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.
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.
An IAF flight carrying Indian student Harjot Singh, who was shot in Ukrainian capital Kyiv a few days ago, landed at the Hindon airbase in New Delhi on Monday evening, officials said.
Govt gave 36,000 seats per week more than inter-ministerial group's recommendations.
The first to take off will be Air Pegasus, promoted by Bengaluru-based ground-handling firm Deccor Aviation.
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.
Domestic carriers seek week's time for suggestions on fares.
At a meeting with airline chief executive officers and top officials here, the Civil Aviation Ministry also decided to amend Aircraft Act and Rules to safeguard the interests of aircraft leasing companies, many of which have started imposing stringent conditions for leasing planes to Indian carriers in the aftermath of Kingfisher Airlines shutting down.
The government proposes to divest 76 per cent of Air India, along with its shareholding in Air India Express and its ground-handling subsidiary, AISATS.
The warning had come after SpiceJet's dues to AAI (including interest at 12 per cent) exceeded Rs 300 crore (Rs 3 billion) this month -- from Rs 230 crore (Rs 2.3 billion) early December last year.
According to the resolution plan, the airline is planning to start with six to seven aircraft on domestic routes and looking to restart international service within six months of resuming operations.
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 day after FIPB cleared the Tata-Singapore Airlines' (SIA) airline venture, Tata group Chairman Emeritus Ratan Tata and SIA chief Goh Choon Phong on Friday met Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh exuding confidence of launching flights by May-June next year.
'In 50 seconds, the pilots were fighting drag, trying relight, throttling up and avoiding obstacles.' 'They had neither height nor speed. There was no margin.'
The airline informed the ministry that it would operate 75 planes by April-end.
The government has requested the Civil Aviation Ministry to reduce the number of flights from these states in view of high prevalence of coronavirus cases there, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister J C Madhuswamy said in a statement.
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.
'The BJP's numbers in this government are almost the same as those enjoyed by the Congress under P V Narasimha Rao when the reform process was kicked off in 1991.' 'As before, the only constraints on the prime minister's actions are internal, not external.' 'They come from his own assessment of the political consequences of any action,' points out Mihir S Sharma.
After allowing FDI by foreign carriers in their Indian counterparts, the government has put in place provisions to prevent Indian airlines from being controlled and managed by the foreign investor.
Pakistan's national flag carrier on Thursday suspended flight operations to Afghanistan due to what it called "security concerns", hours after the Taliban government threatened to ban the airline unless it reduced the fare on the Kabul-Islamabad route to previous levels.
'The lay of the runway is not at all safe.' 'Even operating a 737 is dangerous there.' 'During the monsoon, they must ban landing on runway 10.'
Whether this happens because DGCA actually cares about the future of the national carrier or for other motives is not clear.
Small aircraft operators want better infra at regional airports.
Airlines likely to be allowed to operate with smaller aircraft.
Crisis-hit SpiceJet hopedul of a turnaround.
Of the 243 listed flights, it claimed to have operated 75 across the country after 1600 hours on Wednesday.
New airline Akasa Air on Monday said it is on track to receive its first Boeing 737 Max plane by mid-June and launch commercial operations by July. The airline on Monday released the photographs of its first Max plane from the Boeing production facility in the USA's Portland as it gets ready for delivery. "The airline recently reaffirmed its commitment of being on track to receive its first aircraft in India by mid-June and launch commercial operations in India by July 2022," its statement mentioned.
Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray leader Priyanka Chaturvedi on Wednesday took potshots at the rival Shiv Sena over its minister not finding a place in the reconstituted NITI Aayog.
The 'Maharishi Valmiki International Airport, Ayodhyadham' has become the 68th civil airport terminal in the country to come under the umbrella of the specialised aviation security group of the central force.
The 17 related ministries have been combined into seven different groups, including some infrastructure departments, in a bid to ensure synergy and better results.
A free and open aviation market, where the government keeps the interest of consumers higher than saving any airline.
Aviation regulators says airlines are free to fix fares.
As a member of Parliament, I am aware of the number of complaints raised against Air India's crew, Gaikwad said.
The Airports Authority of India issued a standard operating procedure to airport operators on Wednesday for recommencement of domestic flights from May 25 onwards.
'Indian aviation cannot resume without at least three major airports being functional. If Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Kolkata are shut, there is little chance that airlines will start flying even if the government gives the go-ahead.'
