Virgin Group's new V Australia, the long haul airline of Virgin Blue, took delivery of its first Boeing 777-300ER.

The plane livery as delivered

The livery at the time of the order

The airplane, delivered by Boeing to International Lease Finance Corp. and leased to V Australia, is one of seven leased and purchased 777-300ERs V Australia will deploy on trans-Pacific and other routes.

The 6th February, Boeing Field ceremony included Virgin Group Founder Sir Richard Branson, Virgin Group Chief Executive Brett Godfrey, ILFC Chairman and CEO Steven F. Udvar-Hazy and senior Boeing officials.

V Australia will launch Sydney-Los Angeles non-stop service on Feb. 27, building to daily flights by March 20; and Brisbane-Los Angeles flights begin April 8, after more deliveries of the ordered planes are effected.

V Australia's 777-3GZ(ER) construction number 35302, is powered the GE90-115B, is registered VH-VOZ, and will carry 361 passengers in business, premium economy and economy classes, with advanced in-flight entertainment options.

Boeing is especially pleased, for VH-VOZ is the first 777 sold to an Australian carrier.

VH-VOZ will land in Australia on February 9th.

Click on image for high resolution image

The announcement from Boeing says it all.

The newest member of the Boeing [NYSE: BA] 777 family, the 777 Freighter, today received its formal stamp of approval from the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). EASA validated the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) Feb. 3 type certification of the 777 Freighter.

The certification formally recognizes that the 777 Freighter has passed the stringent design and testing requirements mandated by FAA and EASA, clearing the airplane for cargo service. The first 777 Freighter will deliver to launch customer Air France later in the quarter.

Congratulations Boeing.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) today lowered business and leisure fares in domestic markets served from its Cincinnati hub. The reductions offer more than 80 percent of customers flying to or from Cincinnati a significant savings on advance-purchase leisure and business fares to the hub’s most popular destinations, including select cities in Florida, the Northeast and along the West coast.

Sample reductions, effective immediately, include:

Market	Previous 21-day advance-purchase fare**	Reduction	New sample 21-day advance-purchase fare**
Charleston, S.C.	$185 one-way*	56%	$82 one-way*
St. Louis	$180 one-way*	53%	$84 one-way*
Philadelphia	$149 one-way*	38%	$92 one-way*
Los Angeles	$310 one-way*	58%	$130 one-way*
Boston	$205 one-way*	26%	$152 one-way*
Hartford, Conn.	$180 one-way*	12%	$159 one-way*
Seattle	$305 one-way*	43%	$173 one-way*
Salt Lake City	$270 one-way*	20%	$217 one-way*

*One-way, based on a round-trip purchase. Additional taxes/fees/restrictions/baggage charges may apply.
**Comparison based on published fares as of Jan. 27, 2009 for the same travel period.

This new pricing structure is not a sale and applies to both leisure- and business-oriented travel. In addition to reductions on the lowest available fares, customers also will see reductions on other advance purchase and walk-up fares.

Visit Delta website for full terms, conditions and details.

The Supreme Court today stayed the Karnataka High Court judgement that quashed the decision of Bangalore International Airport Ltd. (BIAL), operator of the Bengaluru International Airport at Bangalore, to award the duty-free shops contract to Nuance Group AG of Switzerland and Shoppers Stop.

On December 19 2008, on a plea by Flemingo Duty Free Shops Pvt. Ltd., the Karnataka High Court had set aside the award and directed BIAL to reissue fresh tender documents within 45 days.

Dubai-based travel retail business company, Flemingo, which operates duty-free shops at airports and sea ports, had alleged that it was wrongly excluded from the tender for setting up duty-free shops at the new airport.

A bench headed by Justice K G Balakrishnan asked the parties to maintain status quo till February 16, the notified date of hearing.

Earlier, the apex court stayed the Bombay High Court judgement that had allowed a similar petition of Flemingo Duty Free Shops Pvt. Ltd. and quashed a similar decision of Mumbai International Airport Ltd. (MIAL), operator of Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, to award the duty-free shops contract to DFS India.

