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

by Devesh Agarwal India’s Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) today gace an in-principle approval to the Joint Venture (JV) company proposal of AirAsia, the Tatas and the Bhatias. The stated goal of this JV company is to form and operate an airline most likely AirAsia India, based out of Chennai. As per a report, the JV will initially invest about …

I may not give British Airways high marks for its customer service, but hats off to the airline on the information it provides its passengers. As per the infographic we posted yesterday, over 41% of passengers will spend their time watching a movie during their flight. This is the highest percentage of in-flight entertainment (IFE) activity. British Airways has put …

by Devesh Agarwal The International Air Transport Association (IATA), which represents about 240 airlines comprising 84% of global air traffic, released its global air freight demand statistics for January 2013 which show signs of stabilisation of air freight industry on the back of encouraging growth towards the end of 2012. Compared to the previous year, demand for air freight grew …

Courtesy M/s IFE Services Ltd., of the UK, below is an infographic detailing the facts and figures for calendar Q1 2013, of the In-Flight Entertainment (IFE) industry. Click on the infographic for a high resolution view. In the light box, you can right-click and download the picture.

by Devesh Agarwal Over the weekend, 2nd March to be specific, was the 44th Anniversary of the maiden flight of Aérospatiale-BAC Concorde 001 back in 1969. Concorde entered service in 1976, and flew the elite of the world, till British Airways and Air France, ceased service on October 24, 2003. Construction of the first prototype began in February 1965. Built …

Karsten Heiligtag from Germany puts together this interesting list called “Painted Skies News” on a fortnightly basis, capturing aircraft in various liveries from around the world. If you are a “Special Liveries” junkie, I recommend this list. Bangalore Aviation has obtained permission from Karsten to re-publish his list. Hope you enjoy. Please let us have your feedback on this initiative. …

Dear Readers, With great pleasure we invite the readers of Bangalore Aviation to read us on Google Currents which is available on the Android (phone and tablet), Apple iPhone, and iPad IOS platforms. Google Currents is similar to the Flipboard application and will provide off-line reading of the full article.   If you already have the Google Currents app on …

In fiscal 2012 ATR, the French-Italian regional turbo-prop airframer recorded its highest turnover $1.44 billion, and also delivered a record 64 aircraft and increase of 18% over last year. Below is their data along with details of deliveries.

Mumbai based, Jet Airways, has upgraded its Delhi Toronto via Brussels route to be operated by their brand new Airbus A330-300 (A333). The route was previously operated by A330-200’s. The A330-300 will increase seating capacity from 18 in business class and 236 in economy to to 34 in Business and 259 in Economy. The economy class passengers will get some …

German mainline carrier Deutsche Lufthansa has taken delivery of its first A320 equipped with new Sharklets, and becomes the first carrier in Europe to take benefit of the new fuel-saving wing-tip devices. The airline will receive 21 more A320 Family aircraft equipped with Sharklets until 2015. Lufthansa A320 with Sharklets

IndiGo cabin crew.Photo courtesy IndiGo. With the addition of its 64th new Airbus A320, India largest domestic carrier, IndiGo, has launched eight new flights on its domestic network. The fifth daily and direct flight between Delhi and Chennai, The second daily and direct flight between Delhi and Kochi The fourth daily and direct flight between Mumbai and Chennai The fourth …

by Devesh Agarwal Abu Dhabi based Etihad Airways is releasing a new TV commercial (TVC) across the world in the next few days. Created by M&C Saatchi, the TVC will be released in the UAE on March 3rd, and then across Australia, China, Germany, India, Japan, UK, USA, and Nigeria the next day. The commercial which has been produced by …

by Devesh Agarwal Finance minister P. Chidambaram disappointed the Indian aviation industry in his budget presented before the Parliament yesterday. Last year, then finance minister Pranad Mukherjee, had offered a small relief to the fledgling aviation MRO (Maintenance, Repair, Overhaul) industry by giving a waiver in customs duty for import of spare and testing equipment, but required the spares be …

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced that the 2012 global accident rate for Western-built jets was the lowest in aviation history. The 2012 global Western-built jet accident rate (measured in hull losses* per million flights of Western-built jets) was 0.20, the equivalent of one accident every 5 million flights. This represented a 46% improvement over 2011, when the accident …

by Devesh Agarwal Thai Airways subsidiary, Thai Smile will commence direct flights from the island holiday destination of Phuket to Mumbai and New Delhi. Each city will be served twice a week. Mumbai flights will commence on March 31, with flights to New Delhi to start on April 2. AirlineRoute reports the following schedule is loaded in to the Amadeus …

by Devesh Agarwal As per the budget for fiscal 2013~14, presented yesterday in parliament, the Indian government has earmarked another Rs. 5,000 crore (about $900 million) for equity infusion into ailing national carrier Air India. This is the second tranche of a nine year, Rs. 30,000 crore (about $ 5.5 billion) tax-payer funded equity infusion, which is part of a …

by Devesh Agarwal and Vinay Bhaskara Yesterday, India’s largest private carrier sold its three precious landing slots at London Heathrow airport to Abu Dhabi, UAE based Etihad Airways for $70 million. Etihad will lease the slots back to Jet Airways for the time being. London is essentially THE destination for Jet Airways, which currently serves Heathrow daily from New Delhi …

Every year, the Finance Minister, and the Government’s Chief Economic Advisor release the Economic Survey, a day ahead of the annual budget, which details the performance of the Indian economy and expectations. The aviation industry is closely linked to the economic growth of the country, and it is a well established norm, that the industry grows at about two times …

European airframer Airbus S.A.S. has released pictures of the first A350XWB – A350-900 MSN001 being moved from Roger Béteille A350 XWB final assembly line (FAL) “Station 30” to the Clément Ader area “Station 18” in Toulouse. These are the first pictures of the structurally complete flying prototype aircraft with its wings which include the new curved winglets. The belly fairing …