Cathay Pacific recently launched a promotional return fare of Rs 7,999 on its direct Delhi-Bangkok service, against a normal fare from other airlines in the range of Rs 15, 500-19,000.

Including the recently introduced Rs 1,300 Airport Development Fee (ADF) charged by the Delhi International Airport Ltd. (DIAL), the total fare works out to an astoundingly low Rs. 9,299.

The special fare is valid till April 10, 2009, and and travel between March 30 and May 30, 2009. Read the offer here.

Tom Wright, General Manager, Cathay Pacific said,

“These ultra-low special fares have been a big cracker as soon after the announcement, the inquiries have went up sharply both on our website and with the tour operators. The response has been terrific and we could also be looking some innovative fares for other sectors.”

We can expect competing airlines on this route, Thai Airways, Malaysia Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Jet Airways and Air India to match this fare soon even if they claim the Cathay fare is "abysmally low".

As I sign off for the week, a light hearted story from British Airways with a serious intent.

There will be Red Noses on the ground and in the air at British Airways this week, in support of Comic Relief's Red Nose Day on 13 March.

(Picture by Nick Morrish/Seven Squared/BA News)

Staff will be encouraged to Do Something Funny for Money, by wearing Red Noses, and the airline has also painted Red Noses on a long haul Boeing 747, and two short haul Airbus aircraft.

The airline is asking all eagle-eyed photographers to send their uploaded pictures of the British Airways Red-Nose planes in flight to its Twitter page.

Comic Relief spends all the money raised through Red Nose Day to give extremely poor, vulnerable and disadvantaged people in the UK and Africa a helping hand to turn their lives around. For more information on Red Nose Day, go to their website www.rednoseday.com.

In this spirit of giving, I seek your support of Bangalore Aviation. Advertising income is donated to the Rotary Club of Bangalore for education of under-privileged gifted children. It only takes a couple of seconds of your time.

Driven by the whopping discounts offered by airlines, domestic passenger traffic in India, increased very marginally, to 3.336 million in February 2009, up from 3.326 million in January.

Kingfisher Airlines retained the top spot as India's largest domestic carrier for the month with 904,000 passengers representing a 27% market share. Jet group which includes the low cost subsidiary Jet Lite had a combined traffic of 846,000 or 25% market share.


IndiGo jumped to the top spot with passenger load factors of 82 per cent.


Airlines are expecting better results in March, the fiscal year end, and in April-May-June, the traditional summer holiday travel period. The massive fare discounts offered in February have also resulted in sales for travel during the holiday period.

Ten days ago, on March 3rd, Gulf Air received the first of the four Boeing 777-300ER (VT-JEG) aircraft leased from Jet Airways. Two more aircraft are expected to join the Gulf Air fleet later this month while the fourth one will join in May.

The 312 seat uber-luxurious Jet Airways Boeing's are well known. See a photo gallery of the interiors here.


Photographer Antony Best caught VT-JEG painted in the Gulf Air livery at London's Heathrow airport early in the morning of March 12th. Please note the image above is copyright of A.J. Best. Bangalore Aviation has taken permission for its use, my thanks to Mr. Best. Use this image only after obtaining permission of Mr. Best.

Skyliners has a similar image here. User Allan has an image, but the registration number appears to be doctored. The aircraft still retains its Indian registration VT-JEG.

I find the Gulf Air livery one of the most beautiful in the world. What is your opinion ? Share a comment.

..... Continued from yesterday. Read the first part.

Financials
For the third quarter ended December 31, 2008, SpiceJet declared a profit of Rs. 19.48 million. In today's economic meltdown, any profit is welcome.

The financial statements have an explanation for a one time charge of Rs. 187.82 million.

The Company entered into a Memorandum of Settlement (MoS) on November 26, 2008 with its erstwhile promoter S K Modi Group to settle various ongoing litigations with them. This settlement was approved by the Hon'ble High Court of Delhi on January 16, 2009. This settlement has resulted in one time nonoperational loss of Rs.188 million in the current quarter, shown under Extraordinary items, after adjusting for 8 million shares received by the Company pursuant to the settlement, valued for this adjustment at market rate as on the date of approval by the Hon’ble Court. Consequent to above settlement, qualifications in the audit report dated June 30, 2008 on accounts for the year ended March 31, 2008 pertaining to matters explained in paragraph 3.1, 3.5, 3.6 and 3.7 of schedule XVII of the accounts stands resolved. In respect of qualification pertaining to unaccrued interest as further explained in the paragraph 3.3 of schedule XVII of the accounts, the amount of unaccrued interest stands reduced to Rs.73.28 million. Had it been considered for accounting purposes, the loss reported for the period would have increased to Rs.252.92 million and the accumulated loss would have increased to Rs. 8,595.15 million

Thanks to gently recovering performance as outlined in part 1 of this article, and the $100 million cash injection by Wilbur Ross last year, SpiceJet has adequate cash.