Both High Courts had held that MIAL and BIAL were a 'state' within the meaning of Article 12 of the Constitution.

Both the Nuance Group and DFS Ventures, Singapore had challenged the respective High Courts' rulings.

This case of significance to both airport's private operators. If the Supreme Court upholds the lower courts' decisions, it will require operators to follow public tendering processes, which airport operators feel will hamper their ability to make procurement decisions.

British Airways released it performance figures for January 2009. In the month, passenger capacity, measured in Available Seat Kilometres (ASKs), was 2.6 per cent below January 2008. Traffic, measured in Revenue Passenger Kilometres (RPKs), fell by 1.3 per cent. This resulted in a passenger load factor increase of 1 per cent, to 73.2 per cent.

Reflecting the deepening impact of the recession and cost cutting by passengers, premium traffic (first and business class) dropped 13.7 per cent compared to a 1.4 per cent rise in non-premium traffic. A direct barometer of industrial manufacturing ouput, cargo performance, measured in Freight Tonne Kilometres (FTKs), fell by 16.7 per cent, which should be a cause of concern to all of us, as even post 9/11, when global airline fleets were grounded, cargo output fell only 13.7 per cent. It appears global manufacturing has just stopped, because we consumers have stopped buying.

We have to fight the "FUD factor" (Fear Uncertainity, Doubt).

Also, British Airways has re-cast its financial performance and restated it performance for the 9 months ending December 31, 2008

• Operating profit of £89 million (2007: £744 million - restated) down 88 per cent
• Loss before tax of £70 million (2007: Profit £816 million - restated)
• Revenue £7,046 million (2007: £6,634 million - restated) up 6.2 per cent
• Passenger revenue at £6.2 billion was up 6.6 per cent
• Cargo revenue at £537 million up 18.8 per cent, before the recession kicked in
  
• Cargo performance, (measured in FTKs) down 1.7 per cent primarily due to effects in last quarter of 2008
  
• Passenger Capacity (measured in ASKs) up 0.2 per cent
• Passenger seat factor 78.4 per cent down 2.3 per cent
• Fuel costs £2,244 million up 48.4 per cent

Cash at the end of December was £1.6 billion, £278 million lower than at March 2008. Net debt was £2.2 billion, up £0.9 billion since the year end, £0.6 billion of this increase due to exchange.

British Airways has responded by adding more discounted fares to its World Offers sale for travel between January and September 2009 with reductions on a range of longhaul destinations including New York, Cape Town and Grand Cayman and shorthaul destinations including Paris, Venice, Milan, Vienna and Prague.

Statements from British Airways clearly indicate the airline is looking at the medium to long term.

The new Club World longhaul cabin has been fitted on 19 of 42 Boeing 777s in addition to all 57 of Boeing 747s. The fitments will be completed by the end of 2009.

For shorthaul passengers, Club Europe will be in a new configuration to guarantee a window or aisle seat from February 23, 2009, with the removal of the use of the middle seat.

Fitments of the new First class cabin will start later this year and will added to the pending Boeing 777-300s due for delivery in 2010.

All Nippon Airways (ANA) of Japan, is planning strategies similar to their world-wide airline counterparts in these times of global recession. Suspending operations, reducing flights and switching to smaller aircraft, essentially slashing capacity to keep passenger load factors high, in an effort to keep the business going this year.

India is one of the more badly affected countries by ANA's re-alignments. It used to operate a 38 seat all business class Boeing 737-781ER Business Jet between Mumbai and Tokyo Narita thrice a week. This will come down to twice a week. ANA also has a code share arrangement with Jet Airways and transits passengers via Singapore.

Talking about the Indian operations, Kenji Sugino, Director – Sales, Administration and Marketing, ANA said

“Despite the global slowdown, India is one of the growing markets for ANA. We are positive about this year and are expecting good load factors and sales margins. We are going to play strategically in the Indian market this year.”

