Airlines

IndiGo agrees to buy 250 A320neo in largest Airbus order

First Airbus A320neo F-WNEO MSN6101 takes off on its first flight at Toulouse Blagnac airport.

India’s largest domestic airline IndiGo, has entered in to a firm agreement with European airframer Airbus S.A.S. to procure 250 A320neo (new engine option) narrow body jetliners. This memorandum of understanding will be the largest single order in the history of Airbus by number of aircraft. Earlier to this, IndiGo has placed a 100 aircraft order for A320 classic and …

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Exclusive photos: Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner VT-ANI being retro-fitted for reliabilty

Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner VT-ANI sits forlorn with its radome removed.

Update: Oct. 14, 2014. 21:00 IST An Air India spokesperson sent us an e-mail and said “Aircraft VT-ANI is currently undergoing reliability improvement retrofit (modification) and will resume operations in November.” This is nice to hear. Can someone with subject matter expertise please explain what is the retro-fit being done? Why is this specific to only this aircraft? Why does …

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Rohit Nandan’s tenure at Air India extended for up to 10 months

EGYPTAIR CEO Sameh El Hefny, Turkish Airlines CEO Temel Kotil, Singapore Airlines CEO Choon Phong Goh, Air India CMD Rohit Nandan, Austrian Airlines CEO Jaan Albrecht and Star Alliance CEO Mark Schwab

In a smart move that should benefit the national carrier, the Government has extended the tenure of Air India’s Chairman and Managing Director, Mr. Rohit Nandan up to August 2015. As per an order issued by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet approved the extension “till August 21, 2015 or till the appointment …

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British Airways to start Boeing 787 service to Chennai

British Airways Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner G-ZBJC. Image Copyright Devesh Agarwal.

British Airways has announced that it will commence operations with it’s Boeing 787 Dreamliner to Chennai from 27th October 2014 (Monday). The service will also be upgraded to a daily direct flight from six weekly flights on the Boeing 777 as per the current schedule. After Hyderabad, Chennai will become British Airways second 787 service to India. Christopher Fordyce, Regional …

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Etihad Airways plans global flights using leased Jet Airways’ aircraft

Airline Route reports that Abu Dhabi based Etihad Airways is planning to deploy wide body A330-200s and Boeing 777-300ERs it has leased from India’s Jet Airways on flights around the world in the Winter 2014 schedule which commences from October 26th. Etihad holds a 24% share in Jet. Etihad plans to deploys Jet’s A330-200s on: Abu Dhabi – Johannesburg as …

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Etihad Airlines launches new airline alliance Etihad Airways Partners

(Left to right): Maurizio Merlo, CEO Darwin Airline; Wolfgang Prock-Schauer, CEO airberlin; James Hogan, President and CEO Etihad Airways; Cramer Ball, CEO Jet Airways; Dane Kondić, CEO Air Serbia, Manoj Papa, CEO Air Seychelles; at the launch of Etihad Airways Partners.

Abu Dhabi based Etihad Airways has unveiled a new airline alliance called Etihad Airways Partners (EAP). The alliance is initially made-up of six airlines in which the Gulf behemoth has equity stakes, though it claims to offer partnership opportunities for any airline wishing to join, even if it is part of any existing alliance such as airberlin which is a …

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AirAsia under-serves Bangalore, hub of its Indian subsidiary

AirAsia A320 9M-AHS at Penang airport.

A confusion exists on the website of AirAsia with regards to its ‘Fly-Thru’ connectivity service on flights to and from Bangalore. While the flight schedules page of the website offers the connecting service between Bangalore and domestic Malaysian destinations like Penang, Langkawi, Denpesar-Bali, to international destinations like Singapore, Sydney, Perth, and Manila, the booking page does not allow booking of …

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China Airlines receives first Boeing 777-300ER featuring “family couch” economy seat

China Airlines' first Boeing 777-300ER B-18051.

Taiwan’s China Airlines’ first Boeing 777-300ER aircraft has landed at its home base of Taipei. Line number 1227, registration B-18051 is part of a 10 aircraft order. The carrier will induct two more 777-300ERs in October and November this year. The 777-300ERs will feature a new cabin product designed by award-winning Taiwanese architect Ray Chen. China Airlines will seat 358 …

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Lufthansa to fly Airbus A380 to New Delhi from October 27

German carrier Deutsche Lufthansa has officially announced that it will fly the world’s largest passenger jetliner, the 520 seat Airbus A380 to New Delhi effective October 27, 2014. This confirms our analysis published earlier this year. Big boost in economy class seating Lufthansa currently operates its other VLA (very large aircraft) the Boeing 747-8i. Lufthansa’s A380 is configured with eight …

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Photos: Qatar Airways’ first A350-900 XWB progressing to year end delivery

Airbus A350-900 MSN6 first aircraft for launch customer Qatar Airways A7-ALA being readied in the paint hangar.

