#13 out of 22 Low-cost airlines A minimum of 10 flight-reports within the past two years is required to appear in the rankings.
24 reviews
Before proceeding with this report, I’d like to share a very exciting update. On 25 February 2024 (Sunday) I’ll be flying the Air India A350 from Bengaluru to Mumbai — inaugurated at the recent Wings India airshow in Hyderabad — which will represent the beginning of a new era for the airline after its acquisition by the Tata Group and its mega-rebrand in August 2023 with a new logo, brand identity and cabin products. While I was originally supposed to fly it on Valentine’s Day (14 February) — around the time of the Chinese New Year in Singapore — I had to reschedule the flights to later, since several of my East Asian colleagues will be going on leave at that time, and my support will be needed in their place. The onward from Mumbai to Singapore will be, once again, on the Singapore Airlines A350 Regional (SQ421) which I’ll be flying for the fifth time — as I did most recently from Hanoi, on the same day as the JAL collision-crash at Tokyo Haneda — and which will be my sixth SQ A350 overall, the first (and the only one outside the 9V-SH* series) being on 9V-SMF, the 10,000th Airbus ever built, in October 2022.
Moreover, while I was originally supposed to fly Air India direct from Singapore to Bengaluru — the early-morning AI393, operated by the older A321 (VT-PP* series) — on 10 February, that has now been replaced by my first visit to Delhi in nearly a decade: an airport I’d wanted to visit for a long time, as it has always been India’s largest and busiest, but could not do so in 2022–23. The new routing will be the late-night AI383 SIN–DEL on 20 February (Tuesday), operated by the no-frills A320neo — VT-EX*/CI* series, which I flew several times prepandemic — followed by a morning flight on Air India Express (I5740 DEL–BLR, marketed as AI9751) on the ex-AirAsia India A320. This is therefore a monumental trip that will combine the three busiest and best airports of India — DEL (for the first time since 2015), BOM (my third time there in a year’s span) and my new home of BLR — all at once, all while giving me an exclusive opportunity on the AI A350!
I don’t expect more than 300 views, at most, for this one… The only point, really, of publishing this completely, utterly inconsequential and insignificant flight — at a horrible time of day, landing at a quarter past four in the morning (as with most other IndiGo flights to Southeast Asia) — is the fact that I took it on 12 September 2023, the first day of Bengaluru Kempegowda (BLR) Airport’s international operations from its brand-new Terminal 2, which (upon opening at the start of 2023 for selected domestic airlines) was immediately praised from far and wide for its pathbreaking architecture combined with environmentally sustainable practices.
Designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill or SOM — which was also behind Terminal 2 of Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj (BOM) Airport, one that I also consider among the best in India and Asia — BLR T2 is all sorts of splendour and glamour, with its bamboo-latticed interiors, and one that makes me proud to finally be able to call this wondrous place my Indian home airport, after suffering nearly two decades of mismanagement at the hands of the state-run Chennai (MAA) airport. Even though Chennai has also opened a New Integrated Terminal Building for international flights, which does indeed have a mesmerising design that is worlds away from what existed before, it cannot hold a candle to what BLR has done with the help of an architectural firm as globally reputed as SOM — and the apathy of government officials there is a different matter, not to mention the shoddy maintenance and upkeep.
So much so that this ‘terminal in a garden’ had been hailed by CNN at the start of 2023 as one of nine ‘buildings that will shape the world’, and at the end of 2023 it received the Special Prize for an Interior from the UNESCO’s Prix Versailles 2023. (The overall Prix Versailles was awarded to Shenzhen Bao’an Airport (SZX) for its satellite concourse, while the Special Prize for an Exterior went to Newark Liberty Airport (EWR) — a very rare achievement for an American airport!) SOM’s project page for BLR T2 isn’t kidding when it states the following, which I don’t at all think are exaggerations, as the below National Geographic trailer promo shows. (Emphasis mine.)
