According to a source, the flight was to be operated with a Boeing 787-9 plane.
Pilots' body the Federation of Indian Pilots (FIP) has alleged that IndiGo, despite getting a two-year preparatory window before the full implementation of new flight duty and rest period norms for cockpit crew, "inexplicably" adopted a "hiring freeze."
With IndiGo cancelling over 1,000 flights on Friday owing to crew shortage as the second phase of the pilots flight duty and rest period norms kicked in, huge capacity was out of the market, leading to airfares tripling and quadrupling from over the normal range, a travel industry executive said.
The DGCA has formed two specialised teams to internally monitor IndiGo's daily operations.
An IndiGo flight from Delhi to Srinagar encountered severe turbulence near Pathankot on Wednesday, prompting the crew to request permission to enter Pakistani airspace to avoid the weather. However, their request was denied. The aircraft, an A321 neo operating flight 6E 2142, experienced hailstorm and turbulence, triggering various warnings and forcing the autopilot to trip. The crew managed to safely land the aircraft in Srinagar after a harrowing experience. The incident is under investigation by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), which confirmed there were no injuries to passengers but noted damage to the aircraft's nose radome.
'It's a lifetime opportunity to cook for the most high-profile table of India. It's a matter of honour for me.'
There has been no official information about his condition or whereabouts, his sister said.
The flight AI2455, operated with an Airbus A320 aircraft, was airborne for more than two hours, according to information available on the flight tracking website Flightradar24.com.
India's last three major commercial aviation accidents --Patna (2000), Mangaluru (2010), and Kozhikode (2020) -- could offer critical safety lessons for the ongoing investigation.
Air India has confirmed that 241 people on board its London-bound flight were killed when the aircraft crashed shortly after takeoff from the Ahmedabad airport on Thursday.
One of the major concerns highlighted by the DGCA was about the fact that not all staff had completed mandatory fatigue management training.
Providing an update on the flight that crashed carrying 242 people including 12 crew members onboard, the senior Ahmedabad police officer stated that about 70 per cent to 80 per cent of the crash site had been cleared.
Air India will soon have a new crew management system that will help strengthen rostering rules and enable faster recovery from scheduled disruptions. In a message to the staff on Friday, Air India CEO and MD Campbell Wilson said that in the next two weeks, there will be the CAE Crew Management System that will "strengthen our systems' adherence to rostering rules, improving the tracking of training & qualifications, and enabling faster recovery from schedule disruptions". The new system also comes against the backdrop of concerns flagged by pilots' unions about rostering issues.
Air India has cancelled eight flights, including four international services, on Friday due to enhanced maintenance and operational reasons, the airline said.
Soon after the takeoff, the pilot of ill-fated Air India aircraft gave a Mayday call to the Ahmedabad air traffic controller.
In another development, aviation safety regulator DGCA in an order on Sunday late evening extended the time by Monday 6 pm for IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers and Chief Operating Officer and Accountable Manager Isidro Porqueras to submit reply to its show cause notice over the ongoing disruptions in the airline's operations.
A Bangkok-bound Air India flight from Mumbai was held back for over five hours on June 25, after some hay was found stuck in one of the aircraft's wings, the airline has said.
Ash clouds from the recent eruption of the HayliGubbi volcano in Ethiopia are impacting flight operations, and there are reports suggesting that clouds might also be drifting towards the western parts of India.
Under the civil aviation ministry, AAIB is responsible for the classification of safety occurrences, involving aircraft operating in the Indian airspace into accidents and serious incidents.
The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has been instructed by its sports ministry to seek shifting of the country's T20 World Cup league games from India to Sri Lanka as there are "concerns about players' safety".
Air India reiterated that its priority remains extending assistance to the families.
'I don't think it is right to remove him over one lapse. The focus should be on restoring operations, not on removing a key management personnel.'
According to an international media report, the jet crashed in the afternoon local time while flying a demonstration flight at the prestigious air show.
In a statement, an Air India spokesperson said a passenger travelling in business class was off boarded on the advice of the captain following some argument with members of the crew before the scheduled pushback.
The Indian Air Force (IAF) has confirmed that its crew are well-equipped to handle potential GPS spoofing incidents, asserting that all relief missions to earthquake-hit Myanmar were successfully completed as planned. The IAF's statement follows reports of GPS signal tampering during relief flights, which raised security concerns. Sources in the military establishment had earlier suggested that IAF transport aircraft carrying relief materials to Myanmar faced "GPS spoofing", prompting the IAF to assure that its crew are capable of handling such situations.
Aviation regulator DGCA intensifies scrutiny of IndiGo following widespread flight cancellations. The airline will offer travel vouchers to affected passengers.
Air India Chairman N Chandrasekaran on Thursday said the airlines is doing everything to assist the emergency response teams at the plane crash site and will provide all necessary support to those impacted by the mishap.
It added that as per international protocols under the International Civil Aviation Organisation, all information on the investigation will be provided by the government of India.
Neither anyone from the airline (Air India), nor from the government has contacted them so far, he said.
The Critics Choice Awards was held at the Barker Hangar in Santa Monica and saw Hollywood's A-listers get honoured at the first awards ceremony of the year.
An elderly couple hailing from Maharashtra's Solapur district planned to meet their son in London and were on board the ill-fated plane that crashed in Ahmedabad shortly after its take-off, a senior official said.
Both parties will discuss the issues and there will be a meeting again on May 28, he said.
According to Hyderabad Airport GMR, British Airways flight 277 and Kuwait Airways flight 373 received the bomb threat. The BA 277 flight travelling from Heathrow to Hyderabad landed safely at 5:25 AM. Following the landing, standard safety protocols were initiated.
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.
IndiGo is operating 1,650 flights of its 2,300 daily domestic and international flights on Sunday, and 650 remain cancelled for the day, amid the airline's operations gradually stabilising after massive disruptions in the last five days, the airline said.
Akshay Kumar, Sunny Deol and Riteish Deshmukh expressed shock and offered prayers for the safety and well-being of all those aboard the Air India plane that crashed near a locality close to Ahmedabad airport.
Air India on Wednesday said it has cancelled its Lucknow-Mumbai flight scheduled for June 17 due to 'operational reasons' and the ripple effect of flight diversions.
There were also seven Portuguese nationals and one Canadian on board the Air India flight that crashed in Ahmedabad.
The Tata-owned airlines said that 169 Indians, 53 British, 1 Canadian and 7 Portuguese were on board the Boeing 787-8 aircraft.
IndiGo cancelled over 1,000 flights on Friday and said operations are expected to normalise in the next 10 days, as the country's largest airline received flight duty norms relaxation from watchdog Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), which will probe the disruptions that have impacted thousands of passengers for four straight days.
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