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Just a little over nine months ago, Indian low fare carrier SpiceJet took delivery of its first Bombardier Q400 turbo-prop on August 26th last year, and commenced commercial flights with the aircraft on September 21st. In a recent internal publication, aircraft manufacturer Bombardier, claimed a 99.8% despatch reliability for the Q400 at SpiceJet, an enviable number considering the high and …

As the post title indicates, we’d like to introduce the Bangalore Aviation Airline Stock Average (BAASA), by our count, the first officially defined Airline Stock Index. The goal of this creation is to provide a measure of global airline financial performance, and investor sentiment about the global airline industry. In creating the index, we first picked a representative sample of …

The income tax department has frozen two of Kingfisher Airline’s bank accounts for alleged non-payment of dues. However the airline has clarified in a statement The IT department attached two of our bank accounts on May 24th which was not in accordance with the speaking order of the Hon’ble IT Appelate tribunal during the hearing. Subsequently, in a written order …

Airbus has delivered to national carrier Malaysia Airlines (MAS) the first of its ordered six Airbus A380 superjumbos. Malaysia Airlines becomes the eighth A380 carrier. The MAS A380 has 494 seats in a three class configuration with 8 seats in first class, 66 in business, and 420 in economy. The first class is in a 1-2-1 configuration and boasts the …

Late last week, reports emerged that beleaguered Indian national carrier Air India, which is in the midst of a crippling strike by its international pilots union, was in discussions with Canadian airline Air Canada to lease out 5 of Air India’s Boeing 777-200LRs to the Toronto based airline. The news broke as Air India continues to operate less than half …

Virgin Atlantic shows off the first of its “face-lifted” Boeing 747-400’s G-VROM named ‘Barbarella’. The aircraft features the new Virgin cabin interiors and new in-flight entertainment (IFE) system.

Singapore Airline’s low cost carrier Scoot revealed its livery painted on its Boeing 777-200 registered 9V-OTA. What are your thoughts? Share your views via a comment. For more images visit Scoot’s Facebook page. Images courtesy Scoot.

MSN 5000 The first Airbus A350 XWB static airframe fuselage roll-out at the A350 Final Assembly Line in Toulouse, France.

The image above shows the load factors at each of India’s airlines. Considering that Kingfisher has shrunk so much, it is surprising that their seat factor has not elevated past its pre-downsize levels. The image above shows on-time performance for April. Two interesting things to note about the data. First, Kingfisher’s OTP has come back down to earth. In earlier …

When the Indian Pilots Guild, one of two pilot unions at national carrier Air India, began a strike around 2 weeks ago, it once again illustrated the deep fallacy of the employee situation at Air India. Coming on the heels of a $5.8 bailout package over 8 years offered by the Indian government, IPG’s industrial action marks just the latest …

Open publication – Free publishing Above you can find my article in Orient Aviation India magazine (pages 9-10: reading link is http://issuu.com/orientaviation/docs/oamagindia_may12/3) on Air India Express’ hypothetical shift towards an LCC business model. Readers, what are your thoughts on Air India Express’ plan? Will you stop flying Air India Express because of these service cuts? Can this model be modified …

The newly travelling youngsters may not have the pathos, but the Maharaja of national carrier Air India is a brand cherished by most persons of my age, with ties to India. We remember, with pride, the fact that Air India was the first all jet airline in the world; one of the earliest adopters of the Boeing 747 jumbo jet …

The below mail from Jet Airways is self explanatory. So please carry your ticket prints with you. Dear Mr. Agarwal, This is to bring to your notice that effective immediately, requests received for duplicate e-ticket printouts at Airline Ticketing Offices and City Ticketing Offices in India across Jet Airways and JetKonnect will attract a fee of Rs. 50 per e-ticket (revenue …

For the last week members of the Indian Pilots Guild are causing huge losses to the national carrier Air India, by going on strike. On CNN IBN noted journalist Karan Thapar interviewed the civil aviation minister Mr. Ajit Singh. Mr. Singh was candid, agreeing to the failures of the carrier, even admitting that government had no business running any service …

Some high resolution photos of the first Airbus A380 super jumbo destined for Malaysia Airlines in the new livery.

US airframer Boeing unveiled a new dual winglet design concept for the 737 MAX. The new Advanced Technology winglet is expected to provide an additional 1.5% fuel-burn improvement, on top of the 10-12 percent improvement already offered on the new-engine variant. Compared to today’s wingtip technology, which provides up to a 4 percent fuel-burn advantage at long ranges, the Advanced Technology …

I went “huh?!?!” went we received this news. British Airways will launch six times a week flights between Seoul Incheon and London Heathrow, on 2 December 2012, and surprise, surprise, it will also be the only member of the oneworld alliance to serve the route.!!! Given the importance of London in the global area as well as Seoul, it is …

India’s Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) naval prototype took off on its first flight just a few hours ago, after many a delay. The twin seat aircraft took off a little after noon and landed about 20 minutes later. The flight was reported well with the aircraft behaving as expected. Bangalore Aviation photographer Vedant captured the aircraft as it touched down. …

German flag carrier Deutsche Lufthansa AG has confirmed the news story first broken by Bangalore Aviation yesterday, that it will operate its newest aircraft the Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental to Bangalore and New Delhi soon.The airline which took delivery of its first 747-8i just yesterday said it will commence services with flights between Frankfurt and Washington Dulles on June 1, 2012. …

Airbus has produced the first new-build A320 with Sharklets. Photographed at its roll-out in Toulouse, MSN 5098 will be one of several A320 family aircraft in the certification flight-test campaign starting in May this year and lasting around 600 flight hours.