• a dramatic departure (no pun intended) from the norm, on par with projects like Safdie Architects’ Jewel Changi Airport
• a striking civic gateway that will establish BLR Airport as one of the world’s premier airports
• a ‘terminal in a garden’ that nods to Bengaluru’s reputation as the ‘garden city’
• a reflective, calming oasis within the bustle of an international airport
What an irony then that I’d be flying on the airline which, on the one hand, is India’s largest by a country mile, but on the other provides the least amenities and catering — hardly a luxurious way to travel! That said, as I’ve mentioned in the previous instalment, IndiGo has three big factors going for it, which make it at least respectable (even if far from class-leading like other LCCs in the region like AirAsia, VietJetAir and the new Air India Express):
(a) the courteous cabin crew — all the more so on the previous leg where I was cared for more than I could have imagined — who are much more affable and personable than on most non-Indian airlines (including SQ!);
(b) the Hello 6E inflight magazine, which provides at least some entertainment in the absence of hot meals and streaming IFE (which others like Air India Express provide — AirAsia even has high-speed Wi-Fi!); and
© the ever-expanding A320/1neo fleet, destination and codeshare network, which only the reinvigorated Air India (Express) can match with hundreds on aircraft on order, starting with the A350 that enters service in January 2024, which I’ll be flying domestically in February (as stated in the prelude) shortly before it commences longhaul operations.
Nevertheless, I will go out of my way to avoid IndiGo on an international redeye like this: as I said last time, this week-long September 2023 trip to BLR was a last-minute decision and booking due to my poor health, and 6E was the only choice which wouldn’t result in a financial outlay of tens of thousands of rupees. The best way to fly 6E is within the country, where its schedules and network are the most expansive without being too expensive, and where the almost complete lack of catering is least likely to hurt, as the flights are of short durations.
Tuesday, 12 September. Courtesy of the SkyscraperCity Indian Aviation forum, I took note of the final-ever international departure from BLR T1: EK564 to Dubai, on 777-300ER A6-EPS.
SkyTeam member Saudia, which would implement a large-scale rebrand at the end of September with a return to its classic white livery, was the first international airline at BLR T2.
At a quarter to six — too early, if you ask me — we had to set out for Kempegowda Airport, a journey that would comfortably take two hours in evening traffic. For all of Bengaluru’s airport advances, the traffic remains as bad as ever, and travelling even 10 km is a challenge, never mind 47 km. At least it does not have the terrible pollution and fog of Delhi!
The Uber (almost always guaranteed to be a basic Maruti Suzuki Dzire sedan, in my experience) had a trio of cute sleeping furry dolls attached to the windscreen.
A view of a shopping complex on the bustling Bannerghatta Road not long after departing home; before long, dusk fell.
By seven we had cleared the traffic gridlock of the city, and commenced the upward journey to the airport through the northern suburbs of Hebbal and Jakkur with their tech-parks. To the left was the spanking-new Phoenix Mall of Asia, which opened the following month (October 2023) and which I’m yet to visit. I’ve visited several other malls in Bengaluru — including the dazzling, gleaming Forum South at Kanakapura Road, also one of the newest, as it came up in 2022.
However, on Christmas Eve 2023, a 100-foot Christmas tree at the Mall of Asia created so much traffic around the area that many passengers were forced to miss their flights! It was a major news story that only served to highlight just how bad Bengaluru’s traffic management is, and illustrates the disparity between the city’s super-developed airport and the under-developed civic infrastructure.
At half-past seven, after nearly two hours in the Dzire, we finally entered the airport premises — driving past the Taj Bangalore five-star airport hotel, past the existing Terminal 1 and into Terminal 2 for the first time, its splendour well visible from a distance.
Having got off the car and waved goodbye to my parents and granny, I had to rush into the building as it was getting dangerously close for the check-in counters to close — but not before snapping a good number of pictures of the driveway with its throngs of people, relishing the cool September evening, and (in the bottom right picture) its Relay bookshop and Qmin snack stall.
Now Singapore Changi and Doha Hamad aren’t about to get knocked off their thrones of multibillion-dollar ostentatiousness any time soon, but when it comes to India, BLR has by far the best crack at it. A terminal that is inspired by tradition and embraces technology — how more Indian can it get, especially for the IT capital of the country? I’d now find out!
Once inside, the true extravagance of the place hit me, with conical Christmas-like bells and towering historical architectural pieces filling up the entrance. Let the pretty pictures speak for themselves.
I went straight to the IndiGo counters, dropped my suitcases and got my boarding pass in a jiffy — for once, there were no connecting airports — and went straight to security, not bothering to look at the other airlines whose counters were open.
Once past the international departures’ immigration section, I paused and took in the ambience again, of a place so acclaimed that (as posted in the introduction) National Geographic Channel even made a Superstructures documentary on it!
