A week after the devastating Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad claimed 270 lives, the debris, including the ill-fated aircraft's tail fin, is still lying at the site as investigators looked for clues to establish the exact cause behind the accident, said officials on Thursday.
"There are approximately 52,042 employees working in the civil aviation sector in the attached/autonomous/public sector organisations under this ministry. There are no such proposals in the above organisations," minister of state (Independent Charge) for civil aviation, Praful Patel informed the Rajya Sabha.
The DGCA directive called for a series of specific checks before each flight's departure from India, including inspection of fuel parameter monitoring systems, cabin air compressors, and electronic engine control units.
The Delhi airport, the country's busiest airport, on Friday early morning witnessed the collapse of a roof at Terminal 1 amid heavy rains that killed one person, prompting the government to order a detailed probe and an inspection of the structural strength of all airports.
Taxes on ATF in India are among world's highest, and are seen as key reason for mounting losses of airlines.
In 2017, 60 million passengers flew between India and the UAE, the largest overseas air travel market from India.
The DGCA will concentrate only on technical and safety aspects.
Authorities continue evacuating stranded pilgrims from areas around Dharali village in Uttarkashi, focusing on air rescue and relief operations due to damaged roads. Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami is overseeing the efforts, with central government support.
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.
Scindia claimed Tharoor is "lost in his esoteric world of thesaurus", and for him "data mining of selective press articles from the internet qualifies as "research".
The agencies have also found some common lines and words used in these fake threats like "bombs", "blood will spread everywhere", "explosive devices", "this is not a joke" and "you will all die" and "bomb rakhwa dia hai" (Hindi for bomb has been placed) among others.
With terror threats looming large over the civil aviation sector, an advisory council of experts will be set up soon to deliberate on and recommend measures to step up aviation security.
A proposal to hike foreign direct investment cap in helicopter and sea-plane operations, MRO facilities, charters, air-cargo and non-scheduled air operations has been moved by the civil aviation ministry for the Cabinet's consideration.
Aviation watchdog Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has asked Vistara to submit a daily report on flight cancellations and delays as the Tata group airline cancelled more than 50 flights for the second straight day on Tuesday amid non-availability of pilots.
The environment ministry has objected to the fact that around 115 hectares (or 7.3 per cent) of total land for the project is mangrove forest. It recently conveyed this to both Cidco and the civil aviation ministry. The matter is now with the prime minister's office. Cidco Vice-Chairman and Managing Director GS Gill said the corporation had sought an appointment with the environment ministry officials to make another presentation on the project in the next 10 days.
India, which plans to start flights to Kabul whenever Pakistani airspace opens, on Wednesday agreed to take a slew of steps, including waiving off expenses, to assist Afghanistan in building up its aviation infrastructure.
Some pro-Kashmir resistance handles on social media have claimed that the citizens who were injured in the Pahalgam terrorist attacks were not 'ordinary', but connected with internal security and counter-intelligence agencies like the Intelligence Bureau (IB).
There is no clarity on the stand taken by the PM on many issues plaguing the aviation sector
Security at the Mumbai airport has been tightened following intelligence inputs suggesting that terrorists were planning to carry out a hijacking attempt for securing the release of some terrorists.An alert has been issued following a meeting of senior officials of Civil Aviation Ministry, Bureau of Civil Aviation Security and Home Ministry, Civil Aviation Ministry sources said on Thursday.During the meeting, preparedness of 'different layers' were discussed.
Nestled among 108 scenic hillocks, the 500 metre Mini Great Wall in Shailung, Nepal offers breathtaking views and a peaceful escape at 3,200 metres above sea level.
'When I went and saw, there was smoke everywhere. There was fire all around'
The Reserve Bank of India's decision to allow airlines hedge jet fuel in global markets came in for praise from the industry and the civil aviation ministry, but end-users are unlikely to benefit in the form of lower airfares.
A week after the devastating Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad claimed 270 lives, investigators on Thursday continued to sift for clues to ascertain the cause, while the government said the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau will decide where to decode the black box of the ill-fated Dreamliner.
Incumbent airlines oppose the proposal.
Aviation security watchdog BCAS has recommended installation of scanners based on computer tomography technology at airports whereby passengers will not be required to take out electronic devices from their hand baggage before going through the scanner. Currently, the scanners used at airports provide a two-dimensional view of the objects inside a hand baggage. Jaideep Prasad, Joint Director General of the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS), on Wednesday said the regulator has proposed installing scanners based on computer tomography technology at airports that will provide a three-dimensional view of the objects in hand baggage.
Aviation Minister Praful Patel has requested FM to rationalise taxes on aviation fuel in Budget 2008-09.
There is no reason for keeping an entire ministry with a total staff strength of 2,300, just for the oversight of a few aviation sector laws and regulatory bodies, notes A K Bhattacharya.
Maintaining that civil aviation flew thousands of tonnes of equipment and passengers across the country on a daily basis, he said grant of infrastructure status would help the industry in its dealings with the RBI as well as the commercial banks, both in the private and public sectors. On Kingfisher's global plan, Mallya said the airline would launch services to Hong Kong and Singapore as soon as its aircraft were ready.
So far this week, more than 90 flights have received bomb threats and most of them have turned out to be hoaxes.
'Delhi airport handles 1,450 aircraft movements per day. Of these, 114 daily movements will be cancelled during the runway upgrade.'
Facing headwinds due to pilot exits, Akasa Air on Friday said it had approached the Delhi high court seeking interpretation and clarification with respect to mandatory notice period requirements for pilots and that the move was not against the DGCA or the civil aviation ministry. Akasa Air, which started flying in August last year, has initiated legal action against a "small set of pilots" who left the carrier without serving their notice periods that led to cancellation of many flights. In a statement, the airline said it sought relief from the Delhi high court to stop the unethical and illegal practice by this set of pilots.
The SOEC clause says only airlines owned by a country or its citizens can fly from the nation concerned to India and use the quota of seats allotted under a bilateral pact between the countries.
'... when the process isn't transparent, people will naturally raise questions. 'The AAIB's own press release says they had the black boxes by June 16.' 'Why wasn't decoding initiated until the 24th? What were they waiting for?'
'The cost of flying to Prayagraj has gone up six times due to the Kumbh Mela.'
The aviation ministry's seat-sharing deal with Abu Dhabi reflects a puzzling and selective generosity.
The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) has prepared a pool of more than 100 personnel to man additional security counters expected to be handed over to it for easing the ongoing congestion at large airports of Delhi and Mumbai, official sources said Wednesday.
On the issue of allowing domestic carriers to fly overseas before their completing 5 years of domestic operations, the document does not mention anything.
Few IPG leaders had also gone to the residence of Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh and submitted the same set of papers.
'In multi-pilot operations, no critical switch can be moved without the other pilot's consent.'
