Two new airlines -- Al Hind Air and FlyExpress -- are set to take to the skies, with the carriers receiving their no objection certificates from the civil aviation ministry.
The Airports Authority of India (AAI) on Sunday issued an advisory warning that fog conditions in parts of northern India are affecting visibility and may lead to delays or changes in flight operations at select airports.
The civil aviation ministry reports six aircraft engine shutdown incidents and three May Day calls in India this year. The Air India plane crash investigation is ongoing, with all aspects being examined.
India's last three major commercial aviation accidents --Patna (2000), Mangaluru (2010), and Kozhikode (2020) -- could offer critical safety lessons for the ongoing investigation.
After a London-bound Air India aircraft crashed shortly after taking off from the Ahmedabad airport on Thursday, the spotlight is back on India's history with aviation disasters.
None of the 55 passengers or five crew members was injured, they said, adding the DGCA has started an investigation.
The ATR aircraft landed safely at Bhuj in Gujarat.
Alliance Air, a subsidiary of Indian Airlines, is facing the brunt of pilot exodus with as many as 29 pilots leaving the airlines for greener pastures during the current year.
The Ministry of Tourism is inviting people from around the world to visit Prayagraj and experience the Maha Kumbh Mela, one of the largest religious gatherings on Earth. The event, which begins on January 13th and runs for 45 days, will feature an "Incredible India Pavilion" showcasing cultural heritage, luxury tent accommodations, and enhanced air connectivity. The ministry is also launching a major social media campaign to generate buzz about the event, encouraging people to share their experiences and moments from the Maha Kumbh.
Alliance Air, which is the largest regional airline, is currently operating 77 daily flights compared to 126 last year.
More than 30 flights of various Indian airlines, including Vistara, Air India and IndiGo, received bomb threats on Saturday, according to sources.
The Tatas have collectively increased their aggregate airlines seat capacity across domestic and international markets by an impressive 20 per cent, going from 64.03 million in calendar year (CY) 2023 to 76.72 million in the current CY, according to data shared by the group that controls Air India in which Vistara has been merged recently. The Tatas also run Air India Express in which Air Asia India has been merged.
The threats via microblogging platform X came a day after three international flights originating from Mumbai received bomb threats, causing trouble to hundreds of passengers and airline crew.
More than 80 domestic and international flights of various Indian airlines received bomb threats on Thursday, according to sources.
A threat about the presence of bombs on an Akasa Air flight at Biju Patnaik International Airport in Bhubaneswar was received on social media, but it later turned out to be a hoax, an official of the airport said on Thursday.
After the merger of Indian and Air India, their subsidiaries - Alliance Air and Air India Express - would be merged as well.
The operation of Alliance Air's small ATR-42 aircraft to North-East remained suspended for the second day on Wednesday with its pilots abstaining from duty to protest the non-fulfillment of their pending demands.
The government is considering a proposal to allow Alliance Air, a subsidiary of Indian Airlines, to lease new aircraft to replace its ageing fleet, Minister of State for Civil Aviation Rajiv Pratap Rudy said on Monday.
Alliance Air, the feeder subsidiary of Indian Airlines, may fly Russian defence aerospace major Sukhoi's new civilian jet to connect regional locations in the country.
State-owned carrier Alliance Air, which is facing an exodus of pilots, may pretty soon spend more time on the ground than in the air as nearly half of the existing pilots have put in their papers.
The airline, which operates 24 daily flights including linking Delhi to Port Blair and Bhubaneshwar, would, however, provide free drinking water to all passengers.
Passenger traffic to Lakshadweep more than doubled from April to June this year.
Flight services at Mumbai airport were severely impacted on Monday due to low visibility after heavy rains in the city, leading to runway operations being shut for over an hour and approximately 50 flights being cancelled, sources said.
In a bid to promote industry and tourism in North Eastern states, the government will provide Rs 175 crore (Rs 1.75 billion) to Indian Airlines arm Alliance.
