An agreement has been signed between Air India and Bangalore International Airport Ltd. (BIAL). The intent is to uplift Bengaluru into a sought-after aviation hub for southern India. Air India and other Tata Group airlines – AIX and Vistara – will collaborate with BIAL to increase international connectivity and operational efficiency while improving the passenger experience over the next five years.

How will this be achieved? Besides adding more international links from Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru, a dedicated domestic lounge for premium and frequent flyers of Tata Group airlines is in the pipeline. Also, Air India has inked an MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) with the Govt. of Karnataka to establish aircraft Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) facilities at the Bengaluru Airport. This will generate over 1,200 new jobs for highly skilled individuals in the state.

Maldives-based Boend Airlines has launched commercial passenger flights between its hub in Malé and Dubai. The service will operate from the capital of Maldives to Dubai’s Al Maktoum International Airport. From today until July, four weekly flights will operate on this route. Then, two additional flights will be added to take the weekly services count to six.

In February 2024, Beond Airlines took delivery of its second Airbus A321, which is currently undergoing refurbishment. In the same month, the leisure airline announced it would be the first to offer Apple Vision Pro onboard. The carrier aims to provide services from Europe, the Middle East and Asia Pacific to Maldives. The service between Malé and Milan, Italy, will commence later this year.

UAE’s national carrier, Etihad Airways, has announced the addition of destination number four in Saudi Arabia – Al Qassim. From June 24, 2024, the airline will fly four weekly flights from Abu Dhabi’s Zayed International Airport (AUH) to Al Qassim’s Prince Naif Bin Abdulaziz International Airport (ELQ). This will be a nonstop service on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, using an Airbus A320.

Flight EY 0627 will depart AUH at 08:00 and arrive in ELQ at 09:10. The return flight – EY 0628 – will leave ELQ and land in AUH at 10:15 and 13:20, respectively (all times are local).

Etihad will also increase flight frequencies to five destinations across the Middle East and South Asia. From June 15, 2024, three additional weekly flights to Thiruvananthapuram (India), Amman (Jordan), Cairo (Egypt), Karachi (Pakistan), and Colombo (Sri Lanka) will run. Last month, the carrier also announced the addition of two new destinations: Antalya (Turkey) and Jaipur (India).

This summer season will see a 33 per cent increase in weekly flights over the last. The total number of flights will grow from 642 to 855, while the number of destinations served will jump from 65 to 76.

Flying out of Vancouver and landing in Singapore is the latest international service that Air Canada has introduced. Operated on a Boeing 787-9, the new route is the sole nonstop service between the two countries and the carrier’s longest flight when measured by distance. The flight covers a distance of 12,818km (7,965 miles) with a flying time of up to 16 hours and five minutes.

Air Canada will offer this service all year round, four times weekly – Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays (outbound) and Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays (inbound). The departure time from Vancouver is 00:05, and the arrival time is 07:10 + 1 day in Singapore. The return leg begins at 09:10 and ends at 08:55. The aircraft has a three-cabin layout, including Air Canada Signature Class, Premium Economy and Economy. Besides having 100s of hours of onboard movies and TV Shows, passengers can also purchase Wi-Fi services.

Starting May 2 and until June 29, 2024, Korean Air will operate seasonal charter services between Seoul Incheon and Taichung, Taiwan. The flights will run thrice a week, on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. The outbound flight – KE189 – will leave South Korea’s capital at 3:30 pm and land in Taichung at 5:15 pm. The return leg – KE190 – will depart at 6:50 pm and arrive in Seoul at 10:40 pm (all times are local).

Korean Air will operate a Boeing 737-8 on the abovementioned route. The aircraft will have a 146-seat layout, with 8 seats in Prestige Class and the remaining 138 in Economy. Once this new service is live, South Korea’s flag carrier will have 24 roundtrip weekly services between Seoul Incheon and Taiwan, including 14 on the Seoul Incheon-Taipei route and 7 on the Busan-Taipei route.

Also Read: Korean Air To Buy 33 Airbus A350s

After signing a contract with Airbus Germany earlier this year, Mahindra Aerostructures Pvt Ltd (MASPL) has inked another. The new one is a multi-year deal with Airbus Atlantic. The paperwork specifies that the Indian company, which has its production plant in Bengaluru, will manufacture and deliver components and small assemblies for the entire Airbus commercial aircraft family, including the A320 family. The contract, worth approximately USD 100 million, requires MASPL to supply nearly 2,300 varieties of metallic components to Airbus Atlantic in France.

