Who is Suren?
Suren Ratwatte, FRAeS, is an accomplished pilot, airline executive and aviation researcher.
He became one of the world’s first Airbus A380 Captains, was previously SriLankan Airlines’ CEO and has also been featured in several books and academic publications.
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MH370
Malaysian flight MH370 – the mystery continues This column was published in the Daily FT on September 2, 2019. With the sixth anniversary rapidly approaching, a follow up piece will be published soon. The disappearance of MH370, a Boeing 777 flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8th 2014, continues to baffle investigators five…
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Emirates Falcon Operations
Falconry With Emirates This story begins at the Dubai Air Show of 1991. Originally published in Airways magazine in 2010 it was resurrected from the archives by Roger Thiedeman, who was Assistant Editor at the time. It is also, in part, a tribute to Jim and John; Jim Jacobs one of the “Falcon 4”, and…
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Covid-19
COVID-19 and the effect on the airline industry The effects of the Coronavirus, now named Covid-19 by the World Health Organization (WHO), has already had a numbing effect on the airline industry. Sadly, it appears that the worst is yet to come. SARS in 2002 Readers who remember the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS –…
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The Dakota – a tribute to the aircraft that changed aviation
The Douglas DC-3 ushers in a new era Aviation in the United States was on the cusp of major change. Thanks to the US Post Office’s airmail initiative in the 1920s, airlines had found they could operate at a profit. But they were almost entirely reliant on air mail. Flying passengers alone was not commercially…
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Air Italy in controlled shutdown
Airline bankruptcies usually happen suddenly. Passengers are stranded all over the network and chaos reigns. Air Italy (formerly Meridiana) has given two weeks notice and will cease operations on February 25th 2020. This is an unusually prolonged period between announcement of a shutdown and ceasing flights. It appears that flights for the next fortnight will…
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Flying the A380 Part 1- published in 2008
Flying the A380 By A Double-Decker Bus Driver Originally published on : 28 December 2008 The first day of a pilots’ type conversion course is always special. Learning to fly a new ‘bird’ is a treat that all pilots look forward to, but not without a touch of nostalgia. We tend to become attached to…
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Indigo – the regional success story
Indigo Airlines – India’s success story Indigo Airlines (ICAO:IGO IATA:6E) has emerged as the clear front-runner in a crowded airline space in India. With over 200 A320 family aircraft and 23 ATR-72s, IGO is the largest Indian carrier by any standard: aircraft employed, passengers carried, market share, revenue generated and profits declared. What terrifies the…
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Flying the A380 Part 2 – written and published ten years ago
Flying the A380 by A Double-Decker Bus Driver 18 J a n u a r y 2 0 0 9 Puny is what most human pilots feel as they approach the simulator every six months, with their licenses and livelihoods at stake. But facing up to a simulator as part of a transition course is…
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Who killed the A380?
Who killed the Airbus A380? As American author Mark Twain remarked in 1897, “The report of my death was an exaggeration.” The Airbus A380, flagship of the world’s largest airliner manufacturer and culmination of an estimated USD 16 billion development program, is alive and well. Currently flying with 14 of the world’s most prestigious airlines,…
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The father of Airbus
Roger Beteille – the man who reinvented the commercial airliner The visionary engineer, pilot and manager who led Airbus to some its most significant decisions, passed away last month. Roger Béteille, who was the head of French aircraft manufacturer Sud Aviation’s flight testing section, was made technical director of the infant Airbus consortium when it…
