The intellectual vacuum that the government is often accused of is more than evident in the policy draft.
In a statement, the DGCA said it will be conducting "random checks" in aircraft across the country to see if the COVID-19 protocol is being enforced or not.
Aircraft lessor International Lease Finance Corp said on Monday it had successfully removed one of six aircraft stranded in India by the dispute over the suspension of operations at Kingfisher Airlines.
The Indian government's decision in 2012 to allow foreign direct investment in civil-aviation sector up to 49 per cent has enthused new airlines to launch their operations and capitalise on country's 1.2 billion population, a pre-statement to the Global Aerospace Summit said.
"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.
The ministry has asked the airlines to not to "take benefit of the situation" and charge higher fares for the tickets.
The disappointment of the year is government's failure in finalising the re-drafted aviation policy.
The CBI has closed a case against former Air India CMD Arvind Jadhav and others over alleged corruption in the appointments of general managers after the central government refused to grant its sanction to prosecute him, officials said. The agency had booked Jadhav, then general manager L P Nakhwa (now retired), and then additional general managers A Kathpalia, Amitabh Singh and Rohit Bhasin after a year-long preliminary enquiry, they said. It was alleged that Jadhav had constituted illegal/irregular promotion panel to recommend suitable candidates for promotion to the post of general manager (operations), they said.
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 decision has been taken after Kamra was found 'guilty' for alleged misbehaviour by an internal committee of IndiGo, an airline official said. The ban on Kamra comes into effect immediately.
A three-member technical team of the FAA carried out the second round of audit of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation to check whether corrective steps have been taken to resolve 33 deficiencies the US agency had highlighted during the first round in September.
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.
Indian carriers transported 12.8 million domestic passengers in March 2023, a year-on-year growth of 21.41 per cent. India's largest carrier IndiGo shored up its domestic market share from 53.8 per cent in Q4 of FY22 to 55.7 per cent in Q4 of FY23, according to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) data released on Monday.
Around 200 pilots of Go First, the cash-strapped airline that suspended operations on May 2, have joined Air India. As many as 75 of them started training with the Tata-owned airline on Monday. As Go First tries to salvage its operations, it has announced additional pay or retention allowance of Rs 100,000 and Rs 50,000 for captains and first officers, respectively, with effect from June 1.
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 Tehelka magazine on Friday claimed some officials, bureaucrats and other VIPs had 'abused' their status to get free tickets and other facilities from a private airline in gross violation of service rules and propriety.
A cabin crew member of the flight had filed a complaint with the DGCA about the pilot allowing a female friend into the cockpit.
Upon receiving suspension order from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation on Saturday, Aggarwal wrote to employees seeking their backing.
The Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust has sent invitations to 7,000 people, including 3,000 VVIPs, for the consecration.
SpiceJet is the only Boeing 737 MAX operator in India, with 13 aircraft of the type in its fleet and a total of 205 planes on order.
The Day in Politics: Featuring Dr Singh, Messrs Kejriwal and Sisodia and Mamatadi.
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 watchdog would also endeavour to do its best to help the company revive its operations within the set regulatory framework.
The airline, which declared a partial lockout on Tuesday, has said it will start flying again from October 5.
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.
The G20 leaders will deliberate on pressing global issues at the grouping's annual summit here on September 9 and 10. India is hosting the summit in its capacity as the current G20 chair.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The coronavirus-induced suspension of scheduled international passenger flights has been extended till October 31, India's aviation regulator DGCA said on Tuesday. "However, international scheduled flights may be allowed on selected routes by the competent authority on a case-to-case basis," the Directorate General of Civil Aviation added. Scheduled international passenger services have been suspended in India since March 23, 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Tuesday suspended Air India's Boeing simulator facility in Mumbai after finding certain alleged lapses during a spot check, a DGCA official said. The pilots, who were scheduled to undergo refresher courses at the Mumbai facility, will now not be able to do so.
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.
Ratan was extremely ethical in his dealings, which he brought to bear on the business house which he helmed, remembers Sailesh Kottary.
The engineers of Kingfisher went on a strike on Sunday to protest the non-payment of salaries since March.
So far, carcasses of 32 flamingos have been recovered from Ghatkopar area, the police said.
IndiGo had on May 9 said the boy was denied permission to board the Ranchi-Hyderabad flight as he was visibly in panic.
Wide-body aircraft like B747 and A350 have a bigger fuel tank and can therefore travel longer distances in comparison to narrow-body aircraft like B737 and A320. A wide-body aircraft also needs a longer runway length to take off or land. The table top runway 10 of the Kozhikode airport is approximately 2,700 metres long. Wide-body aircraft operations were permitted at this airport from 2019.
Just over a three-hour flight from Delhi, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan and Georgia have seen a big jump in visitors.
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.
