Video: Another Times of India miraculous escape? A late go-around by a large Boeing 747-400F freighter

by Devesh Agarwal

I wonder how Times of India, and other sensationalist media in India would classify this late go-around at Amsterdam Schipol airport? Another "miraculous escape"?

Keep in mind the aircraft doing these acrobatic manoeuvres is a 350 ton Boeing 747-400F freighter of AirBridge Cargo registration VP-BIK.

Approaching in extreme cross wind conditions, the pilot decides at the very last minute that landing is not comfortable and opts for a go-around. Observe how smoothly the giant aircraft is handled and taken away from the runway.



A few minutes later, the pilot comes back for a second landing and nails it.

Read more »

KLM improves its business class

By BA Staff

KLM, the Royal Dutch Airline has upgraded its business class and now provides fully flat beds on its daily 747 flights from New Delhi to Amsterdam.

Commenting on the occasion, Mr. Yeshwant Pawar, General Manager South Asia said

“KLM continues to invest in customer comfort across the world as this has been our top most priority. The guiding principle to introduce fully flat beds is a step towards enhancing customer comfort and privacy as befits KLM. The new full-flat seat also plays an important role in helping to strengthen our position as a preferred airline in the Indian market.”

The new 180 degree horizontally reclining seats in the World Business Class are longer with 2.07 meters in length, wider with 63 inches in pitch. Every seat has an integrated 17 inch video monitor for in-flight entertainment. There is in-seat power and also storage compartments in the seat behind the passenger as well as under the television screen.

Read more »

Trip report: Air France A330-200 business class Bangalore Paris Mumbai - new service attitude is producing results

by Devesh Agarwal

Until recently, like many others, I was under the opinion Air France was a stuffy airline, an uncaring crew, and one I was not likely to fly any time soon. Recently, I was a guest of Air France to attend the launch of their new "Best and Beyond" campaign in Paris, and had the opportunity to fly the airline in business class from Bangalore to Paris and back to Mumbai.

Blue and white are soothing colours in the calm oasis of the Air France business class on board the A330-200

I also flew the airline, on my own account, in economy class between Paris CDG and Amsterdam Schiphol.

Over the coming weeks, I shall review various aspects of the airline, including trip reports, the Paris Charles De Gaulle hub, the Salon lounges, and also the Best and Beyond campaign.

Trip Report

Today, we commence with the trip report Bangalore to Paris Charles De Gaulle. AF191. Scheduled departure 01:50. Actual departure 02:30 (40 minute delay). Scheduled arrival 08:35. Actual arrival 08:50. Aircraft Airbus A330-200 registration F-GZCE.

Click on the photos below to see a high resolution light-box view.

New attitude

A critical component, of the new "Best and Beyond" initiative, meant to bring passengers back to Air France, is staff attitude. The change is visible starting right from the kerbside. I found a porter with a SkyPriority plaque waiting when you arrive.

The SkyPriority service is offered to all premium class passengers from Premium Economy upwards, and to all SkyTeam elite members from Silver level on upwards. Other than the erstwhile Kingfisher, I have not seen any other airline offer a kerbside porter service in Bangalore. Even overseas, I have seen it offered only to first class passengers.

SkyPriority porter at Bangalore airport kerbside.

Check-in, lounge and boarding

Despite my many requests for him to help other passengers, the porter insisted, and whisked me in to the terminal, expediting the cumbersome passport check by the CISF. I was late, arriving at 1:05am for a scheduled 1:50am flight, but which was delayed to 2:30am. Check-in was smooth, quick and efficient. My boarding passes were issued, and my baggage checked, all the way to Amsterdam.

The SkyPriority lane at the check-in desks at Bengaluru International Airport.

Off I went, through immigration, on to the customs desk to declare all my camera equipment, and then through security, where I am required to take out each piece of camera equipment before scanning the bag, and where my cigarette lighter was seized, as it is not allowed. This is contradictory to my experiences at the security checks of 12 different airports in three continents I have been to in the last six months. But security checks at Indian airports are a whole different subject.

I barely had time to step inside the Oberoi run lounge at the Bengaluru International Airport, and I was thankful. The lounge is badly over-crowded, stuffy, hot, and poorly equipped to handle to the volume of premium passengers departing Bangalore. I am told that the new terminal expansion will solve this problem. Expect a separate article on this subject later.

Boarding was a smooth affair, and well managed.

Cabin product

You step in to a very calm and soothing cabin decked out in navy blue and white. Air France aircraft may have a reputation for being dirty looking on the outside, but the inside was spic and span. The smiles and welcome by the cabin crew, were genuine and warm.

Note: All the pictures below were shot, by me, in the natural light of the cabin. No flash was used

The business class has 40 seats in two sections, in a six abreast 2-2-2 layout. 61 inch pitch and 21.5 inch seat width. It features shell seats and unlike some of the other angled lay flat seats, has a good headrest which conforms to the rest of the seat when it reclines fully. The arm-rest goes down during the recline adding to the width. You will also find the lack of the bottom end of the leg-rest. Instead Air France provides a type of cubby-hole inside the seat-back which I found more comfortable than any of the lay-flat seats I have experienced till now. I am a notoriously poor sleeper on angle lay-flat seats, but I did manage about four hours in Air France, which is the longest. So the seats win my seal of approval.

