British Airways Boeing 747 slices into house

by Devesh Agarwal

This picture by Twitter user @HarrietTolputt says it all. A British Airways 747 sliced through a brick house at Johannesburg OR Tambo airport.

Looking at the proximity of the house, and the length of the wing that has gone in to the house, I am wondering "Why has this not happened before?" A house could not spring up overnight. Looks like the pilot took the wrong taxiway, an amateurish mistake one does not expect from the very professional and well trained pilots of British Airways.

Surely this falls in to the category, "strange but true".

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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.

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Singapore Airlines A380 diverts to New Delhi on medical emergency

by Devesh Agarwal

Just as there are talks of permitting A380 operations in India, a Singapore Airlines Airbus A380-800 registration 9V-SKT operating flight SQ321 from London Heathrow, United Kingdom to Singapore Changi airport, with 388 passengers onboard (number of crew unknown at this time) was forced to divert to New Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA), India, due to a medical emergency.

Singapore Airlines A380-800. Image copyright Devesh Agarwal. Used with permission. May not be copied or re-distributed.

The flight landed at 12:29 local (06:59Z). The ill passenger was taken to the airport hospital for check-up and treatment. The flight departed for Singapore at 14:30 (09:00Z).

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One day offer, Air France-KLM-Delta offers "almost free" fares for children this Christmas

by Devesh Agarwal

Air France-KLM and their joint venture partner Delta Air Lines have a one-day “Santa Surprise" offer for all children travelling to Europe, with their family on the three airlines.

All children up to the age of 11 years and 11 months will have to pay only 1% of the adult fare. This “Santa Offer” is valid for booking and ticketing only on 24th December 2013 for outbound travel on or before March 31, 2014. This offer is only valid for India.

To avail the offer, call the Air France - KLM sales and service center or contact your travel agent.

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A must read financial and operational analysis of IndiGo

by Devesh Agarwal

John Samuel Raja and Binoy Prabhakar of The Economic Times (ET) have done a fine forensic analysis on the financial reports of InterGlobe, the parent of IndiGo airlines.

We at Bangalore Aviation strongly recommend you read this article and compliment the authors on their fine work.

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Jet Airways to lease three A330-200s to Turkish Airlines

by Devesh Agarwal and Vinay Bhaskara

In a December 12th filing with the Borsa Istanbul stock exchange (BIST), national carrier Turkish Airlines has said it will lease three Airbus A330-200 aircraft from India's Jet Airways for a period of six years. The financial details of the proposed lease were not made available. The middle-eastern giant will lease another five A330s from Dutch lessor AerCap for a period of eight years.

Bulk of Jet's A330s sitting on the ground. Photo copyright 2012 Devesh Agarwal.

Turkish Airlines (THY) has been leasing aircraft from Jet Airways since 2008 and once again in 2013, as the Indian carrier found it difficult to fill most of its international wide-body fleet. At one point 70% of Jet's Boeing 777-300ER fleet was leased out, with four aircraft leased to Turkish Airlines and three to Thai Airways. Jet even sold one of its Boeing 777s, strangely a money spinner for most of the world's airlines, but not for Jet.

Till recently, much of Jet's A330-200 fleet was grounded at Indian airports thanks to aggressive route rationalisation by the airline. In the second quarter of this fiscal year, Jet lost a whopping Rs.123 crores, just on the costs of keeping its aircraft on the ground.

Five of the ten grounded A330-200 aircraft have been leased by Jet, though on a short term basis, to 24% stake-holder, Abu Dhabi based Etihad Airways PJSC. The deal with Turkish was expected, after a deal to sell the remaining five A330s to Kuwait Airways fell through last month.

Repeated requests to Jet Airways for comments on this story were not answered.

It is an economically sensible deal for Jet Airways. In one stroke it is addressing a major cash drain, and ensuring long term dollar denominated revenue for itself. While a sale which would have brought in one-time income which would have reduced long-term lower cost debt, a lease will give Jet a long term hedge against potential rupee devaluations and the ability to pay off its $400 million high interest rate debt. Jet is reeling under a total debt load of about $1.9 billion.

