Tag Archives: Devesh Agarwal

Emirates, the largest operator of the Boeing 777 aircraft, celebrated the unveiling of the 1,000th Boeing 777 during a special event at the manufacturer’s plant in Everett, Washington State. When it is delivered later this month, this aircraft will be registered as A6-EGO, and will become the 102nd Boeing 777 in Emirates fleet. The airline still has another 93 777’s …

The 35th Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner painted in national carrier Air India livery touched down in the capital New Delhi earlier this afternoon. The aircraft currently registered N1015B which will become VT-ANH when delivered to Air India, lifted off from King County International Airport better known as Boeing Field at 10:01 Pacific time under the radio call sign Boeing 236 to …

The first Airbus A380 of national carrier Malaysia Airlines was painted recently. In this time lapse, video watch the A380 in the paint shop. Observe the subtle changes between the existing livery and the new livery on the A380. Doesn’t the font look awfully similar to neighbouring Singapore Airlines? What are your views? Share a comment.

German carrier Lufthansa finally revealed its new full flat business class cabin which will be on its new Boeing 747-8i aircraft which are expected to be deployed on the New Delhi and Bangalore routes later this year, thus bringing to Bangalore, at least, the most modern business class cabin in the skies. Click on any image for a high resolution …

The first A380 for Thai Airways International took off for its maiden flight on 6th March following completion of the airframe assembly and system tests in Toulouse, France. Click on the image for a high resolution view

A picture is worth a thousand words. The picture below shows the size of the new engines like the Rolls Royce Trent XWB, the GE90, the GEnx, that power the jetliners of today. Crew of the maiden flight of the Rolls Royce Trent XWB engine Share your thoughts.

In a statement to clarifying the on-going crisis, Kingfisher Airlines has virtually blamed the Income Tax department of India for seizing the airline’s bank accounts. Since the airline has never made a profit since commencement, the airline would not be past due on income tax. What it could be past due on, is, Tax Deduction at Source (TDS). Tax Information …

Two days ago, The Mint newspaper reported an incident in which a Jet Airways Boeing 737 captain put a trainee fresh out of flight school, who was not even trained, let alone certified, in any form of jet transport, into the co-pilot’s seat during a landing at Chennai. The airline is accused of trying to hush up the incident from …

I recently came across an article by noted Indian journalist T.N. Ninan, titled “Do-gooder economics and the Lokpal“. It got me thinking; by most economic logic, national carrier Air India should have been wound up ages ago. The carrier has annual losses crossing $1.4 billion (Rs.7,000 Crore) and accumulated debt now approaching $10 billion. Now, the government wants to inject …

In this podcast Addison, Vinay and I discuss the events that caused oneworld to suspend Kingfisher Airline’s entry in to the alliance. As an update, the higher amount of deposit demanded by the IATA Clearing House (ICH) is $8 million i.e. a total of $11.5 million. Kingfisher is still paying in this money to ICH, but we understand that as …

With just one week to go, Kingfisher Airline’s entry in to oneworld has been put on “indefinite hold”. An official statement released a few minutes ago, says India’s Kingfisher Airlines and oneworld® today agreed to put the airline’s entry into the alliance on hold to give it time to strengthen its financial position. Quoting oneworld CEO Bruce Ashby “These are …

SouthEast Asian low cost carrier AirAsia taken added the 100th Airbus A320 narrowbody aircraft to its fleet. The aircraft, registration 9M-AQH has been painted with a special dragon livery in celebration of the current Chinese Year of the Dragon, which is also that of AirAsia CEO Tony Fernandes, and coincidentally myself. A team of 20 painters used 600 litres of …

German carrier, airberlin will become a full member of the oneworld® alliance with effect from Tuesday 20 March 2012. Austrian airline NIKI, also a member of the airberlin group, will join oneworld at the same time as an affiliate member. airberlin received its green light to board oneworld after successfully completing a thorough review of its readiness conducted by British …

Three human shaped RC planes were flown around New York City by aero enthusiasts to create the illusion of people flying. It is truly worth spending the two and half minutes to watch. If you like the music, the track is “Unstoppable 2” by Tom Quick which you can get here.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) reported that full year 2011 passenger demand rose 5.9% compared to 2010, in line with long-term growth trends. In contrast, cargo markets contracted by 0.7% for the year. Growth in demand lagged behind capacity increases at 6.3% for passenger and 4.1% for cargo putting downward pressure on load factors and fares. The average passenger …

Vinay Bhaskara and Devesh Agarwal When Malaysian budget carrier AirAsia X announced last week that it would be ending service to Mumbai, Delhi, London, and Paris earlier this month, industry analysts seized on the occurrence as a repudiation of the long haul, low-cost business model. AirAsia X, an offshoot of Southeast Asian behemoth AirAsia, operated 377 seat Airbus A330-300s to …

One of the largest military contracts in the world, the Indian Air Force’s competition for 126 Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) appears to have been decided in favour of the French airframer Dassault’s Rafale, though there is no official confirmation. Sources indicate the Rafale has been selected over the Eurofighter Typhoon from European competitor EADS for a contract estimated at …

Some depressing photos to commence the week of three Kingfisher Airline’s Airbus aircraft VT-KFR, VT-KFW, and VT-VJO lying grounded, getting stripped of parts and engines, and slowly decaying at Indian airports, While one can understand the business strategy of Kingfisher of reducing costs and performing fire-fighting cost-cutting, it is depressing to see these beautiful aircraft being canibalised like this. Sources …

Qatar Airways is opening its new Premium Lounge at London Heathrow this week. The Premium Lounge at Terminal 4 will be the airline’s first dedicated facility outside its Doha hub, underscoring London’s importance as a destination for the airline which will commence its fifth daily service from March 25. Lounge access will be restricted to the airline’s First and Business …