“We were receiving a good 60-70 per cent of passenger load on Mumbai – Narita route. Post 26/11, ANA is receiving about 30 per cent loads on Mumbai – Narita route. Now, the loads are about 50 per cent, but due to recession, it's not logical to operate flights half empty. However, the reduction of flights on Mumbai – Narita route is temporary and will be rescheduled once the market demand goes high. We are positive about this year and assume that the market will stabilise by mid-2009.”

76 seats for a population of 1.1 billion ??? In my opinion, both Japanese and Indian carriers are just handing over business to ASEAN carriers by their lack of capacity.

ANA has also rolled out strategic plans for its worldwide operations announcing it will slash nine per cent of its international service in the next fiscal year (April 2009 to March 2010). It will withdraw the Boeing 747 service on the Tokyo - Paris and Tokyo - Frankfurt routes, and will introduce smaller aircraft on the Washington route.

ANA is looking to the first quarter of 2010 when, as launch customer, it will receive its long awaited Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

Unlike rival Japan Airlines (JAL) whose traditional focus is on international operations from Tokyo Narita airport, ANA has always put Tokyo Haneda and domestic business first; and it is gearing up to take full advantage of the huge business opportunity expected by the massive expansion of Haneda and Narita airports in 2010 – described by ANA President and Chief Executive, Mineo Yamamoto, as the ‘Big Bang’ for Japanese aviation, coupled with deliveries of the Dreamliner.

For now, financially, ANA expects a group net loss of JPY nine billion ($ 100.4 million), instead of a previously projected profit of JPY 17 billion. ANA also slashed its group operating profit forecast from JPY 55 billion to JPY eight billion.

Tomohiro Hidema, Executive VP of Finance, ANA stated in a media release

“Given the likelihood of the situation worsening in the foreseeable future, we are faced with an operating environment vastly different from the recent past, one that offers challenges of a much harsher nature.”

The Japanese airline industry have already asked their government for financial aid.

Read the ANA press releases detailing their business plans and their financial results.

It was a routine afternoon on January 15th, New York TRACON La Guardia departure (L116) was handling outbound flights, including the US Airways Flight 1549, known by its radio call sign as Cactus 1549 (an America West flight).

The routine was rudely interrupted at 15:27:36 EST (20:27:36 UTC) by a terse transmission :

"Ah this is uh Cactus fifteen thirty nine, hit birds we lost thrust in both engines we're turning back towards La Guardia."

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has released a recording and transcript of the period seven minutes before the bird strikes for 20 minutes, and includes all the conversation from the TRACON, the various airports, and the flights in the airspace including the US Airways flight.

I am impressed by the calm in cockpit expressed by the short terse transmissions of Captain Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger III. He is fighting the ultimate emergency and still communicated his situation. Equally impressive is the complete understanding of the Air Traffic Controller, and the way he anticipates and reacts to the needs of Captain Sullenberger.

Thanks to Terry Maxon for breaking the story.

All airlines in India have been slashing their fares since January. The sheer numbers of special offers, and schemes coming across my desk have overwhelmed me.

However, these appear to be coming to an end.

Despite a drastic cut in fares of nearly 50 per cent for full service airlines and over 40 per cent on low cost carriers the demand is still not picking up sufficiently to offset the reductions. At some of the current special fares levels, passenger load factors would have be greater than 100 per cent, which is simply not sustainable. Add to this, that March onwards the traffic naturally starts picking up.

Airlines have started complaining to the government about the "unrealistic fares".

So if you are planning to buy some tickets, do it right away.

SpiceJet CEO, Sanjay Aggarwal's interview with CNBC-TV18, gives us some clues on how airlines think.

Q: At a time when the industry is reeling under huge losses, should fares be a lot more disciplined in terms of getting into this aggressive price war?

A: The question is what they should be and what they are? Right now it is a competitive environment and there are competitive pressures. Even though we would like to keep fares higher, we have to stay in line with what the other carriers are doing and right now the fares are low and I think these are unsustainable fares. Some of the viewers who are looking at buying air tickets; they should do it sooner than later. In the near future I see fares going up.

