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Theairplaneguy4ever

It’s been a while, but I finally have a trip report to post here on Airliners India. Blame my absence on a simultaneous Motherboard, GPU & HDD failure. So here, it is the very first flight of AirAsia India’s Kochi – Bengaluru service :

Introduction & Booking

When AirAsia India announced the COK-BLR flight and that too, starting on a Sunday, it meant a great opportunity to clock in my very first inaugural flight, a thing I’ve wanted to do for a long time. But around this time, when bookings started, the world cup was going on, making me miss the opening sale of the flight. Though I thought my chance was lost, surprisingly, there were still seats left the next day at 990 INR, so I grabbed them quickly; booked myself a return ticket, and set out on the 20th of July!

Video Trip Report

As usual, here’s the video trip report on this flight. I decided to try my hand at narrating a video, do let me know how it went!

http://youtu.be/Kd-qb-gq-8E

Since, the video is pretty self explanatory, I’ll just leave some details and pictures here.

1st time on AirAsia India
1st time on VT-ATF
12th time on an Airbus A320-200
13th time on an Airbus A320

VT-ATF in all her glory. CIAL gave a water cannon salute for this flight, first time witnessing it in person and it is absolutely spectacular!

This was also my first time on a sharklet A320. I honestly liked the old winglet. Next to us are an AI A320, B744 and an EK A332.

There were quite a few empty seats on this flight, surprisingly. Now that 6E and 9W are all multiplying frequencies on COK-BLR, there’s only going to be more of them.

Post takeoff; thankfully it didn’t rain at any part of the flight.

COK-BLR is a very short sector. Flying times are around 30-40 minutes on narrow body jets like A320s. Both 6E and SG do not have service runs on this sector, only serving prebooked meals. Mighty impressive of AirAsia India to do one, I got a rather average chicken sandwich.

Landing into BLR was quite a bit bumpy, but the touchdown was smooth.

Before leaving, I asked the Malayali captain for a chance at entering the cockpit and was granted access. Unfortunately, both the pilots had their hands full shaking hands with important looking people and what not. At least I did get this shot.

After exiting the airport, caught a vayu vajra to Mantri mall for a visit to Taco Bell, since BLR is the only place with them in India. Yes, yes, fast food, I know.

But anyway, it’s been a great flight on AirAsia India’s Inaugural service. Though I don’t like LCCs to much (who does?), I5 were pretty good and I’d probably fly them over any of the other Indian LCCs if I had to decide.

Thanks for reading & watching.

Feedback & comments appreciated.
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India's first HD Video Trip Report Channel : www.youtube.com/Theairplaneguy4ever

Nimish · Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2014 3:16 pm Post subject:

Very nice video Aditya - thanks for sharing! The voice over definitely helped, and the editing/ sound on the video was top notch as always.
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We miss you Nalini!

ameya · Posted: Fri Aug 08, 2014 11:33 am Post subject:

Great TR!
Me too liked the old winglet on A320 family!
What more, I have been looking at a chance to visit Taco Bell and Fly Air Asia !
Damn! Lucky you !
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www.networkthoughts.com

jbalonso777 · Posted: Mon Aug 11, 2014 2:03 pm Post subject:

TAG4E, great to have you back on the forum!

I take it that the reason for this flight was to enjoy a meal at the Taco Bell? Wink

Haha, jokes aside, this is a really good TR. A flurry of I5 TRs all of a sudden! Congrats on getting on to an inaugural flight! Great to see VT-EPI still in service, my first post-merger AI domestic flight was on that bird in 2012. Yeah, THAT late.
Did the 747 have the *A logo on it?

Lastly, this is purely my opinion, do take it with a grain of salt if you do not agree to it: how about toning down the music a little? Then there are the sounds of the terminal (announcements, people chattering, the clicks and clacks of the trolleys) on the plane (clicks of seat belts, the bins, the crew talking...and the engines working while in cruise) which can be captured and it adds to the overall feel of a flight. But its just my opinion, I admire your skills anyways!

Looking forward to more! Smile

Regards
Jish
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http://www.youtube.com/c/JishnuBasu777

sri_bom · Member Joined: 22 Dec 2006 Posts: 2365 Location: Singapore

Great TR and as always I love watching your videos as it gives a very real experince.

I personally prefer the videos without voice over and let the text and music do the job.

Sri_Bom

Spiderguy252 · Posted: Fri Aug 15, 2014 10:02 pm Post subject:

I love the videos you slot in.

Saw the whole lot on your YouTube page too, good stuff.
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Yeah.

stealthpilot · Member Joined: 19 Dec 2006 Posts: 2325 Location: BLR, DXB

Nice flight to get on.
I remember those seats at COK domestic area Laughing

Thanks for the TR
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eP007

HAWK21M · Posted: Thu Aug 21, 2014 3:42 pm Post subject:

Whats with all staff in a straight line near the nose in the 1st pic or is that just a coincidence.
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Think of the Brighter side !!!

Theairplaneguy4ever · Posted: Fri Aug 22, 2014 2:48 pm Post subject:

Thanks all for your replies, glad to hear that you liked this video! So sorry for the delay in responding.

sumantra · Member Joined: 28 Oct 2007 Posts: 4685 Location: New Delhi

Aditya Sir, I guess it was worth the wait.
In addition to the usual highlights: a video report with slick editing, grand photography, great music (the saxophone was great!), this one had a lovely voice-over as well! Please keep it up. The handwritten thank you at the end was a pleasure to look at, as well. Classy.
The written word of course, was up to your usual lofty standards.
I have never been able to catch any inaugural, be it on a plane, or on a train. I have always been at least 3 days late, in my ventures at the same. The reader can well share your excitement, and anticipation, in your well-worded report.
The more I see of COK in your TRs, the more I crave to visit India's first PPP airport. The old-style sofas look very comfortable, along with the wood panelling, and the old-style lighting. I have thus far, not managed to come anywhere close to Nedumbassery: the cloest we managed was a hurried road trip into Kochi and Ernakulam, the old city, and basic Downtown. You are lucky to see AI's B744s in action, regularly! At DEL, we only get to see a rare VVIP flight, or an uncommon substitution. I5's service run on such short a sector, was impressive.
Thanks once again, for sharing this gem with us.
Cheers, Sumantra.