Business class seats in the upright and fully reclined position

Unlike other premium economy cabins which are more of an upgraded economy class, on the Air France Airbus A330-200, the premium economy cabin almost identical to the business class cabin, with the exception of the one additional seat to give a seven abreast 2-3-2 layout. There are 21 seats in three rows. 38 inch seat pitch, 19 inch seat width. I was later informed that Air France is the only airline that uses the similar shell seats in its premium economy class.

The Premium Economy class with shell seating, exclusive to Air France

The economy class cabin is bright in the national colours of France, blue, red and white. The 147 seats are in the Airbus standard, eight abreast in a 2-4-2 configuration. 32 inch seat pitch, 18 inch seat width.

The national colours of France, blue, red and white, reflected in the economy class cabin

The trip, service, meals, in-flight entertainment

We departed at 2:30am, about 40 minutes past our scheduled departure. Trip time 10h15m. The flight route was from Bangalore, NNW, over Mumbai, turning WNW skirting the southern coast of Pakistan, turning NW entering Iran near Chabahar close to the Pakistan border, through Azerbaijan, over Tbilisi, Georgia, over Sevastopol in Southern Russia, Moldova, turn westerly, skirting northern Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, southern Czech Republic, Germany, in to France.

The flight was quite bumpy from take-off, so meal service was slightly delayed. The French are gastronomes and the meals reflect it. The fish I had was on of the better ones I have had anywhere, on board, or on ground. Deliciously prepared, cooked to creamy perfection, not rubbery at all.

Fish entree, supper, post take-off, Bangalore to Paris.

Bangalore to Paris, supper and breakfast menu

The wine list was unusual and offered decent wines, but are not a match to the cellars of Singapore Airlines, Emirates, Qantas, or even Lufthansa. Considering wine and France are inseparable, this is an area the airline has to improve on.

Air France business class wine list

The pre-arrival breakfast service was good. Nice breads, butter, preserves, and an espresso machine on-board for my double espressos kept me happy.

Breakfast service prior to arrival in Paris

Through the flight, the crew puts out a small buffet near the galley with fruits, cheeses, small sandwiches, nuts and chocolates for those wanting a small snack.

Through the flight the cabin crew service was good, attentive and responsive. While Air France still has a way to go before it catches up to the leaders Singapore Airlines and Cathay Pacific, the change in attitude is refreshing, and service levels are close to its main European competitor Lufthansa. This is a crucial advance for Air France in its efforts to attract back lost passengers.

If there was a let down, it was the in-flight entertainment (IFE), audio video on-demand (AVOD) system. While the content was good, it was fairly limited, and the screens are not too big. The user interface, and its navigation is, clunky and tests your patience. For a passenger flying Air France long haul about two or three flights a month, it is okay, but more than that, and you will start feeling the pinch of the lack of volume in terms of content.

Paris Arrivals lounge

All Air France-KLM long haul international flights to and from Paris CDG airport are from terminal 2E on concourses K, L, M. The concourse names are no coincidence. Air France had ground staff stationed who patiently explained each enquiring passenger how to get to their respective flights. Another sign of the changed attitude at Air France.

A hidden gem of information, at Paris, is the Arrivals Salon Lounge of Air France. Tucked away at the junction of terminals 2C and 2A, this petite lounge is easy to miss. I must apologise to you, our dear readers, but the memory card of the pictures of this lounge got corrupted, and I have none to share with you at the moment. If I can revive the pictures in any way, I will surely share them.

If you are arriving in to Paris, or have a longish connection (two or more hours) to a Schengen country, this lounge is a must visit. It has a great set of shower facilities, with one of the most complicated shower temples I have seen. Multiple jets blasting hot water just soothe those tired muscles. The lounge provides a complete toilet kit with L'Occitane en Provence personal care products, including a razor and toothbrush.

Once showered, there is a great breakfast. Despite a small area, I found the breakfast spread better than the large Salon departure lounges in concourse K when I departed back to Mumbai. There is the usual fantastic French breads, along with butter, preserves, and charcuterie. Eggs, fruits, yoghurt, crackers, cheese, varieties of drinks complete the feast.

Paris Amsterdam Paris domestic flights

Showered and fed, I headed to terminal 2F from where all the Air France flights to Schengen countries depart. Very honestly, this one hour flight both onward to Amsterdam and return, was extremely routine, pretty much any other short-distance domestic flight. However, even on this short duration, the change in Air France attitude was noticeable.

Air France A320 cabin. The business class has the centre seat blocked off and marked with a navy blue head rest cover.

The arrival concourse of Terminal 2F is extremely futuristic with its metal and glass construction. Makes on feel like they are in some Sci-Fi movie.