Q: Have you seen any sort of a volume pick up post your decision to slash fares and has that at all offset the kind of losses that you’ve been sitting on?

A: First of all – have we seen pick up in demand? The answer is yes we have but not sufficient to offset the revenue loss. So for example the fares have come down 40-50% however the load factors have not gone up and the current fares, it will take us more than 100% load factors to break-even. So when I talk about these fears being unsustainable, it is not just we need to get 5-10% more load factors, it is just unrealistic. The second piece being, should we be more disciplined? Of course we should be. So we will see where the market goes but as I said my guess is the next few weeks, the fares should begin to move up.

See the complete interview video.

The financial woes at Kingfisher Airlines, forcing them to divert ordered aircraft to other airlines, continue.

First it was the Airbus A340-500's meant for the flagship Bangalore to San Francisco "Silicon to Silicon" flights, that were diverted to Arik when Kingfisher could not take delivery.

Now it is the turn of Turkish Airlines THY, who is taking delivery of four brand spanking new Airbus A321's originally destined for Kingfisher, fitted with the uber-comfortable business class called Kingfisher First, and the great in-flight entertainment system.

With the collapsing domestic demand, Kingfisher has been deploying A321s on the regional international routes. These aircraft had even obtained their India registrations (VT-KRx series).

Pictures from a Turkish blog, showing the interiors confirm that the aircraft are indeed Kingfisher, and this picture shows the Kingfisher liveried A321 with the Turkish flagged TC-JMH registration.

Two aircraft, CN 3637 (Ex VT-KRA now TC-JMH), and CN 3673 (Ex VT-KRB now TC-JMI), have been delivered recently to THY, and the next two, CN 3688 (Ex VT-KRC), and CN 3717 (Ex VT-KRE), are expected to be delivered in late January and February.

There is no news on the fifth A321, CN 3738 VT-KRF.

Kingfisher's must touted alliance with Jet Airways, has also remained stuck in neutral not producing any benefits for either airline, and Air Transport Intelligence is reporting that Kingfisher has again, for the second time, sought a delay in delivery of its ordered A380s to 2014.

The A380 deferral could also be as a result of the fact that no airport in India, other than Hyderabad, which will not provide the needed traffic, is capable to taking the "high take-off weight" optioned A380 that Kingfisher wants. Bengaluru International Airport, which is considered Kingfisher's home base, has deferred its 2nd phase expansion plans, which include an A380 capable runway, due to the slowdown in domestic traffic.

The US aviation regulator, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), has delayed permission to a code-sharing agreement between Jet Airways (India) Ltd and United Air Lines Inc., as per the Mint.

The code share agreement would have given Jet Airways passengers access to United’s five hubs of Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington, and access to 20 other cities across the US, while United passengers would have been able to connect to 13 cities in India, including Bangalore, Kolkata, Mumbai and New Delhi.

India currently enjoys a category I status in the United States and the delay in permissions are very surprising. Jet Airways has has lodged a complaint against the delay at India’s civil aviation ministry, which will be taken up by India through diplomatic channels.

The FAA intends to do an IASA (international aviation safety assessment) review of infrastructure and safety procedures followed by India’s regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in the next three months, and India is facing the threat of downgrade to Category II status.

This will surely create relationship problems in the aviation sector, one of the key areas of trade and cooperation between the two countries. The upcoming 126 multi-role fighter aircraft deal, in which Lockheed Martin and Boeing are leading contenders, may also be threatened.

Read the full Mint article.

Contact Zone, a first of its kind service at Indian Airports, has been established near Gate 1 of Terminal 2 (International) at New Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) for catering to passengers with special needs, like physically challenged passengers, and unaccompanied minors amongst others.

Currently, facilitation for passengers requiring special assistance is coordinated directly by the airline. However, security rules prevent those accompanying the passengers inside the terminal creating difficulty for the passengers. The ‘Contact Zone’ is aimed at bridging this gap by facilitating the coordination between the airlines and the traveller.

