Mid-air Holi celebrations aboard eight flights have cost no-frill carrier SpiceJet heavily.
Aviation regulator DGCA on Tuesday started the special audit of the facilities of Go First, which has sought approval for restarting operations. A team of officials from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) started the special audit of the facilities of Go First in Mumbai on Tuesday, according to an airline executive. The audit of the facilities will be done on Wednesday also.
SpiceJet said its flight heading to Jabalpur returned to Delhi on Saturday after the crew members observed smoke in the cabin at around 5,000-feet altitude.
Grounded Go First's CEO Kaushik Khona has put in his papers, nearly seven months after the no-frills airline filed for insolvency proceedings. In an e mail to the airline's employees on Thursday, Khona said that November 30 is his last day at the company. Khona had returned to Go First in August 2020 as its CEO.
The aviation regulator DGCA said on Friday that it was extending the suspension of scheduled international passenger flights in the country till July 31 but added that some international scheduled services on selected routes may be permitted on a case to case basis. Scheduled international passenger flights were suspended in India on March 23 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The commercial launch of the new Bangalore international airport is likely to be deferred by two to three weeks from the scheduled date of March 28 in view of the delay in completing the air traffic control (ATC) facility, the nerve centre of the airport.DGCA had expressed concern over several safety provisions, including the incomplete ATC facility at the airport. Flights will continue to operate from the existing HAL airport.
Revealing that 70 per cent of incidents involving airplanes are due to pilot error and most are due to non-compliance of procedures which are "avoidable", Kanu Gohain, director general of DGCA, said the aviation regulatory body has stepped up measures to ensure strict compliance of operational procedures.
Hyderabad-based Turbo Megha Airways became the fourth company to receive flying licence from aviation regulator DGCA in the past two years to launch a regional airline.
An IndiGo aircraft grazed the wings of an Air India Express plane at the Kolkata airport on Wednesday, leaving the wings of both aircraft damaged, officials said.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Monday suspended operations at Redbird Flight Training Academy, one of India's largest flight schools, across all five of its training bases in the country. This action was taken after five accidents involving the institute's planes in the past six months. The DGCA announced it would conduct an audit of the academy's maintenance practices and also proficiency checks of the institute's flight instructors before allowing it to resume operations.
Pilots may soon get to fly beyond the age of 61 years.
The bankruptcy tribunal had on July 5, prevented the Directorate General of Civil Aviation from deregistering the Boeing 777 plane, which has been under the possession of a Dutch cargo provider since April.
The pilot, who was the first officer on the flight, landed the aircraft at the Indore airport recently without first getting the requisite training in a simulator, they said.
An A320neo plane of Tata Group-run Air India returned to the Mumbai airport just 27 minutes after takeoff as one of its engines shut down midair due to a technical issue, sources said on Friday.
IndiGo's Sharjah-Hyderabad flight was diverted to Karachi as a precaution on Sunday after pilots observed defect in one of the engines, officials of aviation regulator DGCA said.
Jet Airways conducted its test flight to and from the Hyderabad airport on Thursday in a step towards obtaining the air operator certificate. Jet Airways, which has not flown since April 17, 2019, is currently in the process of re-launching operations under its new promoters Jalan-Kalrock Consortium. On Thursday, the airline's CEO Sanjiv Kapoor said on Twitter that the test flight's operation was a very emotional moment "for all the wonderful folks who have been working hard to get Jet back in the skies".
A notification in this regard is likely to be issued by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation on Monday.
The watchdog would also endeavour to do its best to help the company revive its operations within the set regulatory framework.
In the short video clip, other crew members could be seen shouting at the passenger after he hit the pilot.
There was no injury to any passenger or crew. The aircraft landed safely at Delhi airport, the official confirmed.
A passenger on a New York-New Delhi American Airlines flight allegedly urinated on a fellow male passenger in a drunken state, sources said on Sunday.
India will keep its scheduled international passenger flights suspended till January 31 next year, aviation regulator DGCA said on Thursday.
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.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has taken action against 57 pilots for drunken flying in the past one year, terminating the service of 10 of them, Rajya Sabha was informed on Thursday.
IndiGo confirmed the incident but said the aircraft did not face any technical issue in the past.
A SpiceJet plane was damaged on Monday when its wing hit a lightning pole at the Delhi airport when the aircraft was pushed back from the parking position to be ready for takeoff to Jammu, DGCA officials said.
The bench asked the respondents to file their response to the petition which seeks the constitution of a committee to examine 'workable solutions' to ensure that a kirpan permitted to be carried on the flight is 'appropriately designed and crafted' and does not have a blade length beyond 4 cm.
On Monday, the Boeing B737 Max aircraft with registration number VT-SZK operated the Mangaluru-Dubai flight, DGCA officials noted. After the aircraft landed, an engineer did a walk around inspection and found the nose wheel strut was compressed more than usual, they said.
The coronavirus-induced suspension of scheduled international passenger flights has been extended till July 31, aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation said.
A cabin crew member of the flight had filed a complaint with the DGCA about the pilot allowing a female friend into the cockpit.
In the first half of this year, 33 pilots and 97 cabin-crew members failed their compulsory alcohol tests, which are conducted either before or after flights, according to data from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). In contrast, in the first half of 2022, the DGCA data recorded only 14 pilots and 54 cabin-crew members being identified as intoxicated while on duty. This data has been reviewed by Business Standard. As per the DGCA rules, pilots and cabin-crew members have to undergo pre-flight breath-analyzer tests.
The ministry and the civil aviation regulator have said the government will consider the airline's request for slots as per existing policy.
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.
On May 28, following the bomb threat, which later turned out to be hoax, all the passengers were evacuated through emergency slides from the aircraft at the Delhi airport.
A new rule has been drafted by aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation formally empowering the pilot-in-command of all flights to take suitable action to prevent such commotion which could endanger safety of the flight or passengers or crew members.
The top court also sought the assistance of Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who was present in the case, in formulating the standard operating procedure (SOP) and fixed the plea for hearing after the summer vacation in July.
The first hurdle is how long Jet Airways can enjoy rights over its parking slots at various airports.
From a surge in airfares to rattled aircraft lessors to thousands of employees staring at uncertainty, it has been a month of continued turbulence since cash-strapped Go First suspended flights from May 3. As the government and other stakeholders hope that Go First restarts operations at the earliest, plans are being worked out for the budget airline's revival. A section of Go First staff are optimistic about restarting of operations, another section are pessimistic about the airline's future course considering what had happened to erstwhile Kingfisher Airlines and Jet Airways, according to employees who spoke to PTI.