More of the bamboo-latticed ceiling above as I cleared security, having skimmed through it with unusual ease, and headed towards the departure gates that were preceded by…
… a sprawling, high-ceilinged (something I’m terrified of!) Bengaluru Duty Free outlet, run by Dufry, which showcases fine products of Karnataka, India and the world to travellers.
Among the sections of this superstore with its blindingly white bars of light was the Indian Market Place and its selection of sweetmeats and gifts. Sure beats the boxed-in Flemingo Duty Free at Chennai, eh? However, I sped out of here as fast as my legs could carry me, both because I’m scared of such high ceilings and because I’d miss the flight otherwise!
Outside was a Starbucks, and some more shops lined up the corridor before the main atrium, from Hidesign (a luxury handbag store) to Jamie Oliver’s Pizzeria. Just before the actual atrium, a colourful projection of pink flowers floating in a leafy pond — with more flowers (in outline form) taking up space on the walls — set the stage for what was to come.
This is where BLR starts to show off just how much of a worthy competitor it is to BOM T2 — whose domestic portion I’ve visited twice now — and DEL T3, which I’m looking forward to visiting in February to see how it compares. The main atrium had the 080 International Lounge to the left (I visited the domestic lounge in T1 in December 2022) and the same décor theme continued in the background, with the wiry lantern-like plant-holders suspended above lush gardens. High-ceilinged latticed gazebo-like structures enclosed some of the outlets, an example being La Madeleine, the French-esque bakery that you see here.
That said, as often tends to be the case at Indian airports, the international departures section had fewer retail outlets than the domestic. It was only in late December 2023, as I waited for my Cathay Pacific A350 to Hong Kong — and thereafter a day-long adventure at HKG via the Sky Bridge and the Intervals Bar and the Chase Sapphire Reserve Lounge, eventually culminating in the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi — that I discovered the all-important Relay bookstore in a corridor leading behind the 080 International Lounge, at which point I proceeded to buy four books and a bunch of snacks and drinks for the grand total of ₹1,600 (≈US$20)!
Having seen BLR T2’s international retail section thrice and BOM T2’s domestic retail section twice, I’m waiting for my Air India A350 flight in February to switch it up, with BLR T2’s domestic outlets leading to BOM T2’s international space. As of now, though, I proceeded via this open-air linkway to the actual departure gates, surrounded as it was by — surprise, surprise — floral vegetation and greenscaping.
The departure gates were considerably lower-ceilinged than the areas leading up to it, which I appreciate since I hate high ceilings in general, but here I didn’t mind except perhaps for the duty-free. Rows and rows of chandeliers with their bar-like lights lit up the place, with a T2 @BLRAirport sign placed in the vicinity.
By the way, can you spot the rows of sorrowful, grounded Go First A320s in the distance? Will they ever fly again — for a different airline, at least, if Go First (grounded on 2 May 2023) is not to return? (As for what that all-white aircraft in the last picture is, scroll below.)
Sculptures by prominent artists were installed here and there, showcasing the artistic heritage of Karnataka, while drum-like cylindrical pillars with circular fittings further enhanced its utter uniqueness.
Now for the humdrum and the mundane: there were but a small number of non-6E aircraft — and none from Air India — at the airport now. Among them, the following international arrivals: 777-300ER A6-EPN as EK566 from Dubai; sharkletted A321 A6-AEH as EY238 from Abu Dhabi; and all-white A321 4R-ABQ as UL171 from Colombo.
Of these, I’d fly 4R-ABQ — SriLankan’s only A321ceo, and also its only aircraft not to feature any livery or titles — in November 2023 on the same CMB–BLR route, except on the late-night UL173 that reaches BLR at 2:30am and operates on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. The absence of any colours gave the impression at first that this was on short-term lease, but I was very pleasantly proved wrong: it had greige leather seats, a full IFE system and the lovely hospitality that made my decision to make this Oneworld airline my most-flown of 2023 (with 4 flights) justified.
I went past a stall for The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, which was bedecked with garlands — signifying the inauguration of a new store — and headed past Gate C2 (where EK567 to DXB was now boarding) to C1, where throngs of passengers had already lined up for 6E1005 to Singapore.
At length, it was time to head down the escalator — with this black brain-like cloud looming above — past the Emirates 777-300ER and onward to my very forgettable, generic, cookie-cutter A321neo, registered VT-IMC. As ordinary an aircraft to take me out of India, as much as whatever preceded it was extraordinary!
