In a dramatic turn of events in May 2019, an Emirates aircraft en-route to Dubai was asked to stop while it was taxiing for a take off in Mumbai. The pilot was given no reason and ordered to immediately return to the parking bay. As the aircraft returned to the terminal, two passengers from the first class - Naresh Goyal and his wife Anita - were offloaded by the immigration authorities, who said the duo cannot leave the country. Goyal, founder of Jet Airways, was stunned. The man, who ruled the aviation sector for two and a half decades with an iron hand, did not expect to be offloaded in this fashion.
International and Indian airlines are refusing to refund cash and giving credit that can be used later.
India's largest carrier IndiGo will cut 20 per cent of its flights due to lower demand as a rapidly spreading coronavirus upends the recovery of air travel. The airline was operating around 1,200 flights as on Saturday. Other airlines are being forced to cancel flights as states tighten restrictions to combat the spread of the virus, and people are dropping last-minute travel plans. Airlines carried 2,518 passengers on 260,251 flights on Saturday, compared to 2,794 passengers on 358,856 flights the day before.
The Federation of Indian Airlines, the group formed by various carriers, has appointed Amitabh Khosla from CII as Executive Director to head its secretariat and plans to have a Director General later.
GoAir reluctant to respond to overtures.
"When the A320 plane, which did not have any passengers as it was heading to Moscow to bring back stranded Indians under Vande Bharat Mission, had reached Uzbekistan's airspace, our team on ground realised that one of the pilots had tested COVID-positive," senior Air India officials said.
The Group operates Lufthansa Airlines, Swiss Air and Austrian Airlines in India and flies across seven destinations -- New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Pune.
The Foreign Investment Promotion Board, headed by DEA Secretary Arvind Mayaram, approved the proposal at its meeting in New Delhi.
One reason is that airlines have ramped up capacity and expanded their presence in tier-II markets. The first of a three-part series analyses how the aviation industry is an outlier in the midst of an overall economic slowdown.
AirAsia India on Monday moved closer to getting off the ground by appointing S Ramadorai as its Chairman, ending months-long suspense and having in place the entire top management team.
Companies across the sector are restructuring payrolls of crew, cutting allowances, and extending leave without pay duration as they realise they will have more aircraft and employees compared to customers.
Airlines are slashing salaries and re-negotiating vendor contracts as drastic fall in passengers has hurt revenue. Go First has cut staff salaries by around 16 per cent while IndiGo and SpiceJet are enforcing a leave without pay (LWP) policy and pay by the hour structure respectively to prune expenses. Vistara, which reversed pay cuts for junior staff including managers and cabin crew in March, is not touching employee salaries at the moment and instead focusing on vendor renegotiation and maximising cargo revenue. An Air India executive said efforts are on to pay salaries by 7th or 8th of June.
It carried more than five million passengers across various sectors registering a growth of 20 per cent.
India has pulled out of the World Cadet Chess Championship scheduled to be held in Egypt from October 14 to 23 in view of the situation in Gaza
After a hiatus of nearly two decades, the government's programme to privatise state-owned firms restarted with the handing over of debt-laden national carrier Air India to the Tata Group. With the new owner shelling out Rs 18,000 crore for the buyout of the 'Maharaja', this would be the highest-ever amount garnered through privatisation, and is even more than the cumulative sum mopped up through strategic sales from 1999-00 to 2003-04. The government had in October last year inked the share purchase agreement with the Tata Group for sale of national carrier Air India for Rs 18,000 crore. Tatas would pay Rs 2,700 crore cash and take over Rs 15,300 crore of the airline's debt.
Vistara has a three-class configuration with business, premium economy and economy cabins.
As fliers find themselves spoilt for choice, airlines are looking at ways in which to position themselves distinctively.
A loss of revenue from liquor sales will have to be compensated through increased landing and parking charges on airlines, which, in turn, will pass on the cost to flyers.
Making a strong case for approval of their proposed airline JV, Tatas and Singapore Airlines have said that the venture would create significant job opportunities in India and would boost the country's image as an international investment destination.
Unlikely to happen in less than a year,despite the advantage of the parent airline's base.
Mittu Chandilya wants to bring a new meaning to flying for Indians.
Experts said the risks associated with the Indian Experts say that aviation sector would keep investors away from airline stocks.
Rivals say the concessions would benefit AirAsia alone.
AirAsia may breakeven by June this year.
After 18 months of closure, what really could be salvaged? And the answer sadly is, precious little, Patience, perseverance and plenty of moolah is the way forward even assuming intent is in place, says Anjuli Bhargava.
It has aircraft utilisation target of 16 hours as against the current 13 hours.
No-frills carrier Go First filing for insolvency proceedings and cancelling flights is bad for the airline industry as the move will reduce capacity and could push airfares in certain routes, travel agents' grouping TAAI said on Wednesday.
'IndiGo 2018 is a harsh, ultra-lean, mean, zero asset, fighting machine with aspirations of taking on the global long-haul low-cost market.'
SpiceJet, Air India Express and IndiGo will operate special flights from Hungarian capital Budapest and Romania's Bucharest on Monday and Tuesday to evacuate Indians stranded in Ukraine due to the Russian military offensive.
It will focus on the under-utilised airports instead of offering services in main hubs such as Mumbai and Delhi.
CEO Mittu Chandilya said AirAsia will retain the Rs 990 fare even when the company goes for expansion of new routes.
It and Vistara both book slots here; former also likely to launch Mumbai flights from early 2015.
Vistara'a launch, the steel plant at Kalinganagar and e-commerce venture are the ones most awaited for
The carrier planned to bring in a plane a month from March to build a fleet of at least 10 jets by the end of the year.
One thing is certain: The part-Goan, part-Malayali group CEO of Air Asia is not your usual boardroom CEO, and he cultivates the maverick businessman image, buying race car teams and football clubs and taking off-beat bets with his mentor and now buddy Richard Branson of Virgin.
Online travel portals and airlines say the demand from companies is being led by essential services sectors like pharmaceutical, oil and gas, and power.
Sources in the know confirmed Vistara, the joint venture between Tata Sons and Singapore Airlines, had booked six slots at the airport in New Delhi, adding it was ready to fly once it secured the government's nod.
Inching closer to launch its operations, new no-frill carrier AirAsia India on Saturday took delivery of its first Airbus A-320 as it landed in Chennai after flying in from Toulouse headquarters of the European aircraft manufacturer.
On Monday, the fifth Air India flight landed in Delhi from Bucharest with 249 Indian nationals while the sixth flight arrived from Budapest here with 240 Indian nationals, the officials said.
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