Monthly Archives: May 2014

Photos: Singapore Airlines A380 receives water cannon salute at Delhi

Singapore Airlines A380 9V-SKB arrives at New Delhi IGI airport on first scheduled commercial A380 service to India.

Hats off to the team at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi airport who recovered from a violent storm barely three hours before the first scheduled commercial A380 service to India landed. The airport become the first in the country to receive the the world鈥檚 largest passenger aircraft, the A380. The second A380 ever delivered, Singapore Airlines’ 9V-SKB touched down on runway 11, …

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Five aircraft damaged and one person killed in Delhi airport storm

Air India Airbus A330-200 VT-IWA Wing view. Photo copyright Devesh Agarwal.

A violent storm that hit New Delhi left a trail of destruction and death at the city’s Indira Gandhi airport earlier this afternoon. As per information received, one person lost their life and at least two other have sustained critical injuries including loss of a limb(s) in a sudden storm that occurred around 5pm in the afternoon. Wind of about …

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#NamasteA380. Live video stream of Singapore Airlines A380 arriving at Delhi

In about 45 minutes, Singapore Airlines will land the first scheduled commercial service using the world’s largest passenger aircraft the A380 at New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi airport scheduled for 20:05 (14:35 UTC). There is a live streaming from Delhi of this event. From 19:45 (7:45pm) onwards you can view the feed on Delhi airport’s Youtube channel.

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Analysis: Air India misses turnaround targets by 25%, posts Rs.5000 crore loss

As per a report in The Economic Times, national carrier Air India has missed its financial performance targets by a huge margin. The airline agreed to these targets with the government in order to receive a whopping Rs.30,000 crore ($6 billion at the time) tax-payer funded bailout. The national carrier already saddled with debts exceeding Rs.40,000 crore ($6.8 billion) has …

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#Namaste A380 Airbus’ marketing factoids on A380

Singapore Airlines A380-800 9V-SKD. Image copyright Devesh Agarwal

New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi and Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji airports have readied themselves to receive India’s first scheduled commercial A380 superjumbo service later this evening, operated by Singapore Airlines. DIAL the Delhi airport operator is running a special hashtag on Twitter #NamasteA380. The airframe manufacturer Airbus S.A.S. has released some factoids on the superjumbo. It is interesting to see how Airbus …

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Lufthansa upgrades Frankfurt Chennai flight to new business class

Lufthansa new business class full flat seat

German carrier Lufthansa has finally upgraded its Chennai Frankfurt flights to the new business class with full-flat seats. The flight is operated with an Airbus A340-300 aircraft. Coincidentally, the carrier also celebrates its 20th anniversary of operating flights to Chennai. The new Lufthansa business class seat features a full-flat horizontal sleeping surface measuring 6.5 feet in length in an innovative …

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Emirates introduces A380 to Mumbai, ups capacity to Delhi and Hyderabad

Dubai-based Emirates airline has moved swiftly to capitalise on the recent 11,000 seat per week increase in allocation to Dubai carriers and announced an up-gauge of one of its six services to Mumbai to an Airbus A380 superjumbo. Mumbai will be the 28th destination for the gulf-giant which is the world’s largest A380 operator. Effective July 21, EK 500 and …

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Tech Tuesdays: Are Boeing 777-200LRs “fuel guzzlers”?

Air India Boeing 777-237LR VT-ALF Jharkand at New Delhi IGI airport. Photo copyright Vedant Agarwal, all rights reserved. Used with permission.

Air India ordered for eight Boeing 777-200LRs in 2005, along with 15 Boeing 777-300ERs. The first 777-200LR arrived in the July of 2007, and all eight were delivered by end of August, 2009. Barely six and a half years later, the first five Boeing 777s have been sold to Etihad, at a “throwaway” price, because Air India felt that the …

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Videos of Asiana Airlines’ new A380 – from production to delivery

Asiana Airlines first Airbus A380 HL7625. Photo copyright Airbus S.A.S.

