Over the last year, the media has covered the various challenges AirAsia India is facing. Ranging from executive level departures late in 2017 onwards, to filing a First Information Report (FIR i.e. a criminal complaint) against former officers of the airline, to CBI (Central Bureau of Investigations) investigations of its director. In this analysis, we explore how the hyper-competitive Indian …
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United Airlines has opened its new United Polaris lounge at San Francisco International Airport (SFO), located near gate G92 of the international terminal. United Airlines operates from San Francisco to India in partnership with Lufthansa. We also write about this lounge for the benefit of premium class passengers on other Star Alliance carriers like Lufthansa, Air India, Turkish Airlines, or …
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Bloomberg is reporting that the Tata Singapore Airlines joint venture Vistara has selected the Boeing 787 Dreamliner over the Airbus A330neo as its wide-body aircraft for long distance international operations. Why did Vistara choose the 787 Just some of the reasons for Vistara choosing the 787 over the A330neo are: The 787 is a newer generation aircraft compared to the …
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Even during a lull, the Indian civil aviation market never ceases to keep one on their toes. The recent weeks have seen three Chief Executives of Indian carriers in the news. First, Aditya Ghosh of IndiGo put in his papers after steering the ship for over ten years, apparently under pressure from the promoters. Amar Abrol of AirAsia India is …
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Two weeks ago, the Government of India released its preliminary information memorandum (PIM) inviting expressions of interest on their strategic divestment of national carrier Air India. The last week has seen, three of the most likely suitors indicating their lack of interest in bidding for the beleaguered airline. Download a copy of the PIM at the end of the article …
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In a bid to attract more bids, the Union Cabinet of the Government of India, has allowed up to 49% Foreign Direct Investment in the national carrier Air India which is up for disinvestment. In a release the Government said “It has now been decided to do away with this restriction and allow foreign airlines to invest up to 49% …
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At the beginning of this year, we had a bunch of Air India miles that were due to expire. Not wanting it to go to waste, I used it to redeem a flight to the US. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to get a seat on any flight out of the major metros. The only availability to the US being from …
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Five international airlines have begun implementing new ‘enhanced security’ measures for their US bound flights which includes ‘enhanced screening’ of personal electronic devices larger than a cell phone. Air France, Lufthansa Group (including SWISS, Austrian and Brussels), Cathay Pacific, Emirates and EgyptAir have also introduced a security questioning process which ranges from filling a questionnaire to questioning by airline staff. …
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India’s largest domestic carrier, IndiGo, reported its first quarter results of the fiscal year 2017-2018 (Q1FY18) yesterday. It was a strong result but perhaps what was different this time, were details on its fleet, international expansion plans and strategic direction, the airline shared. Bangalore Aviation is the first to report on and analyse these comprehensive issues. IndiGo Q1FY18 results snapshot …
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After being escorted back to the terminal by one of the transit hotel staff. With the way my luck was running this trip, I decided to double check that my bag were through checked to London. I went up to the business class counter in the check in hall which is an odd experience, because the entrance of the counter …
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As soon as I mentioned to anybody, that I was considering flying Air India to the UK – the reactions I got were ‘Are you crazy?’, ‘Do you enjoy suffering?’, ‘Oh god’ and similar. Booking We had a whole bunch of Air India miles that were going to start expiring soon. So I was originally looking to book a flight …
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In another demonstration of why Government should not be involved in the operations of national carrier Air India, Air India Chairman and Managing Director Ashwani Lohani announced the discontinuation of serving non-vegetarian meals in the economy class on all domestic flights. The disclosure made in an interview with The Hindu newspaper invited swift reaction, much of it negative, by many, …
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Indigo’s analyst call on 6th July was scheduled to allay investor concerns about the new direction the airline was taking after submitting the unsolicited bid for Air India. One of the founders admitted, that without numbers, it was like “going to a corporate board meeting in a swim suit” and we wholeheartedly agree. If anything it added to the confusion …
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Just as the cabinet decision for Air India was approved, the unsolicited bid by Indigo caught the entire airline industry by surprise. The surprise factor is perhaps best highlighted by the stock price which took a beating and fell on average by 8% in the two days following the announcement. However, the bid represents a very smart and planned move …
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United Airline’s now infamous slogan “Fly the friendly skies” is under attack on the social media world after its fiasco over the forcible removal of a doctor from flight 3411 last week. The doctor was injured when police attempted to forcibly eject him after the airline ran short of seats and needed them for their off-duty flight crew. Two middle-east …
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National carrier Air India will operate a non-stop ‘capital’s flight‘ between New Delhi and Washington DC Dulles (IAD) starting from July 7th. The thrice-weekly flight will be operated by a Boeing 777-200LR aircraft in a three class configuration with eight first, 35 business and 195 economy class seats. Washington Dulles will be the airline’s fifth non-stop destination in the United …
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The Tata-Singapore Airlines joint venture, Vistaa, has entered in to a code-share agreement with the island nation’s flag carrier Singapore Airlines (SIA) and the latter’s regional subsidiary SilkAir. Under the agreement, Singapore Airlines will place its ‘SQ’ airline designator code on to Vistara-operated flights beyond Mumbai and New Delhi to 10 destinations within India. Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Bhubaneswar, Goa, Guwahati, Hyderabad, …
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National carrier Air India has announced it shall start direct flights between New Delhi (DEL) and Washington Dulles (IAD) in July 2017. This flight will be the fifth direct connection with the US and shall be operated by a Boeing 777 aircraft, though the carrier has not specified whether this will be on the 777-200LR or the larger 777-300ER. The …
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Till October 15th, Dubai based Emirates airline held the record for the world’s longest non-stop flight, flying 14,497 kilometres (km) between Dubai and Auckland. On October 16th, national carrier Air India’s flight AI173 from New Delhi to San Francisco claimed that title flying a distance of 15,112km. To top it off, AI173 flew a longer distance of 1,811km in a …
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All Indian airlines operating to Dubai have cancelled their flights for today. This includes IndiGo, Spicejet, Jet Airways, Air India, and Air India Express. Jet Airways and Air India have just one of two flights to the Gulf city. Dubai Airports authorities have curtailed operations to a single runway at DXB airport in the aftermath of the crash of Emirates …
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Bangalore Aviation News, Reviews, Analysis and opinions of Indian Aviation