Airlines

India’s largest carrier, Indigo will begin flights to Hanoi, Vietnam from Kolkata on 3 October 2019. Hanoi will be the carrier’s 19th international (5th Southeast Asian) destination. William Boulter, Chief Commercial Officer, IndiGo “It is truly a very special moment for all of us at IndiGo as it is the first route connecting Kolkata to Hanoi. This milestone reflects our …

Middle eastern carrier Emirates will begin operating a fourth flight from Bangalore to Dubai. The flight will be a mid-morning departure and will be operates three times a week – on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. It is scheduled to be operated by a Boeing 777-200LR and will bring Emirates from 21 to 24 flights from Bangalore weekly. The service will …

Indigo reported its Q1FY20 results on Friday. With a profit of INR 1203 crore it is the highest net profit for any airline in Indian aviation. The airline looked good on all metrics ranging from financial to strategic and operational. Interestingly, while this quarter was indeed driven by the collapse of Jet Airways, Indigo’s contention is that this did not …

Go Airlines has called a press conference on July 18th, 2019. The note to press indicates that it is “to share expansion plans.” As the airline is without a Chief Executive Officer, the event will be handled by their vice-president for airports, marketing and network. The airline has just appointed Miranda Mills, an executive with 25 years of experience in …

Indigo seems to have encountered severe turbulence as the fight between the co-founders has now become very public. There have been accusations, counters and name-calling. The issues highlighted range from related party transactions (RPTs) to those of governance. And for an airline that now flies one in every two passengers in the Indian skies, is on a solid financial footing, …

Full service carrier Vistara (Tata-SIA) has announced that it will begin its first international routes to Singapore from Mumbai and New Delhi. The airline will operate a daily flight from Delhi and Mumbai starting 6 and 7 August 2019 respectively. Vistara will operate these flights with Boeing 737-800s in a two-class cabin configuration. Flights between Delhi (DEL) and Singapore (SIN) …

Military aviator and strategist John Boyd famously said, “If you want to understand something, take it to the extremes or examine its opposites.” Applied in the context of Air India, this becomes particularly interesting. That is, at a point of time where everyone seems to be convinced that the airline will be sold off, to understand the situation fully one …

A British Airways Boeing 777-200ER registration G-YMMU, operating flight BA119 from London Heathrow to Bangalore Kempegowda airport returned to London Heathrow airport soon after take-off due to a technical issue. The cause of the issue is being investigated by the engineers, and no determination on what caused the issue has been made as of the time of this report. The …

In a surprise move, Indigo announced an increase in cancellation and change fees. These will be effective as of June 27th. The airline added that for domestic bookings, customers can make any changes or cancellations free of charge within 24 hours of booking, if booked at least 7 days before the travel dates. This is largely to comply with the …

KLM Cityhopper has announced its intention to purchase 35 Embraer E195-E2 aircraft at the Paris Air Show today. The deal which will be finalised after the show will incude 15 firm orders and options for 20 more aircraft. Pieter Elbers, President & CEO, KLM “Embraer has been a key partner for KLM and Cityhopper over the past ten years. Our …

Airbus has announced two more orders for its new A321XLR. The first is from Indigo Partners for 50 aircraft. Indigo Partners is a American private equity fund focused on worldwide investments in air transportation. It has major ownership stakes in Frontier Airlines (U.S.A.), JetSMART (Chile), Volaris (Mexico) and Wizz Air (Hungary). The four carriers operate a fleet of 295 Airbus …

Australian airline Qantas Airways has placed an order for 36 Airbus A321XLRs. The order will sees the airline convert 26 aircraft from their existing order for 99 A320neos to the longest range version. Qantas has also placed an order for an additional 10 A321XLR bring up their total A320 family order to 109 aircraft. Alan Joyce, CEO, Qantas “It can …

Delta Air Lines has placed an order for an additional five A220-100 aircraft. The airline is also the first to select the new increased maximum takeoff weight (MTOW) improvement package for its entire fleet from 2020. Last month Airbus had announced that it would increase the MTOW of the A220 by 2,268 kg. The increased MTOW would increase the range …

Full service carrier Vistara (Tata-SIA) has signed a code-share agreement with American carrier United Airlines. The agreement will see United place its UA flight code on Vistara flights allowing passengers flying United to connect to over 20 additional destinations in India. The agreement will also allow United MileagePlus and Club Vistara members to earn and redeem miles on the other …

International Airlines Group (IAG) has announced an order for 14 Airbus A321XLR aircraft. Eight of these aircraft will go to Iberia and six to Aer Lingus. The aircraft will be delivered 2023 onward and will be configured in a two class configuration with flat bed business class seats. The XLR will allow Aer Lingus to operate flights beyond the US …

Brazilian airframer Embraer announced its first order of the 2019 Paris air show, an order for upto 39 E175s for United Airlines. The order which is valued at USD 1.9 billion at list prices includes a firm order for 20 E175s and options for 19 more. The aircraft will be configured in a 70 seat configuration and will be join …

Japan Airlines (JAL) has taken delivery of its first ever Airbus aircraft – an A350-900 at a special delivery ceremony at the manufacturers plant in Toulouse, France. Airbus secured JALs order for the A350 in 2013, breaking into a national stronghold of rival Boeing. The airline currently operates an all Boeing fleet of 737s, 767s, 787s and 777s. JAL has …

I left the Silverkris lounge at Singapore Changi airport (read our lounge review) at 7:05 PM, one hour before the scheduled departure of my flight at 8:05 PM. The gate was close to the lounge and the agents told me that I would reach in about five minutes. Boarding was scheduled to commence at 7:35 PM. When I got to the …

Fancy a traditional Kaiseki gourmet meal at 35,000 feet? Or some Nalli Nihari lamb shank? How about a fancy Shahi Thali? I have always admired the variety and detail of the in-flight dining onboard Singapore Airlines. The news that has me excited is that Singapore Airlines has finally introduced its famous Book The Cook meal service on its flights originating …