Two parking slots are reserved in the Contact Zone for passengers requiring Wheel Chair assistance, and the airport operator, DIAL's Customer Service Executives and porters have been deputed for coordination and facilitation.

While the passengers wait in the special area provided, the Executive posted at the Contact Zone will in turn contact the concerned airline for deputing their staff for help complete the departure formalities. DIAL has requested the airlines to depute staff to frequently visit the drop off area.

At present the 'Contact Zone' will cater only to international passengers, but it expected to be extended to the new domestic departure terminals, but a time frame has not been provided.

While not much to write home about, this is a step in the right direction. Indian aviation has a very poor track record when it comes to catering to the special needs passenger.

The recent "hijack" incident involving Indigo airlines flight 6E344 from Goa to New Delhi, has created the furore all over India, and even on to the international stage.

I am glad, Jitendra Kumar Mohala, a 42-year-old chartered accountant, and son of a retired air commodore of the Indian Air Force, has been booked under sections 336 (endangering life and personal safety of others) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code, as well as Suppression of Unlawful Act Against Safety Of Civil Aviation Act, 1982, which is non-bailable. Now let us hope the authorities throw the book at him.

In the last 15 days alone, there have been three other reported instances of passengers creating trouble on board an aircraft.

• January 14th. An Air India passenger, Valli Panikker (42) got so drunk on the flight that he started abusing and misbehaving with fellow passengers, and hit two cabin crew members on board a New York-Mumbai flight. He was handed over to Mumbai police after the plane landed. Penalty ? Rs. 1,200 fine. News report here.


• January 30th. A 72-year-old man, on a Chennai-Delhi flight, was completely drunk and started groping some women and tried to 'feel up' some of the stewardesses. Penalty ? He was de-planed. As per a police official at Chennai "As he was an aged man, the crew decided to not file a complaint against the man. We warned him not to repeat such activities and let him leave after some time." News report here.


• January 30th. A passenger, Prashant Imene, on board a Jet Airways London-Mumbai flight, molested a woman co-passenger, assaulted the cabin crew and hurled cuss words at them, threatened to throw his passport out of the window (I wonder how, at 30,000ft), tore his boarding pass, threw water on a flight attendant's face and hit an elderly passenger with a spoon. He was not drunk. Penalty ? The police booked him for outraging the modesty of a woman, threatening and assaulting. He was produced in court on January 31st. Sentence unknown. News report here.


• February 1st. Jitendra Kumar Mohala, 42, passenger on board Indigo 6E 344 misbehaved with an stewardess over some issue and threatened her, saying that he was armed. He said he had two accomplices on the board and they would hijack the plane. He also said that he was official of the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and will inspect the plane. Penalty ? Let us see what develops.
  

Outside this 15 day window,

• July 12, 2008, a drunk Kuwaiti national, Bilal Ahmed, 40, forced a Doha to Bangkok Qatar Airways flight. to make an emergency landing in Mumbai. Sources said his hands and feet had to be tied together to bring him under control. The Mumbai police meekly returned Bilal Ahmed to Doha on the very next Qatar Airways flight, instead of meting out any punishment.

Airlines, including those in India, hire attractive young ladies as customer service and cabin crew to inject glamour in to an otherwise tiresome travel experience. The Singapore Airlines' "Singapore Girl" is renowned globally. Virgin Airlines is considered "Still Red Hot" with its glamorous red uniformed female cabin crew, a theme followed by Kingfisher airlines in India. The crews of Jet, Indigo, SpiceJet, and some in Air India, are no less, in the glamour quotient.

Indian air crews, particularly, females, have to put up with troublesome passengers some who are over-aggressive, often hostile, many times drunk and lecherous, believing that the stewardess is their personal property to abuse, grope, and fondle.

In the land when 'Devi', the female goddess, is worshipped, this lack of respect for women in the air, is utterly disgusting.

