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

by Devesh Agarwal The United Kingdom’s Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) has issued a special bulletin (read PDF here) on the fire that broke out on Ethiopian Airline’s Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner ET-AOP, parked at London’s Heathrow airport last Friday. In the report, the AAIB said the fire occurred in the rear upper fuselage where the fixed Emergency Locator Transmitter (ELT) …

by Devesh Agarwal The Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA) of the erstwhile Indian Airlines, who fly the narrow body A320 family fleet of national carrier Air India is resorting to scare tactics accusing the airline “of arbitrarily changing the flight operating procedures for narrow-body A320 aircraft, affecting flight safety.” The issue revolves around the carrier’s decision to reduce the acceleration …

The renaming of Bangalore’s Bengaluru International Airport (BIA) to Kempe Gowda International Airport received approval from the Union Cabinet yesterday. The lower house of the state legislature, the Karnataka Legislative Assembly, passed a unanimous resolution on December 10, last year and the upper house, the Karnataka Legislative Council, also passed a similar resolution two days later to rename the airport. …

by Vinay Bhaskara Late last week, The Times of India reported Turkish Airlines, one of the world’s fastest growing airlines in the world, wanted to more than quintuple its Indian footprint, requesting an increase in weekly seat allocation from 4,000 to 20,000 seats per week, and gain access to Bangalore, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, Amritsar, and Ahmedabad. Turkish is also requesting …

by Vinay BhaskaraLast Friday, a pair of incidents occurred with the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Smoke was observed billowing from an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 787 parked on the ground at London Heathrow International Airport with no passengers on board, while a Thomson Airways Dreamliner operating between Manchester and Sanford, Florida (SFB) was forced to return to Manchester due to a routine …

Dubai Airports is inviting bids from food and beverage operators and selective retail-service providers for the award of concessions in Concourse D at Dubai International. Construction of Concourse D is well under-way with the facility’s opening slated for 2015. The opportunity is available to food and beverage providers in the categories of popular restaurants, 24-hour casual dining, licensed bars, coffee …

by Vinay BhaskaraEarlier today, at its annual general meeting for shareholders, the shareholders of Tempe, Arizona based US Airways voted to approve the merger between US Airways and Fort Worth, Texas based American Airlines. The merger, which would create the world’s largest carrier by passengers carried, was announced on February 14, 2013. Under the terms of the merger agreement, US …

by Devesh Agarwal We welcome your feedback and comments on the Jet-Etihad deal. Without a doubt the humongous increase in seat capacity offered to the Abu Dhabi government by India has some quid-pro-qua links to the Jetihad deal. There is also talk that the bilaterals seat increase was to pacify the UAE government after their telecom company allegedly lost over …

by Devesh Agarwal The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced today that it is increasing the qualification requirements for first officers who fly for U.S. passenger and cargo airlines. The rule requires first officers – also known as co-pilots – to hold an Airline Transport Pilot (ATP) certificate, requiring 1,500 hours total time as a pilot. Previously, first officers were required …

Small portion of existing Boeing 777-300ER (77W) fleet also to be refitted. by Devesh Agarwal National carrier Singapore Airlines unveiled its next generation of cabin products, which will be deployed on its Airbus A350 XWB aircraft which recently celebrated its first flight on June 14th, and is due to enter service in late 2014. The airline will also initially introduce …

by Bangalore Aviation Staff After the crash of Asiana Flight 214 at San Francisco International airport this past Saturday, a media firestorm erupted around the Boeing 777 aircraft involved in the crash. Fears grew among much of the traveling public and non-aviation media that the 777 was in fact an unsafe aircraft to fly. This is simply not the case. …

by Vinay Bhaskara Abu Dhabi based full service carrier Etihad Airways announced yesterday that it had achieved record revenue growth for the second quarter and first half of 2013. For Q2 2013, passenger revenues grew a robust 8% to $921 million, while passenger revenues for the first half of 2013 hit $1.8 billion, up 13% from $1.6 billion in 2012. …

by Devesh Agarwal The Asiana Boeing 777-200ER which crashed at San Francisco International airport was powered by Pratt and Whitney PW4090 series engines. Three engine manufacturers have offered power plants for the Boeing 777. Pratt and Whitney offered the PW4000 series. Rolls Royce offered its Trent 800 and General Electric offered its GE90 series. The infographic below shows the share …

[Last updated on 04:30 UTC]by Vinay Bhaskara and Devesh Agarwal Asiana 777-200ER Image Credit: Wikimedia Earlier today, Asiana Airlines Flight 214 with service from Seoul Incheon Airport to San Francisco crash landed on arrival at San Francisco. The flight was carrying 291 passengers and 16 crew members. Latest reports put the death toll at two. Initial reports are that the …

by Devesh Agarwal Asiana Boeing 777-200ER. Image courtesy Wikimedia An Asiana Airlines Boeing 777-200ER bearing registration HL7742 has crash landed at San Francisco International airport (SFO). Flight OZ 214 from Incheon airport Seoul, South Korea to San Francisco, California, USA, appears to have touched down short of runway 28L. Major portions of the aircraft broke apart, fuselage, tail, landing gear, …

Aviation insiders have known for many years what AirAsia boss Tony Fernandes dared publicly state the day before yesterday, after his meeting with civil aviation minister Ajit Singh. Vested interests have shaped, nay, distorted Indian civil aviation policy. One of the more shameful rules of Indian civil aviation is the policy of allowing Indian carriers to operate international flights only …

by Vinay Bhaskara Chicago based airframer Boeing S.A. reported a 13% rise year over year in aircraft deliveries for the second quarter of 2013, after the resumption of 787 Dreamliner deliveries in May following its grounding earlier this year pushed the total to 169 aircraft, up from 150 a year prior and 137 in the first quarter of 2013. Boeing delivered 116 737 Next-Generation narrow-bodies …

by Devesh Agarwal After many a false start, it appears national carrier Air India is scheduled to commence its Australia service at the end of August. The airline will use its Boeing 787-8 Dreamliners to operate the route. A schedule for a triangular service between Delhi, Sydney and Melbourne has been loaded in to global distribution systems, but inexplicably, the …

by Devesh Agarwal Over the years, with your support, Bangalore Aviation has evolved from a simple personal blog, to become India’s largest aviation blog, and in the “top 15” of the world. One the key drivers of this growth is our belief in “CIP” or Continuous Improvement Process. We believe in taking feedback from YOU, our dear readers, and trying …