As Jet Airways continues to turn over its long haul operations to Etihad and Abu Dhabi via the Jetihad partnership, look for the carrier to continue to seek out incremental opportunities to earn rent on its under-utilised assets.

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Cathay Pacific become first Asia Pacific airline to order Boeing 777-9X

by Devesh Agarwal

Cathay Pacific Boeing 777-300ER in special livery.

Long time Boeing customer, Cathay Pacific Airways become the first Asia-Pacific airline to order the new 777-9X. The Hong Kong based carrier has placed an order for 21 of the mini-jumbo long haul aircraft valued at $7 million at list prices. The 777X program created waves in the industry last month, when it garnered a whopping 259 orders and commitments valued at over $95 billion at the Dubai air show.

Hong Kong's flag carrier operates 55 777s, including 38 777-300ERs and an all-Boeing freighter fleet that includes 13 747-8F Freighters. Like the 777-300ER, there is only the General Electric GE9X engine option for the 777-9X.

The GE9X engine for Boeing's 777X family will be in the 100,000-pound thrust class with a 10 percent improvement in fuel burn over today's GE90-115B. Key features of the new engine include, the industry’s largest front fan, composite fan case and fourth-generation composite fan blades, highest pressure ratio compressor for any large GE engine, third-generation TAPS (twin annular pre-swirl) combustor for greater efficiency and low emissions, and ceramic matrix composite (CMC) material in the combustor and turbine.

Image courtesy Cathay Pacific Airways

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Please offer your opinion on the new look of Bangalore Aviation

Dear Readers and Friends,

For the last week, Vedant has been diligently working on the new Bangalore Aviation site. It is a major work involving significant effort, since we are shifting platforms from Blogger to WordPress.

Please keep in mind, WordPress works differently than Blogger, and images are not yet fully imported. Also WP uses categories, tags and authors separates, while Blogger uses only tags. The template uses Categories for classification of stories, so we are working on this too.

The new categories are proposed in the menu. Suggestions on categories are also welcome.

Please visit www.avgeek.in to see the work in progress, and then please come back here and post your comments on what you see. Please offer your suggestions what should be changed.

The new template is fully responsive, and should work well with tablets and mobile phones too.

Thanks in advance for your time, support and effort.

Devesh Agarwal

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Photos: First flight of Asiana Airlines' first A380

by Devesh Agarwal

Korea's Asiana Airlines’ first A380 has successfully completed its maiden flight. The A380 flew from Airbus’ facilities in Toulouse, France to the aircraft manufacturer’s site in Hamburg, Germany, where it will undergo painting and cabin furnishing.

Asiana Airlines will become the twelfth operator of the A380 when it takes delivery of its first aircraft in the second quarter of 2014. The airline has firm orders for six A380s and will operate the aircraft on its primary routes from Seoul to the United States.

Below are two high resolution photos from Airbus which you can right click and download.

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AirAsia X orders 25 additional A330-300

by Devesh Agarwal

AirAsia X, the long haul, low fare airline affiliate of the AirAsia Group has placed an order for 25 more A330-300s with European airframer Airbus.

The order is valued at US$ 6 billion at list prices. This order increases AirAsia X’s total orders to 57 A330-300s, which are scheduled to be completed by 2019. Fifty-one direct on Airbus and six to be leased from the International Lease Finance Corporation (ILFC).

(L-R) John Leahy, Chief Operating  Officer, Customers, Airbus, Fabrice Brégier, Chief Executive Officer, Airbus, Kiran Rao, EVP Sales, Strategy and Marketing, Airbus, Tan Sri Tony Fernandes, Co-Founder and Director of AirAsia X, Jerome Causse, Sales Manager, Airbus and Azran Osman- Rani, Chief Executive Officer of AirAsia X. AirAsia X image.

AirAsia X will start taking delivery of its newly-ordered A330-300s in 2015. It is expected to be deployed on the carrier's Asia-Pacific network. However, the new order includes the latest extended range versions of the A330-300, providing the carrier with the ability to offer non-stop service to destinations in Europe or one-stop service to the US.