The futuristic looking Terminal 2F arrivals at Paris Charles De Gaulle airport

Paris Mumbai flight

An almost carbon copy of the Bangalore Paris flight, except for a more elaborate lunch starting with an L'amuse-bouche, appetiser, main course, cheese tray, and dessert. Great for a foodie like me.

Paris to Mumbai lunch menu

The aircraft coincidentally was the same one I had flown from Bangalore to Paris, just five days earlier, Airbus A330-200 registration F-GZCE. We departed on schedule, and thanks to some fantastic tailwinds, made it to Bombay one hour ahead of schedule.

Summary

I flew Air France after a gap of almost 25 years. The business class is much like other European carriers, but with a much more calm and soothing touch, compared to the energy of Lufthansa's new business class. The change in crew attitude was refreshing, and it appears to be yielding results. There was only one seat free in business class, and none free in premium economy on my outbound flight. Even on the return to Mumbai, the flight had just one seat empty.

I was informed later, that AF191/192 the Paris Bangalore route goes full almost all days of the week in both business and premium economy classes. If anything, Air France has spare seats only in economy class. Considering it was a Thursday night I flew to Paris, and a Wednesday morning I returned to Mumbai, this shows the positive results of a good overall hard and soft product.

Note: I was a guest of Air France on the India to Paris segments. The Paris Amsterdam v.v. segments were on my account.

Read more »

Air France launches A380 flights to Shanghai

by BA Staff

European SkyTeam member Air France has launched Airbus A380 flights to Shanghai's Pudong International Airport today (2nd September 2013), beating Star Alliance rival Lufthansa as the first European carrier to offer A380 services from Shanghai by 24 days. The flight is currently (as of 8:00 am Bangalore time) in the air as the following screen cap from Flight Aware shows.

Air France plans to operate its A380s, configured with 516 seats in a 4-class configuration (9F / 80J / 38Y+ / 389Y), on three of its fourteen flights per week to Shanghai. Flight schedules for the two daily flights are as follow:

AF 116: Leaves Paris-Charles de Gaulle at 23:20, arrives in Shanghai-Pudong at 16:20 the following day AF 111: Leaves Shanghai-Pudong at 23:20, arrives in Paris-Charles de Gaulle at 5:35 the following day

Flight 116, the red-eye, will have A380 services on three of seven days each week.

Frédéric Gagey, Chairman and CEO of Air France, had this to say about the launch:

The arrival of our superjumbo in Shanghai illustrates Air France’s intention to continue its expansion in China, a strategic and fast-growing region. With the A380, our customers can enjoy an optimum travel experience in all cabin classes, as well as services specially adapted to the Chinese culture

Air France-KLM group has the largest European presence in China amongst European carriers, with 93 flights per week from its two European hubs at Paris and Amsterdam to nine Greater Chinese destinations: Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong,Guangzhou, Chengdu, Hangzhou, Wuhan, Xiamen and Taipei.

Shanghai becomes the sixth A380 destination for Air France, after New York JFK, Washington Dulles, and Los Angeles in the US, Johannesburg in Africa, and Tokyo Narita in Asia. Air France operates a fleet of 8 Airbus A380-800s as part of its passenger fleet of 245 aircraft, used to serve 199 destinations around the globe. 

Read more »

Pakistan International Airlines cancels Frankfurt and Amsterdam

A PIA Airbus A310 at Leeds Bradford - Image Credit: Mark Winterbourne

According to the Airline Route blog, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) will be cancelling its twice weekly
services to Amsterdam and Frankfurt from 7th September. One flight per week is served as a triangular routing Lahore-Amsterdam-Frankfurt-Lahore on Fridays utilizing one of PIA's 12 Airbus A310-300 aircraft, while the other weekly flight is routed Islamabad -Frankfurt-Amsterdam-Islamabad on Tuesdays, also using Airbus A310s.

PIA has been serving Amsterdam and Frankfurt on-and-off since the early 1970s, and at one point had flights between Frankfurt and New York JFK.

Read more »

Routes Analysis: British Airways grows Hyderabad - London

by Vinay Bhaskara

British Airways wide-bodies on the ramp at their global hub at London Heathrow

From October 27th, London based full service carrier British Airways will be up-gauging its services between Hyderabad and its global hub at London Heathrow to daily flights utilizing Boeing 777-200ER aircraft configured in a 275 seat 3-class configuration (48J/24Y+/203Y), including flat beds in Club World. The flights are currently served with 3-class Boeing 767-300ER aircraft configured with 189 seats (24J/24Y+/141Y) 6 times per week, and an up-gauge was already planned to 6 weekly flights on the 777-200ER for IATA Winter 2013-14.

