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Over the last week, foreign and Indian carriers alike have announced several interesting pieces of news around the Indian domestic and international networks. IndiGo India’s largest low cost carrier (LCC), IndiGo, will be adding one additional daily flight on each of Mumbai-Delhi and Mumbai-Hyderabad. The LCC will now operate 12 daily flights (except on Sundays) between Mumbai and Delhi, as …

One of the many Kingfisher aircraft stripped and left Financial beleaguered Kingfisher Airlines saw its second quarter revenue for fiscal year 2012~2013 plunge a massive 87% to just Rs. 200 crore (Rs. 2 billion) from almost Rs. 1,553 crore in the same quarter a year ago. The airline which has not operated a single flight since October 1, due to …

About three months ago, we reported, by a strange coincidence the aircraft registration numbers of India’s two largest airlines IndiGo and Jet Airways are in a very similar series. VT-JFx and VT-IFx. Last week, thanks to the operators of the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA), M/s Delhi International Airport (P) Ltd., the members of the Aviation Photographers India were airside …

Earlier this week, the Wall Street Journal quoted a report from the Center for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA) as saying that India’s largest publicly-traded low cost carrier (LCC), Chennai-based SpiceJet, was “is in advanced discussions to order 30-40 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft, the Centre for Asia-Pacific Aviation (CAPA) has said.” This report was then seized on by several outlets in …

Malaysia Airlines will become a full member of the oneworld® alliance on Friday February 1, 2013. The national airline of Malaysia received clearance after successfully completing a review of its readiness conducted by its mentor, Qantas, along with the oneworld central team. Malaysia Airlines’ Airbus A380 superjumbo makes a high speed pass over the Farnborough air show 2012. Malaysia Airlines’ …

Late yesterday, Boeing, the world’s second largest commercial aircraft manufacturer by deliveries, reported its results for the 3rd quarter of calendar year 2012. The Seattle-based original equipment manufacturer(OEM) reported a net profit of $1.03 billion ($1.35 per share) on revenues of more than $20 billion. Revenues grew 13%  versus Q3 2011, driven primarily by a 28% growth in revenue at …

National carrier, Singapore Airlines (SIA) has announced that it will order 25 more widebody aircraft from Airbus, comprising five A380 super jumbos and 20 A350-900s. Singapore Airline was the launch customer of the A380 in 2007, and has received all of its ordered 19 aircraft. The airline operates these aircraft to ten destinations around the world from its Singapore hub. …

On Saturday India’s civil aviation minister Ajit Singh, announced that aviation regulator, the DGCA had suspended the operating permit of Kingfisher Airlines, after the carrier failed to respond to their show-cause notice. With mountains of unpaid debts, the airline has been on life-support for some time now. Unpaid employees have been striking since October 1, resulting in a suspension of …

Talk about irony. In March this year, Dr. Dinesh Keskar and Bangalore Aviation were discussing the double digit, yet profitless growth occurring in the Indian airline industry. Less than six months later, air traffic continues its fifth consecutive month of decline. Within, just the third calendar quarter, (second quarter of the fiscal year 2012~13), air traffic plunged over 11.5%, from …

Late last week, a report published in the Business Standard suggested that India’s erstwhile Ministry of Civil Aviation may finally loosen its rules governing Air Service Agreements (ASAs – or bilateral) by removing the aircraft type clauses from such agreements and restricting only seats,  frequencies, and route pairs allowed. What this means in effect, is that there would no longer …

Cathay Pacific Airways is upgrading its daily Delhi Hong Kong service with the introduction of the airline’s new Business Class cabin and its new Premium Economy Class cabin from October 29. Cathay Pacific will operate this route with an Airbus A330-300 aircraft featuring a three-class configuration – new Business Class, Premium Economy Class and the new long-haul Economy Class seats. …

Red Bull has produced this video capsule of Sunday’s record breaking free fall of Felix Baumgartner from an altitude of 128,100 ft. or 39km above earth. This is from the stratosphere – the edge of space. See the video online here.

Austria’s Felix Baumgartner earned his place in the history books on Sunday when he jumped out of his capsule from the stratosphere at the edge of space. After spending almost two and a half hours flying in his helium filled balloon to an altitude of 39,045 meters (128,100 feet) Baumgartner broke the record for the highest free fall jump, almost …

Continuing from part 1 of the interview with the the soft spoken CEO of GoAir, Giorgio De Roni, who has quietly turned around the Wadia family promoted airline from a rock bottom position, dismal market share, and reputation for frequent cancellations, to a top performing contender in the Indian airline industry, with some of the best performance parameters in the …

For the last week or so we are overloaded with the media’s fascination about the financial troubles at Kingfisher Airlines and its flamboyant Chairman Dr. Vijay Mallya, and his less than flamboyant, and far less street smart son Sidhartha. Like the famous wild dogs of Africa, which hunts in packs, the media had descended en mass on the sorrowful suicide …

Air Traffic at the middle-east’s busiest hub experience major snarls due to the fog and loss of power to a critical runway backup system. The closures were caused this morning when reduced runway visibility. About 06:45 there was a loss of power to a critical runway backup system required to maintain runway lights during foggy conditions. While actual power was …

Low cost carrier AirAsia Japan, is commencing a flight on the busy Tokyo Narita Seoul Incheon route from October 28. The flight will be operated on an Airbus A320 aircraft in an all economy configuration with a capacity of 180 seats. Flight JW893 departs Tokyo Narita 14:15 arrives Seoul Incheon 17:00Flight JW892 departs Seoul Incheon 17:45 arrives Tokyo Narita 20:00 …

This topic this week is focussed on the Gulf region home of the fast rising behemoths Emirates, Qatar Airways, and Etihad. The last few days have been startling to say the least. From competing head-on, the airlines of the world, have accepted, nay welcomed, the Middle East Big 3 (MEB3) of Emirates, Qatar, and Etihad. A few weeks back the …

At the Directors General of Civil Aviation conference being held in New Delhi, India’s civil aviation minister, Mr. Ajit Singh said that his ministry would once again seek the help of German carrier Deutsche Lufthansa for Air India to enter (may be re-entry) the Star Alliance. In August, the world’s largest grouping of airlines had rejected the national carrier’s application …

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