Tag Archives: Devesh Agarwal

The first wing for the Airbus A350 XWB has arrived at the European airframer’s final assembly line in Toulouse, France. The A350 XWB wings are about 32 metres long and six metres wide, making them the biggest single civil aviation part made from carbon-fibre composite material. This wing, will not fly, but will be assembled on the A350 XWB airframe, …

After years of waiting, including a few weeks of nail biting delays, Air India’s first Boeing 787 Dreamliner VT-ANH arrived at IGI Airport in the nation’s capital New Delhi, at the end of a 15 hour flight from the airframer’s Charleston, USA, delivery centre. Even Mother Nature, who was thundering and raining over Delhi this week, made sure the Dreamliner …

VT-ANH under a Boeing test regn. N1015B at India Aviation 2012 After much delay, national carrier Air India has taken delivery of its very first Boeing 787 Dreamliner at the airframer’s facility in Charleston, South Carolina, USA. The aircraft LN 35, registered VT-ANH, was received by Captains A.S. Soman and Amitabh Singh on behalf of the airline. The aircraft is …

Thanks to its strong, and consistent, on-time performance, Gurgaon based IndiGo, has grown to become the largest domestic airline in India, by passenger numbers. On Tuesday, 4th September, along with my better half, I experienced one of the rare delays that occur at the airline, and it was a doozy. A humble request to read the story till the end. …

For the first time since I joined Bangalore Aviation, I am posting from India; Bangalore to be exact. I am definitely excited to be back in India for only the second time since I lived here for a year back in 2003, and being on the ground here is an immensely enjoyable experience. I will be in Bangalore today and …

[Note: Most of the links are to web pages in German. Use a translation tool or a web browser with built in translation like Google Chrome.] German national carrier Deutsche Lufthansa AG faces multiple flight disruptions after talks with the union representing over 18,000 cabin crew failed. The failure of the 13 month old talks has been acknowledged by both …

In a report titled “Implementation of Public Private Partnership, Indira Gandhi International Airport, Delhi” the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has found faults in almost every step of implementation of the Public Private Partnership (PPP) model in the brownfield privatisation of New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA). While acknowledging the PPP was the correct method to follow …

As Bangalore Aviation had predicted about three weeks ago, German carrier, and Boeing 747-8i launch customer, Deutsche Lufthansa will upgrade its daily Frankfurt Bangalore service, LH754/LH755, from September 13 ex-Frankfurt and September 14 ex-Bangalore, from the current Boeing 747-400, to the brand new Boeing 747-8i aircraft featuring the carrier’s newest business class, and the upgraded economy class cabin products. (See …

When Mumbai based full service carrier Jet Airways reported a Rs. 33.3 Crore net pre-tax profit in the first quarter of fiscal year 2012-2013, it represented a resounding statement that the Indian airline industry may have finally found its footing. Photo copyright Devesh Agarwal. Having slipped to net losses in each quarter last year due to the near constant rise …

Carrying 1.226 million passengers in July 2012, Gurgaon based IndiGo pipped the Jet Airways’ group (Jet Airways and JetKonnect) at 1.207 million, to become the largest domestic carrier in India. IndiGo’s market share has grown to 27.02%, at the expense of a failing Kingfisher Airlines whose market share has declined to a mere 3.44%. The country’s aviation regulator reports based …

For little over a year now, US airframer Boeing, has been offering a ‘Performance Improvement Package’ (PIP) on its best selling 737NG aircraft. This includes the 737-800, 737-700 and 737-900ER, operated, in India, by the Jet Airways group and SpiceJet. PIP combines aerodynamic and engine performance improvements to reduce fuel burn by up to 2%. Boeing began performance improvement testing …

National carrier Ethiopian Airlines beat out a dithering Air India to become the third overall, and first non-Japanese carrier to take delivery of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. After taking delivery, Ethiopian flew its first Dreamliner ET-AOQ, to Washington D.C. Dulles airport, where the aircraft was displayed to VIP guests and media. It then made its inaugural trip to Africa and …

A note from the Press Information Bureau of India about Lucknow airport, which is incidentally named after the father of present civil aviation minister Ajit Singh. The airport is owned and operated by the Airports Authority of India. Taking a serious note of the complaints of irregularities in the construction of the New Terminal Building of the Chaudhary Charan Singh …

Beleaguered full service carrier Kingfisher Airlines has served notice of its dire straits, by reporting a massive Rs. 963.3 Crore net pre-tax loss in the first quarter of fiscal year 2012~2013. Even as Kingfisher Airlines chairman Vijay Mallya wrote a controversial letter to Kingfisher’s employees asking them to work without pay for the next few months, it appears that Kingfisher …

In a first of its kind in the Indian aerospace industry, Honeywell Aerospace and Honeywell Technology Solutions (HTS) trained 16 of its development engineers and graduated them with a private pilot’s license (PPL). The PPL training was started in 2010 to train HTS engineers to think and act like pilots in real flight conditions. There has always been a gap …

Just six days after making New Delhi as the first Asian destination for the new Boeing 747-8i, German carrier Lufthansa has opened its ‘new global design concept’ lounge at New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA), the first of its type in Asia. Lufthansa’s new lounge concept includes enhanced design elements like poster walls and comforting accessories. The walls are …

Yesterday, Kingfisher Airlines chairman Vijay Mallya sent out a letter to his employees, ostensibly in response to the industrial action by its employees earlier this week that led to the cancellation of more than 30 flights out of Mumbai and Delhi. Unlike earlier letters which were much softer, this time, Dr. Mallya did not mince words. He informs employees of …

The Star Alliance, a global grouping of 27 airlines, has rejected the application of national carrier Air India to join the group. In over 14 years, and 28 applicants, this is the first time the application of any airline has been rejected. A source, who wants to remain anonymous, confirmed, the alliance had effectively rejected Air India’s application last year …

The United States National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) released an interim report on the progress of its investigation in to the failure of a General Electric GEnx engine on-board a Boeing 787 Dreamliner destined for Air India on July 28th last. The have traced the failure to a fracture on the forward end of the Fan Mid-Shaft. Bangalore Aviation has …

The Press Trust of India is reporting that disgruntled employees of the financially ailing Kingfisher Airlines went on a wildcat strike at Mumbai and Delhi earlier today which led to the cancellation of over 30 flights, with ripple disruptions across the airline’s national network. The protesters were mostly pilots and engineers who are protesting non-payment of their salaries for many …