Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel and former Minister of State Shashi Tharoor were seen having a long chat in the Lok Sabha on Thursday, after a newspaper reported their alleged link in the Indian Premier League bids for the Kochi team.
The civil aviation ministry has sought continuation of the exemption on withholding tax on aircraft leased from foreign companies in the next budget for another year, saying it would benefit several airlines in the country.
With terror threats looming large over the civil aviation sector, an advisory council of experts will be set up soon to deliberate on and recommend measures to step up aviation security.
Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel allocated portfolios following a major cabinet reshuffle, with Harsh Sanghavi becoming Deputy CM and receiving Home and Industries. New ministers, including Rivaba Jadeja, were also assigned responsibilities.
Latur and Nanded in Marathwada region of Maharashtra would soon be on the aviation map with the launch of flights from this metropolis to these towns, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel has said.
The government on Friday announced it had entered into an agreement with the United States to establish an Aviation Cooperation Programme to modernise the sector's infrastructure.
The budgetary provision for all aviation infrastructure has generally been reduced, apparently with the view that most of the airport modernisation programmes, barring those in Kolkata and Chennai, were being carried out through public-private partnership.
Favouring the centre-state cooperation model adopted by northeastern states to develop aviation infrastructure in the region, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel on Thursday asked state governments to tie up with public sector carriers to provide fo
Government is considering amending Civil Aviation rules to make it mandatory to have Category II instrument landing system at all airports across the country to reduce fog-related problems.
The civil aviation industry was poised to generate about 20 lakh (2 million) jobs in the next five years, Union Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said in Mumbai on Friday.
India's aviation sector would have a fully functioning satellite based navigation system (GPS) in place next year, Aviation Minister Praful Patel said.
But if the minister signals that he is on the side of the unions on key staff issues, he reduces the management's scope of action as well as the likelihood of better service.
A proposal to hike foreign direct investment cap in helicopter and sea-plane operations, MRO facilities, charters, air-cargo and non-scheduled air operations has been moved by the civil aviation ministry for the Cabinet's consideration.
An inquiry by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation has been ordered into the Mangalore air crash and an Air India team will assist it in the probe, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said today.
The Centre asked state governments on Friday to review and rationalise their taxation policy on jet fuel and land acquisition practices to encourage the expansion of civil aviation sector so that they could themselves reap the benefits of its unprecedented growth.
Even in the domestic aviation scene, consolidation talks are on among some private airlines.
The civil aviation sector will attract an investment worth Rs 1,00,000 crore (Rs 1000 billion) in the next four years for development, modernisation and aircraft acquisition, according to Union Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel.
Let's take a detailed look at why this project is yet to take off.
The Reserve Bank of India's decision to allow airlines hedge jet fuel in global markets came in for praise from the industry and the civil aviation ministry, but end-users are unlikely to benefit in the form of lower airfares.
Maintaining that the air cargo and some other areas in the Indian aviation sector were very weak, the government on Thursday said it was mulling the opening of these areas to private and foreign investment.
Mumbai airport, which has limited capacity for expansion, is being expanded to handle 40 million passengers annually by 2010.
Indian airlines on Wednesday filled aviation turbine fuel (ATF) into the tanks of their aircraft at Rs 68,000 a kilolitre. Around the same time, ATF sold at $1,037.8 (Rs 41,500) a kilolitre at the Singapore airport -- full 39 per cent below Indian prices.
Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel on Friday said the airline industry in India has grown by 400 per cent in a short span of about six-and-a-half years.
Unions boycott launch of new fleet to protest the merger of Indian Airlines and Air India.
Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel on Tuesday lashed out at the Planning Commission, holding it responsible for the delay in the modernisation of Kolkata and Chennai airports.
In the wake of recent hike in airline fares owing to rise in aviation turbine fuel prices, the Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel on Thursday met Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram and sought reduction in excise duty on the fuel in the Budget.
The airport and user development fees will be kept out of it.
Air India on Friday said it had operated a charter flight to carry IPL players from Chandigarh to Chennai as per rules and procedures and maintained that Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel's daughter, Poorna, was not involved in this operation.
Civil Aviation minister Praful Patel on Wednesday said the modernisation and restructuring of major airports has started with Delhi and Mumbai airports.
Asked about a possible bailout for Air India, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said, "I think it will happen because as the owner of the airline, the government has its responsibility to put in equity, like private airlines where their promoters put in money." Asked if the government was looking at a Rs 15,000 crore bailout, Patel said: "No, Rs 15,000 crore is not the number. The number is far less than that."
As senior Air India pilots withdrew their agitation, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel on Wednesday said the airline would soon set up a committee, including representatives of the ministry and pilots, to work on a turnaround plan and discuss issues relating to their pay and incentives.
Construction of 12 greenfield airports in different parts of the country is likely to start soon with the government granting them approval, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said on Tuesday.
He said this in his keynote address at the Business Standard Open Sky Summit 2008 held here today. Airport charges in India are 50-60 per cent higher than global airport charges and account for over 12 per cent of an airline's cost. Patel, however, added that his ministry has not yet initiated any talks with airports on this issue.
Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said Indian airlines had suffered major losses in the past two years over the unprecedented rise in prices of aviation turbine fuel.
The ministry of civil aviation will seek a complete rollback of service tax levied on domestic air travel in the recent Budget, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said on Wednesday.In his Budget speech on February 26, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had proposed a service tax of 10 per cent on both domestic and international travel. Earlier, the service tax was restricted only for international travel.
Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel has said that up to Rs 2 lakh crore investment is expected in the country's civil aviation sector in the next five years, higher than any other sector.
Indian Premier League authorities on Friday dismissed media reports that Poorna Patel, IPL Hospitality Manager and daughter of Civil Aviation minister Praful Patel, leaked a confidential e-mail from the league's COO Sundar Raman's office.
The Union civil aviation ministry would take up the issue with the finance ministry, Patel said, expressing the hope that the latter would respond favourably to the civil aviation ministry's representation.
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