Said Christopher Fordyce, British Airways Regional Commercial Manager India:

For British Airways, Hyderabad is truly a key market in our South Asian network. We have witnessed tremendous growth in the market since 2008, resulting in concerted growth in the outbound business and leisure tourism.... Our customers from Hyderabad will now be able to enjoy daily service to the UK whilst enjoying British Airways' unmatched inflight services and flying experience,

British Airways is the only European carrier remaining with service to Hyderabad, where yields for long haul connections to Europe and North America are coming under increasing pressure from the MEB3 carriers Emirates, Etihad Airways, and Qatar Airways (plus potentially an entrance from Turkish Airlines). Since the Global Financial Crisis in 2008-9, business traffic to and from Hyderabad has largely plateaued while leisure and VFR traffic has continued to grow. But such traffic is by and large, too low-yielding to sustain the European carriers with their ever increasing cost bases. KLM ended its short-lived Hyderabad services in 2008 after launching in 2005, while Lufthansa ended its Frankfurt - Hyderabad flights in 2011.

Hyderabad is still a massive demand center for services to North America. In 2011, Hyderabad had 481,748 passengers worth of origin and destination demand (O&D) demand to and from the United States. With 21 North American destinations served through its London Heathrow hub (plus Raleigh Durham through the joint venture partnership with American Airlines) - British Airways appears to be doing good business connecting passengers between Hyderabad and the US, and it has an advantage over the MEB3 who only serve 7-8 passenger destinations in North America. 

Read more »

Jet Airways request slots at Amsterdam for Winter 2013 season; no flights to Newark

by Vinay Bhaskara

As Bangalore Aviation reported last month, Indian full service carrier Jet Airways is likely to move its long standing trans-Atlantic scissors hub to Amsterdam in conjunction with its new part-owner Etihad Airways. Late last week, Jet applied for the following slots at Amsterdam for the IATA Winter 2013/14 season.

9W 224 - DEL - AMS --> arr: 09.40 333 daily

9W 224 - AMS - YYZ --> dep: 12.10 333 daily

9W 223 - YYZ - AMS --> arr: 09.40 333 daily 

9W 223 -  AMS - DEL --> dep: 12.10 333 daily

9W 231 - BOM - AMS --> arr: 09.40 333 daily

9W 232 - AMS - BOM --> dep: 12.10 333 daily

Interestingly, Jet Airways has not requested slots between Amsterdam and Newark. Currently, Mumbai-Brussels-Newark is the best performing of Jet Airways' North American routes, and it is surprising that Jet Airways has not requested slots for Amsterdam-Newark, though the route is already served by both United Airlines and Delta Air Lines.

Of course, Jet Airways could be moving towards participation in the trans-Atlantic joint venture partnership with Delta, KLM, Air France, and Alitalia. This partnership allows member airlines to proportionally share costs and revenues, jointly discuss strategy, and generally act as one airline across the Atlantic.

Delta's existing flight 35 between Amsterdam and Newark departs at 12:50 pm daily (the return arrives into Amsterdam at 7:35 am) and is locked into that time by slot constraints at Newark Airport. However, this timing fits perfectly with the slots Jet has requested at Amsterdam and would allow for an effective scissors hub while only allocating three aircraft (one each for DEL-AMS-YYZ, YYZ-AMS-DEL, BOM-AMS-BOM) as opposed to the current four, freeing up one aircraft for use by Etihad. On Delta's end, their existing Amsterdam-Mumbai service could be passed off 

However, it also brings up the question of what will happen to Jet Airway's current slots in Newark. They can be potentially used by Etihad to launch Newark services; in fact a Mumbai-Abu Dhabi-Newark routing utilizing a Jet 777-300ER would be highly effective and help boost Etihad's connectivity whilst also ensuring Newark access on Jet Airways metal. 

Read more »

Air France and KLM partner with Jet Airways to expand India connectivity

Air France and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, have entered in to a unilateral code-share agreement with India's Jet Airways which will allow them to extend their connectivity to Indian cities which are currently not served by them.

At present Air France and KLM operate 27 flights a week to India. Air France has flights from Paris Charles De Gaulle (CDG) to Bangalore, Mumbai and New Delhi, while KLM operates from Amsterdam Schipol to New Delhi. From June 19, 2013, Air France will place its marketing code (AF) on Jet Airways’ domestic flights to Chennai from Bangalore, New Delhi or Mumbai and Kolkata and Hyderabad via Bangalore and Mumbai. Likewise, KLM will place its marketing code (KL) on Jet Airways’ domestic flights to Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and Mumbai via New Delhi.

The three airlines already have a full fledged network-wide accrual and redemption partnership for their frequent flyer programs, Jet Airways’ JetPrivilege and Air France-KLM’s Flying Blue, for many years.

The announcement did not indicate if there will be a reciprocal code-share arrangement where Jet Airways would put its flight numbers on Air France and KLM operated flights between India and Europe. A spokesperson for Air France indicated the agreement was unilateral. Jet Airways did not respond.

Read more »

Report: Jet Airways scissors hub moving to Amsterdam

Earlier this week in a press conference at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport, Etihad CEO broke the news that Indian full service carrier Jet Airways will be transferring its European scissors hub from Brussels to Amsterdam. Thanks to the recently created Jetihad partnership (Etihad owns 24% of Jet Airways), Etihad exerts significant control over Jet’s international strategy.