Flight: IndiGo 6E1005/IGO1005
Date: Tuesday, 12 September 2023
Route: Bengaluru Kempegowda (VOBL/BLR) to Singapore Changi (WSSS/SIN)
Aircraft: VT-IMC, Airbus A321neo
Age: 1 year 10 months at the time (built: 24 November 2021, delivered: 14 December 2021)
Seat: 22F (starboard side, window)
Boarding: 8:30pm IST, GMT +5:30 (11:00pm SGT, GMT +8)
Departure: 9:25pm IST (11:55pm SGT)
Arrival: 4:15am SGT (1:45am IST)
Duration: 4 hours 20 minutes
Notes:
• First-ever visit to or departure from Bengaluru’s Terminal 2, that too on the very day it was inaugurated for international operations.
• Second-ever flight on the 6E A321neo, after the previous flight on VT-IUZ.
No over-and-above concern from the crew this time!
On board, I headed straight to 22F, and once again — as on the inbound — I managed to score three empty seats, with the flight as a whole being no more than half full, though this may have something to do with the A321neo’s plentiful seating capacity of 222. (On 6E — an airline not known for its generosity — this lower figure was actually a welcome surprise compared to the 236 on Scoot’s A321neo and the 240 on VietJetAir’s.)
At around nine, Ringshu, the lead FA, welcomed passengers on board the late-night service to Singapore. She was one of only a couple of Northeast Indian members of the cabin crew on this flight, in contrast to the inbound, where all bar the local girl Prajna — the one who showed the most compassionate concern for me — were from that exotic part of the country.
I, for one, needed little more than that Hello 6E magazine, seeing as I was going to mostly be stretched out on those thin-cushioned Recaro slimline seats for at least two hours out of four.
As says the caption: Repeated announcements to keep small bags below the seats and big bags above. (This went on and on.) Also, for passengers to be patient while the plane is fuelled. (The captain went on the PA several times, apologising for this delay in departure.)
If there’s one thing that IndiGo does excellently, it’s highlighting the stories of delighted passengers in its magazine — something that Vistara is also known for. I won’t be surprised if, by sheer luck, my personally uplifting experience on the previous flight made it here — but I’m not counting on it!
At 9:15 we taxied out, past the all-white 4R-ABQ, as the cabin crew members (which on IndiGo are always female) performed the safety demonstration in Hindi followed by English.
No sooner did we pull out of the terminal than we were whooshing down the runway, with the cabin lights all dimmed for departure.
At half-past nine, the A321neo carried me out of Bengaluru — and India — in much better spirits than the complete wreck I was in. In an hour’s time, after the meal service was done, I could completely pass out… only to be jolted at four in the morning during the preparation for arrival!
Not long after the shiny lights of Bengaluru down and outside became smaller and smaller, the cabin crew commenced handing out cups of room-temperature water with their ‘Spot the lie’ factoids on them. This time they were space-themed, with the lie being ‘When one goes to space, they come back half a foot taller’.
Sonika and Deeksha were the girls serving my section of the plane, and I swore to myself not to ask anything of them beyond the bare minimum as I’d done with Prajna on the inbound. Even though the captain turned on the seatbelt sign due to turbulence, Deeksha proceeded to roll out the drinks cart barely five minutes after, and she placed the cup in my hand.
Meanwhile, we overflew my old home city of Chennai — a much better place to live and commute in, but with an infinitely worse airport — and it hit me that this city whose airport code is MAA is, fortunately (in terms of the airport) and unfortunately (otherwise), no longer the place where my family calls home.
Sonika, who was quite tall compared to her colleagues, additionally handed out a cup of hot water, with the same peanut-themed ‘Spot the lie’ tidbits I’d received on the flight in. Her extra gesture was something I appreciated — however little it may be — in addition to the fact that at least there doesn’t seem to be any rationing for the number of cups of water a passenger can consume.
For once, an area where AirAsia (with all its hot meals and Wi-Fi and streaming IFE) fails miserably — it charges RM4 (MYR) per cup — which is perhaps the only thing I can say in favour of 6E’s and against AK’s catering.
In this time I filled out my colourful, rather attention-grabbing journal entry, with T2@BLR taking up much of the available real estate. Contrary to the note I wrote in the side margin, I didn’t catch the names of any FA other than the two in my part of the aisle and Ringshu, the lead.
