Blue Dart Aviation

Infobox_Airline
airline=Blue Dart
logo=BlueDartLogo.gif
logo_size=150px
fleet_size=7
destinations=7
IATA=BZ
ICAO=BDA
callsign=BLUE DART
parent=DHL
company_slogan=
founded=1994
headquarters=Chennai
key_people=|Mr Niteen Gupte MDhubs=Chennai International Airport
focus_cities=
frequent_flyer=
lounge=
alliance=
website= http://www.bluedartaviation.com

Blue Dart Aviation Ltd. is a cargo airline based in Chennai, India. It operates scheduled night express cargo flights including domestic and regional charters. It has an in-house maintenance capability and provides aircraft maintenance and engineering support to other airlines. Its main bases are Chennai International Airport, Bengaluru International Airport, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport and Indira Gandhi International Airport, with hubs at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport and Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport. Fact|date=March 2007

History

The airline was established on 31 May 1994 and started operations on 17 June 1996. It is wholly owned by Blue Dart Express (Tushar Jani, Khushroo Dubash and Clyde Cooper)cite news | title= Directory: World Airlines | work= Flight International | pages= 86-87 | date= 2007-03-27] and is now part of DHL.

Services

Blue Dart Aviation operates freight services to the following domestic destinations (as of|January 2005|lc=on)Fact|date=March 2007:
*Ahmedabad
*Bangalore
*Chennai
*Delhi
*Hyderabad
*Kolkata
*Mumbai.

Aircraft operations take place after dusk, six nights a week, with day halts at Bangalore (B732SF),Delhi (B732SF),Kolkata (B752SF) & Chennai (B752SF, 3 B732SF). ref

Fleet

The airline started operations with 2 converted Boeing 737-200s bought from Indian Airlines and gradually expanded over the years.Thereafter added a 3rd from Air Sahara,And another Two from Xiaman Airlines.Freighter conversion was done in Miami USA.In 2006, after being taken over by DHL, Boeing 757-200 freighters were inducted into the fleet.

The current fleet consists of the following aircraft (as of October 2007 :

Services cover the following Sectors:-
*BD154:- MAA-HYD-BOM-AHD-DEL
*BD102:- MAA-BLR-BOM-DEL-CCU
*BD201:- CCU-DEL-BOM-BLR-MAA
*BD451:- DEL-AHD-BOM-HYD-MAA
*BD304/403:- DEL-BLR-DEL

External links

* [http://www.bluedartaviation.com Blue Dart Aviation Website]
* [http://www.bluedart.com Blue Dart Website]
* [http://www.airliners.net/search/photo.search?airlinesearch=Blue%20Dart&distinct_entry=true Blue Dart pictures from Airliners.net]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g97ih7dc0RQ B752SF Video]
* [http://www.cabinmanagers.com/indias-emerging-airline-industry/ India's Emerging Airline Industry]

References