Bangalore Aviation News, Reviews, Analysis and opinions of Indian Aviation

The Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Mr Murli Deora, informed the Lok Sabha (lower house of the Indian parliament) that Indian domestic airlines Kingfisher Airlines, Jet Airways, National Aviation Company of India Ltd (Air India), Paramount and SpiceJet, still owe a whopping Rs. 2,225.52 Crore ($445 million) to the stated owned oil marketing companies Indian Oil Corporation, Hindustan Petroleum …

Another video on YouTube showing a whole horde of very irate passengers who were to have boarded Singapore Airlines flight SQ117 from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore. The flight was delayed due to mechanical problems, something extremely rare for the airline. The lady keeps hollering “PPS passengers”. The PPS Club membership is one level above the regular Krisflyer frequent flyer program. …

On July 19, British Airways (BA) and Virgin Atlantic Airways (VS) confirmed that their check-in staff were instructed to turn away passengers suspected of being infected with pandemic (H1N1) “swine” flu. So far this policy only applies to main airports in the UK; these airports might include but are not limited to London Heathrow (LHR), London Gatwick (LGW), Manchester International …

The BBC reports “Now new allegations have been made that a number of passengers are being detained every month in the duty free area on suspicion of shoplifting, and then held by the police until they pay large sums of money to buy their freedom.” and goes on to describe how the scam works on its website, and includes a …

The recent rains have created a sudden bird problem at Ahmedabad (IATA: AMD) airport who come to feed on the insects. On Friday July 16th, a GoAir Airbus A320-214, performing flight G8-321 from Ahmedabad, Gujarat to New Delhi, India with 102 passengers and 6 crew, was taxing for take-off when a black kite (Milvus migrans) was ingested into the right …

Airbus SAS delivered two new A320 family aircraft to Chinese airlines recently. Juneyao Airlines, a Shanghai-based privately-owned carrier, has taken delivery of its first purchased A320 during a delivery ceremony in Toulouse, France, adding to its currently leased 10 leased Airbus aircraft fleet – two A319s and eight A320s – with 10 more A320s, via operating lease and purchase, due …

Singapore Airlines is refurbishing the cabins of its Boeing 777-300 fleet from later this month. This does not include the 777-300ERs which already features the uber-luxurious interiors. First class in the newly refitted aircraft will be same as in the current Boeing 777-300ER in a 1-2-1 configuration. Singapore Airlines will offer eight of luxurious seats down from the current 18. …

Singapore Airlines is commencing an Airbus A380 superjumbo service to Melbourne, Australia from September 29 2009. The daily A380 flights will replace an existing daily Boeing 747-400 service (part of a triple daily) to Melbourne and will help the airline increase capacity by 10%. SQ227 will depart Singapore Changi Airport at 2100hrs and arrive in Melbourne at 0610hrs (0710hrs from …

I still recall with great fondness hearing the communications between Apollo 11 and Houston live. I was only five years old, and it was early in the morning in Mumbai. Forty years ago to this day, three human beings commenced a unique journey to another world. Neil A. Armstrong, Michael Collins and Edwin E. “Buzz” Aldrin Jr. lifted off at …

It is difficult to believe that the global economic slowdown commenced one year ago. Since July 2008, airlines across the world began to cut back on their seat capacity, and parking their aircraft. In it’s July 2009 report on trends in the supply of airline flights and seats, the Official Airline Guide OAG reported that airlines are offering 315 million …

The monsoon season is upon India, finally, though the spectre of drought is not fully removed. This is a traditionally low season for air travel and SpiceJet has launched special five day advance purchase fares to encourage travel during this period. Tickets to all 18 SpiceJet destinations are available starting from Rs. 2,429 all inclusive. For full details visit SpiceJet …

On the morning of May 5th an Airbus A321 operating Air India flight AI-179 with a seating capacity of 172 passengers was accidentally pushed back from the gate at Mumbai airport while the aero bridge was still connected to the aircraft. The door was badly damaged, and the passengers had to be transferred to another aircraft. In the ensuing accident …

At the 65th annual general meeting and world air transport summit held in Kuala Lumpur in early June, Giovanni Bisignani, CEO of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) put India’s two largest airports — New Delhi Indira Gandhi International and Mumbai Chhatrapati Shivaji International on the ‘IATA Wall of Shame’ for their steep hikes of 207% in fees which, he …

Another dis-satisfied customer of United Airlines ….. but Dave Carroll decided to hit United back in a rather unique and entertaining way. As per Dave’s website In the spring of 2008, Sons of Maxwell were traveling to Nebraska for a one-week tour and my Taylor guitar was witnessed being thrown by United Airlines baggage handlers in Chicago. I discovered later …

Today’s post is a guest post courtesy of Bangalore Aviation regular Rupam Singh – a performance engineer. Follow Rupam on Twitter. Despite the tremendous advances in navigational technology incidents of pilots landing at the wrong airport continue to occur – most often when two airfields are located in close proximity. Similar wind patterns and airspace safety dictates that the two …

Air France has released it’s first official photos of it’s Airbus A380 superjumbo MSN033 registration F-HPJA. The aircraft is expected to be delivered in late October 2009 and will be deployed on the Paris Charles De Gaulle (CDG) to New York John F Kennedy (JFK) route. Click on the images for a larger view Air France will seat 538 passengers …

Defence minister A.K. Antony informed the Rajya Sabha that the Indian Air Force (IAF) is extremely happy with its front line air superiority fight, the Sukhoi Su-30MKI, and will increase its fleet to 230 aircraft by 2015, notwithstanding the recent crash of one. China has been increasing it’s belligerence over the north eastern state of Arunachal Pradhesh and has a …

Boeing has the best video of the taxi tests of their new Dreamliner ZA001. Why should we not be surprised that they knew EXACTLY where to get the best shot. Randy Tinseth, vice president, marketing for Boeing Commercial Airplanes in Seattle has a blog with more details.

American Airlines has entered into a frequent flyer agreement with GOL Airlines that will provide benefits to members of both American’s AAdvantage(R) and GOL’s Smiles programs. Additionally, the two airlines intend to enter into a codeshare agreement in the near future. Beginning Aug. 1, 2009, AAdvantage and Smiles members will be able to earn miles on all eligible GOL and …

In recent years, we have heard about a number fires and subsequent safety recalls on cell phone and laptop batteries most notably of Dell and Apple, but also of Toshiba, Hewlett Packard. Sony, Lenovo/IBM, Hitachi, Fujitsu, Sharp, and Nokia. On February 7, 2006, about 23:59 eastern standard time (06:59Z), a United Parcel ServiceCompany (UPS) McDonnell Douglas DC-8-71F, registration N748UP, performing …