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.
However, this restriction would not be applicable for international all-cargo operations and flights specifically approved by the DGCA.
The pilots and other senior staff have not been getting their full salaries since December.
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.
It neither mentions timelines for refund or compensation, nor talks about penal provisions for airlines.
Jet said three of its aircraft were temporarily grounded for engine normalisation and are expected to rejoin scheduled operations on February 1.
Opposition Congress targeted Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya, amid reports that the passenger, who accidentally opened the emergency exit of the plane was the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha chief.
Helicopters are anticipated to be more in demand compared to fixed-wing aircraft as choppers will help in providing accessibility to rural and remote areas in a shorter time.
Under the guidelines, pilots have less time to fly and airlines say they will have to recruit 20 to 25 per cent more pilots, at a time when there is a shortage of pilots across the globe. The DGCA has included non-flying hours within an overall annual duty cap of 1,600 hours per pilot, within which the number of flying hours has been capped at 1,000 hours a year.
AirAsia India, which is using the training facilities of its parent airline AirAsia in Malaysia, plans to set up similar facilities in India in the coming years, airline sources said.
Needed: Cabin Crew (Technical) and Flight Safety Instructor for Air Deccan.
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 circular, issued on Saturday, also reiterated that all visas as well as e-visas issued to Chinese nationals before February 5 have been suspended with immediate effect.
189 people working at 59 Indian airports were found drunk on duty in the first half of this year, marking a 32 per cent year-on-year increase.
The Irish firms had sought to deregister SpiceJet.
Chandrasekaran also said that "We fell short of addressing this situation the way we should have."
The DGCA official who wrongly assigned the code of Antonov AN-32 -- an aircraft used by the IAF -- to the SpiceJet aircraft has been suspended, report Arindam Majumder and Aneesh Phadnis.
Ending the monopoly of government-owned airlines to fly abroad, the DGCA has initiated the process of allowing private carriers to launch overseas services by asking them to file their schedules and fares for operating to Colombo.
The two episodes on a single day have taken the total number of technical malfunction incidents involving SpiceJet aircraft to seven in the last 17 days.
no flight will depart or arrive at the Kolkata airport between 9.30 pm of May 3 and 6 pm of May 4
While the Saudi drone strike has put the focus back on anti-drone measures, caution also stems from the fact that India has a number of large oil refining assets close to India-Pakistan border.
Jet Airways' engineers, pilots and senior management have not been paid for January and February, besides 87.5 per cent of their December salary is also due.
FIA has filed two separate petitions challenging the approvals granted to Tata-Airasia and Tata-SIA Airlines deals respectively.