Airbus delivered to Korea’s Asiana Airlines the airline’s first A380 superjumbo yesterday. We present a series of five videos for your enjoyment on this aircraft registration HL7625. Above is the “best of” video highlighting the special delivery ceremony in Toulouse, France which included a performance by two young Korean musicians living in France, along with a dance presentation symbolising the …

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Etihad received over $3 billion in secret funding from royal family: news report

Etihad Airways Boeing 777-300ER A6-ETK London Heathrow

As per a report in the Australian newspaper Sydney Morning Herald, Abu-Dhabi based Etihad Airways PJSC received massive financial support from the royal family ruling Abu Dhabi which also owns the airline via the state. This contradicts long standing denials. Fairfax Media has obtained confidential documents, prepared for potential financiers, showing the airline had access to over $3 billion (Rs.18,000 …

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Earn double and triple miles on Air France and KLM

Air France-KLM a member of the Skyteam alliance has announced a special double and triple mileage earning offer for its frequent flyer members. Air France KLM – Flying Blue Ivory Members offer Flying Blue existing and new members of Air France KLM will get an opportunity to earn double award miles this summer. The offer applies to marketed flight segments …

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Air Canada receives its first Boeing 787 Dreamliner

Air Canada's first Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner.

National carrier Air Canada received the first of its 37 ordered Boeing 787-8 Dreamliners, C-GPHQ. The delivery flight from Paine Field, was met at Toronto’s Pearson airport with the traditional water cannon salute. [bsu_youtube_advanced url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxhNSdoyIJU” width=”620″ height=”360″ controls=”alt” autohide=”yes” showinfo=”no” rel=”no” modestbranding=”yes” theme=”light”] Air Canada intends to deploy the 787 to Tel Aviv and to Tokyo Haneda. Unlike most other …

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Spicejet posts highest annual loss in its history of Rs. 1,003 crore

Gurgaon-based budget carrier SpiceJet Ltd., announced an annual loss of Rs. 1,003 crore for fiscal year ending on March 31, 2014. This is the biggest loss in the carrier’s history and represents a five fold increase compared to Rs. 191 crore loss reported last year. Loss for the fourth quarter was Rs. 321 crore up from a loss of Rs. …

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Video: Qatar Airways Boeing 777-300ER being painted in FC Barcelona livery

Qatar Airways Boeing 777-300ER A7-BAE in special FC Barcelona livery arrives at El Prat airport Barcelona Spain.

This year Qatar Airways is a sponsor of FC Barcelona. To celebrate, the airline has painted one of its Boeing 777-300ERs in a special livery celebrating the soccer club. Enjoy this time lapse video. [bsu_youtube_advanced url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iL-al-C1lM” width=”620″ height=”360″ controls=”alt” autohide=”yes” showinfo=”no” rel=”no” modestbranding=”yes” theme=”light”]

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Air India officials want minister to do their jobs

Virtually everyone in the industry, including Air Indians, complain about the excessive interference by the ministry in the day-to-day operational issues of the airline instead of focussing on broad-based industry oriented issues like a comprehensive civil aviation policy or a strong regulator which would have prevented India’s safety status be downgraded, etc. Yet, going by a media report in The …

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Questions for the hypocritical Air India cabin crew union

The fact that the cabin crew and their unions are a law unto themselves running roughshod over national carrier Air India is a well known fact. The political power and connections of the crew and its union is demonstrated by the fact that the airline management meekly submits to them, and terminations are practically non-existent even in the most glaring …

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Airports get proactive following Saudi and UAE virus outbreak

A report in the the Mint news paper is highlighting precautions being taken at Indian airports to address the threat of new virus that is spreading across the middle-east and gulf regions. The Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) has been reported primarily from the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, two areas where there is a significant Indian diaspora, …

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Through the lens: our photo tribute to the Airbus A300

Etihad Airways Crystal Cargo Airbus A300-600F freighter TF-ELF

In continuation of our article on the 40th anniversary of world鈥檚 first twin-engined widebody airplane, the Airbus A300, Bangalore Aviation has compiled a small gallery of photos of various Airbus A300’s we have captured over the years, as our tribute celebrating this pioneering aircraft. Passenger A300s 9K-AMA聽is a 22 year old Airbus A300B4-605R operating for Kuwait Airways, it is powered …

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Tech Tuesdays: Fuel planning: How much must you carry?

This article deals with how much fuel an airplane must carry, and why it mustn’t carry too much of it. Safety in aviation is primarily due to enforceable regulations and requirements that provide sufficient safety margins. One such requirement is the minimum fuel to be carried on board the aircraft. How much? Let’s assume a Bangalore – Delhi flight on …

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Senior IndiGo pilots leave to join Tata-SIA

The pilots’ under-ground network is abuzz with news of some senior level exits from India’s largest domestic airline, IndiGo, to the new airline being floated by the Tata-Singapore Airlines joint venture. Three senior captains, one A320 type rating instructor pilot (typically a captain with over 10,000 hours flight experience), and two check pilots (pilots who supervise route-check flights to certify …

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