Unlike most of its competitors, it is current to all the Oil Marketing Companies (Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum, Hindustan Petroleum, etc.), airport operators, and lessors Babcock & Brown, GECAS, and ILFS.

For an in-depth look at the quarterly results and other financial information, please visit MoneyControl.

The future
Sanjay Aggarwal expects the downturn to last at least another 12 months, with recovery expected only by mid 2010. From the recent developments in world financial markets, IATA reports, and reports of precipitous drops in industrial output, one could venture to think, even that date is highly optimistic.

SpiceJet will not undertake fuel hedging for now. Sanjay expects oil to remain in the $30~$40 band till June 2009, and depending on the economic recovery $65~$70 in the first quarter of 2010.



SpiceJet will continue its cost cutting efforts which includes the phasing out of the expatriate pilots. The Indian Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has set a deadline of June 2010 for all Indian carriers to eliminate expatriate flight crew positions, and Sanjay Aggarwal is confident of SpiceJet meeting that date.

International operations
SpiceJet will be completing its mandatory five year minimum shortly and will explore international operations as soon as fleet capacity and market conditions permit. The airline will restrict itself to ASEAN and the middle-east in line with its Boeing 737 fleet, and there are no plans for the far east, Europe or North America as of now. I can only hope SpiceJet draws inspiration from Air Asia X.

Consolidation
As widely reported in the papers, Mr. Aggarwal feels the Indian LCC (low cost carrier) market is overcrowded with the current five airlines. He expects consolidation.

Speculation is also fuelled by the appointment of Wilbur Ross and Ranjeet Nabha as Directors of SpiceJet, which should strengthen its relations with its investor WL Ross. Should the Government of India ever decide listen to IATA and open up the airline sector to foreign investment, SpiceJet is well placed to benefit from its WL Ross relationship.

SpiceJet is not actively seeking, but will explore consolidation opportunities (both to acquired and to be acquired) if a good deal comes its way. I quizzed him on the fact that other than JetLite (formerly Air Sahara), all other LCCs operated Airbus fleets and how would this affect the SpiceJet mantra of a single aircraft type.

Sanjay Aggarwal feels that once a critical mass of about 20 aircraft is achieved the costs can be justified in operating two different manufacturer fleets.

I however doubt that either Jet would like to part with JetLite, after having paid such a high premium when it acquired Air Sahara. IndiGo is a strong competitor, flies much the same routes and have the same base of New Delhi as SpiceJet, may not offer synergies. Air Deccan has now been fully merged with Kingfisher Airlines, and I do not see Dr. Vijay Mallya parting with his beloved airline. That leaves only the puny Go Air (market share 2.4 per cent). The recently reported meeting between Jeh Wadia of Go Air and Sanjay Aggarwal, may be a step in that direction. However, with only four or five aircraft (best estimate since the Go Air website is silent on their fleet size), I do not see how the "critical mass" is achieved, but there may be other benefits to justify the deal.

The soft spoken, often enigmatic, and very elusive Sanjay Aggarwal is going to need every one of his 17 years of aviation industry experience to see SpiceJet through the next 18 months, which by any measure will be the toughest for any airline. However, all industry observers say, SpiceJet appears to have the best person for the job, already on the job.

Following two engine thrust rollback events on Boeing 777 aircraft powered by Rolls-Royce engines, the United States National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) issued an urgent safety recommendation today calling for the redesign of a Rolls- Royce engine component.

The Safety Board also recommended that, after the redesign is completed, the new system be installed on all affected B-777 airplanes at the next maintenance check or within six months.

These recommendations are being issued in response to the findings in two investigations, one accident and one incident, involving engine thrust rollbacks on Boeing 777-200ER airplanes powered by the Rolls-Royce RB211 Trent 800 Series engines.

In both cases a build-up of ice (from water normally present in all jet fuel) on the fuel/oil heat exchanger (FOHE) restricted the flow of fuel to the engine, resulting in an un-commanded engine rollback.

