IndiGo will start direct flights to a total of 10 international destinations, including London and Athens, in the current financial year, its CEO Pieter Elbers said on Friday. Other destinations include Amsterdam (the Netherlands), Manchester (the UK), Copenhagen (Denmark) Siem Reap (Cambodia) and four places in Central Asia.
The Tata Group-owned airline, grappling with disruptions following the fatal plane crash on June 12 in Ahmedabad, said the objective of reducing flights on 18 international routes is to restore schedule stability and minimise last-minute inconvenience to passengers.
Airlines must ensure that all check-in counters at the Delhi airport are fully staffed to minimise passenger inconvenience as smog has started affecting the flight operations, Aviation Minister Rammohan Naidu directed on Wednesday. The minister gave this direction during a meeting with representatives of major airlines, Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL), officials of the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS).
Though the glitch affected the system for a couple of minutes, it took an hour to fix it, the source said.
Air India has cancelled eight flights, including four international services, on Friday due to enhanced maintenance and operational reasons, the airline said.
Security agencies went into a tizzy after three international flights originating from Mumbai received bomb threats on Monday with one of them, a New York-bound Air India aircraft, getting diverted to New Delhi as travel plans of some 500 passengers went for a toss.
Indian customers will have wider travel options as airlines introduce new flights from the end of March. While Malaysian Airlines and Turkish Airlines are resuming passenger flights to India after a gap of two years, Air France-KLM and Lufthansa Group will scale up their existing service in a graded manner in the summer schedule. Emirates, the largest foreign airline operating in India, too, is looking to restore its pre-Covid-19 schedule of 172 flights per week.
The airline plans to scale up its operations at NMIA significantly, from 36 air traffic movements (ATMs) daily on the opening day to 79 daily departures (158 ATMs), including 14 international departures by November this year.
IndiGo has delivered impressive operating performance in the past six quarters as it navigated cost and capacity challenges. It has managed to mitigate the impact of faulty engine-related groundings. The airline has also managed costs related to grounding, expensive secondary leasing, increasing airport charges, and pilot compensation inflation and delivered stronger yields and spreads.
According to Indigo, the flight finally landed safely in Bengaluru at about 8.20 pm on June 19.
Air India completed inspections of fuel control switches on its Boeing 787 planes following a DGCA directive after a preliminary report on a recent crash. No issues were found.
Two of these flights were cancelled after the passengers had already boarded the aircraft, the airline said.
Singapore Airlines on Wednesday said it is fully cooperating with relevant authorities in the investigation into the London to Singapore flight which encountered severe turbulence, leading to the death of one passenger and injuring 30 others.
Pseudonymous or anonymous nature of the social media handle, analysis of the geopolitical situation and presence of VIPs onboard are some of the new criteria that agencies will keep in mind while considering the seriousness of a bomb threat made to Indian airlines.
C P Rizwan led the UAE to its first win in a T20 World Cup match, played 42 ODIs and 18 T20Is before he retired this week. 'I end my international career with a heavy heart, but I feel proud of what I have achieved,' Rizwan tells K R Nayar.
The civil aviation ministry on Friday asked airlines to ensure that there is no abnormal surge in airfares for flights to and from the national capital amid suspension of operations at Delhi airport's Terminal 1 following the roof collapse incident.
'Whoever is doing it (threats to airlines), they are actually carrying out a recce.' 'This is the manner in which terrorists strike.'
The DGCA has asked airlines to inspect the fuel switch locking system in their Boeing 787 and 737 planes after a preliminary probe report into the Air India crash found that the switches were cut off before the accident.
Air India on Sunday said it will temporarily reduce 118 weekly flights operated with narrow-body planes on 19 routes and suspend services on three routes.
An IndiGo flight from Delhi to Goa made an emergency landing in Mumbai due to an engine failure. Passengers were transferred to an alternative aircraft.
'Pakistan is uncomfortable with the Indian presence in Afghanistan. They want the Taliban to ensure that there is no Indian presence in Afghanistan.'
IndiGo, which operates the largest fleet among Indian carriers, has reported the highest number of serious engine-related incidents.
The nationality of the passengers onboard will define the minimum liability applicable to the airline operator as per the Montreal Convention, Prudent Insurance Brokers vice president (aviation & specialty lines) Hitesh Girotra said.
Corporate India is embarking on an ambitious investment drive, with capital expenditure (capex) expected to double to $850 billion over the next five years, according to a report by S&P Global Ratings. Indian power & transmission, airlines, and green hydrogen sectors would spearhead the spending, the report said.
He, however, cited the sensitivity of information due to the ongoing probe into the matter to decline to share more details, sources said.
Air India on Wednesday said it has cancelled its Lucknow-Mumbai flight scheduled for June 17 due to 'operational reasons' and the ripple effect of flight diversions.
More than 300 flights have been cancelled and at least 25 airports, including Srinagar, have been temporarily shut for operations amid restrictions in the wake of the armed forces launching missile attacks on terror targets in Pakistan on Wednesday morning.
After a London-bound Air India aircraft crashed shortly after taking off from the Ahmedabad airport on Thursday, the spotlight is back on India's history with aviation disasters.
The three officials include a divisional vice president of the airline, as per the DGCA order.
'...rectification has to happen then and there, and that takes additional time.'
A Delhi-bound IndiGo flight carrying around 175 passengers returned to Jayaprakash Narayan International Airport in Patna after takeoff on Wednesday morning as one of its engines developed a technical snag due to a bird hit, airport officials said.
A timeline of events related to the investigation of the Air India Boeing 787 crash in Ahmedabad, including investigation initiation, black box recovery, and safety measures taken.
Air India reiterated that its priority remains extending assistance to the families.
A staggering 12,000 police officers and personnel will be deployed in Lahore and Rawalpindi during the matches.
While Air India cancelled six international flights due to aviation regulator DGCA subjecting its Dreamliner fleet to enhanced checks, the Ahmedabad-London Gatwick one was cancelled due to unavailability of aircraft, the airline said.
Executives from India's leading airlines are conducting internal meetings to devise alternative routes for their international flights that currently pass through Pakistani airspace.
In a message to flyers, the Air India chief also said the 15 percent reduction in Air India's international wide-body fleet operations for the next few weeks is a temporary move.
Airline Pilots' Association of India demands a fair and fact-based probe into the Air India plane crash, rejecting any bias towards pilot error in the investigation.
The DGCA has issued multiple fines and warnings to Air India over the past three years, flagging serious concerns in flight operations, cockpit discipline, and internal accountability.
Air India and Air Mauritius on Monday announced expanding their codeshare partnership that will provide enhanced connectivity for India with South Africa, Reunion and Madagascar through Mauritius.