AirAsia X currently operates 15 A330-300s on services linking its Kuala Lumpur base to 18 destinations in Asia, Australia and Saudi Arabia. In addition to A330s, the carrier also has 10 A350-XWB aircraft on order for future delivery. The AirAsia Group is one of Airbus’s largest airline customers in the world. In total, it has ordered 536 Airbus aircraft including 475 A320 Family single aisle aircraft for AirAsia’s short haul operations based out of Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Jakarta and Manila, plus the 51 A330s and 10 A350 XWBs for AirAsia X.

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Jet Airways' new services to middle-east via Abu Dhabi scissor hub

by Devesh Agarwal

From January 15, 2014, Jet Airways is adding two new daily flights to Dammam, Saudi Arabia. A non-stop from Kochi, and from Chennai with a stop in Abu Dhabi. Jet is also re-timing its existing Kochi Abu Dhabi Kuwait flight to offer passengers an evening connection to Dammam on the Chennai Abu Dhabi Dammam flight.

All flights will be operated by Boeing 737-800s in a two class configuration either 16 seats in business and 138 in economy or 8 seats in business and 162 in economy.

9W 570 will depart Kochi at 06:20 arrive Dammam at 09:20.
9W 569 will depart Dammam at 10:20 arrive Kochi at 17:20.
9W 526 will depart Chennai at 20:15 arrive Abu Dhabi at 23:25. Depart Abu Dhabi 01:45 the next morning arrive Dammam at 02:10.
9W 525 will depart Dammam at 06:50 arrive Abu Dhabi at 09:15. Depart at Abu Dhabi at 10:45 arrive Chennai 16:15.

Using Abu Dhabi as a scissor hub, Jet Airways is rescheduling 9W 576, its evening Kochi Kuwait City flight via Abu Dhabi, to synchronise with the Chennai Abu Dhabi Dammam flight. This should give Chennai passengers a connection to Kuwait City should Jet Airways so choose and Kochi passengers connection to Dammam.

Map courtesy GCMap.com.

9W 576 will depart Kochi at 20:40 arrive Abu Dhabi at 23:30. Depart Abu Dhabi at 01:45 the next morning arriving Kuwait City at 02:55.
9W 575 will depart Kuwait City at 06:35 arrive Abu Dhabi at 09:15. Depart Abu Dhabi at 10:40 arrive Kochi at 16:00

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Air India optimistic of joining the Star alliance

by Devesh Agarwal

Unlike news reports which indicate Air India will re-commence the joining process with Star Alliance, and therefore leave a possibility of a negative outcome, a press release by the national carrier exudes confidence that the carrier will surely join the alliance.

Air India set to join Star Alliance

The National Carrier is set to join Star Alliance, the leading global alliance of 28 top international carriers. In a major decision today in Vienna, Star Alliance has unanimously decided to lift the earlier suspension of the process for Air India entry into the Alliance. With this decision, final process for eventual entry of Air India has begun. Once the airline becomes a member, Air India passengers will enjoy enormous benefits, including seamless transfers while travelling across the world, more frequent flyer mileage points, code sharing leading to a wider choice of flights and access to facilities at over 1000 lounges worldwide. The Star Alliance network offers 21,900 daily flights to 1328 airports in 195 countries.

Established in 1997, Star Alliance today is the biggest alliance of airlines which offers its customers convenient worldwide reach and a smoother travel experience. In order to become a member, an airline is required to meet and comply with the highest standards of customer service, security and technical infrastructure in the industry.

The present list of members include Adria Airways, Aegean Airlines, Air Canada, Air China, Air New Zealand, ANA, Asiana Airlines, Austrian, Avianca, Brussels Airlines, Copa Airlines , Croatia Airlines , EGYPTAIR, Ethiopian Airlines, EVA Air, LOT Polish Airlines, Lufthansa, Scandinavian Airlines, Shenzhen Airlines, Singapore Airlines, South African Airways, SWISS, TAM Airlines, TAP Portugal, THAI, Turkish Airlines, United Airlines, US Airways.