The first event, which is still being investigated by the UK's Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB), occurred on January 17, 2008, when a British Airways Boeing 777 experienced a dual engine rollback on final approach and crashed short of the runway at London's Heathrow International Airport. One passenger was seriously injured, eight passengers and four of the flight crew sustained minor injuries; the airplane was substantially damaged.

The second event occurred on November 26, 2008, when a Delta Air Lines Boeing 777 experienced a single engine rollback during cruise flight over Montana while en route from Shanghai to Atlanta. Normal operations resumed after the flight crew followed Boeing's published procedure to recover engine performance; the airplane landed safely in Atlanta.

Testing in support of the UK accident investigation led Boeing to develop procedures to help prevent ice accumulation, and to recover thrust in cases of ice blockage. As more information from the Delta rollback event was developed, Boeing modified the procedures, which became the basis of an airworthiness directive issued by the Federal Aviation Administration.

While the procedures may reduce the risk of a rollback in one or both engines due to FOHE ice blockage, they add complexity to flight crew operations, and the level of risk reduction is not well established. And because the recovery procedure requires a descent, the aircraft may be exposed to other risks such as rising terrain or hazardous weather, or the inability to achieve maximum thrust during a critical phase of flight, such as during a missed approach.

Because of these hazards, the Safety Board has determined that the only acceptable solution to this safety vulnerability is a redesigned FOHE that would eliminate the potential of ice build-up. On February 23, 2009, Rolls-Royce indicated that a redesign of the FOHE was underway, and that they anticipated the redesign to be tested, certified and ready for installation within 12 months.

NTSB Acting Chairman Mark V. Rosenker said

"With two of these rollback events occurring within a year, we believe that there is a high probability of something similar happening again," "We are encouraged to see that Rolls-Royce is already working on a redesign, and we are confident that with the FAA and EASA (European Aviation Safety Agency) overseeing the process, this flight safety issue - even one as complex as this - will be successfully and expeditiously resolved."

The NTSB has made the following two recommendations to both the Federal Aviation Administration and the European Aviation Safety Agency:

• Require that Rolls-Royce redesign the RB211 Trent 800 series engine fuel/oil heat exchanger (FOHE) such that ice accumulation on the face of the FOHE will not restrict fuel flow to the extent that the ability to achieve commanded thrust is reduced.
• Once the fuel/oil heat exchanger (FOHE) is redesigned and approved by certification authorities, require that operators of Boeing 777-200 airplanes powered by Rolls Royce RB211 Trent 800 series engines install the redesigned FOHE at the next scheduled maintenance opportunity or within 6 months after the revised FOHE design has been certificated, whichever comes first.

Download copies of the safety recommendation letter :

• to the Federal Aviation Administration
• European Aviation Safety Agency

Qatar Airways unveiled an aggressive expansion plan today, with plans to expand operations to India and Europe, and launch new flights into Australia from the start of the Northern Winter 2009 schedules.

Over the next nine months Qatar Airways will commence flights from Doha to Goa and Amritsar, taking their count to 11 destinations in India, Sydney and Melbourne in Australia, and two European cities which have not yet been announced.



Qatar Airways has a fleet of 68 aircraft out of which there are eight Boeing 777's; six Boeing 777-300ERs (extended range) and two February delivered Boeing 777-200LRs (long range). Qatar Airways is deploying the latter aircraft on its Doha-Houston service due to commence on March 30th. At close to 17 hours, it will be one of the longest non-stop flights in the world.

Qatar Airways Business Class seats

The Australian services will require the same Boeing 777-200LRs which will be joining the fleet during this year.

SpiceJet has been quietly adjusting to the global meltdown in the airline industry and focussing on its profitability. With gentle yet deliberate steps it has built back its financial strength, and is now poised to benefit from the consolidation wave sweeping the industry. Something, its full service counterparts like Air India, Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines are struggling to achieve.

Bangalore Aviation was the only weblog invited to a face-to-face interaction with Sanjay Aggarwal, CEO, SpiceJet, recently. This is the first of a two part article.

Current fleet and operations
SpiceJet is operating 115 daily flights with a fleet of 19 Next Generation Boeing 737s. 14 737-800s and five 737-900ERs (extended range).

SpiceJet names all its aircraft after various spices and herbs. This Boeing 737-900 Next Generation is called Oregano. Visit our Flickr site for pictures of Cinnamon, Thyme and other SpiceJet aircraft.


14 aircraft are leased from Babcock and Brown, four from GECAS, and one from ILFS.

