Monthly Archives: July 2019

Air France orders upto 120 A220’s. Will retire the A380

Air France has announced that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Airbus for 60 A220-300 aircraft. The deal also includes an additional 30 options and 30 acquisition rights which could potentially see an order of 120 aircraft. The aircraft are planned to be delivered from September 2021 and will replace the airline’s existing A218 and A319 fleet …

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IndiGo to begin flights to Vietnam

Indigo Airbus A320neo VT-ITK. Image copyright Vedant Agarwal.

India’s largest carrier, Indigo will begin flights to Hanoi, Vietnam from Kolkata on 3 October 2019. Hanoi will be the carrier’s 19th international (5th Southeast Asian) destination. William Boulter, Chief Commercial Officer, IndiGo “It is truly a very special moment for all of us at IndiGo as it is the first route connecting Kolkata to Hanoi. This milestone reflects our …

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Ethiopian Airlines to begin flights to Bangalore

Ethiopian Airlines will begin operating flights from its base at Addis Ababa to Bangalore from 27 October 2019. The African carrier will operate the flight using a Boeing 737. Ethiopian already operates passenger flights to India with twice dailies to Mumbai on the Airbus A350 and to Delhi on the Boeing 767. The Bangalore flight will depart Addis Ababa at …

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Emirates to add a fourth flight from Bangalore from October

Emirates Boeing 777-200ER. Copyright Vedant Agarwal.

Middle eastern carrier Emirates will begin operating a fourth flight from Bangalore to Dubai. The flight will be a mid-morning departure and will be operates three times a week – on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. It is scheduled to be operated by a Boeing 777-200LR and will bring Emirates from 21 to 24 flights from Bangalore weekly. The service will …

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Feature: Lessons in customer service from Jet Airways and Vistara

The current crew uniform of Tata SIA Airlines. Image copyright Devesh Agarwal. Used with permission.

Flying has captured the imagination of the human mind for centuries. Way before the Wright Brothers gave us wings. What was once considered a luxury is now the means to an end for over 8 million people everyday. The advent of Low Cost airlines has stripped flying of its frills and made it even more accessible. Yet, boarding an aircraft …

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Indigo Q1FY20 results: the greatest quarter in Indian aviation?

IndiGo ATR72-600 VT-IYA. Photo by Vedant Agarwal. Copyright. Do not re-use.

Indigo reported its Q1FY20 results on Friday. With a profit of INR 1203 crore it is the highest net profit for any airline in Indian aviation. The airline looked good on all metrics ranging from financial to strategic and operational. Interestingly, while this quarter was indeed driven by the collapse of Jet Airways, Indigo’s contention is that this did not …

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GoAir to announce Bangkok and Dubai flights. Appoints new COO.

GoAir Airbus A320 VT-WAI lands at Mumbai airport. Photo by Devesh Agarwal.

Go Airlines has called a press conference on July 18th, 2019. The note to press indicates that it is “to share expansion plans.” As the airline is without a Chief Executive Officer, the event will be handled by their vice-president for airports, marketing and network. The airline has just appointed Miranda Mills, an executive with 25 years of experience in …

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Analysis: The battle for control at Indigo

Indigo Airbus A320neo VT-ITK. Image copyright Vedant Agarwal.

Indigo seems to have encountered severe turbulence as the fight between the co-founders has now become very public. There have been accusations, counters and name-calling. The issues highlighted range from related party transactions (RPTs) to those of governance. And for an airline that now flies one in every two passengers in the Indian skies, is on a solid financial footing, …

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Vistara to begin international flights to Singapore

Full service carrier Vistara (Tata-SIA) has announced that it will begin its first international routes to Singapore from Mumbai and New Delhi. The airline will operate a daily flight from Delhi and Mumbai starting 6 and 7 August 2019 respectively. Vistara will operate these flights with Boeing 737-800s in a two-class cabin configuration. Flights between Delhi (DEL) and Singapore (SIN) …

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What if Air India does not attract any buyers? What then?

Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner line number 35 test registered N1015 (later became VT-ANH) at the India Aviation show, Hyderabad March 2012. Photo copyright Devesh Agarwal.

Military aviator and strategist John Boyd famously said, “If you want to understand something, take it to the extremes or examine its opposites.” Applied in the context of Air India, this becomes particularly interesting. That is, at a point of time where everyone seems to be convinced that the airline will be sold off, to understand the situation fully one …

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Airbus orders and deliveries – June 2019. Paris delivers an order boost.

Airbus closed the first half of 2019 by adding 145 orders to its order book in June. As expected the slew of orders from the Paris Air Show pushed the European manufacturers net orders for the year into the black, with a net positive of 88 aircraft. The Paris Air Show saw Airbus launch the A321XLR for which the manufacturer …

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Saudi Flyadeal backs out of 737 MAX order

Suadi Arabian low cost carrier Flyadeal is backing out of a provisional $5.9 billion order for 50 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft. The low cost subsidiary began of flag-carrier Sudia began operations in 2017 and currently operates an all Airbus fleet of A320s. In December 2018, the airline placed a provisional order for 30 firm orders and 20 options of the …

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Analysis: Indian Aviation Budget 2019

For the aviation stakeholders, the budget was heavy on prose and lacking in numbers. A government that came in with a decisive mandate was expected to deliver on bold reforms. Yet, given that the tax revenues are declining and ambitious social sector schemes continuing, aviation once again saw token allocations and scant consideration. 5 key areas were highlighted: 1. Air …

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Technical issue forces British Airways Bangalore flight to return to London

British Airways Boeing 777-200ER G-YMMU

A British Airways Boeing 777-200ER registration G-YMMU, operating flight BA119 from London Heathrow to Bangalore Kempegowda airport returned to London Heathrow airport soon after take-off due to a technical issue. The cause of the issue is being investigated by the engineers, and no determination on what caused the issue has been made as of the time of this report. The …

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Indigo hikes cancellation and change fees across the board

Indigo Airbus A320neo VT-ITK. Image copyright Vedant Agarwal.

In a surprise move, Indigo announced an increase in cancellation and change fees. These will be effective as of June 27th. The airline added that for domestic bookings, customers can make any changes or cancellations free of charge within 24 hours of booking, if booked at least 7 days before the travel dates. This is largely to comply with the …

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