MASPL and the Airbus Group have been doing business with each other since 2015. The former was also recognised as the “Best Performer” in the 2023 Airbus Supplier Quality Improvement Program awards.

Aviterra, a Dubai-based firm, has signed a purchase deal with PAL-V for more than 100 Liberty flying cars. The acquired vehicles will be deployed across the Middle East and Africa. Also, Aviterra has announced an investment in PAL-V alongside inking a partnership for the Middle East and Africa.

Liberty can take the road like a conventional car or, by utilising Aviterra’s services, can take off like an aircraft from a very short runway. The flying car in question has a seating capacity of two and has space for 80 litres of stuff. In drive mode, it can hit 100kmph from a standstill in less than 9 seconds and clock 160kmph at full stretch. The range is 1,315km.

In flying mode, which takes about five minutes to get ready, Liberty needs a 180m take-off roll. Its 200hp powerplant can help reach up to 180kmph and a maximum altitude of 11,000 ft. The maximum range is between 400-500km, with a maximum flying time of 4.3 hours.

PAL-V is establishing regional offices globally to propel its flying car business. These will also be hubs for sales, maintenance, flight training and assembly locations.

Both Airbus and Boeing have bagged orders for new aircraft from Japan Airlines (JAL). As part of its fleet renewal plan, Japan’s flag carrier will purchase 21 A350-900s and 11 A321neos from Airbus and 10 787-9 Dreamliners from Boeing. Simple math reveals the order for 42 new aircraft.

Of the 21 A350-900s, JAL plans to put 20 on international routes from FY2027 and 1 on domestic from FY2025. The latter will take the place of the aircraft that the airline lost in January 2024. The 787-9s from Boeing, however, will all serve the airline’s overseas network from FY2027. The single-aisle A321neos, ordered for the first time by the Japanese carrier, will strengthen the domestic network from FY2028. JAL also awaits the delivery of 21 Boeing 737-8s, which should join the fleet from FY2026.

In December last year, JAL took delivery of its first Airbus A350-1000.

NOTE: Photograph taken from the official Airbus Media Centre.

In a bid to retire the ageing aircraft and replace them with new and more efficient ones, Korean Air has confirmed that it will sign a contract with Airbus to purchase 33 A350 family jets. The split is 27 A330-1000s and 6 A350-900s. The whole deal is valued at USD 13.7 billion.

The new aircraft will also help as Korean Air completes the merger with Asiana Airlines. The A350-1000, the largest in the family, can seat between 350 and 410 passengers in a typical three-class configuration and cover up to 16,000km nonstop at full capacity. On the other hand, the A350-900 is about 7 metres shorter but still has space for 300-350 passengers in a three-class layout and can fly up to 15,370km nonstop.

The airline’s fleet modernisation stint will also include the introduction of 50 Airbus A321neos, 10 Boeing 787-9s, 20 Boeing 787-10s and 30 Boeing 737-8s. Earlier this week, Korea’s flag carrier also shared details about a busy summer season ahead.

Latvia’s airBaltic, which has an all-Airbus A220 fleet, has announced the addition of three new routes for the winter season 2024-2025. Starting October 28, three weekly flights will run between Riga and Madeira, Portugal. The ticket prices start at EUR 199. Then, from the following day, the Vilnius-Oslo Torp (Norway) service will go live, serving passengers on the route twice a week. Prices start at EUR 45. Lastly, the Tallinn-Kittilä (Finland) flights will begin on December 21. airBaltic will operate up to two weekly flights on this route, with ticket prices starting at EUR 89.

Besides those new routes, the carrier will increase the frequency of services from Riga to Stockholm, Prague, Tampere, and others. Also, more flights will be operated from its base in Tallinn to Amsterdam, Copenhagen, and Gran Canaria. From Vilnius, the airline will offer more flights to Amsterdam, Paris and Berlin, among others. Its other seasonal routes for the winter season, such as Riga–Ljubljana, Riga–Baku (November), Tallinn–Malta (November), Vilnius–Lisbon and Vilnius–Hamburg, will also be active.

Also Read: airBaltic Adds Two New Flights From Vilnius For Summer 2024