SpiceJet has 150 Indian pilots, and 50 expatriates (equivalent to 35 full time).

At present the fleet strength is completely utilised and further route expansion has been ruled out till new aircraft are inducted which will commence from February 2010. Between 2010 and 2012 SpiceJet will induct 12 Boeing 737-800s into its fleet, at the rate of four aircraft every year. The balance three delivery slots have been sold.

With revealing specifics, Sanjay Aggarwal informed me that SpiceJet's break-even passenger load factor was in the upper "60s" (65 to 69 per cent). SpiceJet is achieving load factors in the upper 70s to low 80s currently.

Market share has increased to 11.8 per cent in January, 2009. Overall low cost carriers (LCCs) had a 49 per cent market share and full service carriers (FSCs) had 51 per cent. Over the coming days, as economic woes continue, he expects this number to reverse as more passengers look for better value propositions.

SpiceJet at Bangalore
He also feels that Bangalore is over-serviced in terms of capacity, and given SpiceJet's current fleet constraints, the airline will not be adding any new flights to Bangalore in the near future. SpiceJet is planning to re-introduce the non-stop Bangalore Jaipur flight which is currently a one stop.

Low fares Yo-Yo
I quizzed Sanjay about the recent fare fluctuations, especially the low fares in January followed by the steep increases in February. He informed me that SpiceJet was offering an average fare of Rs. 2,300 during January, which was increased to an average of Rs. 4,000 in February.

In January most airlines had taken this deliberate step of a fare decrease, to ascertain if the market could be stimulated by low fares. The low fares were never intended to be permanent since airlines would need load factors greater than an impossible 100 per cent to break even. Despite the ultra-low fares, the airlines managed only a rather poor ten percent increase in load factors. This was the primary determinant in the fare raise. As a low fare airline, SpiceJet will always keep tweaking its fare to offer value propositions to its passengers, he added.

Indian low cost carriers (LCCs) cannot follow the traditional European and US LCC models. Indian LCCs are hampered by a lack of secondary airports which results in them having to pay the same astronomical airport fees as full service carriers, and suffer the same congestion and (in)efficiencies at airports. Unlike a RyanAir or EasyJet or JetBlue, SpiceJet and other Indian LCCs like IndiGo achieve only 12.5 hours a day. This is still higher than the 10.5 hours a day full service carriers like Air India, Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines achieve.

Innovative cost reduction
To overcome these inherent limitations of the Indian market, SpiceJet is resorting to innovative methods of cost cutting.

One example is the music SpiceJet plays during the embarkation, taxiing, and dis-embarkation process. Normally airlines pay professional musicians Rs. 2~5 million ($40K~$100K) to compose the music.

SpiceJet went the in-sourcing route rather than out-sourcing, and discovered Moin Wasil, their airport services manager at New Delhi, was also a proficient musician. Using his Roland Fantom XA workstation, with a state of the art software, Moin and his team of musicians put together a refreshing fusion of Indian notes and global tunes which is played on-board all SpiceJet flights.

Watch him compose the music



And his inspiration?

"The music was inspired by SpiceJet – its dynamic growth, vibrancy, warmth and elegance. The fusion resembles SpiceJet – Indian but with International standards. The warmth in the music comes from its employees who are motivated, helpful and caring. The freshness comes from our eagerness to do things better and do them differently. I hope my music brings forth the caring, warm culture of the organization.”

Hear the music.


Focus on additional markets
Currently SpiceJet passenger mix is about 40 per cent business fliers, and 60 per cent leisure. The global slowdown in air travel has impacted leisure segment, and has made SpiceJet accelerate its increasing focus on business passengers. In parallel, the airline is also on track in increasing its load factors from an average 100 passengers per flight, to 140.

Reaching out to business travellers, SpiceJet now offers services which it hopes will appeal to them.

• SpiceJet has introduced hot coffee or tea with cookies service for Rs 20.
• Business travellers can collect their boarding passes for a same-day return flight.
• Introduction of a corporate travel program with key account managers and other flexibilities (which normally means ability to change ticketed flight dates and times without surcharges).

While airlines in the US are charging for each check-in piece of baggage, SpiceJet is going the opposite way to woo customers by extending the free "two piece baggage" concept to international connecting passengers.

SpiceJet is also taking a cue from Air Asia X and is actively finalising pre-ordered (and obviously pre-paid) sandwich and snacks. This eliminates wastage of food and jet fuel which rather surprisingly, costs as much as Rs. 1,000 ($20) per meal.