With an aim to link the unconnected destinations in the country, Indian Airlines and its subsidiary Alliance Air would soon acquire small aircraft to fly to smaller cities, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said in New Delhi on Thursday.
Domestic air traffic rose 4.8 per cent on an annual basis to 126.48 lakh in February, while more than 1.55 lakh passengers were affected by flight delays during the same period, according to official data released on Friday. In February, Air India's market share rose to 12.8 per cent from 12.2 per cent while that of IndiGo marginally dipped to 60.1 per cent from 60.2 per cent in January. The domestic air traffic climbed to 126.48 lakh in February compared to 120.69 lakh in the year-ago period, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said.
Alliance Air is to operate two daily flights on the Mumbai-Vadodara sector effective from November 15 with the introduction of a morning service.
Domestic airlines flew 1.29 crore passengers in April, a rise of more than 22 per cent compared to the year-ago period, according to official data released on Friday. However, the domestic air traffic number last month at 128.88 lakh was marginally lower than the 128.93 lakh recorded in March. In April 2022, the number of passengers carried by airlines stood at 105.47 lakh.
Goa's second airport began operations last week and if all goes according to plans, the state will be the base for a new regional airline, Fly91. Promoted by the ex-executive vice-president of now grounded Kingfisher Airlines, Manoj Chacko, and Fairfax India's former head, Harsha Raghavan, the airline will offer no-frills buy on board product and serve unconnected routes with two ATR 72 aircraft. An application for the initial no-objection clearance was filed with the civil aviation ministry last week.
Indian carriers transported 12.8 million domestic passengers in March 2023, a year-on-year growth of 21.41 per cent. India's largest carrier IndiGo shored up its domestic market share from 53.8 per cent in Q4 of FY22 to 55.7 per cent in Q4 of FY23, according to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) data released on Monday.
'Airports must look at their maximum capacity to handle passengers.'
The government will start working on selling the ground-handling arm of erstwhile national carrier Air India and the Expression of Interest (EoI) is expected in the next fiscal, an official said. "We already have the Cabinet approval for selling the subsidiaries of Air India. "So we will come out with an EoI inviting bids for one of the ground-handling arms in the next fiscal," an official told PTI.
In the second phase, the single-use plastic will be banned in all Air India flights.
IndiGo had the best on-time performance (OTP) of 95.4 per cent at four metro airports in February, while Go First secured the number two position with 94.1 per cent in the same month, according to data released by aviation regulator DGCA. Bengaluru, Delhi, Hyderabad, and Mumbai were the four airports where Indigo had the best OTP, the data released on Monday said. In January, the situation was inverse as Go First had logged the best OTP of 94.5 per cent at the four airports while IndiGo was at number two with 93.9 per cent OTP.
The ATR 72-600 aircraft was accorded water salute as it landed at the Jaffna airport, about 400-km from capital Colombo.
Around 1.12 crore domestic passengers travelled by air in December, approximately 6.7 per cent higher than the 1.05 crore who travelled in November, the country's aviation regulator said on Wednesday. Overall, 8.38 crore people travelled on domestic flights in 2021 as compared to 6.3 crore in 2020, showing a jump of 33 per cent, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) stated in its monthly statement. IndiGo -- India's largest carrier -- carried 61.41 lakh passengers in December, a 54.8 per cent share of the domestic market, it mentioned.
Changing tracks helps. But, not taking the beaten path isn't always helpful. This is the story of two of India's biggest privatisations - Air India and Bharat Petroleum (BPCL). Nearly two decades after the last privatisation, a landmark divestment concluded this year when the loss-making national carrier Air India was sold to the Tatas.
While the number of operational airports in the country will rise to 131, other smaller towns too are seeing a surge in connectivity.
The average number of flights the Air India group, including subsidiaries Alliance Air and Air India Express, operates daily is 674.
The issue of fog and low visibility primarily impacts airports in northern India and Bengaluru.
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