Director General of Civil Aviation Kanu Gohain signed the papers in New Delhi granting permission to the Tata Group for the helipad atop the Taj Wellington Mews -- a luxury hotel -- for private use.
Facing threat of terror attacks, the home ministry has ordered security audit of nearly 100 civil airports and decided to bring all such facilities under the Central Industrial Security Force cover gradually.
These vacancies are likely to emerge as Indian airlines plan to induct more than 900 aircraft into their fleets in the coming years.
However, the tender criteria demands that an entity must be eligible to conduct Beyond Visual Line of Sight operations in order to become eligible. Currently, no drone companies are eligible to do BVLOS operations, reports Arindam Majumder.
In recent times, there have been various incidents of unruly passengers onboard domestic and international flights.
The aviation regulator DGCA had on May 21 issued seven bands of ticket pricing with lower and upper fare limits.
Aviation regulator DGCA conducted 53 spot checks on 48 SpiceJet aircraft between July 9 and July 13 and it did not find any major safety violations, Minister of State for Civil Aviation V K Singh said on Monday. "However, as a safety measure, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) ordered SpiceJet to use certain identified aircraft (10) for operations only after confirming to the regulator that all reported defects/malfunctions are rectified," Singh said in his written reply in Rajya Sabha. SpiceJet planes were involved in at least eight technical malfunction incidents in the 18-day period starting June 19, following which the DGCA had on July 6 issued a show-cause notice to the airline, stating that "poor internal safety oversight" and "inadequate maintenance actions" have resulted in degradation of safety margins.
During these eight weeks, the budget carrier will be subjected to "enhanced surveillance" by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation.
A four member team of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, led by R K Tyagi, will visit the site in dense Nallamalla forest on Thursday where the Bell-430 helicopter, carrying Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy and four others, had crashed a week ago.The team landed in Kurnool on Wednesday to start its probe into the crash, which had sent shock waves across the country and raised serious questions about the safety of the helicopters used by VIPs.
The airline has suspended its international operations till Monday.
Hopper, short-haul flights lift performance.
Increasing cases of aviators in India complaining of fatigue and in some cases leading to death have spurred the DGCA to bring in draft rules to reduce stress.
In the season of aviation action, Rakesh Jhunjhunwala-backed Akasa Air has secured the crucial no-objection certificate (NoC) from the civil aviation ministry. It expects to start operations next summer. The airline will now have to apply for the Directorate General of Civil Aviation for operations permit. Aviation sector has been in the limelight with the Tata Group winning the Air India bid last week.
Concerned over the fallout of the Red Sea crisis and severe shortage of containers against the backdrop of a steep decline in merchandise exports in August, the Union government is pulling out all the stops to find a solution. To begin with, the government has devised a strategy aimed at boosting container supply and supporting exporters.
Domestic air traffic rose 4.8 per cent on an annual basis to 126.48 lakh in February, while more than 1.55 lakh passengers were affected by flight delays during the same period, according to official data released on Friday. In February, Air India's market share rose to 12.8 per cent from 12.2 per cent while that of IndiGo marginally dipped to 60.1 per cent from 60.2 per cent in January. The domestic air traffic climbed to 126.48 lakh in February compared to 120.69 lakh in the year-ago period, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said.
After snapping up Air Sahara in a $500-million deal, Jet Airways is likely to operate it as a wholly-owned subsidiary till regulatory and other clearances are granted to the acquisition process.
A trainee pilot and his trainer suffered minor injuries in the mishap.
In their new venture, Tata SIA Airlines Ltd, Tata Sons would hold 51 per cent stake and Singapore Airlines 49 per cent.
The DGCA has derostered the Air Traffic Controller (ATC) who was on duty at the time of the incident on Saturday, while IndiGo has initiated a probe into the matter
'DGCA cares a damn for human life.'
The episode has been classified as an 'accident' as it has left serious injuries on passengers and crew members, the sources mentioned.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation will examine issues relating to domestic airlines tying up with foreign carriers and setting up companies abroad to start international operations.
The official said that the licences of the two pilots -- Ajinkya Hanchate and Tushar Dasgupta -- have been suspended for one year and they also have to undergo corrective training.
Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Tuesday flew on SpiceJet's special flight between Delhi and Gwalior using Boeing's 737 Max plane that has been allowed to return to service after two and half years. All Max planes were grounded in India by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on March 13, 2019, three days after the crash of an Ethiopian Airlines 737 Max plane near Addis Ababa, which had left 157 people, including four Indians, dead. Along with Scindia, SpiceJet CMD Ajay Singh and Boeing India president Salil Gupte were also present on the special flight on Tuesday.
The first to take off will be Air Pegasus, promoted by Bengaluru-based ground-handling firm Deccor Aviation.
Eastern India, which has not been too well connected with the rest of the country, is now on the radar of airline operators.
SpiceJet announced it has started a five-day "1+1 offer sale" where it was offering one-way base fares starting as low as Rs 899, excluding taxes, on its domestic network.
When the Boeing-737 reached the height of about 5,000 metres after taking off at 1725 hours, the cabin crew on the rear of the plane informed the pilot that they could hear 'a hissing sound and see the sky through one corner of the door'. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) suspended at least two cabin crew members of the Delhi-Mumbai flight (9W362), official sources said in New Delhi on Saturday.
Shares of low-cost airline IndiGo hit record high on the bourses soon after reports of pilot crisis at Vistara emerged. The development also saw airfares surge by around 25 per cent on select routes. Shares of IndiGo hit a lifetime high of ~3,68.5 on April 2, 2024, and has gained 2.4 per cent on the bourses in April.
A draft circular issued by the DGCA on June 17 had said that any pilot of a wide-body aircraft (these are used mostly for overseas flights) should have a flying experience of at least 7,000 hours, including 2,000 hours on a jet aircraft and 1,500 hours on a wide-body aircraft on international routes.
Needed: Cabin Crew (Technical) and Flight Safety Instructor for Air Deccan.
A UN team had visited the Patna airport and expressed concerns.
SpiceJet apologised for the inconvenience caused to the passenger and will also provide a full refund. As the passenger kept waiting in the lavatory, a cabin crew slipped in a note asking the passenger not to panic and that despite trying their best, the door could not be opened.
Air Passengers Association of India on Thursday expressed concern over the Directorate General of Civil Aviation's move to "relax" the annual flying hours limit from the present 1000 hours to 1200 hours.
The recent spate of technical glitches in aircraft has prompted the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to issue an order on July 18, making aircraft maintenance engineers (AMEs) with category B1/B2 licences the final authorities in certifying planes. This has put the spotlight on the availability of such personnel. According to the order, airlines were resorting to frequent one-off authorisation by the Category A certifying staff at transit stations, which is not in line with existing regulatory provisions.