"Word of mouth" advertising
All these steps fit in to SpiceJet's model of focussing on offering a superior value proposition, not just a low fare, to its passengers which will increase their reputation and help them not spend on advertising, instead relying on word of mouth referrals.

SpiceJet revenue share

Click on image for a larger view

Cargo
With a capacity of 300 tonnes per day, SpiceJet has also targeted a doubling of cargo revenue to five per cent of total revenue. A recent partnership with IBS Software to implement their iCargoLite cargo management system highlights SpiceJet's resolve. However, Sanjay Aggarwal was adamant that SpiceJet would not let cargo growth affect its passenger experience. SpiceJet would focus only on those cargo that permitted the airline to maintain its quick aircraft turn around policy.

Visit Bangalore Aviation tomorrow for Part 2 of this story. International operations, financials, and the future.

Jet Airways, Kingfisher Airlines and SpiceJet are the only three publicly listed airlines in India, and are required to release their quarterly results.

Using the results of the third quarter which ended December 31, 2008, I compiled three graphs to analyse their expenses. Depreciation and interest is included as part of expenses and other income is included as part of income.

It is important to realise each airline is compared against itself. For example, due to its low cost carrier model which forces lower expenses, SpiceJet will show a higher proportion of its operational expenses for fuel compared to the full service Jet Airways and mixed model (full and low cost) Kingfisher Airlines.



Graph 1 clearly shows that Jet Airways in the lead with the lowest expenses to income ratio at 117% up 16% from the same 9 month period from last year. The greater than 100% numbers indicate a loss. Kingfisher is spending 49% more than its income, up 10% from the same period last year. Is it any wonder the airline is in trouble ?

Click on any of the images for a larger version

Graph 2 goes a little more in detail on the expenses of the airlines. Due to the differing heads of accounts, I was forced to do a little consolidation. I have also included interest and depreciation as part of the expenses, Kingfisher and SpiceJet have managed to bring down their operational expenses by about 5%, clearly the effects on the plunging jet fuel prices.

Jet's expenses have gone up 5%. I can only surmise it is due to the cost of their uber-luxurious Boeing 777-300ERs. Now that Jet has leased out seven of its 11 777s, these expenses should come down.

Both Jet and SpiceJet have brought down their employee costs by about 2.5%. Something Kingfisher has not yet been able to achieve, and desperately needs to.

SpiceJet shows "other expenses" which includes legal, professional and consulting expenses, but the airline does not provide details in its statement.


Graph 3, shows a break up of the operational expenses as a percentage of total expenses including interest and depreciation. Kingfisher still leads the pack with the highest OpEx of 81.2%. Again Jet Airways has gone against the trend and increased its OpEx by a whopping 8% thanks to those empty international flights.

Do observe; jet fuel expenses constitute only about 36% of total expenses. So airline execs better be careful the next time they blame fuel prices for their woes.

SpiceJet with its low cost model enjoys a 16% advantage in "other operating expenses" when compared to its full service counter parts.


Unlike airlines overseas, no Indian carrier reports its performance in terms of Revenue Passenger Kilometres/Miles (RPK or RPM) or Freight Ton Kilometres/Miles (FTK or FTM). I think it is time for airlines in India to take analysts in to their confident and start sharing this information, if nothing else, it builds trust.

Please note, these graphs are copyright, but you are free to use them, unaltered, with due credit and a link to Bangalore Aviation.

Following the recent warning by British Airways chief Willie Walsh, Delta Air Lines CEO Richard Anderson and President Edward H. Bastian issued a warning to all the airline's employees today in a memo.

To: Delta Colleagues Worldwide

From: Richard Anderson and Ed Bastian

Subject: Responding To A Worsening Global Economy

The worsening global economy continues to place additional pressure on the airline industry. In just the few months since we last announced capacity reductions, revenues have weakened, particularly in international markets. Once again, we must move quickly to adjust our capacity and stay in front of demand changes.

This morning at an investor conference in New York, we will announce plans to reduce international capacity an additional 10% beginning in September. These reductions will be targeted to areas where we’ve seen the most revenue weakness – the Atlantic and Pacific networks. Trans-Atlantic capacity this winter will be down 11 – 13% and trans-Pacific down 12 – 14% compared to winter 2008. To achieve these capacity changes, we will exit low performing markets, down-gauge certain routes, adjust frequencies, and move some markets to seasonal service.

