Unusual images: Srilankan Airlines A320 returns home to Bangalore

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 ask.

This airframe MSN 2914 was first delivered in late 2006 to the erstwhile Bangalore based Air Deccan, as VT-ADS.

Air Deccan was acquired by and merged in to Kingfisher Airlines. For a brief period VT-ADS operated as the "Simplifly Deccan" brand of Kingfisher before being returned to the lessor and parked in Phoenix. (Photo courtesy Sean D'Silva)

In March this year, MSN 2914 was leased to Srilankan Airlines and registered 4R-ABH.

In September, Srilankan Airlines received a major boost when Kingfisher Airlines withdrew its Bangalore Colombo service, thus prompting VT-ADS to return back home to Bangalore, this time as 4R-ABH.

It is just nice how the dots connect up.

Have a great weekend and thanks for visiting Bangalore Aviation.

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Emirates expands capacity to Bangkok, Sydney, Manila and Jakarta

Dubai based Emirates airlines is undertaking a major expansion of it's capacity adding 17 flights per week to Bangkok, Sydney, Manila and Jakarta. This represents a massive 13% increase in seat capacity and takes the airline's operations up to 187 flight per week.

Starting December 2009, Emirates will introduce a fourth daily service to Bangkok, a third daily service to Sydney, two additional flights to Manila and one additional service to Jakarta.

Bangkok
Emirates’ fourth daily service to Bangkok comes into effect on 2nd December operated by a state-of-the-art Boeing 777-300 in a three class configuration (12 First, 42 Business and 310 Economy Class seats).

An additional 161 tonnes of cargo capacity introduced per week per direction will be introduced on the route.

Sydney
Starting 2nd December, Sydney will receive its third-daily Emirates flight on Mondays, Wednesday, Fridays and Sundays. The service will be stepped up to cover Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays with effect from 2nd January 2010, bringing Emirates’ weekly capacity to 70 flights. Emirates will take on the European heavyweights since the flight’s departure from Sydney has been timed to offer ‘same day service’ to Europe – one of Australia’s key outbound markets. The new flight offers Sydneysiders the opportunity to have breakfast in Sydney, lunch in Dubai and dinner in Europe.

The additional services combined with Emirates’ recent interline agreement with Virgin Blue offering convenient domestic connections within Australia extended the airline's footprint to interior cities of Australia.

Manila
In December Emirates will enhance its existing EK 332 service to Manila to include Thursdays, and EK 334 to include Mondays. Post expansion the operation will grow from 12 flights a week to 14 flights or a double-daily service on every day of the week. The additional flights will be operated by a Boeing 777-300ER aircraft offering 42 Business and 400 Economy Class seats, as well as 16.7 tonnes of cargo capacity.

Jakarta
The Indonesian capital city will receive an additional Emirates service with effect from 6th December, bringing its total operation to 11 flights per week. The service will operate to Jakarta every Sunday, returning to Dubai the following day. The ultra-modern Emirates' Boeing 777-300ER aircraft in a two-class configuration of 42 Business and 400 Economy will be used.

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Photos: Airbus A330-200F freighter first flight

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 medium range freighter in two different operational configurations carrying 64 metric tonnes over 4,000 nautical miles or 7,400km, or 69 metric tonnes up to 3,200 nautical miles or 5,930km - non-stop.

In a clear poke at the delays in the 787 program at competitor Boeing, the Airbus A330-200F features the slogan "the right aircraft, right now" on it's fuselage.

The aircraft has already gained 67 firm orders with nine customers, and has a memorandum of understanding with Turkish THY Airlines for two more.

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Aircraft spotting: Unusual images - Diarrhoea aboard Malaysia Airlines Boeing 737-800

On October 29th I was very surprised to see this Malaysia Airlines Boeing 737-800 departing for Kuala Lumpur in the evening, since the flight is scheduled around 01:00 at night.

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We were informed that the Captain suffered a severe case of diarrhoea while operating the incoming flight. Since the flight between Kuala Lumpur and Bangalore is just a little over three hours, the crew operates the return leg too. The Captain was unable to perform his duties and the flight had to be delayed till he recuperated and was strong enough.

I am not going to comment about airline food.

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Aircraft spotting: Unusual images - Russian foreign minister on Ilyushin IL-96-300PU

On October 29th Bangalore hosted a tri-lateral summit on terrorism between the foreign ministers of Russia, China, and India.

Russian foreign minister then departed for Moscow on Rossiya Airlines presidential fleet Ilyushin Il-96-300PU.

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UPS releases Mobile app for iPhone

UPS has released an iPhone based application for tracking and managing shipments on the road.

The UPS Mobile App for iPhone offers the following features.

• Track - See recent tracks and assign shipment nicknames, when you log-in with your My UPS ID. Or track by number with no log-in required.
• Ship - Log-in with your My UPS ID to access address book, payment info, and other preferences from ups.com. Create shipping labels, then email, and print.
• Location - Find the nearest UPS service locations, powered by the iPhone's GPS.
• Quote - Estimate shipment costs and delivery times.

For shipping and advanced tracking features a My UPS ID login is required. The ID is only available at the main UPS site and not on the iPhone app.

The UPS Mobile App works with iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS and iPod Touch® devices running 3.0 software or later. The UPS Mobile App can be used over voice or Wi-Fi connections.

For non iPhone users, UPS has a light weight mobile site.

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Aircraft spotting: Unusual images - Indigo airline's newest Airbus A320-232 VT-IGH

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.

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Aircraft spotting: Unusual images - Air India Boeing 747-400

The last month of airplane has been eventful to say the least. This week we feature unusual or rare aircraft and events from Bangalore.

Memories of Air India always invoke visions of The Maharajah, and no aircraft in the Air India fleet symbolises it better than the Boeing 747. Air India was one of the earliest adopters of the Jumbo Jet, and my first memories of flying was in 1972 from Bombay (now Mumbai) to New Delhi on board its first Boeing 747-200B named Emperor Ashoka, registration VT-EBD.

Air India used to fly a 747 to Bangalore almost 10 years ago, but it was replaced by an Airbus A310, and then Bangalore became the exclusive domain of the erstwhile Indian Airlines which even today operates its international services from Bangalore using an Airbus A319.

There was a buzz of excitement when on October 27th, Air India brought in its Boeing 747-400 Ajanta, registration VT-ESP on a special charter to transport pilgrims performing the Haj.

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