Away From Elections For Half A Day

Amidst the non-stop election coverage!

Everyone's talking about elections all the time - we think we could use a 6 hour break and focus on other things, just to change things up a little. Happy Saturday!

IndiGo will get 40 wide-body jets

IndiGo had signed up for 500 passenger jets last year at the 54th edition of the Paris Air Show. It is now signing up for 40 Airbus 350 wide-body aircraft.

IndiGo's global mega-carrier dream: Why not? The airline already enjoys 60.5% market share in the Indian market.

• With the new 40 jets, the airline can go out to conquer long haul international routes. The company retains an option to order 70 more.

• With more Indian airlines taking up wide-body jets, we will soon see Tier-2 cities connecting with international destinations

• IndiGo chairman is seen a 'an amiable man but a tough negotiator'.

The aviation boom in numbers. In the last 14 months, India's airlines have placed orders for a whopping 1,150 aircraft.

• Indian carriers need around 3,000 aircraft and more than 80,000 trained pilots and technicians over the next two decades. 

• 10 million foreign trips from India, projected spike is a neat 190%.

SABOTAGE: India signed bilateral agreements with certain countries in the past that severely short-changed Indian airlines.

• Result: Indian airlines have a measly 43% market-share in international flights originating from India.

Read full story here.

Dear Biden, you're just feeding the war machine!

After much delay, the US has approved a new $90 billion aid package to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. Over $60bn of this package will go towards armaments for Ukraine.

The delay in aid has cost Ukraine dear. Russians have been slowing gobbling up Ukrainian territory even as Ukraine has been forced to 'ration' armament supply to front-lines.

• In numbers: A 5-to-1 advantage for Russia in artillery ammunition, for example.

• Ukraine was deprived of supplies for air defence missiles like Stinger and Patriot, among other equipment.

• Ukraine's Avdiivka fell in February. Chasiv Yer is on the verge of being captured by Russians. The Bakhmut meat-grinder deprived Ukraine of manpower for other operations in addition to loss of the city itself.

But the package won't end the war. On the contrary over 75 per cent of this package is meant to go to the American economy for weapons production.

• Investment will increase in production of 155mm artillery rounds from the current 30,000 shells per month to 100,000 per month, by the end of 2025.

• Ukraine has been told not to use some weapons like the ATACMS missiles on Russian territory. What if Ukraine doesn't stick to the agreement?'