Monthly Archives: February 2020

Exclusive: Picture of Vistara’s first 787 landing at Delhi

Vistara's first 787-9 lands at New Delhi airport. Photo by Yash Kumar (TeamAviationIndia).

Vistara has taken delivery of its first Boeing 787 Dreamliner. The aircraft VT-TSD is the first Boeing 787-9 to be operated by an Indian airline. The aircraft departed from Paine Field Everett at 09.40 local times yesterday and landed at New Delhi airport at 14.56 local time with a light time of 15 hours and 46 minutes. Following familiarisation flights, …

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British Airways to start a second Bangalore flight

British Airways Boeing 777-200ER G-VIIA

British flag carrier British Airways is adding an additional three weekly flights to Bangalore. The airline currently operates a daily flight using the newest aircraft in their fleet the Airbus A350-1000 which features the airline’s brand new business class suites. The new flights will begin in April 2020 and be operated using the airline’s three-class Boeing 777-200s. Time-table for British …

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Analysis: What prompted Virgin Atlantic to launch flights from Manchester to New Delhi?

Britain鈥檚 other major carrier, Virgin Atlantic, rather unexpectedly, announced a seasonal, thrice-weekly service between Manchester and New Delhi starting Winter 2020. The new service will begin from the 26th of October 2020 operating on Monday, Thursday and Saturday on an ex-Air Berlin A330-200 aircraft. Virgin Atlantic added four of these aircraft to its fleet starting March 2018 to deal with …

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American Airlines and Qatar Airways end their feud, sign code-share agreement

Qatar Airways and American Airlines Sign Strategic Partnership Deal and Codeshare Agreement

American Airlines had a code-share agreement with Qatar Airways which it terminated in 2017 claiming unfair government subsidies to the Gulf carrier Both airlines are members of the oneworld alliance Both airlines remain tight-lipped on what developments caused the rapprochement oneworld alliance members American Airlines and Qatar Airways appear to have buried the hatchet and put aside their disputes to …

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Repairing and retaining brand Air India will challenge any buyer

The Air India ramp at Mumbai CSMI Airport. Photo by and copyright Devesh Agarwal.

As the government of India attempts to privatise Air India, media reports suggest the second time around is seeing renewed interest. Reports also indicate the government is keen the Air India brand is retained post any sale. One can see why. The airline is still India’s national carrier and the brand has a high recall value and familiarity quotient. Despite …

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Air Italy to suspend operations on 25th February, to be liquidated

The announcement by the owners of Air Italy that it will suspend operations on 25th February brought to an end the short-lived resurrection of the airline that was founded in 1963 and flew by the names of Meridiana, Meridiana Fly and Air Italy under various ownership structures over the years. Qatar Airways, which picked up a 49% stake in the …

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SpiceJet Q3FY20 results analysis: Has rapid expansion hurt the airline?

SpiceJet Bombardier Q400 Dash 8 VT-SUB lands at Kempegowda airport Bangalore. Photo by Vedant Agarwal. All rights reserved.

February 14th saw SpiceJet report its third-quarter results. The airline reported a profit of INR 78.2 crores but we believe the results warrant closer examination. This because of the Boeing 737MAX grounding and the fact that compensation that has been recorded but not yet received by SpiceJet significantly contributed to this result. Additionally, in looking at the operational numbers, it …

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Analysis: American launches Bangalore – Seattle and Alaska joins OneWorld

American Airlines announced new nonstop service from Seattle to Bengaluru as part of a broader move to turn Seattle into an international gateway. American will also deepen its relationship with US regional carrier Alaska Airlines (the largest airline in Seattle by passengers carried) with a widespread codeshare agreement and the addition of Alaska to the OneWorld global airline alliance. The …

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Are Airlines Overreacting to the Coronavirus?

Earlier this week, the US government began implementing new rules for travel from China in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak. The US has already issued a level 4 advisory urging residents to avoid outbound travel to China. Additionally, flights from China will be contained to seven airports (New York JFK, Chicago O’Hare, San Francisco, Seattle, Atlanta, Honolulu, and Los …

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What the budget 2020 holds for Indian aviation

As the finance minister presented the Budget this Saturday expectations were that there would be some announcements related to aviation. This because of sections on the economic survey and also the fact that last year鈥檚 budget speech had laid out a vision towards India entering the aircraft financing and leasing market; the divestment of Air India; consideration for re-examining foreign …

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