Vedant Agarwal

A frequent flyer for both work and pleasure - Vedant has held elite status on many of the major alliances and airlines. Also an avid aviation photographer, his pictures have been published in and on the covers of many international publications.

Inflight Review: Air Pegasus ATR 72: Bangalore-Madurai-Bangalore

Air Pegasus ATR 72-500 VT-APA.

[bsu_note note_color=”#affbcd” text_color=”#070707″ radius=”4″] Alert August 3, 2016 The review below was conducted over a year ago. For updated passenger experiences, please read the comments of fellow readers below the article.[/bsu_note]   Last Friday (26th June), I was invited by new regional carrier Air Pegasus on their inaugural flight from Bangalore to Madurai. Air Pegasus is currently the newest airline …

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Video: Preview of 787-9 display at Paris 2015

American airframer Boeing, has produced a video of one of it’s new 787-9 Dreamliners destined for Vietnam airlines performing a rehearsal of the aircraft’s display for the Pair Airshow which begins next week. The video is filmed above Moses Lake, Washington, and spotlights technical maneuvers that showcase some of the airplane’s capabilities.

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Boeing begins assembling the first 737 MAX

American airframer Boeing has tarted building the first 737 MAX. Last week, the company started to assemble the wings, which are the first 737 components to be assembled in the Renton production process for the first 737 MAX flight test airplane. Machine operators loaded 737 MAX wing skin panels and stringers into the new panel assembly line that uses automation …

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Singapore Airlines unveils SG50 livery on it’s A380

One of the two Airbus A380's painted into the special SG50 paint scheme.

Singapore Airlines has painted two of it’s Airbus A380’s in a special livery for the island nations Golden Jubilee celebration. The livery features the Singapore flag on both sides of the aircraft and the official SG50 logo on the two inboard engines. The first aircraft in the special scheme is 9V-SKI is expected to be in service from early June …

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Indigo introduces live chat for instant web support

Low cost carrier IndiGo has introduces a web chat support line called “6E chat”, the service allows users to chat online with the IndiGo staff at its call centre. The 6E chat feature is running on the IndiGo website. At the moment we have only found access to 6E chat from the contact us page on the airlines website. Aditya …

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Through the lens: Lufthansa Retro Livery and more

Lufthansa Boeing 747-8i D-ABYT in the "retro livery"

Late last night we got a heads up from friends in Germany that Lufthansa was operating their retro liveried Boeing 747-8i to Bangalore today morning. So of-course there we were at our spotting location at 1 AM waiting for it to arrive. The aircraft is D-ABYT, named Köln is the 1,513th Boeing 747 to be produced and is painted in …

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Bangalore Airport salutes the Father of Indian Aviation

AirAsia India Airbus A320 VT-JRT, crossing the water cannon salute. AirAsia Image.

Air Asia India’s fourth Airbus A320 named “The Pioneer” which bears bears a special livery commemorating JRD Tata, who is known as the ‘Father of Indian Aviation’, was welcomed on it’s arrival to Kempegowda International Airport, Bengalore with the traditional water cannon salute by two Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting (ARFF) trucks. The aircraft is registered VT-JRT, and is a …

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Turkish Airlines hosts a wedding in the sky

When a beautiful Serbian actress, Vjera Mujović and Stefan Preis, an esteemed doctor from Germany boarded the same flight in May 2014, little did they know that just a year later they’d be returning to the same spot for their wedding. Having been seated next to each other on the Turkish Airlines TK 342 flight from Istanbul to Ulan Bator …

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Goverment clears Tata-Airbus C295 transport order

Airbus C295 military medium lift transport. Airbus image.

The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) government has cleared the lone bid of the Tata-Airbus consortium for the CASA C-295. The aircraft will replace the ageing Avro fleet of the Indian Air Force (IAF). The deal is expected to be worth Rs.11,930 crore (USD 1.87 Billion). The aircraft will be the first to be built …

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VivaAerobus takes delivery of the first of 52 aircraft

VivaAerobus Airbus A320. Airbus Image.

Mexican Ultra-low-cost carrier VivaAerobus has taken delivery of its first new A320 following the aircraft. The A320 is the first to be delivered from an order for 52 aircraft (12 A320ceo and 40 A320neo). VivaAerobus already operates six leased A320s and will become an all Airbus operator as it completes its fleet transition from 737-300s by early 2016. All VivaAerobus’ …

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Pilatus PC-24 completes maiden flight

Pilatus PC-24 takes off for it's maiden flight. Pilatus Image.