Airbus A350-900 MSN006 (manufacturer’s serial number), the first aircraft that will be delivered to launch customer Qatar Airways is proceeding through its paces for delivery by the year end. Airbus has received the EASA type certification for the A350-900 as we reported yesterday. The aircraft which will be registered A7-ALA when it enters service is seen here exiting the paint …

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Vistara gets second Airbus A320 VT-TTC, IndiGo gets A320 VT-IAS

Vistara airlines' first A320 VT-TTB.

Less than a week after the two airlines each received new Airbus A320s, both Vistara, the Tata Singapore Airlines promoted carrier, and India’s leading domestic carrier, IndiGo took delivery of new aircraft. Coincidentally both aircraft are powered with the International Aero Engines V2500 power-plants. IndiGo received Airbus A320 MSN6289 which will be registered VT-IAS. (Read our aviation humour story on …

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AirAsia reconnects Hyderabad and Kuala Lumpur

After a gap of nearly four years, Malaysia low cost carrier AirAsia returns to Hyderabad airport. The airline will commence daily services between its Kuala Lumpur hub and Hyderabad from December 8, 2014. The airline had pulled out from Hyderabad on January 11, 2011 citing high airport charges. The airline will use an ‘all night’ over-night red-eye schedule which is …

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Videos: Etihad unveils new livery on its first Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner

Etihad unveils 'Facets of Abu Dhabi' livery on its first Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner A6-BLA as it rolls out of the paint hangar at Paine Field, Everett, WA.

UAE national airline, Etihad Airways unveiled the new ‘Facets of Abu Dhabi’ livery on its first Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner a few hours ago. Here are four videos showing the time-lapse assembly and painting of the aircraft, and a 42 minute video of the unveiling ceremony itself. The aircraft looks a lot better in this video that in does in the …

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Etihad unveils ‘Facets of Abu Dhabi’ livery on first Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner

Etihad unveils 'Facets of Abu Dhabi' livery on its first Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner A6-BLA as it rolls out of the paint hangar at Paine Field, Everett, WA.

A little over a day after it unveiled its new ‘Facets of Abu Dhabi’ livery on its first Airbus A380 super jumbo, Etihad Airways unveiled the same livery on its its first Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner. Following tradition, Boeing rolled the aircraft A6-BLA, out of the Everett, Washington plant’s paint hangar close to midnight a few hours ago. Boeing follows these …

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Etihad unveils new livery ‘Facets of Abu Dhabi’ on its first Airbus A380

Etihad 'Facets of Abu Dhabi' livery on its first Airbus A380.

Abu Dhabi based Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), has unveiled its new ‘Facets of Abu Dhabi’ livery created by brand consultants Landor Associates for the airline. The new livery inspired by traditional Emirati design patterns, and the geometric style of the modern architecture of Abu Dhabi, features the colours and hues of the Arab …

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Air Pegasus takes delivery of its first plane, former Kingfisher Airlines ATR72

ATR72-212A(500) MSN699 as Kingfisher Airlines VT-KAA.

Bangalore based Air Pegasus has reportedly taken delivery of its first aircraft, an ATR72-500 which was originally leased and operated by Vijay Mallya promoted Kingfisher Airlines. The aircraft is configured in an all-economy class with 66 seats. The aircraft returns back home in a manner of sorts. This aircraft bears airframe number MSN 699 (manufacturer’s serial number) and was first …

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Singapore Airlines and Air New Zealand alliance code-share flights on sale now

Star Alliance members Singapore Airlines and Air New Zealand who announced an alliance in February, will launch their flights under the alliance from January 6, 2015. Tickets for their code-share flights are on sale now. The alliance will see the two airlines operating one daily round-trip flight each, between Singapore and Auckland, and Singapore Airlines operating a daily flight between …

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Air India and Air Canada enter in to code-share agreement

(l-r) Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr, Air India CMD Rohit Nandan, Air Canada CEO Calin Rovinscu and Star Alliance CEO Mark Schwab. Lufthansa acted as mentor to assist Air India through the Star alliance joining process. Mr Rovinescu chairs the Star Alliance’s Chief Executive Board.

While not officially announced, it appears Air India (airline code AI) and Air Canada (airline code AC) have entered in to a code-share agreement to place their airline codes on certain flights of operated by each other. Both the airlines are members of the Star alliance, and reflects for recently joined Air India, the first tangible benefits of joining the …

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IndiGo getting ready to please the IAS with its next plane

IndiGo Airbus A320-232(SL) VT-IFK with Sharklets.

As we head in to the weekend, a bit of tongue in cheek aviation humour. India’s largest domestic airline IndiGo has been inducting Airbus A320 aircraft on a regular schedule averaging about one a month. The last aircraft to join the fleet was VT-IAR, delivered on September 22. The civil servants of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) will be pleased …

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BREAKING NEWS: Vistara’s new Airbus A320 arrives at New Delhi today

Vistara airlines' first A320 VT-TTB.

The first aircraft of the Tata Singapore Airlines joint venture airline, Vistara will arrive at New Delhi this evening around 17:00 local time. The aircraft MSN6223 (manufacturer’s serial number) will be registered as VT-TTB. The aircraft took off on its first flight on July 11, and was delivered yesterday at Tolouse Blagnac airport in France. The delivery flight flew to …

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