The presence of an engine maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) facility in India could have prevented Go First airline from going "belly up", as sending engines abroad for servicing is not an efficient way to operate a carrier, Piyush Srivastava, senior economic advisor, Ministry of Civil Aviation, said in a statement on Tuesday. On May 3, Go First suspended its flights and filed for insolvency, squarely blaming engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney (PW) for its cash crunch. The airline claimed that about half of its 54 aircraft were grounded on May 3 due to a delay in the supply of engines by the US-based company. PW has denied the charges.
Eyeing potential business opportunity, Boeing Corporation is planning to approach the proposed Tata-Singapore Airlines.
Air India Express along with SpiceJet and Jet Airways is one of the three main targets for Boeing in the country as it promotes its new 737 MAX aircraft, which is scheduled to enter commercial operations in 2017.
In its first move to significantly expand the fleet after the Tatas took over, Air India has leased 25 Airbus narrow-body aircraft and five Boeing wide-body planes. These will enter service starting December, the company said on Monday. A wide-body plane has a bigger fuel tank, allowing it to travel longer distances such as India-US routes.
Delta Airlines has introduced a daily direct flight between Chennai and New York (John F Kennedy Airport), via Paris (Charles de Gaulle Airport).
Continuing its focus on low cost model of operations, private carrier Jet Airways will shift 45 flights to its no-frill service brand Jet Airways Konnect by October.
Air-India has taken three Boeing 777s on lease for a five-year period beginning December 2004.
The airline will launch services from Sharjah aboard state-of-the-art Boeing 737-800 aircraft. As a result, from September 1, 2009 to October 24, 2009 and from March 28, 2010 to October 30, 2010, flight 9W 562 will depart from Kochi at 1045 hrs, arriving in Sharjah at 1305 hrs. Flight 9W 561 will then depart Sharjah at 1415 hrs, arriving in Kochi at 1945 hrs. But the departure and arrival timings of the flights are however, subject to the governments approval.
While the government is working on final contours for a strategic divestment of its stake in loss-making Air India, the airline is ready with plans to fly to more overseas destinations.
The court order could put SpiceJet's revival plan under stress.
The overheating of the oven during a July 24 flight from New Delhi to Kolkata did not cause a fire
The airline also plans to introduce a third daily direct flight from Mumbai to Bangkok during the winter schedule.
A five-year contract to provide comprehensive maintenance support for India's fleet of 12 C-130J Super Hercules tactical airlifter aircraft.
The new services will be using the Boeing 777-200 aircraft with a three-class configuration -- 12 First, 42 Business and 234 Economy class seats. On ground, the Singapore Airlines India customers can avail of its e-ticket services.
Air India plans to launch services with three flights per week.
Jet Airways has also been asked to provide details of the pilots who are "habitual" of reporting sick and disrupting the airline's schedule, an official said.
The fledgling Akasa Air has told the Delhi high court it is in a "state of crisis" following the "sudden and abrupt" resignation of over 40 pilots who left the airline without serving the mandatory notice period. The airline and its CEO Vinay Dube approached the high court with their petition on September 14, seeking a direction to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to take coercive action against these pilots for their "irresponsible actions". The high court has fixed the plea for hearing on Friday.
Aeroflot will resume services from Moscow to Mumbai five times a week with effect from January 24 with TU 214 aircraft.
West Asian carriers are up against Air India and IndiGo in the battle for seats on lucrative international routes.
Indian Airlines and its subsidiary Alliance Air will provide new links, additional capacity and increased frequencies for its winter schedule with effect from October 26.
The central government on Monday permitted airlines operating in India to provide in-flight wi-fi services to passengers, according to an official notification.
The airline owes lakhs of rupees to passengers and its vendors.
Seeking to further democratise air travel with dependable and affordable services, airline Akasa Air is aiming to start flights in late May or early June after getting its first Boeing 737 MAX aircraft in April. Bullish on the long term growth potential of the country's civil aviation sector, ace investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala-backed carrier is looking to have 18 planes in its fleet by the end of March 2023. Despite COVID clouds continuing to cast a shadow on the airlines, Akasa Air CEO Vinay Dube is more than optimistic as he asserted that "if you look at the long term future of commercial aviation in India, it is as exciting as anywhere in the world".
'Within five years, we should be achieving more on the international front than what it took most airlines 15 to 20 years back.'
Sanjive Narain, owner of Assam's oldest news channel, and Sanjay Aditya Singh, promoter of a cabin crew training academy, are coming together to launch a regional airline providing business and premium economy services in the Northeast. Jettwings Airways will be based in Guwahati and will connect places with twin-class Embraer E175 aircraft. The airline has secured an initial no-objection clearance from the civil aviation ministry and plans to launch services in October.
Jet Airways on Tuesday said it would commence its daily direct service on the Chennai-Singapore sector from December 7, using next generation Boeing B737-800 aircraft.
... changing seats and in-flight entertainment on its older aircraft.
Following the incident, all flights at Stansted had to be temporarily grounded, according to British media reports.
Air India is set to increase capacity on domestic and international routes over the next few months as it overhauls its grounded aircraft. Air India has the approval to operate 2,456 flights per week in the summer schedule. This is more than a 16 per cent increase over 2020. But its international schedule has declined 41 per cent (compared to winter 2019) to 361 weekly departures.
The country's new scheduled airline Akasa Air is "well capitalised" and will allow carrying of domesticated dogs and cats onboard along with passengers from November, according to its senior executives. The airline, which began operations on August 7, also plans to launch international operations in the second half of next year. Akasa Air CEO Vinay Dube said the airline is well capitalised and is not looking to have new investors.
The agreement between the two airlines came on the second day of the four-day state visit of Mukherjee to the country.
The daily flights will be operated by a Boeing 777-200 in a three class configuration offering, flat beds in Club World, World Traveller plus and World Traveller seats.
The world's 10 longest non-stop flights criss-cross the world, cutting down travel time and making journeys easier and comfortable.
If all 102 grounded planes could fly, there will theoretically be 400 more Delhi-Mumbai flights every day.
Two pilot unions at Air India have claimed that there is a shortage of pilots to operate the airline's long-haul and ultra-long haul flights. The concerns raised by the Indian Pilots Guild (IPG) and Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA) also come against the backdrop of the Tatas-owned airline recently cancelling and rescheduling certain flights to and from the North American region due to crew shortage. In a joint letter written to Air India's chief human resources officer Suresh Dutt Tripathi on December 13, the unions said, "...we cannot maintain the printed planned roster due to a shortage of pilots, as CMS (crew management system) does not have standby pilots."
The move will help Jet Airways strengthen its subsidiary JetLite's performance.
After the Russian aviation sector was hit by crippling Western sanctions for war against Ukraine, China refused to supply Russia with aircraft parts.
The airline will utilise new Airbus A320s, scheduled for delivery this year, to accommodate much of the increased frequencies.
An Airbus A-380 of the Singapore Airlines (SIA) on Friday took off from Singapore for Delhi, marking the maiden flight of the superjumbo to India.
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