The average fares charged by Jet Airways and its low-cost carrier arm Jet Konnect were higher than the average industry fares on almost all routes, according to a monthly internal analysis for July by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).
All airlines operating from Delhi would collect the development fee of Rs 200 and Rs 1,300 from each departing domestic and international passenger, respectively.
The lives of air passengers were put at risk on 22 occasions in the country since June 2011 when two aircraft came too close to each other causing near miss incidents, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation has revealed.
Vishwanath Mala was with Air India between 1961 and 1998. He flew the aircraft for 15 years and retired as a senior executive. He spoke with rediff.com's Vicky Nanjappa regarding the ongoing investigation and what the role of a pilot ought to be.
The search team has finally found the black box or the digital flight data recorder of the crashed Air India Boeing 737 plane from the forested regions near Mangalore airport on Tuesday, an official said.
While Jet Airways continues to fly high with a dominating presence among airlines in India, it also leads in the number of passenger complaints.
The Boeing aircraft EK530 with 350 passengers and 14 crewmembers on board encountered a weather cloud near Bangalore. A short period of heavy turbulence prior to descent into India caused minor injuries to about 20 persons, Emirates said in a statement.
All scheduled domestic carriers are mandated to upload their minimum and maximum domestic fares for all routes on their websites every month.
Aviation regulators says airlines are free to fix fares.
Jet has pulled out flights from Northeast states and also cancelled its Srinagar flight, leading to reduction in capacity.
The ministry of civil aviation has recommended three levels of unruly behaviour by passengers, each with a different duration of ban on flying.
Aviation regulator DGCA has allowed IndiGo to wet lease wide-body Boeing planes from Turkish Airlines for up to six months and has rejected the domestic carrier's request for leasing the aircraft for up to two years, according to sources. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) turned down the request of the country's largest airline to wet lease the aircraft for a longer period, citing that the move could become diversion of traffic rights in collusion with a strong foreign carrier that will mainly feed the latter's hub abroad with more passengers from India, the sources said. IndiGo, which currently has only narrow-body planes in its fleet, decided to lease wide-body aircraft to operate more flights on international routes to meet rising demand.
Even before the holiday season has begun, all airlines have jacked up their fares on many busy air routes by 10-25 per cent over the past few days.
An Air India pilot has been arrested in Delhi for allegedly using forged marksheets to procure a licence from the airline regulator. This is the second such incident in the past four days. Captain J K Verma was apprehended in Delhi on Saturday night after investigations into a complaint filed by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation which claimed that some of the pilots had forged marksheets to get their licence.
The two pilots of a helicopter, which flew Rahul Gandhi in Uttar Pradesh on Monday, were on Wednesday given a virtual clean chit by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, during a preliminary probe into the alleged violation of air safety rules that fuelled a controversy involving the Congress leader.The pilots of the state-run Pawan Hans Helicopters Limited, who appeared before the DGCA's Air Safety Wing in New Delhi, were cleared by a probe panel.
With the peak tourist season on the anvil, a new rule has come into effect to allow foreign airlines to mount additional capacity of up to 10 per cent of their entitlements during high air traffic.
India cleared the release of a chartered North American aircraft carrying US Marines on Sunday afternoon. The chartered Boeing 767, carrying commandos of the US 205 Marine Unit, was made to land at Mumbai's Chatrapati Shivaji International Airport, for violating Indian airspace.
The data of the director general of civil aviation, which publishes monthly data on registration, deregistration and change of ownership of the aircraft, showed that in December 2008, Kingfisher returned six Airbus and one ATR aircraft to the lessors.
Airlines say they have accepted the directive, though many feel this would give away competitive information on the number of seats at each price point, which could have an adverse impact on business.
However, this restriction will not apply to international all-cargo operations and flights specifically approved by the DGCA.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation has amended the Aircraft Rules to provide for the use of cellular phones by passengers even before the aircraft comes to a halt.
Despite private sector developer Delhi International Airport Ltd bracing for a long and foggy winter with added infrastructure, the shortage of CAT III pilots in some airlines could still mean long delays for passengers.
Official sources said an ATC official had been suspended pending the DGCA probe, which would establish accountability and find out lapses in the system.
Now, harried air travellers can lodge their complaint on any problem faced by them relating to flights or airport facilities directly to aviation regulator DGCA for speedy action.
Earlier this month, Air India issued show cause notices to the Pilot-in-Command and four crew members of the flight and derostered them pending investigation.
Two Air Traffic Control officials in Mumbai were on Tuesday taken off duty -- pending an inquiry by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation -- into the near miss between an Air India plane and a helicopter belonging to the President's entourage. The two officials have been 'de-rostered' during the inquiry, sources said while clarifying that they have not been placed under suspension. The identity of the officials has not been revealed.
Aviation consultancy CAPA on Thursday said allowing domestic airlines to take advance bookings from April 15 is "unfair" to consumers since a decision on lifting the nationwide lockdown is yet to be taken. During the lockdown period only special flights approved by aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation, medical evacuation flights and those carrying cargo, including medical equipment, to and from different parts of the country are operational.
In his order last week, Civil Aviation Secretary K N Srivastava ruled the meanings of transaction fee, commission or convenience fee were the same -- payment of remuneration to an intermediary.
While all other domestic airlines made merry in the peak travel season, Air India's services were hit because of the pilots' strike.
In what may come as a relief for airline companies, the number of domestic air travellers between January and March showed a healthy increase over the same period a year ago, when the industry was feeling the heat of the global recession.
In India, domestic airlines have not secured any relief from the government and are reporting 50-55 per cent loads as domestic air travel resumed on May 25 after two-month suspension.
About 350 Boeing 737 Max 8 are currently in service with airlines around the world, with thousands more on order. Boeing insists it has no reason to pull the popular aircraft from the skies.
The government is likely to set up a full-fledged inquiry committee to probe the helicopter crash in Arunachal Pradesh that claimed 17 lives.
The Competition Commission of India (CCI) is studying whether a particular airline has a dominant market share on various routes or city pairs which might lead to anti-competitive practices.
The aircraft involved in the incident were operating on Coimbatore-Hyderabad and Bengaluru-Cochin routes.
Some major hospitals in the country have sought the Directorate General of Civil Aviation's permission for launching helicopter emergency medical services, but the DGCA is yet to take a final decision.
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.
Six pilots of Kingfisher Airlines, GoAir and Air India have been de-rostered by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation after they violated guidelines while landing on a short runway at Mumbai airport under rainy conditions. The DGCA also issued notices to the three airlines on the matter asking them to explain why the strict guidelines were not followed.
Pusapati was given detailed presentations on various aspects of the sector by senior officials of the Ministry.
The government on Thursday approved a number of proposals to amend the 1934 Aircraft Act.