The Alliance offers passengers a choice of Silver or Gold Status benefits across the alliance relevant to the passengers frequent flyer tier level. The traveller’s status is recognised around the world through out the Star Alliance network at all member airlines. Passengers automatically get the alliance benefits on travelling on the member airline also ensuring more mileage points at the same time.

Whenever a member of the frequent flyer programme travels on any of the Star Alliance member airlines and flies with another member airline he can earn and redeem miles or points on one frequent flyer programme.

What are your thoughts on the airline joining the carrier? Will the second time be the charm? Share your thoughts via a comment.

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Etihad to commence Abu Dhabi to Jaipur flights

by Devesh Agarwal

Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, will launch a daily service from Abu Dhabi to Jaipur commencing on April 1, 2014. With Jaipur, Etihad will serve ten destinations in India Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kochi, Kozhikode, Mumbai, New Delhi and Trivandrum.

Etihad will operate the service with an Airbus A320 aircraft in a two-class configuration, 16 Pearl Business Class seats and 120 Coral Economy Class seats.

Flight EY208 will depart Abu Dhabi at 23:00 arrive Jaipur 03:45 next morning
Flight EY207 will depart Jaipur at 04:45 arrive Abu Dhabi 06:45

The schedule is targeted to carry passengers onwards to African, European and North American destinations.

Post its 24% stake purchase in Jet Airways, which was coincidentally at the same time the Indian UAE (Abu Dhabi) bilateral air services agreement increased seat allocation by 300%, Etihad has been aggressively expanding to new destinations in India, and increasing the frequency and aircraft on its existing services to the country. It has already tripled the number of seats on the prime Abu Dhabi – Mumbai and Abu Dhabi – New Delhi routes.

The gulf carrier also intends to codeshare on a wide range of Jet Airways flights operated within India, and between India and Abu Dhabi, subject to regulatory approval.

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KLM launches quiz contest to promote Business Class

By BA Staff

KLM has launched a quiz contest on their KLM India Facebook page that would give one winner a chance to win an all inclusive ticket to Amsterdam in their Business Class. The quiz contest is about answering five questions on the new KLM World Business Class.

KLM launched its fully flat beds on its international long-haul destination flights served by Boeing 747-400. The seat can be horizontally reclined at 180 degrees providing more legroom and no middle seat. Every seat is installed with a 17 inch screen video monitor for in-flight entertainment and storage compartments.

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Video of Asiana crash shows plane cart-wheeling after impact

by Devesh Agarwal

A dramatic video recently released by the United States National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), of the crash of Asiana Airlines Boeing 777 HL7742 performing flight OZ-214 at San Francisco airport shows the plane cart-wheeling after it impacted the sea-wall of the runway.

Update December 13, 2013

Another video of the incident.

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Upgraded terminal at Bangalore airport inaugurated, airport renamed, exclusive pictures

by Devesh Agarwal

Bangalore's Bengaluru International Airport (BIA) was renamed to Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru (KIAB) at a glittering ceremony on Saturday by Karnataka state chief minister Siddaramaiah and Union civil aviation minister Ajit Singh, along with a battery of ministers, legislators, the Mayor of Bangalore, politicians, bureaucrats, the chairmen of the airport operating company Bengaluru International Airport Limited (BIAL), amongst others.

Upgraded terminal 1A at Kempegowda International Airport. The original portion is visible in the middle.

Along with the renaming, the upgraded passenger terminal, 1A, was inaugurated. The new terminal will be progressively introduced for passenger use starting from January 2014.

T1A, will almost double the floor space of the terminal, and is expected to cater to 20 million passengers. Mr. G.V. Krishna Reddy, the chairman of GVK Power and Infrastructure Ltd., the majority shareholder of BIAL, also indicated that the airport will now commence on planning for a new mega terminal 2, and a second runway that should see the airport build a capacity of up to 40 million passengers.

Upgraded terminal capabilities

The graphic below compares T1 with T1A. Comparisons aside, the new areas have a distinctly superior air. Almost like a five star hotel lobby.