Jet Airways currently operates daily flights from Mumbai and Delhi to Brussels, which then continue onwards to Newark and Toronto. Etihad recently signed a cooperation agreement with KLM that covers several destinations under a joint venture agreement. While Etihad (and by extension Jetihad) have no plans to join SkyTeam, they are apparently interested in working more closely with Air France-KLM and Delta. Etihad already places its code on 12 KLM destinations out of Amsterdam and on 15th May launched daily services between Abu Dhabi and Amsterdam using Airbus A330-200 equipment.

No timeline has been set for the transfer and it remains to be seen whether the shift of Jet’s North American services to Amsterdam is an intermediate step, or the final plan for these flights. Most industry observers had predicted that Jet Airways’ long haul fleet would be re-deployed for use on westbound international services through Abu Dhabi; indeed part of the value proposition for the Jetihad deal was the ability to utilize Jet Airways’ wide-body fleet to augment Etihad’s hub in Abu Dhabi via a scissors hub.

Still, Amsterdam makes sense as an intermediate transfer point. Mumbai does have more O&D demand to Brussels, but KLM’s Amsterdam hub is much stronger than the comparable operation for Brussels Airlines in Brussels. So Jet Airways will get some additional feed in Amsterdam. And if they were to launch a joint venture for US-Europe-India with Air France-KLM and Delta, it could be potentially lucrative.

Read more »

Northwest Airlines Detroit international operations in 2000

Here at Bangalore Aviation, we sometimes like to take trips down memory lane, and explore the history of airlines.

Today we take a look at Northwest Airline's international operation in their Detroit "World Gateway" in 2000. Northwest Airlines was a US carrier who served Mumbai and Delhi for many years via partner KLM's hub in Amsterdam. In 2008 they merged with Delta Air Lines to form (then) the world's largest carrier.

During the 1990s and early 2000s, Northwest Airlines had its largest international operation at its hub in Detroit. To give readers a better picture of their operations in that year, Bangalore Aviation has reviewed US Department of Transportation data (amongst other sources)and gleaned the following details.

*Please note that all figures are for outbound flights ONLY; multiplying all figures by two would provide a rough estimation of total market size

Characteristic	Figure
Passengers Carried	1,460,003
Scheduled Destinations Served	20
Flights Operated	8109
Average Load Factor	75.97%
Destinations Served (Scheduled)	Amsterdam, Beijing, Cancun*, Frankfurt, Grand Cayman*, Ixtapa*, London-Gatwick, Mexico City, Montreal, Nagoya, Tokyo-Narita, Osaka-Kansai, Paris- Charles de Gaulle, Puerto Vallarta, Rome, Saint Maarten*, Shanghai-Pudong, Toronto, Vancouver*
Most Common Aircraft Type	Douglas DC-10

Today, of the 20 destinations from 2000, 16 are served by Delta Air Lines' hub in Detroit, with Paris- Charles de Gaulle service forthcoming in summer 2012

The following maps give a better picture of international service from Detroit; the first map covers regional international routes, the second: long haul ones.

Maps generated by the Great Circle Mapper - copyright © Karl L. Swartz.

Additionally, the following destinations had the most traffic out of Detroit:

Destination	Traffic
Amsterdam	320,956
Tokyo-Narita	165,045
Toronto	134,213
Osaka-Kansai	128,995
London-Gatwick	106,448

On that list, by far the most surprising destination for most people is Osaka-Kansai. Back in the 1990s, Osaka was considered a global city on the level of Rome or Paris; Northwest ran daily Boeing 747-400s on the route. But today, Osaka is mostly an afterthought for the US carriers; much of the traffic to Osaka now connects in Seoul on Korean Air and Asiana.

Also noteworthy is the relative dominance of Amsterdam as a destination. By this point, the Northwest-KLM joint venture was reaching its peak, and the two carriers were funneling passengers back and forth across the Atlantic like crazy. Still, Amsterdam is the largest trans-Atlantic destination served from Detroit today; perhaps all those years of cooperation fostered additional business links?

The following chart notes the seat load factor of all Northwest Airlines international flights from Detroit in 2000:

75.9% is certainly not out of line for seat factors on international flights, but as a comparison, Delta averages around 85% on their operations today.

Meanwhile, it is also interesting to note the breakdown of international flights out of Detroit by aircraft type.

Aircraft	Flights
Douglas DC 10-30	2177
Boeing 747-400	1752
Douglas DC 9-50	1184
Airbus A320	782
Airbus A319	663
Douglas DC 9-30	553
Boeing 727-200	488
Douglas DC 9-40	168
Douglas DC 10-40	160
Boeing 757-200	122
Boeing 747-200	52
Douglas DC 9-10	8

Most of these aircraft have been elminated completely from global airline fleets and even in 2000 were on their last leg. Still, its easy to remember a time when tri-jets (such as the DC-10 and the 727 were the norm). Of those aircraft, the 757s, A320 family aircraft, and the 747-400s remain in Delta's fleet. The 747 classics and DC-9s were mostly retired while the DC-10s were replaced by Airbus A330s.