At the bottom was an interesting tidbit: ‘The plane that operates 6E934/979 to Raipur (RPR) almost always flies 6E1005/1006 to Singapore.’ Raipur is a rather low-profile city that is the capital of the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh, and its airport is named after Swami Vivekananda.
It was only after an hour into the flight that Deeksha came around with the meal cart, and this time I wanted something a tad more substantial and dinner-like. On IndiGo that is a task about as easy as finding a needle in a haystack — forget hot meals, you won’t even get sandwiches if you haven’t pre-ordered them online. The best option other than nuts, cookies and Nissin cup noodles was a bowl of ‘Magic’ dal chawal (lentils and rice), priced at ₹400 INR, served along with a drink of one’s choice ‘for free’.
Deeksha poured hot water from a kettle into the bowl, then she handed out a cup of Real mixed-fruit juice — with the much plainer, less informative description of ‘Stay hydrated’ — and then she asked me to open it after 8 minutes, as instructed on the lid with its underwear-clad weightlifter on it. Presenting the world-famous Magic Dal Chawal, it said, but while nutritious, it was anything but magic. After having all manner of hot meals on AirAsia at the beginning of 2023 — and VietJetAir at the end — it will be a near-impossible challenge to experience any magic on this particular LCC.
These, for the record, were the other snacks — and alcoholic drinks — on offer, along with some other articles in the magazine as I’ve covered in the previous instalment. Say what you will about cost-cutting in terms of meal catering, but 6E takes the reverse approach with its magazine, padding it to the brim with informative articles about both direct and codeshare destinations — some as far-flung as Casablanca, Morocco, served via codeshare partner Turkish Airlines.
The cover had a Balinese swing: as far as Indonesia is concerned, 6E launched flights from Mumbai to Jakarta (CGK) in August 2023 — there being no flights at all between India and Indonesia until then, as Garuda Indonesia is no longer in a position to expand its network. Batik Air’s relaunched flight from Medan (KNO) via Kuala Lumpur to Chennai vanished into thin air (no, not like MH370, thankfully — I mean vanished from the schedules) barely weeks after it was launched around that time.
In December an Indian A321neo touched down in Denpasar (DPS) as well for the first time, but it wasn’t IndiGo, and it wasn’t from Mumbai: instead, it was Vistara’s A321LR from Delhi. (From Mumbai, Vistara’s A321LR instead serves another tropical island in a different part of the world: Mauritius.)
At this point, at eleven at night, there was an announcement for disposing of waste in a sustainable manner, in which the cabin crew would come around twice: first, to collect only tin boxes; and second, to collect all remaining waste items.
At 11:13 the lights were dimmed, just as I was reading my AirAsia A320neo review from Hyderabad to Kuala Lumpur — my very first flight of 2023 — exactly when the lights were dimmed on that flight too. Reading it made me yearn for the Wi-Fi, moving map, hot meals, leather seats and just about everything AK (including its erstwhile Indian arm, now merged into Air India Express) pampers its passengers with — nickel-and-diming for water aside — that 6E never will. As I sardonically noted, ‘Dal chawal is as much refreshment as you will get on IndiGo!’
I was nicely — well, as nicely as was possible on those paper-thin cushions — snoozing above the clouds when, at 12:36am IST/3:06am SGT, with an hour to go for landing, the seatbelt-on announcement was played for the FOURTH time. Not only that, but the cabin lights were brightened as well, which was really unnecessary.
At 1:24am IST/3:54am SGT we commenced final descent into Changi, at which point Ringshu made a thank-you announcement, in which she thanked the 50%-or-so occupancy of the aircraft for providing IndiGo the opportunity to serve them. Let this be the last time in a long time that I will provide 6E that opportunity on an international redeye — there are much better ways to fly between India and Singapore (with the exception of Scoot) and at much better times!
At four, the signature ships of Singapore came into view, followed thereafter by grids and grids of lights that dazzled and glowed and glimmered.
VT-IMC put down her wheels at the godforsaken, wretched, ungodly hour of 4:15am Singapore time, when any person worth their salt should be sleeping — either in a bed or in an airline seat that has at least some form of entertainment on it (AirAsia will more than do; it needn’t be SQ) — instead of having to stand in an immigration queue.
