DGCA sources pegged SpiceJet's total dues at Rs 1,600 crore (Rs 16 billion), which the airline owes lessors, vendors, income-tax department and airport operators.
About a week ago, DGCA officials conducted surprise checks and grounded a Reliance Industries-owned 14-seater Falcon 900EX.
Ailing Kingfisher Airlines will have to satisfy aviation regulator DGCA about safe flight operations and also make sure that its employees are not disgruntled before it resumes its services, Civil AviationMinister Ajit Singh said.
"We have found that a couple of international airlines are not adhering to the rules. Failure to adhere to rules shall entail strict action," said Director General of Civil Aviation Arun Kumar.
.jpg)
With Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju favouring such checks, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation has prepared a monthly programme of surveillance of airports as well as of all schedule, non-schedule and general aviation companies, foreign airlines and the aviation wings of state governments, they said.
The Delhi airport, the country's busiest airport, on Friday early morning witnessed the collapse of a roof at Terminal 1 amid heavy rains that killed one person, prompting the government to order a detailed probe and an inspection of the structural strength of all airports.
The aviation authority is concerned about financial health of Air India, Spicejet and Jet Airways.
The DGCA said, '(the) Crew initiated action only when the master cautions warning i.e after 15 seconds of autopilot disengage'.
DGCA had earlier directed all airlines not to charge anything extra from passengers from Srinagar and Jammu.
The airfares are already 15 per cent higher than last season and due to this shortage it will go higher, said Sharat Dhall, COO of Yatra.com.
Indian airlines will operate a total of 23,732 flights every week during the winter schedule, which is more than 8 per cent higher than the year-ago period, amid rising air traffic demand. The winter schedule 2023 -- effective from October 29 to March 30 next year -- for the scheduled carriers has been approved by aviation regulator DGCA. Go First, which stopped flying from May 3 and is undergoing an insolvency resolution process, will not be having any operations during the winter schedule.
The new regulatory body would be called the Civil Aviation Authority and would replace the Directorate General of Civil Aviation.
The summer schedule of flights of all other domestic airlines such as Vistara, IndiGo, Air India and GoAir have been approved till October 26.
The aviation regulator slapped fines amounting to Rs 2.75 crore on Indian airlines in 2023, marking a 39 per cent rise in financial penalties from Rs 1.97 crore in 2022. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said it imposed fines on domestic carriers such as Air India, IndiGo, AirAsia India and SpiceJet for issues related to non-compliance in 2023. The regulator also carried out a record number of 5,745 surveillance activities in the year to ensure compliance by airlines, aerodrome operators, and aviation personnel among others.
BAOA says the recent downgrade of India by the America's FAA was triggered primarily by a shortage of qualified staff for conducting safety and airworthiness inspections of aircraft.
The large scale diversion on the night of January 5-6 was mainly because of these aircraft being operated by pilots not trained on Category-III Instrument Landing System, DGCA sources said.
The DGCA probe detected serious issues related to safety oversight.
The Delhi high court on Friday directed the civil aviation regulator to deregister planes leased to Go First within five working days, giving respite to the lessors. This means that the airline will have to give back all 54 aircraft to the lessors if its resolution professional (RP) does not challenge the order or ask for a stay. Justice Tara Vitasta Ganju also refused the request of the RP, represented by advocate Diwakar Maheshwari, to keep the operation of the order in abeyance for a week to enable them to file an appeal before the division Bench of the court.
With this, a total of three DGCA staffers have been arrested.
The permit was suspended by DGCA on October 20.
The average fares of all airlines are almost linear.
In a major relief for pilots in dealing with fatigue, aviation watchdog DGCA on Monday came out with revised norms that increase their weekly rest time to 48 hours and limit the number of landings to two during night operations. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has also extended the night hours for pilots and now, it covers the period from 0000-0600 hours whereas it was 0000-0500 hours earlier. Besides, all airlines have to compulsorily submit quarterly fatigue reports, which "should follow a follow a non-punitive and confidentiality policy".
On July 25 and 26, the regulator's team carried out the surveillance of Air India in the areas of internal audit, accident prevention work and availability of required technical manpower.
This is the third enforcement action against a Tata Group airline in over a month.
The MEA said Indian nationals residing in Iraq are advised to be alert and may avoid travel within Iraq. The DGCA asked airlines to take all precautions in airspace over Iran, Iraq, Gulf of Oman and waters of Persian Gulf.
The airline management has now sought a meeting with civil aviation minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju to present the airline's plan.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has met all but one of the 19 deficiencies pointed out by Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in flight safety issues and surveillance to prevent its downgrading by the US aviation regulator.
Aviation watchdog DGCA has asked crisis-hit Go First to submit a comprehensive plan for the revival of its operations, a source said on Thursday. The budget carrier, which is undergoing a voluntary insolvency resolution process, stopped flying on May 3.
As Go First awaits the NCLT verdict on its voluntary insolvency resolution plea, lessors have sought deregistration of nine more aircraft of the crisis-hit airline. In one week, various lessors have approached aviation regulator DGCA for deregistration and repossession of a total of 45 planes of Go First. The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) is set to pronounce the order on the carrier's petition on Wednesday.
SpiceJet had rolled out a scheme offering a discount of Rs 200 to every passenger who books a flight with only one handbag and no check-in baggage.
Of the 1,700 licences verified by it, the DGCA found seven cases of fake qualifications in mark sheets and flight hours.
The Civil Aviation Authority of India Bill 2013, which was introduced by Minister of State for Civil Aviation K C Venugopal, would provide the CAA full operational and financial autonomy to regulate all issues concerning civil aviation safety and protect the interests of consumers in a fast-changing aviation scenario.
Aviation watchdog DGCA will conduct a special audit of grounded airline Go First's facilities in the national capital and Mumbai from July 4 to 6 before approving the revival plan for resumption of flights, according to a senior official. Cash-strapped Go First stopped flying on May 3 and is undergoing a voluntary insolvency resolution process. Meanwhile, a senior executive at the airline expressed hope of resuming ticket sales -- which was paused by DGCA following the grounding of the carrier -- from July 7 or July 8 and subsequent relaunch of the operations from middle of next month.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has come out with a fresh circular making it clear that "in case the airline is compelled to operate a particular flight with a higher capacity aircraft, it shall be ensured that the capacity is restricted to that of the original aircraft".
Besides the major metros, the proposed airline would also connect Srinagar, Patna, Chandigarh and Jammu.
With low-visibility conditions significantly disrupting flight operations at the Delhi airport, Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Monday said all stakeholders are working round-the-clock to minimise fog-related impact as well as passenger inconvenience, and asserted that unruly passenger behaviour is unacceptable.
In a blow to airlines overcharging travelers during peak season, the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), has mad eit mandatory to publish details of all-inclusive fares on the first day of every calendar month.
DGCA Deputy Director P K Chattopadhyay will head the probe. He has been appointed the Inspector of the Inquiry, official sources said.
Licence suspension would be revoked only after stakeholders are convinced of the airline's revival plan, say sources.
Last Friday, DGCA issued a show cause notice to the airline why its operating permit should not be suspended.
