Ashok Gajapathi Raju on Tuesday sparked a controversy by admitting that he carried matchboxes in airplanes, without them being confiscated, after he became the Union civil aviation minister.
'It is indeed a fact that several issues were routinely red-flagged by DGCA, and were addressed by the (Kozhikode) airport operator. These pertain to excessive rubber deposits, water stagnation, cracks and other routine issues,' Puri tweeted a day after the plane crash in Kozhikode that claimed at least 18 lives.
The NCP leader said that he will be happy to cooperate with the ED so that the agency understands the "complexities" of the aviation sector.
An additional 1,400 CISF personnel have been sanctioned to secure the expanding terminal areas of the Delhi airport and also to meet the challenge of its growing passenger traffic, officials said on Thursday.
Airports in Delhi, Bangalore and Chennai were on Wednesday night put on high security alert in the wake of intelligence inputs that terrorists of Pakistan or Afghanistan origin may strike these installations by this weekend ahead of the anniversary of demolition of Babri Masjid.
The proposal is awaiting final policy sanction from the home ministry.
The sources said the aircraft was allotted a remote bay C-33 instead of a Contact Stand, an aircraft parking stand that is suitable for walking passengers to and from an aircraft from an allocated boarding gate. This further added to passenger woes and deprived them the opportunity to avail basic facilities like rest rooms and refreshments at the terminal, they added.
Deploying additional Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel, providing real-time updates through social media, adding more immigration counters and ensuring 100 per cent manning of immigration counters - these are some of the steps that the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) is now taking in coordination with other stakeholders to avoid congestion at major airports during the upcoming festival season. During the last year's festival and winter season, major airports in the country suffered from congestion due to lack of sufficient airport infrastructure, inadequate X-ray screening machines, bunching of flights at peak hours, as well as inadequate CISF and immigration personnel, the MoCA stated on Thursday. Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, after last year's congestion issue, had asked major airports - including Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Chennai - to identify bottlenecks and augment capacity to meet the growing passenger demand.
Three months after the Modi government withdrew SPG cover to Sonia, Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi, they are all set to lose another special status provided to them.
The relaxation has been given to facilitate "smooth conduct of air operations", the ministry's order stated.
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.
Indian Air Force fighter jets were scrambled to intercept a foreign aircraft with its origin in Iran that was moving towards New Delhi's airspace.
Indian Air Force fighter planes will be on standby to keep a close watch on any suspicious activity in the Delhi sky, including UAVs or drones, as the national capital gets ready to host the G20 summit, a senior official from a department engaged in airport operations said.
Full service carrier Air India on Friday said some of its ultra long-haul flights are facing delays due to issues related to airport entry passes and it is "working closely" with the authorities to resolve the matter.
Prime Minister Narendra Damodardas Modi attended an event organised for Abhidhamma Day in Kushinagar, Uttar Pradesh, which saw the participation of Buddhist monks from many countries.
General Singh was assigned to receive leaders representing the planet's two superpowers -- the president of the United States and the premier of the People's Republic of China.
The addition of new flights at airports will now be based on passenger-handling capacity at security checkpoints, according to the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS). The civil aviation security regulator issued directions in this regard on May 22 in a move to reduce congestion and delays inside airport terminals. Following this, airports will have to check passenger-handling capacity at security checkpoints before allotting slots.
A helicopter carrying pilgrims from Guptkashi to Kedarnath crashed on Tuesday amid poor visibility and seven people on board are feared dead.
The court will take cognisance of the chargesheet on August 6. At present, Rai is in judicial custody.
The capability of drones to evade radar, wreak devastation at strategic installations and transport weapons to terrorists has been a continuous concern for the country's security establishment, and in a maiden incident, these unmanned vehicles were used to strike an Indian Air Force base in Jammu on Sunday, officials said.
Security at the Mumbai airport has been tightened following intelligence inputs suggesting that terrorists were planning to carry out a hijacking attempt for securing the release of some terrorists.An alert has been issued following a meeting of senior officials of Civil Aviation Ministry, Bureau of Civil Aviation Security and Home Ministry, Civil Aviation Ministry sources said on Thursday.During the meeting, preparedness of 'different layers' were discussed.
A video clip of the scuffle inside the aircraft was shared widely on social media on Wednesday. In the clip, a man could be seen being slapped multiple times by a few co-passengers.
Pant, a 1991-batch Indian Administrative Service officer of Rajasthan cadre, is currently secretary in the ministry of ports, shipping and waterways.
The base will be used by carriers such as Alliance Air, a subsidiary of Air India, to operate 70-seater ATR aircraft to places such as Bengaluru.
First and business class air travellers would find flying costlier.
Tata group-owned AirAsia India's inability to get approval for international flights is hurting UDAN, the Indian government's regional air connectivity project that also aims to link cities in Northeast India and Odisha to places abroad. Sources said the civil aviation ministry is waiting for the low-cost airline to come under the full ownership of Tata Sons and become part of Air India, the former state-owned carrier now owned by the private conglomerate, before allowing it to operate international flights. Tata owns 84 per cent stake in AirAsia India and it is understood that the group will complete the process of buying rest of the stake by July's end.
The Tehelka magazine on Friday claimed some officials, bureaucrats and other VIPs had 'abused' their status to get free tickets and other facilities from a private airline in gross violation of service rules and propriety.
Facing threat of terror attacks, the home ministry has ordered security audit of nearly 100 civil airports and decided to bring all such facilities under the Central Industrial Security Force cover gradually.
A family of five, returning to their hometown at Koducalli in Kozhikode from Dubai, were aboard the fateful Air India Express flight that crash-landed at the Kozhikode airport claiming at least 18 lives on Friday.
While the Saudi drone strike has put the focus back on anti-drone measures, caution also stems from the fact that India has a number of large oil refining assets close to India-Pakistan border.
Displaying a washing machine on its press conference dais, the Congress on Saturday taunted the Bharatiya Janata Party over the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filing a closure report in a 2017 corruption case against Nationalist Congress Party leader Praful Patel and said the ruling party's 'fully automatic washing machine' works on the principle -- 'join BJP, case closed'.
The pilot and co-pilot of an Air India plane involved in Wednesday night's freak accident at the Mumbai airport where a technician died after getting sucked into the engine have been grounded even as the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau launched a probe.
A day after the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security filed an FIR against Continental Airlines for frisking former President A P J Abdul Kalam, the government on Wednesday said it knew about the incident and had issued a show cause notice to the airline on July 9."The BCAS, after getting the information in time, first conducted an inquiry and then issued the show cause notice on July 9. On Tuesday, they filed an FIR also Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said.
This visit by the prime minister comes weeks ahead of the 'pran pratishtha' or consecration ceremony of the Ram temple.
Air India had placed an order for 68 aircraft, including Boeing 737s, 777s and 787s, all valued at $11 billion in Dec 2005.
A Civil Aviation Ministry spokesperson said all airports have been on alert for the past four days due to the threat perception.
To become a type-rated pilot, a person has to take additional training.
The sources said that during the boarding, the male passenger behaved in an unruly manner and touched the female cabin crew member inappropriately.
An alert has been issued by the bureau of civil aviation security
The government is shortly going to move ahead with the process of developing airports at New Delhi and Mumbai to international standards, Civil Aviation Minister Shahnawaz Hussain said on Friday.\n\n\n\n
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