It is not just passengers, just yesterday (February 3rd), in a most shocking incident, an Andhra Pradesh Home Guard attached to the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, B Vinod Reddy, was arrested for eve-teasing some girl students and then beating up their male classmate when he attempted to intervene and get Reddy to stop. Reddy was finally arrested and charged under sections 323 (Voluntarily causing hurt) and 509 (Insult the modesty of a woman) of the Indian Penal Code, after the students went on a protest at the airport.

Despite India having the laws under the Indian Penal Code, and being a signatory to all United Nations' conventions and treaties covering civil aviation, recent incident indicate a pattern of not levying punishment.

Compare the minor penalties in India, to the penalties in the United Kingdom which mandates a penalty of £5,000 or 2 years’ imprisonment. In the United States, criminal penalties are a fine of up to US$ 11,000 or 20 years imprisonment, civil penalties aside.

India has to enforce its laws, and severely punish offenders, only then, will passengers learn to control their mouths, their hands, and their behaviour.

What also surprises me is the lack of complaints from the airlines or the crews. I refuse to accept that a stewardess is not disgusted to the point of making a complaint, after being groped, abused, or 'felt-up'. An airline looses a lot of money by making emergency landings, and looses passengers who have to put up with a horrible experience.

It is time for all of us to stand firm with a "zero tolerance" policy against these maniac passengers, and also empower the crew by supporting their complaints. Otherwise, we risk the typical knee-jerk reaction, one can expect from the government -- to ban serving of alcohol on board any flight, which will only inconvenience 99.9% of passengers instead of punishing the offending 0.1%, and still leave cases like Prashant Imene (who was not drunk) and Jitendra Kumar Mohala (who drank before the flight) un-addressed.

The One World alliance is celebrating it's tenth anniversary, and its member airlines have unveiled a special livery on their fleets. Hope you will enjoy the images. Click on the images to see the high resolution versions.

American Airlines Boeing 777

British Airways Boeing 747

Japan Airlines Boeing 777

Finnair Airbus A340

Royal Jordanian Airlines Airbus A319

Iberia Airbus A320

LAN Chile Boeing 767

Malev Boeing 737
Cathay Pacific Airbus A340
QANTAS Boeing 747

Oneworld has also announced 10% reduction in airfares, a new Circle Atlantic fare, and a free business class tickets contest.

A quiet change took place at Bengaluru International Airport Limited (BIAL), the operator of Bengaluru International Airport.

Marcel Hungerbuehler took over as CEO of BIAL on February 1st, 2009 from Albert Brunner. Prior to this, Marcel was the the company’s COO for two years.

Those inside the industry know how instrumental Marcel was, in the start-up process and the operations of the Bengaluru International Airport. From personal experience, he is a methodical, pragmatic and engaging leader, and exactly the type BIAL needs during these turbulent times.

During his 40 years in the aviation industry, Marcel has held various high level management positions including Swissair and Swissport. An aviation all-rounder, he has held positions in various functions in operations and sales and marketing. He was Swissair’s Area Manager Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia, District Manager UK and Ireland and Area Manager Asia and Middle East.

Before moving to BIAL, Marcel Hungerbuehler was Head of Swissport Zurich, the largest Ground Handling Company at Zurich Airport.

Congratulations Marcel.

Former CEO, Albert Brunner, is heading for the warm climes of the Caribbean for his next posting.

Congratulations to Airbus. With the newest order from Korean Air, the order book for the A380 superjumbo has crossed the 200 mark.


Korean Air has placed firm orders with Airbus for two more double-deck A380 superjumbos, bringing the total number of A380s ordered by Korean Air to ten aircraft. The carrier will operate the aircraft in a three-class layout on routes linking Seoul to destinations in North America and Europe, including Los Angeles, New York and Paris.

Airline flight schedules went haywire on Monday, due to a re-fuelling problem at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) at Hyderabad. A technical hitch in the fuel hydrant system of Reliance, the fuel franchisee, led to disruptions and delaying almost all the morning flights by up to two hours.

