumbai at 00:05 …

Starting from November 14, Jet Airways will connect three more Indian cities to Abu Dhabi the home of its 24% stake-holder Etihad Airways PJSC. The airline will commence daily non-stop flights from Lucknow, Goa and Ahmedabad to the Emirate and will use two class narrow-body Boeing 737-800s on the routes. While the Lucknow and Ahmedabad flights have been scheduled to …

National carrier Air Seychelles, which is 40% owned by Abu Dhabi based Etihad Airways PJSC, will commence thrice a week direct flights between Mumbai and Mahé commencing December 2 2014, subject to regulatory approvals. The roughly four hour long flight is expected to be operated by a two-class Airbus A320 aircraft, with 16 business and 120 economy class seats. The …

Air India and Birmingham airport authorities had a lavish celebration at the Birmingham Airport Holiday Inn to mark the one year anniversary of Air India flights to the city. Event Host – Sameena Ali-Khan First Speaker: Lord-Lieutenant Paul Sabapathy CBE Second Speaker: Solihull Mayor Kate Wild Third Speaker: Pankaj Srivastava, Commercial Director, Air India Fourth Speaker: Birmingham Airport CEO Paul …

Qatar Airways became the 12th operator of the Airbus A380 super jumbo when it took delivery of its first aircraft registration A7-APA two days ago. The airline has produced a series of four videos showing the aircraft from concept to delivery. Enjoy them. Episode 1 – The assembly [bsu_youtube_advanced url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngxw37gqHQM” width=”640″ height=”360″ controls=”alt” autohide=”yes” showinfo=”no” rel=”no” modestbranding=”yes” theme=”light”] Episode 2 …

National carrier Air India lost money on 57 of its 59 international routes in the last fiscal year which ended March 31, 2014. The airline lost a whopping Rs 4,273.35 crores (approximately $712 million at current exchange rates) operating these international flights. This according to an internal “Route Economics” provisional report for April 1, 2013 to March 31, 2014 which …

Doha based carrier Qatar Airways has taken delivery of it’s first Airbus A380 super jumbo today, at a handover ceremony in Hamburg. Under-scoring the importance of their partnership, Akbar Al Baker, Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, officially took delivery of the aircraft from Fabrice Brégier, Airbus President and CEO. The airline has taken delivery of the aircraft after a three month stand-off …

Gurgaon based low fare carrier SpiceJet has announced yet another sale. This is for flights from select cities, Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai and Kolkata. Fares commence at Rs. 1,999 all inclusive and tickets need to be purchased till September 16, 2014. The travel period is from October 7, 2014 to January 15, 2015 and the usual terms and conditions …

Air France is facing a possible employee strike from September 15 to 22. While it continues negotiations with the employee unions, the airline is enabling passengers to postpone their trip or exchange their tickets free of charge. Passengers can change their travel to outside the potential strike dates i.e. to travel before the 15th or between 23rd and 30th September. …

With the arrival of its second aircraft VT-ATB, India’s newest airline, AirAsia India, commenced its foray in to North India with direct flights from its Bangalore hub to Jaipur and Chandigarh. AirAsia Jaipur and Chandigarh schedule Flight From To Departs Arrives I5 1722 Bangalore Jaipur 9:45 12:20 I5 1723 Jaipur Bangalore 12:45 15:15 I5 1824 Bangalore Chandigarh 15:45 18:40 I5 …

German carrier Deutsche Lufthansa is expected to commence its long desired Airbus A380 super-jumbo service to both New Delhi and Mumbai from this Winter schedule which commences on October 26, 2014. READ ONLINE: Emirates may suspend A380 operations to Mumbai Lufthansa A380 schedules to India As per the airline’s on-line time-table which was retrieved today, the schedules are: Frankfurt New …

UPDATE Five minutes after we published our original story, an Emirates spokesperson sent us this statement [bsu_quote cite=”Emirates spokesperson”]Emirates will continue to operate its iconic A380 aircraft on the Dubai-Mumbai route for the remainder of the summer 2014 timetable as planned, as flight numbers EK500/EK501. Details of the airline’s winter timetable which is due to commence on 26 October are …

In an unusual move for the national carrier, Air India issued a strongly worded statement refuting a media report by TimesNow TV on the airline’s recent Air India Day celebrations calling it “baseless” and “devoid of truth”. In a segment titled “What was Air India celebrating?” aired late last week, the television channel claimed [bsu_quote cite=”TimesNow TV report” url=”http://www.google.co.in/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=8&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CFoQIDAH&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwebcache.googleusercontent.com%2Fsearch%3Fq%3Dcache%3Ay5VkuKA84n8J%3Awww.timesnow.tv%2FWhat-was-Air-India-celebrating%2Fvideoshow%2F4463051.cms%2B%26cd%3D8%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Din%26client%3Dfirefox-a&ei=LBoEVPWzLJKfugTvoIHQAg&usg=AFQjCNHUC_YOQubD7kS9gxqj6ke_SHrm4g&bvm=bv.74115972,d.c2E”]While the …

As an incentive to passengers who pre-book their in-flight meals, budget carrier SpiceJet will serve them first, before commencing general meal and drinks sales service in flight. Pre-booking enables an airline to better prepare meals for a flight thus improving availability and reducing wastage. Many airlines, including competitor IndiGo already adopt this practice. SpiceJet also offers a lower price for …

Exactly three months and one day ago, we reported exclusive images of Air India’s newest Boeing 777-200LR VT-ALH Maharashtra lying in a pathetic and dilapidated condition at Mumbai airport. Today we are happy to report exclusive images showing Air India has restored the aircraft to a much better condition. She is looking nice and clean. Since the aircraft has not …