This is the second time in less than a week that the watchdog has taken enforcement action against the airline in connection with unruly passenger behaviour.
The ministry has asked the airlines to not to "take benefit of the situation" and charge higher fares for the tickets.
"We will not regulate fares but there are cases of airlines charging very high fares in a particular route and such airlines will be asked to explain the reasons for that. They cannot charge such high fares without any valid reason," said a civil aviation ministry official.
Demand for the Christmas period is expected to rise further in the coming days.
The pilot of Air India AI-915 Delhi-Dubai flight on February 27 allowed a woman friend to enter the cockpit, according to a complaint filed by a cabin crew member on the same flight.
Civil aviation authorities have asked all private airlines to withdraw the congestion surcharge of Rs 150 imposed per passenger, Rajya Sabha was informed on Tuesday.
The new regulatory body would be called the Civil Aviation Authority and would replace the Directorate General of Civil Aviation.
A preliminary investigation into the Air India Flight 171 crash in Ahmedabad reveals that both fuel switches were cut off before the crash, followed by pilot confusion. The report also indicates that fuel samples were satisfactory and no immediate action is recommended for Boeing 787-8 operators.
IndiGo carried 69.09 million passengers last year, compared to 67.9 million in 2019.
The DGCA will probe the incident and the air traffic controller concerned has been derostered, one of the officials told PTI.
The airline, which declared a partial lockout on Tuesday, has said it will start flying again from October 5.
The number of domestic air travelers in India grew 2.42 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) in April, reaching 13.2 million, according to data by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Tuesday.
Government is considering setting up an airport economic regulatory authority to deal with tariff and service standards at airports, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel informed the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.
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.
Singapore Airline along with its Indian JV partner have got clearance from the aviation ministry.
After a rap from the aviation regulator for neglecting safety issues, Kingfisher Airlines on Monday submitted a detailed response to DGCA giving time-bound plans to resolve the lapses and discrepancies identified.
Amid Delhi's worsening air quality, which has plunged into the severe plus category with an AQI consistently above 450, Environment Minister Gopal Rai on Tuesday called for immediate intervention from the central government.
This incident was also not reported to the DGCA, for which the regulator pulled up the full-service carrier, stating its conduct was unprofessional and issued show cause notices to the airline, its director of flight safety and the crew that operated the New York-Delhi flight, asking them to explain within two weeks why action should not be taken against them.
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.
The GST rate is 5 per cent and 12 per cent on economy and business class tickets, respectively
The DGCA has issued multiple fines and warnings to Air India over the past three years, flagging serious concerns in flight operations, cockpit discipline, and internal accountability.
'Whoever is doing it (threats to airlines), they are actually carrying out a recce.' 'This is the manner in which terrorists strike.'
Three Indian carriers -- SpiceJet, Vistara and Air India Express -- have Boeing 737 aircraft in their fleets.
Giving a push to aviation infrastructure development, government is planning to build 10-15 greenfield airports and modernising 50 others in the non-metro cities over the next few years.
The engineers of Kingfisher went on a strike on Sunday to protest the non-payment of salaries since March.
Aviation regulator DGCA on Saturday suspended the flying licence of beleaguered Kingfisher Airlines for failing to come up with a viable plan for its financial and operational revival and resolve the impasse withits employees over payment of their salary dues.
The Delhi high court on Wednesday agreed with the contention of Akasa Air that the DGCA is not completely barred from taking action against pilots who violate the terms of their employment agreements. However, the court did not grant any immediate relief to Akasa Air which sought direction to the DGCA and Union Ministry of Civil Aviation to take action against its pilots who have resigned without serving the notice period, saying it will first decide the issue of jurisdiction raised by the aviation sector regulator. Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora said since the Directorate General of Aviation (DGCA) has contended it has no jurisdiction to consider a representation made by the airline against the defaulting pilots under the extant law as it was a contractual dispute, the court will have to first decide the issue of jurisdiction before passing any other direction.
In view of a large number of complaints regarding various in-service tests and proficiency checks conducted by airline examiners, Singh reviewed the current system and has directed the DGCA to immediately propose an institutional mechanism for pilots who are not satisfied with their examination results.
Pilots might soon be asked not to use perfume, mouthwash and tooth gel as that may result in positive breath analyser test. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has sought comments on a draft Civil Aviation Requirements (CAR) wherein it has also proposed barring crew from using any "drug/formulation or use any substance such as mouthwash/tooth gel/perfume or any such product which has alcoholic content". Comments have been sought on the CAR, which pertains to procedure for medical examination of aircraft personnel for alcohol consumption, till October 5.
The civil aviation ministry on Friday said the aircraft carrying President Pratibha Patil never lost contact with the air traffic control while flying to Aizawl and was put on an alternate radio frequency immediately after an Air Traffic Control monitor suffered technical glitch.
Abroad, airlines face suspension or hefty fines for unpaid dues or flight cancellations.
Various airlines in India have engaged nearly 1,000 foreign pilots. However, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation has advised all scheduled, non-scheduled and general aviation operators to submit their plan to phase out foreign pilots and replace them by trained Indian pilots. As per the plan, all the foreign pilots are likely to be repatriated in about 5 years time. Government has taken steps to reduce the gap between demand and supply of skilled India pilots.
The move comes after the civil aviation ministry decided to allow Indian carriers to charge passengers for add-on services like their foreign counterparts.
Telecom operators will need to shut down 5G services in high-frequency bands in and around airports following restrictions imposed by the Department of Telecom at the request of the civil aviation ministry, according to sources. Based on buffer and safety zone details provided by the aviation ministry, the DoT has asked telecom operators to not install 5G base stations in the 3.3-3.6 Ghz band in the area of 2.1 kilometres from both ends of the runway and 910 meters from the centre line of the runway of Indian airports with immediate effect. "Telecom operators will need to shut down 5G service in the 3.3-3.6 Ghz band only in and around airports based on the order.
Akasa Air said on Thursday said it has received the Air Operator Certificate (AOC) from aviation regulator DGCA and will start commercial operations later this month.
Aviation watchdog DGCA has taken off SpiceJet from its enhanced surveillance regime, a senior official said on Tuesday. The airline, which has been facing multiple headwinds, was placed under enhanced surveillance recently. The senior DGCA official said that in view of the observations made in the past concerning inadequate maintenance and in view of the incidents during the monsoon season last year, SpiceJet was placed under enhanced surveillance.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) suspended the licences of 92 pilots in 2022 for violating safety norms, which was more than double the 2021 figure. The number of scheduled flights (domestic and international) in India increased by 32.74 per cent to 1.3 million in 2022, according to data from aviation analytics firm Cirium. A DGCA official stated that the minimum period of licence suspension in 2022 was one month and the maximum was three years.
Arun Mishra takes over as Director General of Civil Aviation at a time when questions are being raised on its leniency with airlines. Being also grossly understaffed, it faces an International Civil Aviation Organisation safety audit this December. The new DG talks about these and other issues.