Swiss air framer Pilatus successfully carried out the maiden flight of it’s new business jet the PC-24 yesterday. Prototype P01, which bears the registration HB-VXA took off from the company’s headquarters at Buochs Airport in front of around 1800 Pilatus staff. The aircraft flew for 55 minutes before returning to the airport. The aircraft was flown by Pilatus test pilots …

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Qatar Airways to operate high density Airbus A340-600

Qatar Airways Airbus A340-600.

Middle Eastern carrier Qatar Airways is planning to introduce a two-class high density Airbus A340-600 on the Doha-Kuala Lumpur route. The aircraft will have 372 seats with 24 seats in business and 348 seats in economy. The airline currently operates the aircraft with eight seats in first, 42 in business and 260 in economy for a total of 310 seats. …

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Airbus A400M crashes near Seville Airport in Spain

The crash site of the Airbus A400M.

A Airbus A400M MSN23 has crashed near Seville Airport in southern Spain. The aircraft crashed shortly after taking off for a test flight. All the occupants of the aircraft are believed to have been killed in the crash. The Airbus A400M Atlas is a four-engine military transport aircraft. It was designed by Airbus Military as a tactical airlifter to replace …

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LEAP-1B for the Boeing 737 MAX begins flight test program

The First Flight of the LEAP-1B on a modified Boeing 747 testbed. Boeing Image.

American airframer Boeing and engine manufacturer CFM International have successfully initiated flight testing of the LEAP-1B engine on a modified 747 flying testbed at GE Aviation Flight Test Operations in Victorville, California. The LEAP-1B engine is the exclusive powerplant for the Boeing 737 MAX family. The testing is the next major milestone in a two-year program that will culminate in …

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India finalizes deal for 36 Dassault Rafale’s

The Rafale performing at Aero India 2015.

India has finalized a deal for 36 Dassault Rafales during Prime Minister Modi’s visit to France. The deal comes after three years of Dassault and the Indian Air force (IAF) working on the larger Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) contract. The Rafale was shortlisted in 2012 as the final aircraft during the IAF’s MMRCA competition. The original MMRCA tender was …

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Air India Dreamliner first in world in Star Alliance livery

Air India 787-8 Dreamliner in Star Alliance livery.

National carrier Air India’s newest Boeing 787-8 is the first Dreamliner in the world to wear the special Star Alliance livery. The carrier celebrated the milestone delivery of its 20th 787 Dreamliner. The aircraft bearing the registration VT-ANU was built at Boeing’s final assembly facility in North Charleston, South Carolina, USA. Air India serves more than 60 domestic and 37 …

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ANA to operate all variants of the 787

All Nippon Airways' first Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner.

Japanese carrier All Nippon Airways (ANA) has finalized an order for three 787-10 Dreamliners, valued at approximately $900 million at current list prices. With this order ANA will become the first airline in Asia to operate the entire family of 787 Dreamliners. ANA is the launch customer of the 787 and is currently the largest 787 operator in the world …

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Kempegowda airport once again India’s third busiest

The main passenger terminal building at Bangalore Airport.

Bangalore’s Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) is once again the third busiest airport in India after New Delhi IGI and Mumbai CSI airports. KIA has gone past Chennai to claim the top spot for southern India. KIAB statistics The airport will cross 15.24 million passengers for the fiscal year 2014-15 which ended on March 31, 2015. A 75% increase from the …

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Qatar Airways upgrades Doha Bangalore to Boeing 777. Economy class boon.

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

Middle Eastern carrier Qatar Airways will be up-gauging its Doha Bangalore service from the current Boeing 787-8 to a Boeing 777-300ER from August 1, 2015. The up-gauge will see a increase in number of seats from 254 to 335. Qatar is the second airline after Emirates to bring the 777-300ER on a regularly scheduled service. READ ONLINE: Walk through of …

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Aviation trivia: Launch customers of Airbus aircraft

Airbus Plant Visit.

This second article in our launch customer series will be on the launch customers of all Airbus aircraft. We have also included the predicted launch customers of some aircraft in this list. Airbus A300 Family A300B2-100 Air France A300B2-200 South African Airways A300B4-100 Germanair A300B4-200 Hapag-Lloyd Flug A300B4-200FF Garuda Indonesia A300C4 South African Airways A300-600 Saudi Arabian Airlines A300-600R American …

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