The same aircraft were present at Terminal 1 as I’d left it the previous Wednesday: a China Southern A320neo (instead of an A321neo), a 737-800 of susidiary Xiamen Air, and the others being A320/1s and 787-8/9s of Scoot — many of which were also coming from the People’s Republic.
Yes, 4:30am was peak hour for arrivals of four kinds: (a) flights from Japan and Korea on full-service carriers including SQ; (b) flights from China on Scoot (TR1xx series) and Mainland airlines; © cargo flights ranging from DHL to Nippon Cargo (747-8 JA13KZ) to ANA Cargo to China Airlines Cargo; and (d) IndiGo’s Southeast Asian flights — many of which were headed to India instead, as in the last row of pictures.
As the passengers scrambled up and out of their seats, I briefly thanked Ringshu, Sonika and Deeksha for whatever service they had provided — not that I wanted to delay them for the return leg, or praise them as effusively as on the previous leg (including pictures with Prajna and co.) — and staggered, bleary-eyed, into Changi T1.
Soon enough I was on the way to Immigration, passing a gate where a Garuda Indonesia 737 (PK-GMC) that was spending the night in Singapore would be accepting passengers a couple of hours later and head back to CGK. For once, I do not have any pictures of Immigration, nor do I remember which bank’s ad was adorning the walls above.
There was a brief faux-pas in which I tried to scan my passport at the automated gates, only to be told to proceed to an official for assistance. Turns out this was because I hadn’t filled up the online SG Arrival Card, which the Singapore government’s Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) mandates to this day, despite all other COVID-era regulations being scrapped.
Anyway, you can see from the large numbers of TR1xx-series flights, with Chinese destination names, that ours was the only non-Scoot arrival at this time. Meanwhile the corridor walls were lined with ads for Citibank, in particular its Citigold private-banking services, but these seemed as if they were projected on the JCDecaux displays by means of some unseen projector.
For once, a non-HSBC bank’s ads after the immigration counters — though OCBC, UOB and StanChart have plenty of presence there in rotation — and this indeed reminded me of the bank’s former slogan in the late 2000s, ‘Citi never sleeps’, where Citi could just as easily be replaced by Changi.
At 4:50 I trundled out of T1’s arrivals hall, both suitcases in hand, with the overwhelming majority of arrivals being on Scoot. While I’ll be happy to fly 6E, despite all its omissions, again — just not on an international redeye like this — I will think twice and even thrice before having anything to do with TR again, not with its irritating, snooty marketing and slogans. ‘Because travel deserves better’ goes its slogan — yes, travel deserves much better than Scoot!
T1’s arrivals area is directly connected to the Jewel Changi, and it’s also the path you take to the ride-hailing stands two escalator levels below.
I ranted on my family WhatsApp group: ’Never again flying at this time. 6E makes it much harder. Dal chawal is the best they have.’
At five-ish, a Toyota Wish MPV came up — incidentally the very first type of car I’d ever sat in in Singapore, all the way back on my first foreign trip in 2013 — on the cheaper-than-usual Gojek. Good thing indeed that Gojek cost a mere S$11.70 (it’s usually far more expensive than Grab) when a typical ComfortDelGro blue taxi levies an extra night-time charge. Another reason to slap the blame on IndiGo for profiting from such late-night flights at passengers’ expense — all the more so when the passengers in question are first-time visitors to Singapore, as many Indians tend to be.
At 5:15 I was back home after a week, and the model Emirates A380 (A6-EEU) in blue Dubai Expo livery on the mirrored cupboard welcomed me back, as did the teddy bear outstretched on the sliding wardrobe. Never mind the time of night or day, it felt good to be back at the place where I belonged, and in better health than before.
As day broke, I took stock of the reactions to my post on SkyscraperCity’s Indian aviation forum where I praised BLR T2 to the skies. ‘Breathtakingly beautiful,’ replied one.
Three random, interesting things on the evening of Wednesday, 13 September:
1. The Singapore (Airlines) Grand Prix
I typically don’t take the 12e Express bus to Pasir Ris in the far east of Singapore, not too far from Changi. This time, however, I did, and aside from the spectacular views of the skyline, the bus also commanded bird’s-eye views of the Grand Prix racetrack, title-sponsored by Singapore Airlines.
Qatar Airways may be an official FIFA sponsor — now renewed until the 2030 World Cup — as well as sponsoring countless other teams from Paris St.-Germain in football to Royal Challengers Bangalore in cricket. The same goes for other major Gulf airlines like Etihad and Emirates (and even the yet-to-start Riyadh Air, the main sponsor of Atlético Madrid!). SQ, however, has one and only one high-profile sports sponsorship — the Singapore Grand Prix — and it sure makes it count.