Northwest Airlines was the first carrier I ever flew (DTW-AMS in the early 90s incidentally), and also featured my favorite livery of all time, the "Bowling Shoe" (pictured below). May they rest in peace.

Read more »

Air France-KLM and Delta announce special fare promotion for September

Sky Team alliance members Air France-KLM and Delta announced a special promotion called the ‘Early Bird offer’ for passengers flying economy class from September 10 to October 10, 2010. To avail the offer, customer needs to book the tickets by August 15, 2010. The offer is subject to availability of seats.

The fares are inclusive of all applicable taxes and fuel surcharge, but may vary due currency fluctuation

AIR FRANCE
Delhi – Paris - Delhi INR 33950*
Mumbai - Paris – Mumbai INR 33250*
Bengaluru – Paris - Bengaluru INR 33800*

KLM
Delhi – Amsterdam - Delhi INR 32950*

KLM/Delta
Mumbai - Amsterdam – Mumbai INR 32250*

Read more »

Passenger sets off firecracker on board Northwest flight

News channels are reporting that a passenger aboard a plane at Detroit Metropolitan Airport set off firecrackers aboard Northwest/Delta flight 253 from Amsterdam, Netherlands, to Detroit, MI, USA, an Airbus A330-300, causing a commotion and some minor injuries.

News reports quoting Delta spokeswoman Susan Elliott the flight carrying 278 passengers, had just arrived in Detroit when the incident took place on Christmas day. Elliott says the passenger was immediately subdued but had no details on injuries.

The FBI is investigating the incident.

Track the flight here.

Read more »

Emirates expands European services, announces flights to Amsterdam

As Dubai based Emirates continues to get deliveries of new aircraft from both Airbus and Boeing, it is undertaking significant route expansion, especially to Europe.

The airline has announced the launch of flights to Amsterdam from May 1, 2010. EK 145 departs Dubai each day at 08:25 arriving Amsterdam at 13:30. EK 146 departs Amsterdam at 15:30 arriving in Dubai at 23:59.

The daily, non-stop service from Dubai which will be the airline's 23rd service to Europe, will be operated with a combination of Boeing 777-200LR and Boeing 777-300ER aircraft, boasting a three-class configuration and the newest version of ice, the highly regarded in-flight entertainment system.

Amsterdam is the fourth new destination to be announced by the Dubai based carrier this year. Durban and Luanda were both launched in October and Tokyo was recently announced with a start date of 28th March 2010. The new service comes on the back of exclusive lounge openings in Dusseldorf, Hamburg and Manchester and extra frequencies to Rome, building up to a double daily in February 2010.

During December, Emirates will take delivery of two more Airbus A380 superjumbos, which will be deployed to Seoul from December 14th, and to Paris two weeks later.

Amsterdam is a major centre for the flower industry and Emirates has served The Netherlands as a freighter destination for fifteen years, currently operating six a week Boeing 747-400 freighter flights between Dubai and Amsterdam. For sure the airline will bolster its Skycargo capacity using the belly hold capacity of the passenger flights.

Last month, the carrier announced half year net profits of Dhs 752 million (US$205 million), representing a 165 percent increase compared to Dhs 284 million (US$77 million) for the period ending 30th September 2008. During the latest results period, the airline carried over 13 million passengers and in excess of 700,000 tonnes of cargo.

Read more »

Cathay Pacific and Finnair extend their oneworld code share flights to Brisbane

Finnair and its oneworld alliance partner Cathay Pacific Airways are extending their code-share flights partnership between Hong Kong Australia and offering flights to Brisbane.

Finnair will operate daily flights from Helsinki to Hong Kong using an Airbus A340 aircraft.

Finnair and Cathay Pacific have cooperated earlier on routes between Hong Kong and Sydney, Melbourne and Perth. Now Finnair can also sell Cathay Pacific operated flights with Finnair flight numbers to Brisbane. Cathay Pacific can sell tickets with its own flight number to Finnair flights from Paris, Rome, Frankfurt, Amsterdam and London as a connection to its own flights to Australia.

Read more »

Turkish Airlines Amsterdam crash preliminary report - when "intelligence" fails

The Dutch investigation board headed by Pieter van Vollenhoven, examining the crash of the Boeing 737-800 Turkish Airlines flight TK1951 at Amsterdam Schiphol last week, released its preliminary report.

Simply put it was a combination of a faulty instrument, a breakdown in "artificial intelligence" (AI) of the plane, pilot error, and poor weather.

The instruments and "artificial intelligence"
The plane had a faulty radio altimeter (radalt). At 1,950ft altitude, one of the two radalts suddenly gave a wrong reading which fooled the autopilot into thinking the plane was just few feet above the runway. Since the auto-throttle was also engaged, which is a perfectly normal procedure, the autopilot reduced the engines thrust to 'retard' or 'idle' mode as we normally experience just before touchdown, except this was 2,000 ft up in the air. Naturally the plane started slowing down.

