by Vinay Bhaskara Earlier today, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grounded all flights of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner in the United States due to the recent issues with the Lithium-Ion batteries on-board several different 787s, which are attributed as the cause for the recent fire of the engine of a Japan Airlines 787 in Boston as well as several …

by Vinay Bhaskara Earlier this week, Tempe based US Airways announced several upgrades to its on-board product including the following (as per a report from Inflight Weekly): US Airways Domestic First Class – Image credit – US Airways A new look and branding for the domestic First Class meal tray New china for domestic First Class to align with the …

by Vinay Bhaskara As promised, here is the second part of Indian Aviation’s 2012 review, with an airline by airline analysis of the events in 2012. Air India 2012 was another banner year in Air India’s agonizingly slow death spiral. Whether it was yet more labor turmoil related to the still not completed merger with Indian Airlines, a botched Entry …

Earlier today, Air India announced that it was adding a second daily flight in the afternoon (complementing the existing overnight) between Chennai and Singapore utilizing a 279 seat Airbus A330-200 widebody aircraft in a 2 class configuration (24J/255Y). The move comes soon after low cost carrier IndiGo ended its flights from Mumbai to Singapore, and replaced them with flights from …

by Vinay BhaskaraThis is part 1 of our 2012 review of Indian aviation. Part 2 will come next week with a carrier by carrier review of  2012 in Indian aviation. When the story of Indian commercial aviation in 2012 is told, the overarching narrative across almost the entire industry will be one of cautious optimism (though Kingfisher Airlines obviously belies this …

by Vinay Bhaskara Here is an overview of my flights taken this year, categorized by airline and route flown. Aircraft types are marked, as are any trips in Premium cabins. Flights Taken Southwest Airlines: Newark – Chicago Midway – Newark (Boeing 737-700) Delta Air Lines: New York La Guardia – Miami – New York La Guardia (McDonnell Douglas MD-88/Airbus A320) …

From 14th January 2013, low cost carrier (LCC) SpiceJet will launch thrice weekly Bangalore – Mysore services using Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 turboprops. The schedule of the flights will be as follows: SG3305 BLR – MYQ ~ 1220 – 1310 ~ Q400 135SG3306 MYQ- BLR ~ 1330  – 1420 ~ Q400 135 The new route marks the beginning of the next round of Q400 …

by Vinay BhaskaraEarlier this week, Beijing Capital Airport (PEK), the world’s second busiest airport by passenger enplanements, crossed 80 million passengers carried in one calendar year. According to Zhang Guanghui, general manager of Beijing Capital International Airport co., the airport is likely to cross the 90 million passengers per annum mark by 2015, allowing it to pass Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International …

by Vinay Bhaskara A recent report from Flightglobal quoted Boeing Asia head Dinesh Keskar as saying that India’s largest full service carrier, Jet Airways, could potentially convert existing order into the larger Boeing 787-9 variant. Jet Airways currently has 10 Boeing 787-8s on order for delivery from 2014 onwards, but Mr. Keskar said, “”If they do that [convert orders to …

by Vinay Bhaskara Yesterday, Dallas Fort Worth based American Airlines announced an expansion of its Latin American network, saying that it would launch services between its largest hub at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport and Bogota, Colombia, as well as a likely triangular routing between its largest Latin American gateway at Miami and the Brazilian cities of Porto Alegre and Curitiba. …

by Vinay Bhaskara Istanbul-based Turkish Airlines has been pursuing a strategy of rapid fleet and destination growth over the past few years. Already, they are the airline which serves the most countries in the world, and  they have already announced plans to start 41 new destinations over the next two years. The following table details Turkish Airlines’ expansion plans over the …

by Vinay Bhaskara New York based low cost carrier (LCC) JetBlue will be launching 5 flights per day between their second largest hub in Boston and Philadelphia beginning May 23, 2013. All flights will be operated with Embraer E190s B62059 BOS 0640 – 0809 PHL E90 DailyB62159 BOS 0845 – 1016 PHL E90 DailyB62259 BOS 1124 – 1250 PHL E90 DailyB62359 BOS …

Over the past few weeks, it has become increasingly likely that Abu Dhabi based Eithad Airways will be purchasing a 24% stake in India’s largest full service carrier, Jet Airways, perhaps as soon as the end of this week. The deal for a stake in Naresh Goyal’s airline, is reportedly worth somewhere between Rs. 1600 to 2200 Crore, which would …

Indian low cost carrier (LCC) SpiceJet will be launching flights 4 times per week between Delhi and Guangzhou, the hub of the Chinese Pearl River Delta. Services will begin on 8th February, 2013 with the following schedule: SG 81 — DEL – CAN — 1720-0035+1 — 2467 —  737-800SG 82 — CAN – DEL — 0155-0525 — 1357 — 737-800 …

Photo copyright Vedant Agarwal. Used with permission. Low cost carrier (LCC) SpiceJet will be launching service to Udaipur from December 15th, utilizing its fleet of 78 seat Bombardier Q400 turboprops. SpiceJet continues to pursue a strategy of serving Tier II and Tier III cities with the Q400s. SG 2435 DEL 1610 – 1730 UDR DH8 DSG 2436 UDR 1750 – …

The past couple of years have not been kind to the global aviation industry. Whether it’s the European union implementing a misguided carbon taxation scheme, the Indian government crushing its nascent airline industry under the weight of oppressive regulations and heavy fuel taxation, increased “NIMBY” (not-in-my-backyard : a term used to describe local residents who oppose aviation development near their …

Earlier this month, now shutdown Kingfisher Airlines, once India’s largest private domestic carrier, reported a huge net pre-tax loss of Rs. 1115.5 Crore for the second quarter of Fiscal Year 2012-13. The performance was by far and away the poorest quarterly financial performance out of any Indian airline in the last few years, though that is to be expected given …

Photo © Devesh Agarwal. Used with permission. India’s largest private carrier, Jet Airways, reported a net, post-tax loss of Rs. 99.7 Crore for the second quarter of fiscal year 2012-2013, representing a sharp improvement from the Rs. 713.6 Crore net loss recorded in the same period last year. This 84.8% improvement in results, pushed Jet Airways’ net margin up to …

Earlier this week, Indian low cost carrier SpiceJet posted a Rs. 163.5 Crore net loss for the second quarter of fiscal year 2012-13. While this represented a 32% better result than the same period last year, it is still a heavily disappointing result, giving the recent surge in the fortunes of India’s airlines after the shut-down of full service carrier …

India’s erstwhile civil aviation ministry has granted new international flying rights to both national carrier Air India, and private carriers Jet Airways and SpiceJet. First up is Air India, which received flying rights for  several new routes from its Delhi and Mumbai hubs. The Sydney and Melbourne rights give credence to the idea that Air India plans to begin operations …