27 flights were delayed due to 'pressurisation problem' in the Reliance fuel system, forcing the airport operator GHIAL to carry fuel up to the aircraft in tankers.

Passengers were a anxious and irritated lot, and some of they were additionally nervous, coming on the back of yesterday's 'hijack' drama at New Delhi.

The early morning delays, have led to a nationwide domino effect, and all downstream flights across India have been delayed. One airline spokesman put it simply -- "It's chaos today."

Time for Reliance to have some reliable backup plans. (sorry, just could not resist the pun).

BBC News and Aviation Herald are reporting a Cyprus Airways plane has slipped off a taxiway at Heathrow Airport, lodging its front wheel in a grassy area.

The Cyprus Airways Airbus A330-200, registration 5B-DBS, was performing flight CY-332 from Larnaca, Cyprus to London Heathrow, United Kingdom, had landed at Heathrow and already turned off the runway onto the taxiways, when the nose gear skidded off the taxiway and got stuck in a grassy area.

No injuries occurred, no damages are being reported.

Snow and ice are being blamed for the incident which happened when the Cyprus Airways flight landed at 0820 GMT and was moving to Terminal 1.

Cyprus Airways was the last flight to land before both the runways at the airport were closed due to snow earlier on today, however the southern runway has since reopened.

British Airways cancelled all its flights until 1700 GMT.

All London airports -- Heathrow, Gatwick, Luton, Stanstead, and City have been closed due to the snow.

London has seen the heaviest snowfall in 18 years with up to 6cm (0.2ft) of snow reported at Heathrow Airport, weather experts said.

CNN-IBN is reporting on TV that a Russian man thought to be a crew member of Russian national airline Aeroflot has committed suicide by jumping out of the 16th floor at the Oberoi Hotel in Mumbai, India.

Update 1 - 14:30 IST (09:00 GMT)

The deceased has been identified as Alexander (22), a flight attendant with Aeroflot.

Alexander, along with four other colleagues, had checked into Room 1603 on Sunday evening.

According to the police, Alexander was in an inebriated condition and talking to some one around 01:00 on the phone, when he suddenly got very agitated and threw himself forcefully onto the sealed glass windows of his room, crashing through and falling 16 floors to the ground.

The police said that Alexander's colleagues said he was in an inebriated state and received a phone call around 0100 hours.

The hotel authorities and police managed to rush him to the Bombay Hospital where he succumbed around 06:30 this morning.

The body has been sent to Sir J.J. Hospital for an autopsy.

The motive behind his act is not yet known and police investigations are on.

SpiceJet on Monday said Mr Wilbur Ross has been appointed director on the board of the company, along with Mr Ranjeet Nabha, of the private equity firm led by the billionaire investor.

“Mr Wilbur Ross and Mr Ranjeet Nabha of WL Ross & Co LLC have been appointed as directors on the board of the company with effect from January 31, 2009,” the company said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

This development follows an investment of $80 million (about Rs 345 crore) the PE firm had made in the carrier last July. It was aimed at clearing the budget carrier's debt as well as meeting its working capital requirements.

Mr Ross holds foreign currency convertible bonds that can be converted into equity by December 2010. If he chooses to exercise his option, he could become owner of up to one-third (up to 32 per cent) of carrier SpiceJet by the next year. Government regulations currently allow only up to 49 per cent foreign direct investment and 100 per cent investment by a non-resident Indian through the automatic route. - PTI

SpiceJet also informed the Bombay Stock Exchange its unaudited financial results for the quarter ended December 31, 2008. SpiceJet shares have dropped 4.57% to INR 13.36 since opening this morning.

SpiceJet has made a small operating profit after tax of Rs. 8.17 million, but has taken a one-time charge of Rs. 188 million to settle on-going litigation with erstwhile promoter S.K. Modi, when the airline was ModiLuft.

For the 9 months ended December, the airline is still suffering from the oil shock and cumulative loss for the year stands at Rs. 3.48 billion (approx $69 million).

Obtain the full financial results here.