First up in this Through the lens is VT-EXC. EXC is the latest Airbus A320 in Air India’s fleet and sports the new ‘Sharklet’ wingtips, it has been leased from China Aircraft Leasing Group Holdings Limited (CALC). It is the third out of five aircrafts that will be leased from CALC by the airline. The aircraft is powered by two …
Read More »
In a sea of ill-conceived rules governing Indian commercial airlines, the 5/20 rule, which requires Indian carriers to wait five years and have a fleet of 20 aircraft before they can fly the lucrative and profitable international routes is one of the worst. No such restriction applies to the foreign airlines flying IN to India. The newcomers Tata-SIA Vistara and …
Read More »
Japanese carrier, ANA announced that two more of its planes will be decorated with Star Wars characters. BB-8, a brand new character from Star Wars: The Force Awakens will be displayed on the livery of the BB-8™ ANA Jet, a Boeing 777-300ER and the Star Wars™ ANA Jet, which will showcase both BB-8 and R2-D2 on the outside of a …
Read More »
India’s largest domestic airline, IndiGo, has placed a confirmed order for 250 Airbus A320neo (new engine option) with the European airframer. Signed on India’s 69th Independence Day, August 15 2015, the order is a confirmation of the agreement entered into in October last year, by the two companies. This order is the single largest order by numbers ever placed on …
Read More »
National carrier Qatar Airways has issued a statement denying any interest in picking up a stake in Gurgaon based SpiceJet. The middle-eastern carrier says This release is to confirm that Qatar Airways is not in talks to pursue a commercial stake in SpiceJet. There is no interest from the airline to engage in a partnership with the Gurgaon-based airline. Qatar …
Read More »
Gurgaon based low fare carrier SpiceJet has made a remarkable comeback from its financial troubles just a little over seven months back. The airline has reported a net profit of Rs 71.8 crore (Rs 718 million) for the first quarter of fiscal year 2015-2016. This is the highest profit for the first quarter ever reported by the airline and the …
Read More »
London is probably the busiest destination outside the United States for all three major US carriers, American, United, and Delta. While most of the lounges of US carriers cannot compete with those of their gulf or Asian rivals, they offer a service perfectly tailored to their north Atlantic premium traffic which is dominated by the business and corporate traveller, many …
Read More »
Bangalore Aviation has produced a set of graphics which provide significant insight in the domestic operating performance of Indian carriers for the last 12 months. The source data is obtained from India’s regulator The Directorate General of Civil Aviation. On time performance One of the key selling points of IndiGo, India’s largest domestic airline, is, on time performance (OTP). As …
Read More »
India’s largest domestic airline Indigo filed a 557 page draft red herring prospectus (DHRP) which is a preliminary document towards an initial public offering (IPO). For 10% of the company, Indigo is targeting an IPO of approximately $400 million (Rs 2,500 crores), effectively giving the airline a valuation of $4 billion. The funds from the IPO are to be used …
Read More »
An Indonesian Airforce Lockheed C-130 Hercules has crashed into a residential area in Medan, Indonesia’s third largest city. The aircraft took off from Jakarta’s Halim Perdanakusuma Airport on with around 113 people on board, but the aircraft made two stops in Pekanbaru and Dumai before it crashed, due to which it is not clear how many people were on the …
Read More »
[bsu_note note_color=”#affbcd” text_color=”#070707″ radius=”4″] Alert August 3, 2016 The review below was conducted over a year ago. For updated passenger experiences, please read the comments of fellow readers below the article.[/bsu_note] Last Friday (26th June), I was invited by new regional carrier Air Pegasus on their inaugural flight from Bangalore to Madurai. Air Pegasus is currently the newest airline …
Read More »
In March 2012, when AirAsia India was not even an idea, the long distance affiliate of its parent AirAsia, AirAsia X, withdrew from both New Delhi and Mumbai citing extremely high airport charges. Through the formation and application process of AirAsia India, group boss Tony Fernandes repeatedly claimed his Indian affiliate would not fly to New Delhi and Mumbai any …
Read More »
On the eve of the Tata-Singapore Airlines joint venture airline Vistara commencing services to Bangalore, we had an opportunity for an exclusive interview with the airline’s Chief Commercial Officer Giam Ming Toh. Mr. Toh brings years of global experience to the table. Watch Giam Ming talk to Bangalore Aviation on a variety of topics. Vistara’s experiences in the first five …
Read More »
The Tata-Singapore Airline joint venture airline, Vistara commenced operations at Bangalore today, a little over five months after it first commenced operations. As reported earlier, from today the airline commenced daily flights from the tech capital of the country to the the national capital New Delhi and the financial capital Mumbai. Bangalore Aviation was at hand to capture the arrival …
Read More »
Low fare carrier SpiceJet commenced its second decade by unveiling a sexy new look branded “red, hot, spicy”. A new 3-D logo inspired by the mobile app world will replace the traditional 2-D one. The new 3-D logo, slogan, and posters and advertising comes at a time when Ajay Singh has taken over the airline. The new slogan puts the …
Read More »
Indian carriers seem to be all chasing the same passenger. A cursory look at capacity deployment across seven carriers shows very little variance in terms of a domestic network strategy. However, as one starts to delve deeper some differences tend to emerge. Overall planners focus on three things: schedule offerings (and consequently slots); aircraft utilization; and feed (just a fancy name …
Read More »
Late last night we got a heads up from friends in Germany that Lufthansa was operating their retro liveried Boeing 747-8i to Bangalore today morning. So of-course there we were at our spotting location at 1 AM waiting for it to arrive. The aircraft is D-ABYT, named Köln is the 1,513th Boeing 747 to be produced and is painted in …
Read More »
The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) government has cleared the lone bid of the Tata-Airbus consortium for the CASA C-295. The aircraft will replace the ageing Avro fleet of the Indian Air Force (IAF). The deal is expected to be worth Rs.11,930 crore (USD 1.87 Billion). The aircraft will be the first to be built …
Read More »
Swiss air framer Pilatus successfully carried out the maiden flight of it’s new business jet the PC-24 yesterday. Prototype P01, which bears the registration HB-VXA took off from the company’s headquarters at Buochs Airport in front of around 1800 Pilatus staff. The aircraft flew for 55 minutes before returning to the airport. The aircraft was flown by Pilatus test pilots …
Read More »
Middle Eastern carrier Qatar Airways is planning to introduce a two-class high density Airbus A340-600 on the Doha-Kuala Lumpur route. The aircraft will have 372 seats with 24 seats in business and 348 seats in economy. The airline currently operates the aircraft with eight seats in first, 42 in business and 260 in economy for a total of 310 seats. …
Read More »
Bangalore Aviation News, Reviews, Analysis and opinions of Indian Aviation