Among the new entrants to the Union cabinet, former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has been given the agriculture and rural development portfolios, Bharatiya Janata Party president J P Nadda the health portfolio and former Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar the power portfolio.
Bharti Airtel, the country's largest mobile operator, has already joined the global Seamless Alliance to provide in-flight connectivity.
The employees associated with various unions of AAI have formed a joint forum and started the three-day-long strike in front of the Civil Aviation Ministry at Rajiv Gandhi Bhawan here and at AAI offices across the country.
Around 1,000 passenger complaints have been received against Air India during the last three months related to various issues, including refund of fares, overbooking of flights, and staff behaviour, Minister of State for Civil Aviation V K Singh said on Monday. The Tata Group on January 27 took control of Air India after winning the bid for the airline on October 8 last year. "Ministry of Civil Aviation has been receiving grievances related to air transport, including Air India, on the various issues such as refund of fares, flight issues, staff behaviour, baggage issues, overbooking of flights, etc," Singh said in his written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha.
The Indian aviation sector is on the cusp of a change as airlines look to induct a record number of aircraft. This, analysts said, will put the sector on a growth runway, though keeping it viable for only long-term investors. According to Vinit Bolinjkar, head of research at Ventura Securities, expectations of strong air traffic, coupled with low penetration, is the prime reason for a solid long-term outlook.
Malaysian budget airline AirAsia moved a step closer to securing permission to launch operations in India, with Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh on Monday saying that all issues concerning the carrier's application have been resolved.
Preferred seats also become costlier on IndiGo flights.
No response has been received for the Expression of Interest floated for the strategic divestment of Air India
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.
That it has been threatening to review this rule for a while is old hat anyway.
The decision has been taken after Kamra was found 'guilty' for alleged misbehaviour by an internal committee of IndiGo, an airline official said. The ban on Kamra comes into effect immediately.
A panel headed by Economic Affairs secretary Arvind Mayaram had suggested FDI limit be raised to 49 per cent in almost all sectors through the automatic route.
Speaking at an interactive session on the sidelines of Wings India 2022, Dube on Friday said the airline hopes to have a fleet of 72 aircraft in the next five years. "We hope to launch our first commercial flight in the month of June.
UAE's promise of $50-bn investment in Indian infra won't be included.
The trial run for one week would be applicable for domestic passengers.
In the past few days, more than 40 flights operated by the Indian carriers have received bomb threats which later turned out to be hoaxes.
He was grounded by the airline on Sunday after he tested positive for alcohol in two breath analyser (BA) tests before he was to operate Air India's New Delhi-London flight.
Deputy Prime Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani conveyed this to Bharatiya Janata Party general secretary Pramod Mahajan.
'A few answers for the reason of the crash will be known -- whether it was a technical fault, design issue, human error etc.'
A K Chopra, a retired DGCA official, had flagged concerns regarding engineering, flight safety, operations, and training standards in the airline and subsidiaries, thus warning the management of grave safety risk. He also called for the replacement of the chief of flight safety Harpreet A De Singh, who, he said, did not meet the regulatory requirements for holding the post.
Slots, parking bays unavailable at major airports
In a serious safety breach, Nagpur airport runway was intruded by a drove of pigs when President Pranab Mukherjee's jumbo Boeing 737 was taxiing towards the runway after landing on Monday, prompting the civil aviation ministry to seek a report.
Govt may grant infrastructure status to the aviation industry to enable it to access finances at cheaper rates
Aviation minister said if the scheduled domestic flights reach pre-COVID levels by the end of the year, he will have no hesitation in removing the fare limits at that time.
The carrier has two-third Indian directors on board, as mandated.
The civil aviation ministry granted the traffic rights to Deccan Aviation, in which Kingfisher Airlines merged in 2007, to operate services to London and other global destinations. The airline, which has already firmed up plans to launch its Bangalore-London (Heathrow) flight from the first week of September, would be starting its international services on the rights granted to Deccan Aviation on the India-UK sector.
The government is open to giving 100 per cent stake to private parties in six select airports, including Kolkata and Chennai.
National carrier Air India became part of the 27-member global airlines grouping Star Alliance, as budget airline AirAsia India launched operations and Tata-SIA joint venture carrier Vistara received the flying permit and announced its intentions to start operations from January 9.
Air India Chairman Rajiv Bansal has been appointed as the new aviation secretary as part of a major top-level bureaucratic reshuffle effected by the Centre on Wednesday. K Rajaraman, additional secretary in the department of economic affairs, has been appointed as secretary, department of telecommunications, a personnel ministry order said.
The civil aviation ministry had last week suspended all flights between the European country and India from December 23 to December 31 as a mutated variant of the coronavirus was detected there.
Govt says domestic carriers' financial health a concern.
Officials differ, say firm should first fly regional.
The fewer the number of central ministries that matter, the better the efficacy of India's reforms.
The policy has been finalised after nearly eight months since the Ministry came out with the revised draft in October 2015.
Management to be restructured to monitor integration of erstwhile Indian Airlines and Air India.
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 airline operates flights to eight international destinations: London, Dubai, Colombo, Singapore, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Kathm-andu and Dhaka.
