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A while ago I had a Singapore Airlines Cargo Boeing 747 freighter registration 9V-SFD thunder over my head. Whipped out my camera and caught a few unusual images. One does not get to see the belly of a plane this close very frequently. By this time next year, Singapore Airlines will retire its Boeing 747-400 fleet. The venerable MegaTop will …

Japan Air Lines (JAL) has announced a reduction in its Tokyo New Delhi flight from a daily to four times a week. JAL joins a large list of foreign carriers like Aeroflot, Austrian Airlines, Dragonair, Virgin, Singapore Airlines, British Airways, Finnair, Delta, KLM, All Nippon Airways (ANA), Sri Lankan, Air France, Lufthansa, and Malaysia Airlines, who have either withdrawn or …

Low cost carrier Air Arabia has launched its Sharjah, UAE to Dabolim, Goa, India, three times a week service. Goa is the 13th destination in India after Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Coimbatore, Delhi, Jaipur, Kochi, Kozhikode, Mumbai, Nagpur, Thiruvanathapuram and Hyderabad. The schedule is :Depart Sharjah Tue, Thu, Sat at 00:25 arrive Goa at 05:05Depart Goa Tue, Thu, Sat at 05:50 …

Boeing released images of the 6000th 737. The plane is delivered to Norwegian Air Shuttle under a lease agreement with ILFC. Registration LN-NOL. Click on the images for a larger size.

March continued the gloomy news for the domestic airline industry in India, with a decline. For the month of March 2009 domestic passenger count stood at 3.15 million down from 3.32 million in February and 3.31 million in January. Despite Kingfisher airlines continuing to be the largest domestic airline in India with almost 27% market share in March and 27.27% …

Malaysia Airlines has announced whopping discounts of up to 55% to 35 cities worldwide under the popular Malaysia Airlines Travel Fair (MATF) till May 3, 2009 for travel between April 14 and October 31, 2009. Travellers can purchase their tickets through their travel agents, airline ticket offices and from Malaysia Airlines online. The promotional fares meant primarily for the South …

SkyTeam and Vietnam Airlines signed a preliminary agreement confirming the airlines’ first step towards full membership into the SkyTeam alliance by 2010, pending fulfilment of the alliance’s membership requirements. South East Asia and South Asia are a weak geography in the alliance’s network, which Vietnam Airlines will hopefully fulfill. Vietnam Airlines operates 64 routes to 20 domestic and 24 international …

A collection of commercial airlines from my latest spotting trip. I hope you enjoy the results. Click on the images for a larger view.

I was given an opportunity to record a podcast at the Innovation Analysis Group and provide an overview on some latest developments in the Indian civil aviation market. Some of the topics covered; the rise of SpiceJet and IndiGo, and the airport development fee at New Delhi and Mumbai airports. You can hear and download the podcast here.

An April 7th incident involving a Qantas Boeing 737-800, registration VH-VYL performing flight QF-1020 from Hobart, to Sydney, in Australia, has raised the spectre of a failing radio altimeter which is suspected of causing the recent fatal crash of the Boeing 737-800 Turkish Airlines flight TK1951 at Amsterdam Schiphol on February 25th. In very similar circumstances, the Qantas flight was …

Last night, as Easter Sunday came to an end, a traffic jam began at Bengaluru International Airport (BIA), which exposed the weakness of having only four “contact stands” (aero-bridge equipped gates) at the new Bengaluru International Airport, capable of handling wide-body aircraft. In the current summer schedule, the peak period for international flights, is between 22:00 (10 PM) and 02:00 …

On Good Friday April 10th at Everett, Air France took delivery of the 777th Boeing 777, in this case 300ER registration F-GZND, and the first aircraft to wear the new Air France livery. Boeing image Air France released a video documenting the delivery ceremony and departure of the ferry flight on April 10th, and the early morning arrival at Paris …

Time magazine has an article critical of Boeing titled “Boeing Proves A Poorly Run Company Can Still Do Badly”. It appears like a case of the pot calling the kettle black. I am shocked by the lack of proof reading and quality control at Time. In the article not once but twice Time magazine refers to the 787 Dreamliner as …

This Easter weekend is turning out special for Bangalore Aviation. New templateI have switched to using the Arthemia theme template and then doing customisation to it. Thanks to Michael Nguyen for the original template. You can download the Arthemia Blogger theme here. New lookThe new template retains the same width but gives more space to the main articles and less …

On Friday 10 April 2009, Air France will take delivery of the 777th Boeing 777 aircraft manufactured by Boeing, and the 54th Boeing 777 in the Air France fleet. The new aircraft will be registered F-GZND and will be the first aircraft in the fleet to sport the new livery of Air France. For fellow spotters, the aircraft is expected …

Bangalore Aviation is going to unveil a new look very soon. Please see a preview and let me have your feedback and suggestions via a comment. Thanks in advance and in the mean time, some images from my latest spotting trip. Remember to click on the image to see a large view.

A group of friends including my dear friend, Photoyogi, went plane spotting at the Bengaluru International Airport recently. Yogi captured this amazing shot of a Kingfisher Airlines A321-200 registration VT-KFY on short finals to runway 09 right through a granite outcrop. Kingfisher on the rocks, get high without a drink. Enjoy the picture, and please remember the copyright rests with …

Qatar Airways has won the annual SkyTrax airline award for the best Economy Class in the world, which means a lot in these tough economic times when passengers are increasingly moving to the back of the plane from the front. Qatar Airways recently revamped its Economy Class meal service using a more environment friendly, upmarket, appetising and stylish way. Qatar …

Most travellers to Bengaluru International Airport are aware of the 80 km/h (50 mph) speed limit on the highway and the two “Police Interceptor” vehicles to catch speeders and video capture them in the act. These anonymous photographs shows a police Jeep speeding, but being let off, while a private citizen who was also speeding was hauled up at the …

Liz Matzelle captured this two minute video of a Cessna 152 registration N4937P trying to land on the super long runway at Paine field, home of Boeing. The antics of the pilot are hilarious. Thanks to Liz.