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.

Wow Air ceases operation after failing to find a rescuer

Skúli Mogensen, CEO & and founder of WOW air

Icelandic low-cost carrier Wow Air Hf has ceased operations after failing to find an investor to rescue the struggling carrier. Wow Air has been struggling financially since last year. In November 2018, it was announced that the airline would be taken over by rival Icelandair Group. However, Icelandair pulled out of the talks at the end of that month. As …

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Jet cancels all Bangalore – Singapore and Delhi – Dubai flights

Jet Airways' Boeing 737-800 VT-JBD

A couple of days back, I had written about the status of Jet’s regional international services. Since the routes are all operated by the airline’s 737 fleet, many of the flights had been cancelled. The airline was also previously cutting the number of daily flights on major routes but trying to maintain at least a single flight. Bangalore – Singapore …

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Jet Airways begins cancelling wide-body flights, Hong Kong, Manchester cancelled

Jet Airways Airbus A330-300 VT-JWQ. Image copyright Vedant Agarwal.

Jet Airways has been cancelling flight after flight on an almost daily basis. A couple of days back I had written about the international flights that the airline had cancelled. While those destinations were all serviced by the 737 fleet of which around 50 aircraft are now grounded. The destinations serviced by Jet’s wide-body fleet were continuing unaffected. Now it …

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British Airways launches Club Suites, new business class with enclosed suites

British Airways has launched its new long-awaited business class seat. The ‘Club Suite’ will offer enclosed suites with a door, industry standard flat-bed seats, direct aisle access with a 1-2-1 seat configuration. The seat will also feature 18.5-inch inflight entertainment screens, high definition gate-to-gate programming, and PC / USB power. The Club Suite will first feature on the airline’s first …

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Jet Airways cancels many international flights, All Abu Dhabi flights cancelled

VT-JAX Jet Airways Boeing 737 MAX 8. Image copyrighted. Do not reproduce.

Struggling carrier Jet Airways has been cancelling flights for many weeks now. However, the carrier has now started making drastic cuts to their international network as well. For now, the cuts seem to be limited to the routes being operated by the airline’s 737 fleet – a large part of which including all their new 737 MAX’s have been grounded …

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Lufthansa Group orders 787s and A350s. Will start retiring A380s.

The Lufthansa group has placed an order for 20 Boeing 787-9 and 20 additional Airbus A350-900’s. The order which is worth $12 billion at list prices (as confirmed in the group’s statement, airlines always negotiate a heavy discount from the list price). Deliveries of the new aircraft will be between 2022 and 2027. The new aircraft will primarily replace four-engine …

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Boeing orders and deliveries – February 2019

The first flight of the Boeing 737 MAX 9.

American airframer Boeing closed its second month of the year with five additional orders. The orders were for one 737 MAX BBJ from a private customer and four 767-300 freighters for an undisclosed customer. Deliveries Boeing delivered a total of 49 aircraft in February 2019, with the companies troubled 737 MAX making up half the month’s deliveries. Family-wise Deliveries 737 …

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Airbus orders and deliveries – February 2019

European airframer Airbus closed out the second month of 2019 with four orders and 103 cancellations. The orders were for four Airbus A220’s from Pacific Ocean carrier Air Vanuatu. Cancellations in February included 42 A350s of Etihad Airways and 25 A320s of now-bankrupt carrier Germania. The month also featured 23 cancellations for the A380 after Airbus announced the closure of …

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Aero India: Lockheed relaunches the F-16V as the F-21 for India

Lockheed Martin has rechristened the F-16V Block 70 as the F-21 multi-role fighter for the second MMCRA procurement. The aircraft which would be produced in India by Lockheed and Tata Advanced Systems would have a number of unique features compared to existing F-16s like, extendable hose-and-drogue refuelling probe, a large display in the cockpit. Dr. Vivek Lall, vice president of …

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Pictures: Aero India 2019 opens with missing man flypast, B-52, A330neo and more