Distracted pilots
In the right seat the co-pilot was receiving training in making a landing by automatic pilot. The investigators say that too much time was spent exchanging information between the instructor and the trainee, and not enough was spent checking the actual readings which would have alerted the crew to the problem in time to override the automatic pilot.

Thick fog and low cloud may also have played a part in their failure to realise their actual height.

The plane slowed down in to a stall, which is when the alarms sounded. The pilots tried to spool the engines back up, but it was too late.

Turkish Airlines' maintenance conflict
Another fact has arisen. Two weeks ago, a serious conflict arose between the union representing maintenance workers and the management of Turkish Airlines. The union warned the management of serious shortcomings in the maintenance system, including inadequate staff to cope with the rapid growth of the airline fleet, which could lead to safety risks in the air.

Sharing the blame
The investigators have concluded that blame for the accident must be shared between Turkish Airlines THY, the pilots, and the manufacturer, Boeing. The involvement of human error means that there will be legal repercussions, civil and possibly criminal, but then the pilots have already paid the ultimate price.



Is time to return to the basics ?
For long airplane manufacturers have tried to reduce the workload on pilots by automating tasks. One could say, they are trying to design the pilot out of the cockpit. The pilots have become increasingly dependent on the computers and their AI. It has become a vicious cycle to the point, many pilots now feel they are flying a computer not a plane.

Since the second radalt was working fine, one would naturally pose the question, why did Boeing build in to their AI some failsafe when the two radalts are giving conflicting information? Should Boeing not have put more thought in to this situation? A simple "whoop whoop" alarm that alerts pilots especially in this situation of conflicting instrument information before putting the engines in to idle?

Across the blogosphere I have seen many Boeing fans criticising the AI on the Airbus "Fly By Wire" system, and citing the June 26, 1988 crash of an Air France Airbus A320 as AI gone haywire.


It appears, that Boeing's AI is not much smarter either. Is it time for both these plane manufacturers to return towards the basics and give more control to the pilots? Machines are fallible, but it is humans who pay the price.

Share your thoughts via a comment.

In the mean while, Turkish Airlines has made an offer of compensation. Full details are in this release.

Read more »

Mangos trigger fire alarm onboard Singapore Airlines bound for Amsterdam

March 2nd, the crew of a Singapore Airlines Boeing 747-400 freighter, registration 9V-SFK performing freight flight SQ7344 from Nairobi, Kenya to Amsterdam Schiphol, Netherlands, declared an emergency reporting a fire alert and automatic activation of the cargo fire suppression system and diverted to Munich, Germany.

The aircraft landed safely, and the crew remained on board while the emergency services checked the aircraft after which they could not determine if there has been any fire or not.

The airplane was subsequently towed off the northern runway and subject to a detailed inspection. As per Singapore Airlines, the airplane was carrying flowers, mangos, other fruit and vegetables. It appears that the emanations by the mangos caused the smoke detectors to trigger, resulting in a false alert.

The airplane was allowed to take off again and reached Amsterdam with a delay of approximately 8 hours.

In India, the mango is the king of fruits and thousands of tons are grown, sold, and consumed each year. The Alphonso mango is a prized export in markets as far as the United States. No reported problems with Indian mangos or their emanations.

May be the Dutch importer should buy Indian mangos instead of African ones.

Read the incident report at AVHerald.

Read more »

Video: From inside the Turkish Airlines flight minutes after the crash

These powerful images made on the mobile phone seconds after the Turkish Airlines flight crashed at Amsterdram Schiphol airport. Video from Heart of the Netherlands.

Read more »

Amsterdam crash: Turkish Airlines THY releases names of dead crew and announces compensation

Turkish Airlines THY released the names of their staff killed in crash of their Boeing 737-800 flight TK 1951 at Amsterdam, Schiphol.

A total of nine persons perished, including 3 pilots, 1 flight attendant and 5 passengers.

The pilots who died were Captain Hasan Tahsin Arısan, Murat Sezer and Olgay Ozgur and the flight attendant Ulvi Murat Eskin.

The bodies of victims will be brought to Turkey in a private flight after they are received from the officials of the Netherlands.

At the same time the airline announced compensation for the dead and injured.

Turkish Airlines will make payment of 50,000 Euros to the family members of our passengers and crew members who lost their lives in the crash, as well as the payment of from 5,000 Euros up to 10,000 Euros to those who are being treated in the hospitals. Those calling on this subject, please call +90 800 219 80 35 in order to receive information.

Read more »

Turkish Airlines THY refutes speculation on maintenance work, and so should we

Turkish Airlines has just released a statement refuting rumours in the media, circulating after the crash of their Boeing 737-800 VT-JGE at Schiphol airport near Amsterdam yesterday, and clarifying their aircraft maintenance procedures.