The domestic portion on the west side of the terminal (right side of the picture) will commence operations first. The east side of the existing terminal which serves international traffic at present will remain for international traffic use which the area behind the existing immigration, customs and security will be built for international use.

Luxurious bathrooms await passengers in terminal 1A.

At a future date, not yet disclosed, but expected near March 2014, the new customs, immigration, and baggage reclaim hall will be completed, at which time the east portion of the existing terminal will be converted to domestic use, and the international operations will move to the new east hall (left side of the picture, under the new roof-canopy) and the extended pier will also be used.

In an environment first, the terminal building is LEED Gold certified for green energy use. 

Floor plans of Terminal 1A, Kempegowda international airport, Bangalore

Level 0, terminal 1A, Kempegowda international airport, Bangalore. Bus gates domestic, international baggage claim

Level 1, terminal 1A, domestic international contact stands, departures. Level 2 domestic close-up day hotel, lounges

Level 2, terminal 1A. Domestic lounges, international arrivals, immigration, extreme right Code F departures and lounge.

Lounges, day hotel, and food options

Now, there are reasons to get to the airport early. The domestic portion of the terminal will see a dramatic improvement in the lounges, with two of them opening up. Of significance to Citibank PremierMiles Mastercard holders, and other credit cards, one of the two lounges opening is by Plaza Premium. Overlooking the departure gates, the lounge is very much in the style of Cathay Pacific's The Wing lounge at Hong Kong airport.

Restaurants are upscale, and focussed towards local cuisine.

There is also a day hotel, located on the third level above domestic departures in the far west of the expanded terminal, offering bed-capsules for travellers wanting a quick rest and shower between flights or for passengers from slightly distant cities like Mysore, Tumkur, Salem, etc. The airport authorities are going to have to work out the modalities with the security agencies for international passengers to use the hotel, or early arrivals from close by cities like Mysore, Salem, etc.

Coming back to the lounge front, international premium passengers are doomed to suffer. The new wing while providing for new lounges, will expand lounge capacity by a small fraction over the existing Oberoi group operated lounge, was is forced to continue well past its contract period, supposed to end in October 2013. Oberoi did not get a contract to operate either of the two lounges, and naturally, their interest in operating the existing lounge is low. Despite the best efforts of BIAL staff, the Oberoi lounge provides a very sorry departing experience to the premium passengers.

Security check area shows a distinct five star look and feel of the new terminal.

Lounges are crucial to the passenger experience at hub airports. While the new international lounges are expected to be more luxurious than the existing, it remains to be seen whether these lounges will match up to the likes at Singapore Changi, Dubai, or even New Delhi IGI airports.

One of the two new lounges will be Plaza. Given its relatively small size, it is not clear whether credit card holders will be permitted entry. There is one lounge area being considered at level 2 of the east most gate (right side of floor plan photo) which is a Code F and can be used by an Airbus A380. Will Lufthansa use this area for creating a dedicated lounge? Let's see.

Photography at the terminal

Airplane photo buffs will be able to enjoy great views at the west end of the airport which should allow for a panoramic view of the apron. Head out near the new gate 1 any time before noon and click some photos. The best time of the year to take photos will be from September to April after which the sun will be north of the airport and many photos will be back-lit.

Photography from the terminal is permitted by the DGCA. You can read this article for more details and the relevant notifications which we suggest you keep a print out of.

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AirAsia to use Bangalore as its India hub?

by Devesh Agarwal

AirAsia is close to signing an agreement to use Bangalore as its hub for India operations, Bhaskar Bodapati, Senior Director of the Bengaluru Airport International Limited (BIAL) revealed in Saturday's Deccan Herald.

This will be a coup for the company, especially after the loss of the financially defunct Kingfisher Airlines.

Historically, Bangalore has been ignored by India's domestic airlines for their international operations, who chose to go to Chennai, thus leaving the field wide open for foreign carriers like Emirates, Lufthansa, Singapore Airlines, and Air France from the HAL airport days, and DragonAir, Qatar Airways, Etihad and others since 2008 when the new international airport opened.

