Tag Archives: Airbus

The one very confidential piece of information in the world of aviation is the price paid by an airline to an airframer for an aircraft. Along with announcments of orders, at best, the value of the order at list prices is revealed. A few days back, thanks to a minor mistake, this veil of secrecy has been penetrated. We now …

In just a few minutes from now, Airbus S.A.S. will deliver to China Southern Airlines, the carrier’s first A30 super jumbo. You can watch live streaming video of the delivery ceremony here. In the mean time, enjoy these videos of the aircraft being built.

Earlier this morning, the board of Boeing officially approved the launch of a new engine variant of the Boeing 737. Boeing says that the 737 MAX 7/8/9 (coinciding with the 737-700/800/900 in terms of size), was launched “based on order commitments for 496 airplanes from five airlines and a strong business case.” Of those 496 order commitments, only 100 have …

Earlier this week, Cathay Pacific Airways and Singapore Airlines both announced new orders for Boeing 777s. For Singapore Airlines, the order for eight Boeing 777-300ERs comes in addition to the 15 Airbus A330s that were ordered from Airbus (leased via Airbus as well) in late June. Singapore Airlines Boeing 777-300ER at Mumbai. Photo copyright Vedant Agarwal. Deliveries of the new …

Earlier this morning I had the opportunity to record a podcast on the state of Indian airline market along with IAG’s Addison Schonland and The Gate at FlyerTalk author Vinay Bhaskara. Amongst the topics covered — the mess called Air India, and the mega A320neo order by IndiGo. We hope to make this podcast a monthly affair.

After the announcement, yesterday, of the massive order by American Airlines to Airbus and Boeing, I took some time to read the analyses and views, of some of the people for whom I have high respect, especially when it comes to field of aviation. Addison Schonland of Innovation Analysis Group (IAG) highlights the monopolisation of production slots by the early …

AMR Corporation (NYSE: AMR), the parent company of American Airlines and American Eagle, today announced the largest order in aviation history of 460 narrow-body single aisle jet aircraft with another 465 on option. This tops the recent record setting orders of 180 Airbus A320 family aircraft by India’s IndiGo, and 200 A320neo aircraft by Malaysia’s AirAsia. The deliveries will commence …

Driven by rising fuel costs, growing environmental legislation, and shrinking margins, airlines from across the world have sent a clear message to airplane manufacturers by ordering massive numbers of the fuel efficient A320neo. neo which stands for New Engine Option is a re-engined version of the single aisle Airbus A320 family aircraft equipped with new engines from Pratt and Whitney …

On May 24th, Korean Air took delivery of its first Airbus A380 superjumbo in Toulouse, France. As a special tribute, the carrier’s first A380 was presented to invited guests by 500 Airbus employees – who carried blue, white and red umbrellas to form Korean Air’s tri-colour logo. The airline has specified the most extra-spacious layout amongst the six operators of …

Senior spotter Murtaza Sattar played host to me on Friday 20th May for a day of spotting at Manchester Ringway airport in the United Kingdom. Unfortunately Murt’s claim that he could control everything but the weather, came true. It was dull, cloudy, rainy, cold, windy day. The photos were coming out very poorly, so I decided to use the Live …

Sorry for being out of action, but a combination of summer heat, irregular working hours and even more irregular eating, combined with stress and most likely some dodgy food gave me a most severe case of gastritis and left me in bed for five days. Do these conditions sound familiar to fellow frequent fliers? Yesterday, an Airbus A380 superjumbo of …

Indian low cost carrier IndiGo, which signed a memorandum of understanding on January 11, 2011, for the largest ever jet aircraft order in aviation history of 180 Airbus A320 including 150 A320neo, has selected the Pratt & Whitney PW1100G Geared Turbo Fan (GTF) engine to power its A320neo fleet. In January, IndiGo had not announced an engine choice. Pratt & …

For the last few years, thanks to the well known financial problems at its parent AIG, the world’s largest aircraft lessor by value, International Lease Finance Corporation (ILFC), was on the quiet. Yesterday, ILFC announced its comeback with two big orders. One with Airbus S.A.S. for 75 A320neo and the first orders for the A321neo for 25 aircraft. From the …

Turkish Airlines (THY) has signed a firm order with European airframer Airbus S.A.S. for the purchase of ten A321-200s narrow body passenger aircraft and three A330-200F freighter aircraft for delivery from 2012 onwards. The airline has an existing backlog of 27 aircraft on order with Airbus from earlier contracts placed in 2009 and 2010. The ten A321 ordered today are …

Fog and the accompanying low visibility is the bane of air travel across the world, and especially during the peak winter season in north India. The higher the category, the lower are the minima for visibility. So for a foggy Delhi, a Cat-IIIB is most suited. However it is an integrated system. i.e. to be able to land in just …

Fog is the bane of New Delhi winters haunting air travellers every year like clockwork. All this despite the New Delhi Indira Gandhi international airport being the nation’s most technically advanced airport with Cat IIIB ILS equipped runways which permits landings in as low as 50 meters visibility. It is natural for the average traveller to wonder on these delays …

Without a doubt the Airbus A320 family is queen of the night-time ramp at Bengaluru International Airport. The three major Indian operators of the A320, Air India, IndiGo and Kingfisher, station their aircraft at Bangalore for early morning operations commencing from Bangalore. Even on the international front, Airbus rules the roost with the A330 being operated by Air France, DragonAir, …

As 2011 dawns, our warmest wishes for your new year to be filled with joy, success, and prosperity. My deepest, sincerest and heart-felt thanks for your support and continuing patronage. Devesh Agarwal

An unusual incident has resulted in the grounding of a new, front line, Airbus A319 aircraft of national carrier Air India, for almost three weeks in Bangalore which is conservatively expected to cost the airline more than Rs. 5 Crore ($1.2 million). A damaged VT-SCL sits on the ramp at Bengaluru International Airport. On November 27, 2010 at 00:05 IST …