Aero India 2019 opened today at Yelahanka Air Force Station. The show which was inaugurated by the defence minister of India began with a series of flypasts, one of which was a missing man formation to commemorate Wing Commander Sahil Gandhi, the pilot who lost his life in the Surya Kiran crash yesterday. Innugural Flypast The show began with a …

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Pictures: BOAC 747 retro-jet rolled out by British Airways

A few weeks back I had written about British Airways’ plan to repaint one of their Boeing 747s, with a retro British Overseas Aircraft Cooperation (BOAC) livery. The livery was the standard BOAC livery between 1964 and 1974. The aircraft G-BYGC entered the paint shop at Dublin Airport on 5 February, with the aircraft having been repainted and put back …

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Pictures: What to expect flying at Aero India 2019? A preview.

Aero India 2019 is just around the corner and for the last couple of days, the airspace around the air base has been closed with the various display aircraft taking to the skies to practice their routines. (See our Photographer’s guide and check-list to air-shows) What can you expect to see flying at Aero India 2019 (Note: These are our …

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Emirates orders Airbus A330neos and A350s

Middle-eastern carrier Emirates has placed an order for 70 Airbus aircraft, which includes 40 A330-900 and 30 A350-900 aircraft. The order comes following discussions regarding the airline’s A380 order, which resulted in the airline cancelling 39 of their pending A380’s for this order. The change has also prompted the announcement of the closure of the Airbus A380 production line. Emirates …

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Airbus to end A380 program after Emirates order reduction

European airframer has announced the end of its A380 program with the final delivery of the type in 2021. The decision comes after discussions with the aircraft’s biggest customer resulted in them cancelling its 39 orders for the A380 and replacing them with other Airbus twin-jets. Tom Enders, CEO, Airbus “As a result of this decision we have no substantial …

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Boeing orders and deliveries – January 2019

Boeing 787-10. Boeing image.

American airframer Boeing opened its 2019 order book with an addition of 43 aircraft. The manufacturer booked 28 orders for the 737 family which included nine 737 MAXs for unidentified customers and 19 P-8A Poseidon for the US, UK and Norway. Boeing also booked 18 787 orders with 14 787-9s and four 787-10s for unidentified customers. Deliveries Boeing delivered a …

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Airbus orders and deliveries – January 2019

European airframer Airbus began the year with an order deficit. The airline recorded five cancellations for their smallest A220 aircraft and eight for the largest A380. The A380 cancellation reflected that of Qantas which had been previously announced. Airbus has not disclosed the customer for the cancellation of the A220. However Swiss carrier PrivatAir had ordered five of the then …

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Jet Airways makes cancellation charges time-based, steep increase for seven day cancellations

Jet Airways' Boeing 737-800 VT-JBD

Jet Airways has revised its cancellation and change fees for domestic flights from today. The airline will now charge different fees depending on whether you if you change or cancel your ticket within seven days of travel. For economy fares, there is a difference of Rs. 800 in fees for changes or cancellations made within seven days of the flight …

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Spicejet announces Hyderabad to Jeddah daily flight

Low-cost carrier SpiceJet has announced a daily flight Hyderabad and Jeddah. The airline will begin operating the flight from 25 March 2019 on its new Boeing 737 MAXs. Jeddah will be the third destination for the airline in the Middle East after Dubai and Muscat and ninth international destination in total. Ajay Singh, Chairman and Managing Director, SpiceJet “It is …

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HDFC offering “Zero” cancellation charges

HDFC Bank is offering zero cancellation charges on tickets booked using its credit cards in February 2018. The bank is offering the following through HDFC Ergo: On refundable tickets, you will be refunded the portion of the ticket cost not refunded by the airline, excluding convenience fees. For Non-Refundable tickets, 50% of the ticket cost will be refunded excluding convenience …

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Airbus A380 future uncertain as Emirates considers A350

European airframer Airbus has confirmed talks with Dubai based Emirates airlines over the carriers A380 orders, with reports that the carrier is considering switching its orders to the smaller A350. Emirates is the world’s largest operator of the A380, with 109 aircraft and 53 on order. The carrier extended a lifeline to the struggling program in February 2018 by placing …

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