Air India operates just one flight to Dubai, via Goa, and SpiceJet has just commenced a flight to Bangkok from the city. Jet Airways briefly operated a flight to Brussels which is its scissor hub for flights on to the east coast of north America, but it was shut within months.

Both BIAL and AirAsia have not commented on this story.

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Opinion: The Rahul Gandhi "close shave" - Sensationalism rules at Indian media

by Devesh Agarwal

It appears that exaggeration driven sensationalism still rules the Indian media world, especially at the leading newspapers.

On Tuesday, a private Cessna Citation business jet carrying the ruling family scion Rahul Gandhi had to do a "go-around" when landing at New Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport (coincidentally named after his grandmother). An Indian Air Force Ilyushin Il-76 transporter took some extra time to clear the runway ahead of Gandhi's jet which precipitated this action. There is confusion on whether the Il-76 Gajraj was taking off or landing.

Screams The Times of India

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi narrowly escaped a disaster........

Not to be left behind The Hindustan Times blared

Close shave for Rahul at Delhi's IGI airport

Even the normally sober Firstpost joined the sensationalist bandwagon saying

Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi reportedly had a close shave while landing at the Delhi airport

One of the only news organisations to take a sober and factual approach to this incident was NDTV whose headline ran

Rahul Gandhi's aircraft aborted landing to avoid collision, probe ordered

While separation between aircraft of 45 seconds is common at the ultra-busy airports around the world, in India, even New Delhi, there is a still a five nautical mile separation rule. In the case of Gandhi's bizjet, the separation was maintain at eight nautical miles (about 15 kilometres) due to "wake turbulence" caused by the Il-76.

Across the world, at the busy airports like New York, London, etc., air traffic controllers are under pressure, especially during peak hours, to maximise the utilisation of the runway. Aviation safety rules say that no two aircraft can occupy the runway at the same time, and ever so-often an aircraft takes some extra time and is not able to clear the runway in time. Thus a landing aircraft will be ordered to perform a "go-around". Sometimes due to cross winds or turbulence, the pilot is not comfortable in the approach and will chose to go-around rather than risk an unsafe landing. Whatever be the reason, the go-around is a fairly routine action, and pilots train for it.

See this video involving a Finnair MD-11 flight 5 being ordered to "go-around" at New York's JFK airport. Around 2m45s in to the video, you can head the tower controller ordering American Airlines flight 116 or 160 (one sixteen or one sixty) to taxi quickly and vacate the runway. When the American flight does not do so, at about 3m10s, when the Finnair is almost over the top of the runway threshold the controller orders it to "go-around". Everything in the cockpit is calm and plane goes around and lands. Its a routine matter.



In this video Qatar Airways flight QR1 goes around at the last minute on the choice of its pilots. Keep in mind, the Airbus A340-600 is not known for its power and climb capabilities. The whole incident is routine.



In this video from Japan's Narita airport, the massive 747-400, an aircraft that weighs over 350 tons at take-off, goes around while midway down the runway. It appears the approach was not stable, and pilot chooses to go-around rather than risk an unsafe landing. Again very routine.



In August 2010, we witnessed a Jet Airways Boeing 737-800 which touched down hard at Bangalore airport and as a result the aircraft was de-stabilised. The pilot did a "go-around" and landed ten minutes later. While Bangalore Aviation reported it in a routine manner, the newspapers went around with their scaremongering headlines of "close shave", "narrowly averted disaster", etc.

One has to question the motives and capabilities of the Indian media, which tries to make mountains out of grains of sand, not just molehills.

Almost every one in the aviation world knows that The Times of India is more of a tabloid than a newspaper. Is their scaremongering tactics a reflection on the hypocrisy of its readers who derive vicarious pleasure in these sensationalist headlines? It appears so, since other papers and news organisations are forced to descend to these low levels in order to compete. After all The Times of India is the most widely circulated paper in the world, not just India.

Isn't it time we took the high road?

Do share your comments and thoughts via a comment.