We remain focused on our goal to build a diversified, profitable worldwide network. To this end, even as we reduce our Atlantic and Pacific capacity, our Latin America capacity will be up slightly in the fourth quarter, as we take advantage of targeted growth opportunities through new routes and increased frequencies.

These reductions are in addition to the December announcement to reduce systemwide 2009 capacity by 6 - 8% year over year. As a result of the voluntary programs just concluded, nearly 2,100 of our colleagues will be voluntarily leaving over then next several months. While these voluntary reductions met our overall target, there are certain positions and geographic locations where we fell short of achieving the goals of the voluntary programs. With the additional capacity reductions noted above, we again must reassess our staffing needs. As in the past, voluntary programs are always our first consideration to adjust staffing needs.

Our merger provides the silver lining to these turbulent economic times as we begin to see tangible evidence of the benefits of our integration and understand how the merger positions Delta ahead of our competitors. Above all, your focus on executing the Flight Plan and providing superior customer service is our most prized attribute.

We will continue to make decisions that are in the long-term interest of employees, customers, shareholders and the communities we serve. Remaining focused on our 2009 Flight Plan will be key to our success. This will require teamwork from all divisions and departments working toward this common goal. Thank you for the incredible work you do for our customers every day. Together, we are building a stronger Delta.

Lufthansa has launched a new website devoted to its upcoming Airbus A380 which has a planned entry into service during the 2010 summer schedule. The airline invites visitors to discover more about its future flagship including details about the current status of Lufthansa’s first Airbus A380.

The site is meant for both passengers and A380 fans who can find out, for example, about the route proving programme, which was conducted exclusively with Lufthansa, as well as about component acceptance tests or the transport of sections across Europe to the final assembly facility in Toulouse.



Over the next few months, Lufthansa will add more documentary material including extensive multimedia, to the website, with the aim of highlighting what makes the Lufthansa A380 so special.

A particular page I liked was where the A380 is super-imposed on to some known landmarks like a soccer pitch and St. Marks square, for size comparison.

Visit the website at www.lufthansa.com/a380.

I came across some interesting photos by fellow Flickr user A380spotter.

ATR42-500 MSN503 VT-ADI in the old Air Deccan livery, still sporting the common man by R.K. Laxman.


ATR72-212A MSN785 F-WWED supposed to be VT-DKL. This aircraft is painted in the Kingfisher livery, but obviously delivery has not been taken. The aircraft has been stored at Toulouse since early 2008 and signs of extended storage are showing.

My thanks to A380spotter.

In a space of just two days, Mumbai airport authorities received a dual shock.

Virgin Atlantic is suspending its London Mumbai service from May 3rd, while Finnair will suspend its Helsinki Mumbai service by mid May.

Clearly the economic woes are playing havoc. The Mumbai London route has excess capacity with British Airways, Jet Airways, and Kingfisher Airlines operating non-stops, and Emirates operating five daily flights via Dubai. Finnair though, is still targeting flights to Chennai and/or Bangalore, to capture the tech industry traffic.

Thai Airways International has announced it will stop using the old Don Mueang airport at Bangkok from end of March. It will operate all flights from the new Suvarnabhumi Airport also at Bangkok.

Thai Airways has been under tremendous financial pressure, and the state-owned carrier is expected to save about $16.5 million annually in salaries and operational costs.

Thai said it would inform the public regarding the move by March 15 to prevent confusion among passengers over the relocation of flights.

The airline's ground equipment at Don Mueang will be removed beginning next Friday March 13th, and only chartered flights will continue to use the old airport.

Thai could still use Don Mueang in case an emergency landing is needed and if the new Suvarnabhumi airport is unavailable. By declaring Don Mueang as an alternate airport, the carrier is also expected to save fuel costs for its short distance (less than 1 hour) flights.

The Indian Civil Aviation ministry can learn a lesson from this move for the old airports at Bangalore (HAL) and Hyderabad (Begumpet) and help save Indian carriers some fuel.

Saturday morning, still shocked by the crash of the Saras VT-XRM, got up early morning to drive to the Bengaluru International Airport for some plane spotting along with Photoyogi.

Took photos both morning and evening. Even managed the Emirates A330-200 which comes to Bangalore only once a week.

I hope you enjoy. Taking the images, then selecting, cropping, balancing, editing, researching, and uploading, took me the whole weekend.

The original album with the high resolution images is here on Flickr.

As always, your comments are requested, and welcomed.