The presence of an engine maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) facility in India could have prevented Go First airline from going "belly up", as sending engines abroad for servicing is not an efficient way to operate a carrier, Piyush Srivastava, senior economic advisor, Ministry of Civil Aviation, said in a statement on Tuesday. On May 3, Go First suspended its flights and filed for insolvency, squarely blaming engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney (PW) for its cash crunch. The airline claimed that about half of its 54 aircraft were grounded on May 3 due to a delay in the supply of engines by the US-based company. PW has denied the charges.
The government is taking the first steps towards opening of the Gulf region to private airlines -- by setting a high-level committee under the aegis of the aviation ministry -- to examine the contentious issue.
IndiGo, Jet, SpiceJet and GoAir demand level playing field in aviation policy, say government can't favour only two new airlines.
About 70,000 employees consisting of all unions in the civil aviation sector, including Indian Airlines and Air-India, have threatened an agitation
It is clear that foreign airlines have realised the growth possibilities of the Indian aviation sector and are keenly interested, the minister said.
"We have found that a couple of international airlines are not adhering to the rules. Failure to adhere to rules shall entail strict action," said Director General of Civil Aviation Arun Kumar.
For the first time in 13 years, since Jet Airways' A330 planes exited the airline's fleet in around 2010, an Indian wide-body aircraft will have a Rolls-Royce-powered engine, with Air India ordering 40 Airbus A350 planes. On Tuesday, Air India announced its mega aircraft order for 470 aircraft, including A350 planes. The A350 aircraft, which will come in two variants, are powered solely by Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engines and the local team has begun work to assist Air India with its aircraft-induction plans.
A Romanian aircraft carrying 275 passengers, mostly Indians, on Monday left for India four days after they were detained by the French authorities at an airport near Paris over suspected 'human trafficking'.
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.
Air One plans to launch services from May to link cities on India's western coast and is positioning itself as a "clear differentiator" in the low cost airline market.
At present domestic airlines are not allowed to fly on international routes until they have 20 aircraft in fleet and have completed five years of operations.
However, the names which are doing rounds are Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines. The latter is yet to start its international operations, which is a major requirement for joining an alliance. The merged Air India has already been invited to join its competing Star Alliance. OneWorld brings together some of the biggest names in the airline business, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Iberia, Japan Airlines, Qantas and Royal Jordanian.
Among the five Indian nationals, four had just arrived in Kathmandu from India on Friday.
According to sources in the aviation ministry, only State-owned Air India and private carrier AirAsia India have agreed to pay the surcharge.
Tatas and Singapore Airlines have assured the government that control of their proposed airline venture would always remain in Indian hands, while seeking approval to offer passenger services on both domestic and international routes.
Air India has ordered 470 aircraft to serve the Indian economy and is set to receive a new aircraft every six days over the next 18 months, CEO and MD Campbell Wilson said on Friday. He was speaking at the 67th Assembly of Presidents of the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines here. "We have new aircraft, we are recruiting many, many new crew and staff, improving the training regime and there is more work to do and we are making good progress," he said.
Airfares in the country are set to rise, with IndiGo on Thursday introducing a fuel charge of up to Rs 1,000 based on a flight's distance, in response to the significant rise in aviation turbine fuel (ATF) prices in the last three months. The Indian aviation sector experiences its peak travel season between October and December. The inclusion of a fuel charge component in airfares is anticipated to have a sizable impact on IndiGo's passengers, according to experts.
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.
FIA is a body of four established domestic private airlines -- Jet Airways, IndiGo, SpiceJet and GoAir.
IndiGo's size should be compared with global carriers, and not other domestic airlines, chief executive officer Pieter Elbers said on Tuesday, adding that such benchmarking will help India transform its airports into aviation hubs. Elbers flagged the tendency to scrutinise domestic competition, assess fares on domestic routes, and determine if they are high. "But if we want to build some hubs, we should have a broader look," he said during a panel discussion at a convention organised by All India Management Association (AIMA).
Get your lowdown on what's going on in the world of Bollywood, right here!
The new airline has begun recruiting pilots and is close to confirming its top executives, including a Singapore Airlines executive as its chief executive officer.
India has evacuated at least 670 Indian nationals from Sudan and is looking to rescue more of its citizens from the strife-torn African nation before the end of a tenuous ceasefire between the regular army and a paramilitary force.
British Airways, Lufthansa, Etihad and Singapore Airlines are scouting for an Indian partner that meets the net worth criterion
Air India significantly altered the composition of the aircraft order it placed earlier this year with Airbus, the European plane manufacturer has said. In February, Air India had placed the world's second-largest single-tranche aircraft order for 470 planes: 250 with Airbus and 220 with Boeing. In July, Airbus disclosed an order comprising 70 A321neo, 140 A320neo, 34 A350-1000, and six A350-900 aircraft for Air India.
Ahead of the finalisation of the new civil aviation policy, Centre on Thursday said there was no proposal for allowing foreign airlines to pick up stake in domestic airlines.
As photographs and video clips were distributed on social media, aviation security watchdog BCAS issued show cause notices to IndiGo and Mumbai airport operator MIAL over the incident, official sources said on Tuesday.
19 per cent of all travel in India (by bus, train or air) was pilgrimage or religious travel (possibly the single largest after business and family-related travel), discovers Ambi Parameswaran.
Dispute arose as Indian carriers objected to Emirates flying passengers beyond Dubai, and Dubai authorities complained that Indian airlines have been flying more flights than allocated to its carriers.
The government is keeping its options open.
Finance Minister P Chidambaram has supported Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh's suggestion on doing away with a rule that bars Indian carriers from flying abroad unless they complete five years of service and own a 20-aircraft fleet.
Private carrier Air India on Tuesday unveiled its new collection of uniforms, designed by Manish Malhotra, for its cabin and cockpit crew. The new uniforms will be introduced in a phased manner over the next few months, starting with the entry of service of Air India's first Airbus A350 aircraft, the company said in a statement. "Air India's crew uniforms are amongst the world's most storied in aviation history, and we firmly believe that Manish Malhotra's innovative ensemble will script an exciting new chapter for Air India's future narrative," said Campbell Wilson, chief executive officer and managing director at Air India.
'Padmini and I are very different people.' 'Our acting styles are very different. She's from a different era.'
Amid concerns over alleged poaching of pilots, Air India told Akasa Air that petitioning a competitor to collude in restricting the rights of staff to change an employer could potentially violate the competition law. Air India CEO and managing director Campbell Wilson wrote a letter to Akasa Air CEO Vinay Dube against the backdrop of Akasa Air raising concerns about Air India Express hiring pilots from the airline. The letter, dated September 21, followed a letter by Dube to Tata Sons on September 11.
From the 'khiladi' brand of movies rocking his boat to a love for starring in biopics and scripts inspired by true stories to headlining endless remakes of South Indian hits, there's a pattern to the man and his methods.
About half of the students, who have been affected by the war, have taken admission to universities in other countries.
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