Tag Archives: Airbus

As analysed by Bangalore Aviation last week, Kingfisher Airlines formally announced the commencement of daily flights on the New Delhi – London route from the start of the summer 2010 schedule i.e. March 28. The schedule is designed to take fullest advantage of the fact that today Kingfisher operates its highest number of flights from New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International …

German carrier Lufthansa has a practice of naming all its aircraft after locations in Germany. Spiegel has released a photograph of Lufthansa’s first Airbus A380-800 superjumbo D-AIMA, and it appears that the German carrier is naming its soon to be inducted aircraft after its home base “Frankfurt am Main”.

Airbus has successfully completed cold-weather testing of the A330-200F in Iqaluit, Northern Canada. The aircraft was subjected to ‘cold-soak’ temperatures down to -30 degrees Celsius (-22 deg F) externally and to -27 deg C (-16.6 deg F) internally.

2010 is the 40th anniversary of the commencement of commercial operations of the venerable Boeing 747 ‘jumbo jet’. On this anniversary Flightglobal has put together an excellent historical perspective on the Boeing 747 which is well worth a read. Also do take the time to read Bangalore Aviation’s historical perspective on the 40 year old rivalry between Boeing and Airbus …

As per the GDS, Singapore Airlines will introduce its new Airbus A330-300 aircraft (cabin images with iPod support here) on the Singapore Kolkata sector from July 2, 2010. It is a smart move by the carrier. Its A330s have the same two class (business and economy) configuration as the Boeing 777-200s it currently operates to Kolkata and Ahmedabad, but the …

News channels are reporting that a passenger aboard a plane at Detroit Metropolitan Airport set off firecrackers aboard Northwest/Delta flight 253 from Amsterdam, Netherlands, to Detroit, MI, USA, an Airbus A330-300, causing a commotion and some minor injuries. News reports quoting Delta spokeswoman Susan Elliott the flight carrying 278 passengers, had just arrived in Detroit when the incident took place …

Airbus Military’s all-new A400M took off for its maiden flight from Seville Airport in Spain from runway 09 at 10:15 local time (09:15Z). In line with the extreme delays on this program even the first flight was delayed by 15 minutes. At the controls was Chief Test Pilot Military, Edward “Ed” Strongman, 60, with Experimental Test Pilot Ignacio “Nacho” Lombo, …

Over the 24 hours a string of aviation incidents have come to light across India. One is a minor mistake with major reaction, and one which can be only described as outright reckless. 1. Jet Airways. VT-JGC. On 20th October, a Jet Airways Boeing 737-900 registration VT-JGC performing flight 9W 332 from New Delhi Indira Gandhi International to Mumbai Chhatrapati …

Last Saturday we got a “heads-up” that Capt. Gopinath’s new cargo airline Deccan 360 had sent one of it freighters to Bangalore for flying practice. At the old HAL airport we caught VT-AIO doing touch and go’s. This plane commenced it’s career as 9V-STE with Singapore Airlines in 1994. In 2005 it was leased to Air India and was re-registered …

Bahrain based Gulf Air had suspended it’s Bahrain Bangalore service in March this year. It resumed the service recently on October 24, and the resumption reached an unhappy situation last night. A driver of Gulf Air’s ground handling agent GlobeGround India drove his step-ladder in to the rear horizontal stabiliser of their Airbus A320-212 registration A9C-EN, damaging and grounding the …

Toulouse, France based Airbus S.A.S. has commenced the Dubai Air Show 2009 with a slew of orders. Ethiopian Airlines has today ordered 12 Airbus A350 XWB aircraft, bringing total orders for the A350 XWB family to 505. The airline will operate the A350s from their hub in Addis Ababa on routes to Europe, the US and Asia. Luxury charter company …

Airbus has launched its version of the large wingtip devices called “Sharklet” for the A320 family. These devices are very similar looking to the AVP winglets found on the Boeing 737NG family. Airbus A320 “Sharklets” with CFM engines Offered as a forward-fit option, Sharklets are specially designed to enhance the eco-efficiency and payload-range performance of the A320 Family of aircraft …

Following recent successful development testing, “Brake-To-Vacate” (BTV) and “Runway Overrun Warning and Prevention” (ROW/ROP) have both been approved and certified for the Airbus A380 by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). BTV is an Airbus innovation in pilot aid to ease airport congestion and improve runway turnaround time, and ROW/ROP addresses runway excursion risk at landing. Both BTV and ROW/ROP …

I am frequently asked “what is the joying of spotting?” to which I reply “each aircraft has a history and a story to tell. At first glance there is nothing out of the ordinary about this photo of Srilankan Airlines Airbus A320-232 registration 4R-ABH arriving at Bangalore. This is the ONLY -232 in the UL fleet. So what? one might …

The new dedicated Freighter variant of the Airbus A330 Family, the A330-200F took to the skies today for a four hour maiden flight over Toulouse, France, marking the start of a 180 hour flight-test and certification campaign, prior to delivery to launch operator, Etihad Crystal Cargo, in the summer of 2010. The new A330-200F is designed as a medium sized …

We were leaving for the day and something made me look up. Along came this Indigo Airlines plane and I scrambled to get my camera and take this picture. This is IndiGo’s newest aircraft VT-IGH, having joined the fleet just last month. The IGx series of registrations from A-G have been taken up by the Indira Gandhi flight academy. Click …

In what is sure to be a lavish ceremony Toulouse, France head-quartered Airbus S.A.S. will deliver to French national airline Air France the carrier’s first A380 superjumbo registration F-HPJA MSN033 at Hamburg, Germany. The A380 features the new livery of Air France which was unveiled earlier this year, but F-HPJA will not be the first aircraft to wear the new …

Image courtesy Airbus S.A.S. Click on image for a high res view. The first A330-200 Freighter test registration F-WWYE MSN 1004 was revealed as it emerged from the paint shop in St. Martin in Toulouse in preparation for the flightline. The aircraft should be handed over to the Airbus flight-test department in about 10 days and the maiden flight is …

This edition of Smokin Touchdowns consists of new Airbus A320 aircraft from two of India’s low fare carriers–A320-214 VT-WAJ of GoAir and A320-232 VT-INZ which till early September was IndiGo airline’s newest. Click on the images to visit the Bangalore Aviation Flickr site for a larger view. To see more Smokin Touchdowns, click here.