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The Indian budget for 2011-12 has raised the cost of air travel by imposition or raising of service tax. Earlier this morning, the Indian Finance Minister, Mr. Mukherjee, announced that the service tax on air travel by economy class would be raised by Rs. 50 for domestic trips and by Rs. 250 on international. Domestic business and first class passengers …

While many are familiar with the front line air superiority fighter of the Indian Air Force (IAF) the Sukhoi Su-30MKI, the MiG-29 Baaz (meaning Hawk) has remained in relative obscurity with the public. A further development of the MiG-29 is the MiG-35 which was a contender for the 126 MMRCA tender of the IAF. India was the first international customer …

Fog and the accompanying low visibility is the bane of air travel across the world, and especially during the peak winter season in north India. The higher the category, the lower are the minima for visibility. So for a foggy Delhi, a Cat-IIIB is most suited. However it is an integrated system. i.e. to be able to land in just …

Yesterday we focussed on the highlights of the last 100 years of Indian civil aviation. Today we focus on the tragedies. We are listing the major scheduled commercial civil aviation accidents with fatalities that have occurred to Indian carriers or within the geographic confines of India. Military, non-scheduled, and private/business jet/charter aircraft are excluded or the list will be too …

In what is considered the world’s first airmail service, on 18 Feburary, 1911 the first commercial civil aviation flight in India took place in India between Allahabad and Naini, a distance of 6 miles when Henri Piquet carried 6500 mails on a Humber biplane. The first international flight to and from India commenced in December 1912, when the Indian State …

Civil Aviation minister Vayalar Ravi kicked off the centenary year celebrations at the nation’s capital New Delhi, earlier this morning. Bengaluru International Airport Limited, the airport operator of Bangalore, together with its partners and concessionaires began the celebrations with an auspicious lighting of the lamp followed by unveiling of the official Civil Aviation Centenary Year logo. The two large installations …

Tomorrow, February 17, 2011 marks the 100 year anniversary of civil aviation in India. To commemorate this milestone, the year 2011-12 has been being declared as the ‘Civil Aviation Centenary Year’. From humble beginnings, India has grown in to the ninth largest civil aviation market in the world. Airlines, airports, aircraft, and pretty much anyone connected with civil aviation in …

Three Indian airports have received awards during the 2010 annual airport service quality (ASQ) survey of Airports Council International (ACI). This year, the top five airports in the world are all from east Asia. 1) Seoul Incheon (ICN), 2) Singapore Changi (SIN), 3) Hong Kong Int’l (HKG) 4) Beijing Capital Int’l (PEK) and 5) Shanghai Pudong (PVG). As per the …

Still have about 6,000 photos to sort through. In the mean time, some more opening day photos from Vedant, a Bangalore Aviation photographer. See more of his pictures here. Click on the images for a larger view. The Saab Gripper shows off its moves.The Indian Air Force helicopter demonstration team Sarang performs the dangerous 4 aircraft cross. The sweep diameter …

Matt Cawby at Skyline Photography and author of the great Paine field blog, took this video of Air India’s fourth Boeing 787 Dreamliner VT-AND being wheeled out of the paint shop. Around the 2:00 minute mark in to the video, you will observe the Star Alliance logo just behind the Indian flag on the right side of the aircraft just …

At an interaction with the media at Aero India 2011, Chief of the Indian Air Force P.V. Naik indicated that commercial negotiations on the 126 aircraft medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) tender of the Indian Air Force, will commence in a week or two. Indicating the file was with the Ministry of Finance, he said he was expecting a decision …

Boeing India president Dr. Dinesh Keskar has announced that Boeing will deliver Air India’s first 787 Dreamliner in the fourth quarter (between October and December) 2011. The plane carries a registration VT-ANA. Pictures available here. The US airframer has been facing criticism from airlines across the world for years of delay. The launch customer, Japan’s All Nippon Airways. Air India …

From camp Aero India. It is 35 deg C in the sun and an achingly slow internet, but some initial pictures for your enjoyment. The Akash Ganga sky-jump team.The HAL built Advanced Light Helicopter leads a commando assault team.The Sepecat Jaguars deep penetration strike aircraft of the Indian Air Force.The air superiority fighter Sukhoi Su-30 MKI.The newly inducted Light Combat …

While preparations are in full swing for Aero India, I came across another gem of a piece by Ajai Shukla a noted defence analyst in India and a person who I respect for his views. Ajai, who does not mince too many words writes in today’s Business Standard newspaper, in his Broadsword column about the growing scam in the defence …

Two Eurofighter Typhoons of the Italian Air Force (tail numbers 4-5 and 36-23) arrived at the Air Force Station Yelahanka to participate in the 8th edition of the Aero India show. On the ramp at Yelahanka next to the Sukhoi Su30MKI air superiority fighter The Eurofighter is a strong contender for the $10+ billion tender for the Indian Air Force …

National carrier Air India has recorded it’s second consecutive month of operational profit. The carrier posted an operating surplus of Rs 49.48 Crores ($11.22 million) in December 2010, up from Rs 21.66 crore in November 2010. While the carrier feels this is largely due to recent efforts at improvement in efficiency parameters and adoption of better yield management strategies, most …

The Times of India newspaper published earlier today that Boeing would be bringing its 787 Dreamliner to the Aero India show due to commence next week. Sources at Boeing told Bangalore Aviation that the Times of India story was wrong. The source went on to indicate that Aero India is a defence oriented show and it did not make any …

It is official. As reported by Bangalore Aviation in June last year, Mr. Hari Marar will assume leadership of the airport operations group from Marcel Hungerbuehler, as President – Operations from March 1, 2011, at the Bengaluru International Airport Ltd. We will bring you an interview in due course with both these gentlemen. Stay tuned.

Aided by the resurgent Indian economy, improvement in global business and leisure travel, Mumbai based Jet Airways group (Jet Airways, Jet Airways Konnect, and JetLite) posted strong results for the third quarter of fiscal year 2011, which ended December 31, 2010 Profit before tax for group for the quarter increased a whopping 122% from Rs. 109.8 crore (US$ 23.6 million) …

With the addition of more aircraft in its fleet, Gurgaon based low fare carrier IndiGo, is launching seven new flights on its network taking the daily count to 221 flights across 24 domestic destinations. The airline will operate its eight daily non-stop between Delhi to Mumbai, fifth daily non-stop between Delhi to Bangalore, a second daily flight between Delhi and …