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

It is official now. Boeing announced today that it has agreed to acquire the business and operations conducted by Vought Aircraft Industries at its South Carolina facility, where Vought builds a key structure for Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner airplane. The transaction is expected to close by the third quarter of this year. The Vought facility, located in North Charleston, performs fabrication …

A lot has been interpreted over France’s Bureau d’Enquêtes et d’Analyses (BEA) initial findings in to the crash of Air France AF-447 from Rio to Paris. I do not want to add to the interpretation. Two good starting points for Bangalore Aviation readers. The official initial report of the BEA which can be downloaded in PDF format here. Simon Hradeck’s …

As per media reports, civil aviation minister Mr. Praful Patel announced in Chennai yesterday, there would be no job cuts despite the hugely over-bloated workforce at Air India. This is precisely the political meddling and easy options approach that I had warned about in my earlier article. Mr. Patel, if you are unable to help Air India management, at least …

A Saudi Arabian Boeing 747-300 registration HZ-AIT performing flight SV-744 from Jeddah via Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to Mumbai, India, burst the number 2 and 3 tyres of the left hand main gear while landing on runway 27 at 18:24 (12:54Z) in heavy monsoon rains. Since the aircraft was heavily loaded, it was stopped on taxiway N8 and passengers were disembarked …

The Joint Investigation team constituted on February 19, 2009 to investigate the serious incident of a near miss between the Presidential Indian Air Force (IAF) helicopter and a Air India flight IC-866 on February 9, 2009 at Mumbai airport has submitted it report to the Ministry of Civil Aviation. To translate the official findings (shown below), the Presidential formation called …

With great anticipation I was waiting for my birthday gift to come to India. A Nikkor AFS VR 70-200mm f/2.8G ED-IF lens. Considered one of the finest lenses made by Nikon. Thanks to FedEx, I will not have it. My brother in law was leaving the US for India on Tuesday afternoon, and having saved up some money, I somehow …

Go Air increases Bangalore flights. GoAir recently inducted it’s eighth Airbus A320-214, most likely VT-WAK. (Despite follow up the airline’s media partner could not give me the information.) After a complete withdrawal from Bangalore, GoAir has re-focussed on Bangalore with two new connections to Mumbai and New Delhi, taking the airline’s total number of weekly flights to 377. With the …

Hopefully the start of the week was not as maniacal as these couple of videos showing crazy take-offs of the venerable Boeing 727 in the wonderful continent of Africa. I do not know what this Yemeni aircraft was frightened of in Eritrea, but that is some fancy flying. This overloaded CAA cargo 727 just ran out of runway.

New Delhi based low cost carrier SpiceJet reported it’s fiscal 2009 fourth quarter (ending March 31, 2009) and annual results. Despite a 13% increase in operating income to Rs. 16.894 billion ($344.77 million) annual net losses for the year grew by 165% to Rs. 3.53 billion ($73.4 million). Operating expenses excluding interest, depreciation and taxes, grew 42.3% to Rs. 21.127 …

A Kingfisher Airlines Airbus A320-232 registration VT-ADR performing flight IT-3334 from Badogra, West Bengal, India to New Delhi, India, was taxiing for take-off, and executing a 180 turn at the end of the runway to line up, when the right wing tip of the aircraft hit the wall of a grass-camouflaged bunker located in the proximity of the runway. The …

Air India has been in the news this week for all the wrong reasons. I would like to finish the work week on a positive note and present pictures of Air India’s latest Airbus A319-112 VT-SCQ which entered service just a few days before this picture was taken on June 14th at Bengaluru International Airport. Reversing thrust after touchdown on …

In a simple statement Air France said the remains of the Captain of Air France AF-447 which crashed on a flight from Rio De Janeiro to Paris Charles De Gaulle on June 1, has been identified. Among the victims found in the sea search, two members of the Air France crew have been identified: the flight captain and a steward. …

Back in April I had speculated While Jet Airways is adamant that they prefer to sign bi-laterals, I feel they should strongly consider joining the Oneworld alliance. Oneworld has a major gap in South Asia. It’s rival SkyTeam has recently signed up Vietnam Airlines. While the delay Air India entering the Star Alliance with support of Lufthansa may open up …

The delays of the much awaited Boeing 787 Dreamliner is leaving the business plans of many airlines in tatters. Major Asia Pacific carriers like launch customer All Nippon Airways (ANA), Qantas, and Air New Zealand are scrambling to make alternate arrangements with stop-gap aircraft like the Boeing 767. At the recently concluded Paris air show, Qatar Airways chief executive Akbar …

As expected, the Prime Minister of India Dr. Manmohan Singh has promised support to the state owned National Aviation Company of India Limited (NACIL) which operates under the brand Air India. However, also as expected, the Prime Minister has not given a blank cheque to the carrier. The amount of the bailout is subject to the airline delivering to him …

Continental Airlines will be celebrating it’s 75th anniversary on July 15th. To commemorate the occasion, the airline is taking delivery this week of a new Boeing 737-900ER, which is painted with a retro livery The retro livery originally used on aircraft beginning in 1947 and called The Blue Skyway, was selected by Continental employees. Continental will fly the new aircraft …

The state owned National Aviation Company of India Limited NACIL, which operates the airline Air India is in crisis. It’s annual losses have reached a staggering Rs. 5,000 crore ($1 billion) and total accumulated debt of Rs. 16,000 crore ($3.2 billion). Air India contributes 10% of global airline losses with just 0.35% of global traffic. It owes over Rs. 1,400 …

Boeing has just announced a bombshell; that the first flight of the 787 Dreamliner will be postponed due to a need to reinforce an area within the side-of-body section of the aircraft. The delay appears to be quite long. Boeing announced First flight and first delivery will be rescheduled following the final determination of the required modification and testing plan. …

Airbus today delivered the first A320 aircraft assembled at its Final Assembly Line China (FALC) in Tianjin. At a grand ceremony, the aircraft was handed over by Airbus President and CEO, Tom Enders, to the Chairman of Dragon Aviation Leasing, Li Hai. The aircraft will be leased to and operated by Sichuan Airlines. The FALC is a joint venture between …