Tag Archives: Devesh Agarwal

American Express has expanded it’s Platinum Card® Airport Club Access benefit program to include access to 17 US Airways Clubs across 13 cities. The most interesting part of this tie-up is that unlike the program’s existing arrangements with American Airline’s Admirals Club®, Continental Airline’s Presidents Club, Delta Sky ClubTM, which require card-holders to be flying that particular airline, cardholders can …

As the world economy slowly rebounds, the 2010 edition of the Farnborough air show is turning out to be an order feast for the duopoly of Boeing and Airbus S.A.S, along with orders for newcomers Sukhoi and regional jet manufacturer Embraer. The show began with Boeing Commercial Airplanes President and CEO Jim Albaugh saying “The market is clearly coming back …

On October 21, 2009, India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation issued Air Transport Circular 10 of 2009 which outlined a series of steps meant to ease congestion of flights at Indian airport, most particularly Mumbai and Delhi. One of the steps outlined required for the commander of a domestic flight to call for ATC clearance delivery within 45 minutes to …

I achieved a small measure of fame today. I am the Top Photographer on the airline picture website JetPhotos.net. Reasonably certain it is in no small measure to these two photos. Photo 1. – Founder’s Plaza at Dallas Fort Worth airport. One the best plane spotting locations in the world. Photo 2. – A night view of the ramp at …

Delhi based value carrier IndiGo is known for its catchy advertising. With very little product differentiation between all the value carriers, on-time performance is a major draw for passengers. Playing to its strengths IndiGo has been advertising its industry leading on-time performance across TV channels in India, with this spiffy advertisement. What are your views on this ad ?

Between October 2009 and April 2010, passengers and airlines alike, had to put up with runway closures as Mumbai Airport International Ltd. (MIAL), the operators of the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA) at India’s financial capital, Mumbai, re-carpeted and re-built the secondary runway 14-32. (For details on runway numbering please read this article). The runway now boasts a smoother surface, …

Hong Kong’s old Kai Tak airport shut down in 1998, but its memories will remain for a long time. One of the most famous memories of Kai Tak, thrilling and yet terrifying, was the approach to Runway 13. Be you a pilot or a passenger, you either loved it or were terrified by it. There was no middle ground. To …

British Airways is taking delivery of its first Boeing 777-300ER registration G-STBA. The new aircraft will offer 297 seats in a four class configuration including First, Club World, World Traveller Plus and World Traveller. G-STBA features an all-new interior including the new World Traveller (economy) and World Traveller Plus (premium economy) cabins along with a new in-flight entertainment (IFE) system …

This smokin’ touchdown is from Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. British Airways G-RAES touches down on to runway 18R after braving 30 knot gusting cross winds, which made it difficult for me to hold the camera and telephoto lens stable. Thank god for Nikon’s VR feature. Click on the image for a larger view

In the first part of this two part series on airport runways, we covered the basics of runway terminology, runway numbering, etc. Today we focus on the runway itself. The sections and parts of the runway, and terms very few outside the core aviation industry know significant details about. Common measurement terms Apart from the length and width of the …

The aero buzz in India is centred at the nation’s capital New Delhi. Last week it was the exit of SpiceJet CEO Sanjay Aggarwal. This week is the soon to be opened Terminal 3 or T3 at Indira Gandhi International Airport. Airport operators have produced a video on the evolution of IGI airport and the construction of T3, and have …

A video of Air India’s latest Boeing 777-300ER VT-ALU returning after its first flight. The aircraft is named after the eastern state of Orissa.

India has lost a dynamic and professional CEO in the airline industry. Sanjay Aggarwal has quit SpiceJet. Sanjay Aggarwal tendered his resignation after a board meeting on June 30, as per The Mint newspaper. Kishore Gupta, a representative of the Kansagara family on the airline board is likely to be the acting CEO till a permanent replacement is named. This …

The Government of India has imposed a service tax of 10.3 per cent on the gross value of tickets for all classes on domestic flights and economy class on international flights will be levied on tickets sold, issued or re-issued, from today. Service tax will be calculated on the gross value of the ticket for the calculation of the service …

The buzz in Indian aviation is the soon to be inaugurated Terminal 3 or T3 at New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport. It is one of the largest terminal buildings in the world and India’s first integrated terminal. In these two part videos, NDTV’s Shekhar Gupta interviews Chairman of the GMR Group which heads the Delhi International Airport Ltd. …

Some pictures of aircraft cabins and cockpits taken during my visit to the India Aviation show in Hyderabad. I travelled to Hyderabad on Kingfisher’s all economy and ultra-long Airbus A321 VT-KFW. Took this picture during the descent in to Rajiv Gandhi International airport at Shamshabad. Awash in a sea of red, the cabin crew was very particular that I do …

The Lufthansa Group airlines offering services to India, Lufthansa, Swiss and Austrian Airlines have announced an increase in services to 75 flights a week for the upcoming Winter 2010 schedule which commences October 29, 2010. Increases are by Austrian Airlines which adds five a week flights between Mumbai and Vienna, Swiss which takes its flights between Zurich Delhi and Zurich …

The Airbus single aisle A320 Family has achieved over 50 million flight movements (take offs and landings) since the first model, the A320, entered commercial service in 1988. The A320 family consists of the A318, A319, A320, and A321, as well as the ACJ business jet. In the last 22 years A320 Family aircraft have carried in excess of five …

While analysts are expressing apprehension on the high price GVK has paid to acquire its 29% stake in Bengaluru International Airport Ltd. (BIAL), the recent re-jig of the BIAL management structure shows insights in to how the GVK Group intends to re-coup its investment. The management re-jig has effective created an “airport operations group” and a “land development group” which …

Starting June 30, 2010 Mumbai based Jet Airways, and Chicago United Airlines, will commence their long pending code share agreement. Under the agreement Jet Airways will place its 9W airline marketing code on United’s trans-Atlantic flights operating between London and United’s five U.S. hub cities: Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington and on United’s daily trans-Pacific services between …