2. Global aviation stories — and the iPhone 15
Two interesting headlines from One Mile at a Time about SkyTeam airlines that I found worthy of sharing: ‘ITA Airways’ Snazzy, Mysterious Airbus A321neos’ and ‘Vietnam Airlines Orders 50 Boeing 737 MAX 8s’. The latter is especially noteworthy as both Vietnam and the Philippines have historically rejected the 737 in favour of the A320 family, in contrast to several other ASEAN countries which are heavy on A320s and 737s with little to no A321s.
And, of course, the fact that the iPhone 15 series was finally out, and finally featured USB-C — nearly a decade after Android phones.
3. Indian aviation stories (mostly from Live From A Lounge)
Row 1: Some more people on the SkyscraperCity BLR thread gushing in awe at the magnifique BLR T2.
Row 2: Justin Trudeau’s embarrassing exit from the G20 summit in Delhi on an aging A310.
Row 3: All international flights at BLR to operate from T2 on 12 September, delayed from 31 August.
Row 4: Cathay Pacific returning to Chennai 3x weekly in February 2024; tickets open.
Row 5: Air India introduces new airport assistance service at 16 Indian airports.
Annnndddd… we’re done with the final forgettable, nothing-to-write-home-about flight of 2023! Every flight that I took in November and December 2023 was fondly memorable if not outstanding — or, in the case of a second wretched Thai Airways 777-200ER (also departing from BLR T2), memorable for all the wrong reasons. These are the flights I’ll be writing about for the first half of 2024, ranging from a SriLankan A330-300 to a Gulf Air 787-9 to a Singapore Airlines A380 to a Cathay Pacific A350 to a Vietnam Airlines 787-10. And those are just the widebodies — the narrowbodies were no less memorable, from being upgraded to Premium Economy on Vistara, to the glossy magazine and piping-hot meal on VietJetAir, and above all the unbelievably 4K-sharp IFE on the CX A321neo.
That’s officially the last time in a long time that I fly on IndiGo on a redeye international sector, with this horrible landing time, at least if I can help it. Neither did I have to ask for the care I so needed on the inbound sector, nor did I need anything on a flight where most people were going to sleep anyway, and the closest thing to a hot meal 6E will serve you is Magic Dal Chawal. Sonika and Deeksha were as efficient and brisk as you expect a 6E girl to be, and not every one of them needs to be as caring as Prajna (as on the inbound flight) anyway. Overall, an A321neo flight (with two empty seats) that was pleasantly forgettable and not downright abominable — which is more than enough!
Coming to the actual star of the show, BLR T2 has won no little praise from near and far for its architectural splendour — to the extent that National Geographic released a Superstructures documentary on it in December 2023 — and deserves every bit of that Prix Versailles’ Special Prize for an Interior. But I will only be able to truly form my opinion on the place when I visit the domestic part of the terminal, which I will in February before my early-morning AI A350 flight to Mumbai. Moreover, I’ll also be seeing the international section of BOM T2 and compare it to what I’ve seen so far of BLR’s. Regardless, Bengaluru Kempegowda and Mumbai Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj stand tall as two of the best-designed airports in the region — with shops that aren’t as costly as that perennial award-winner, Changi — and I’ll also finally be able to see what Delhi’s Indira Gandhi Airport, firmly the busiest and biggest in India and now one of the world’s top 10 busiest airports, has in store to compete with them.
More and more boxes of my aviation journey are being ticked — with 2023 alone accounting for the great majority of these, from KLM’s SkyTeam-liveried 777-300ER to Ethiopian’s 787s to SQ’s A380 to CX’s A350 and A321neo — with the only thing missing being Thai Airways’ A350 that was inevitably ‘TGed’ to that awful 777-200ER again, but then again I flew the TG A350 thrice in June 2022, so at least I can’t say that I haven’t flown that one. Air India’s A350 promises to be one of the biggest boxes I’ll be ticking in the near future, and I’ll be sure to share my initial experiences when the time comes.
In keeping with the ongoing spiritual fervour in the country — given the grand launch (‘pran-pratishtha’) of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya in January 2024 — let me sign off by saying: Jai Shree Ram!
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