Tag Archives: London

by Devesh Agarwal Last month, I flew more than 50,000 miles across many nations, and airlines, and in the process experienced the carry on hand baggage and check-in baggage rules of different airlines, countries, and airports and to a chance try out new lightweight luggage. [Disclaimer: I have not received any benefit, in any form, from any of the airlines …

by Vinay Bhaskara When Abu Dhabi based Etihad Airlines announced in late April that it had acquired a 24% stake in Mumbai Will the MEB3 hold sway? based full service carrier Jet Airways for $379 million, it marked a paradigm shift in the state of the Indian air travel market. The newly formed “Jetihad” partnership would hold a nearly 18% share …

British Airways has commenced a new route to Colombo and enhanced its existing Hyderabad service to six a week. The airline yesterday announced the start of a three days a week service from London Gatwick to Colombo, Sri Lanka, via Male, Maldives. To Hyderabad, British Airways appears to be trying to fill the vacancy created by Lufthansa’s withdrawal of service. …

by Devesh Agarwal Qantas A380 welcomed with a water cannon salute Dubai based Emirates and Australian carrier Qantas have officially started their partnership. The first Qantas flights departed from Sydney and Melbourne to London via Dubai on March 31. In the partnership the two carriers will collaborate to deliver network, lounges, frequent flyer benefits and travel experiences over 98 flights …

by Devesh Agarwal and Vinay Bhaskara Yesterday, India’s largest private carrier sold its three precious landing slots at London Heathrow airport to Abu Dhabi, UAE based Etihad Airways for $70 million. Etihad will lease the slots back to Jet Airways for the time being. London is essentially THE destination for Jet Airways, which currently serves Heathrow daily from New Delhi …

dnata’s ground handling teams at London’s Heathrow airport have recently commenced provision of passenger services for three daily flights for Air India. Air India, which recently celebrated its 60th anniversary, operates three flights daily using Boeing 777 aircraft, from Heathrow to Mumbai and Delhi. Under the new contract, dnata is now providing passenger services to the airline, which include checking …

by Vinay Bhaskara A recent report from Flightglobal quoted Boeing Asia head Dinesh Keskar as saying that India’s largest full service carrier, Jet Airways, could potentially convert existing order into the larger Boeing 787-9 variant. Jet Airways currently has 10 Boeing 787-8s on order for delivery from 2014 onwards, but Mr. Keskar said, “”If they do that [convert orders to …

Following in the footsteps of most international airlines, offering special fares ex-India, national carrier Air India, today announced, it is offering low fares for the lean season which commences from the middle of January. The scheme is valid for immediate out-bound travel to the Far East and Near East, and from 21 January 2013 onwards for the USA, UK, Europe …

The past couple of years have not been kind to the global aviation industry. Whether it’s the European union implementing a misguided carbon taxation scheme, the Indian government crushing its nascent airline industry under the weight of oppressive regulations and heavy fuel taxation, increased “NIMBY” (not-in-my-backyard : a term used to describe local residents who oppose aviation development near their …

Qatar Airways will commence its Doha London Heathrow Boeing 787 Dreamliner service from December 13. It is expected that the airline will be the first to operate a regularly scheduled Dreamliner service to the United Kingdom. Flight QR 075 departs Doha 06:25 arrives London Heathrow 11:05 hrsFlight QR 076 departs London Heathrow 15:05 hrs arrives Doha at 00:45 Qatar Airways …

Qatar Airways’ first Boeing 787 Dreamliner arrived at Doha earlier today and was mobbed by hundreds of VIPs, media, airline and airport staff. Video below the fold Qatar Airways is the first 787 operator in the middle-east with 60 aircraft on order for delivery in phases over the next few years. Chief Executive Officer Akbar Al Baker, who was onboard …

Photo copyright Eurospot India’s doyen of aviation journalism, Neelam Matthews, reports that, Jet Airways will receive its first Airbus A330-300 next week, which will be registered as VT-JWR. The airline already operates ten of the smaller A330-200 in its fleet, and has leased out two. The A330-200 and A330-300 are almost identical in all but length. The two other key …

When India’s largest full service carrier Jet Airways announced that it was reconfiguring its fleet of five Boeing 777-300ER aircraft, it was a part validation of Bangalore Aviation’s suggestion made in March of this year. Jet Airways will be switching its Boeing 777-300ERs from a 9-abreast 3-3-3 seating configuration in economy class to a 10 abreast 3-4-3 seating configuration. The move …

National carrier Air India can expect to take delivery of up to three or four Boeing 787-8 Dreamliners as early as next week, as a Group of Ministers (GoM) headed by home minister P. Chidambaram, approved a compensation demand for an almost four year delay in delivery, made by the carrier on the airframer. After the GoM meeting, India’s civil …

Boeing has achieved some peace of mind, by making the first flight of Qatar Airways’ first 787 Dreamliner, just ahead of the upcoming Farnborough air show. The airline’s capricious CEO, Mr. Akbar Al Baker, is known for his non-diplomatic criticism, often seen as tantrums, of airframe manufacturers, especially at air shows. Boeing’s competitor Airbus, was at the receiving end of …

British national carrier is supporting the 2012 London Olympic games encouraging the citizens of the island nation not to fly during the games. Enjoy the advertisement, and then see the video where the creators explain the idea behind the ad. We think its an innovative ad, but would like to ask British Airways if they paid the congestion charge for …

Richard Branson promoted, British carrier, Virgin Atlantic will introduce a new Airbus A330 aircraft equipped with a re-designed and upgraded Upper Class (business class) Cabin National, on its London Heathrow New Delhi service starting July 11, 2012. The state of art cabin boasts of the longest bed in business class in a modified herringbone layout, a 2.7 meters long bar …

Will SriLankan Airline’s entry into oneworld force a change in the carrier’s network strategy? Image courtesy Wikimedia Early Monday, SriLankan Airlines, the flag carrier of India’s southernmost neighbor, is set to be announced as the newest member of the oneworld, the global alliance of airlines. The carrier, which serves 60 destinations on a fleet of 21 aircraft, will add Kochi, …

Singapore Airlines (SIA) will introduce a fourth flight between Singapore Changi and London Heathrow from September 9th onwards. The fourth flight will be operated by a Boeing 777-300ER which features the ultra-luxurious Raffles business class, along with the latest cabin product of the airline which has a state of the art in-flight entertainment (IFE) system with full AVOD (Audio-Video On …

Airbus has delivered to national carrier Malaysia Airlines (MAS) the first of its ordered six Airbus A380 superjumbos. Malaysia Airlines becomes the eighth A380 carrier. The MAS A380 has 494 seats in a three class configuration with 8 seats in first class, 66 in business, and 420 in economy. The first class is in a 1-2-1 configuration and boasts the …