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Analysis: Etihad announces huge increase in flights and seats between Abu Dhabi and India

Bangalore-Abu Dhabi-Chicago, Mumbai-Abu Dhabi-New York, Delhi-Abu Dhabi-Newark amongst new flights requested

by Devesh Agarwal and Vinay Bhaskara

Image Credit: Etihad Airways

On the back of the new bilateral air services agreement which has almost quadrupled capacity, Etihad Airways, the national carrier of the United Arab Emirates, will greatly increase both seats and flights for travel to and from India, introducing more flights and wide-bodied jets by the end of this year, and further increases and new routes next year, subject to regulatory approval.

From 1 November this year, Etihad Airways plans to more than triple the number of seats it now offers on the prime Abu Dhabi – Mumbai and Abu Dhabi – New Delhi routes, reflecting the growing importance of the Indian market, and delivering significant economic benefits to the economies of India and Abu Dhabi.

Enriching the expanded schedules will be new connection opportunities between Etihad’s global network and its expanded Indian services, via the airline’s Abu Dhabi hub.

The President and Chief Executive Officer of Etihad Airways, James Hogan, said: “India is one of the world’s fastest-growing destinations, and a key market in the growth strategy of Etihad Airways.

“Following the recent signing of a new air services agreement between India and the UAE, we now have the opportunity to add significant capacity between the two countries, not only meeting existing demand for trade and tourist travel but also ensuring that we can meet the continued strong growth which is expected between our two countries. The big winners will be our passengers and freight customers and the economies of India and Abu Dhabi.”

By 31 December, 2013, Etihad Airways plans to:

• Increase from daily to double-daily its Abu Dhabi-Mumbai and Abu Dhabi-New Delhi flights;
• Use wide-bodied Airbus A340-600 aircraft on one of the daily Abu Dhabi – Mumbai flights, offering First, Business and Economy Classes, replacing a Jet Airways A330-200
• Use wide-bodied Airbus A330-200 aircraft on one of the daily Abu Dhabi - New Delhi flights, offering Business and Economy Class, replacing an Etihad A320
• Upgrade daily Abu Dhabi – Chennai flights from 136-seat Airbus A320s to new Airbus A321s, seating 174 passengers with an expected two class configuration of (12J / 162Y)
• Subject to regulatory approval, Etihad also intends to codeshare on a wide range of flights operated within India by Jet Airways. Jet will feed Abu Dhabi from eight cities initially: Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram and Cochin

Specific details of new routes between Abu Dhabi and India and codeshare services with Jet Airways will be announced progressively, as approvals are received and operational details are finalised.

Separately, Jet Airways is set to move its international scissors hub for services to the United States to Abu Dhabi from Brussels. Jet will launch Mumbai-Abu Dhabi-Newark, Bangalore-Abu Dhabi-Chicago, and Delhi-Abu Dhabi-New York JFK. Interestingly, no mention has yet been made of services to Toronto, which Jet Airways currently serves as the final leg of its New Delhi - Brussels - Toronto services. However, Toronto-India traffic is notoriously low yielding. Furthermore, the UAE and Canada have a tense bilateral agreement, so it's likely that Jet might not even be allowed to operate to Toronto via Abu Dhabi.

Either way, the massive expansion from Jetihad brings the carrier to parity in the Indian market with Middle Eastern rival Emirates, who generates 12% of its network traffic from India. As the Jetihad partnership continues to solidify, expect to see more Indian expansion from both carriers.

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SpiceJet to launch Bangalore - Bangkok flights

by Devesh Agarwal

Delhi based low fare carrier SpiceJet will commence international flights from Bangalore on October 28. The first destination is Bangkok with four flights per week.

The carrier will be the only Indian carrier to service this route.

As per the SpiceJet website on which tickets which are available for purchase, the schedule is on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays,

SG091 departs Bangalore 03:35 arrives Bangkok Suvarnabhumi 09:05
SG092 departs Bangkok Suvarnabhumi 20:10 arrives Bangalore 22:35

The airline will use a Boeing 737-800 to service the flights.

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