The maintenance work of our aircraft has been carried out according to appropriate procedures.

It has become an absolute necessity to make the statement given below over the news coverage regarding the plane crash of Istanbul- Amsterdam Flight Number TK 1951:

The Boeing 737-800 aircraft involved in the accident was made in 2002, of which the last C class maintenance was completed on 22 October, 2008, and the last A class maintenance was done on 19 February 2009. Our aircraft have flown for 52 hours following the maintenance. All the maintenance work of the aircraft has been executed according to its scheduled program.

The allegation put forth in those news stories regarding the flight of this aircraft to Madrid is incomplete. In above mentioned incident, as soon as the pilot reported a malfunction of the “Master Caution Light”, the aircraft was taken out of service and the part was replaced on 23 February,2009. The aircraft had successfully accomplished landing and taking off for 8 times subsequent to the part replacement.

In reference to the issue of flaps in those news items, the component called Bonding Jumper of left Krueger Flap was changed on 28 October, 2008 and then the aircraft kept its flight service with no problems what so ever.

Being uncompromising in flight safety Turkish Airlines has been applying all those processes of maintenance under the directions of both international and domestic aviation authorities as well as the manufacturers of aircraft. The news articles covering technical defects can be easily misleading and our sole expectation is that this type of comment should be avoided.

And again, we offer our condolences to the families and friends of the passengers and crew members who lost their lives, and a speedy recovery to those passengers who are being treated for injuries. We pray for the souls of the deceased to rest in peace.

Turkish Airlines
Media Relations

I can understand the vicarious human nature to try and flush out all the gory details, especially nowadays, in our well sanitised lives. Even I suffer from it, but I have never accepted the need to speculate on reasons for air crashes or incidents, before proper investigations by the safety boards, are complete. It is a dis-service to the hundreds of people who work diligently to keep our skies safe.

You will observe, at Bangalore Aviation, I never post speculative reports about air crashes.

As usual, your comments are most welcome.

Read more »

Turkish THY Airlines Boeing 737 crashes at Amsterdam Schiphol airport

A Turkish Airlines (THY) Boeing 737-800 registration TC-JGE performing flight TK1951 crashed at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport at 10:30 local (09:30Z)

The plane carrying 135 passengers on a flight from Istanbul, broke in to three parts when attempting to land on Runway 36L near motorway A9.

There is a massive presence of emergency vehicles and crew on the scene, and there are reports of survivors. There are conflicting reports of casualties. Turkish Airlines officials claim no casualities.



All flights at Schipol have been suspended or cancelled.

Dutch newspaper AD has published this photo of the crash.
TC-JGE, pictured below at Schipol was delivered by Boeing on March 27, 2002. Construction number CN29789. The plane named Tekirdag after the city in Thrace in Turkey, was powered by two CFM56-7B26 engines and had a capacity of 165 passengers.

METAR about accident time:
250925Z 20010KT 4500 BR SCT007 BKN008 OVC010 04/03 Q1027 TEMPO 2500=

Weather. Wind 200 deg/10 kts, visibity 4500m in mist, scattered clouds 700 ft.,broken clouds 800 ft, overcast 1,000 ft,temp. 4 deg. C, barometric pressure 1027QnH.

Some more pictures :


Update 1 - 18:00GMT

Video from Reuters

As per officials 84 people were taken to hospitals, including 25 who were severely hurt. Six in critical condition. Nine fatalities have been confirmed. The pilot and co-pilot are among the dead.

The bodies of three crew members in the cockpit are still in the plane's wreckage, as per investigators who need to complete their investigations before taking apart the cockpit.

The passenger count has been revised to 134 which includes, rather ironically, four employees of the plane manufacturer, Boeing.

This is the second crash of a plane just near the runway, recently. The previous one being the crash of a British Airways Boeing 777 at Heathrow.

Update 2 - 01:00GMT 26-Feb-09

Turkish Airlines issued the following statement

25.02.2009
Turkish Airlines regrets to confirm that its flight Number TK 1951 from Istanbul to Amsterdam the capital of The Netherlands was involved in an accident today near the Amsterdam Airport.

The aircraft, a B737-800 was during the landing when the accident occurred, at around 10:30 a.m. local time.

At this time, after the search and rescue operations, we have 9 casualties, and 50 passengers were injured. Turkish Airlines staff has been doing everything possible to assist the emergency services and local authorities.

There were 127 passengers and 7 crew members on board Flight Number TK 1951 and we are currently confirming the details of the passenger manifest for this flight.

Turkish Airlines has established a passenger information centre, and a toll-free number is available for family or friends of those who may have been on board Flight Number TK 1951. The phone number is: 0800 219 80 35. For those who are calling from outside Turkey, please call + 90 212 465 21 60.

Turkish Airlines will release further information as soon as it is available. Updated information will also be posted on the Turkish Airlines’ website, at www.thy.com

Update 3 - 17:00GMT 26-Feb-09

Turkish Airlines refutes speculation on reasons for crash.

Read more »