Among the new entrants to the Union cabinet, former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has been given the agriculture and rural development portfolios, Bharatiya Janata Party president J P Nadda the health portfolio and former Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar the power portfolio.
The country's largest airline IndiGo and Air India have asked passengers to reach Delhi airport at least 3.5 hours prior to domestic departures.
New airline Akasa Air on Monday said it is on track to receive its first Boeing 737 Max plane by mid-June and launch commercial operations by July. The airline on Monday released the photographs of its first Max plane from the Boeing production facility in the USA's Portland as it gets ready for delivery. "The airline recently reaffirmed its commitment of being on track to receive its first aircraft in India by mid-June and launch commercial operations in India by July 2022," its statement mentioned.
After the accident on Friday, Virudhunagar MP Manickam Tagore, Ludhiana MP Ravneet Singh Bittu and Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor alleged on Twitter that there were safety lapses on the part of the civil aviation ministry.
Airports across the country witnessed chaotic scenes on Friday after dozens of flights were either delayed or cancelled after a widespread global computer outage that also hit operations like cash withdrawal at some banks, and impacted functioning of some brokerages. Globally, the Microsoft cloud outage led to US airlines cancelling flights, but the tech giant later reportedly said its cloud services outage in the Central US region has been resolved.
Akasa Air's plane occupancy, or load factor, improved the most among all major carriers in April compared to the last month. Load factor signifies the percentage of seats that the airline has been able to fill in its planes. The Vinay Dube-led carrier, which started commercial flights in August last year, saw its load factor jump by more than 11 per cent in April, according to the Ministry of Civil Aviation's data
A free and open aviation market, where the government keeps the interest of consumers higher than saving any airline.
The disappointment of the year is government's failure in finalising the re-drafted aviation policy.
Whether this happens because DGCA actually cares about the future of the national carrier or for other motives is not clear.
IndiGo, Jet, SpiceJet and GoAir demand level playing field in aviation policy, say government can't favour only two new airlines.
'During our recent rescue flights, the protective equipment being provided to the flight crew has been failing with an alarming frequency or has been plagued with other issues'
Here is the complete list of ministers in Modi 3.0 and their portfolios:
The 17 related ministries have been combined into seven different groups, including some infrastructure departments, in a bid to ensure synergy and better results.
"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.
In the past few days, more than 40 flights operated by the Indian carriers have received bomb threats which later turned out to be hoaxes.
The ministry has asked the airlines to not to "take benefit of the situation" and charge higher fares for the tickets.
Employees of domestic carrier Indian called off the strike on Thursday afternoon.
The PMO directed the ministry of civil aviation and the Air India to find early resolution to stalemate. Besides, the PMO told the civil aviation ministry that a lockout is not an option to resolve the issue.
The civil aviation ministry has mandated airlines and ground-handling companies to phase out airport equipment older than 12 years and switch to electric or fuel-efficient variants by May 2022. While companies have welcomed the ministry's green initiative, they said that the deadline for implementation is tight. This is especially in the wake of financial challenges faced by the aviation sector during the pandemic.
India must address issues that are plaguing its aviation sector.
Akasa Air's launch of services is likely to be delayed further as the airline is expected to receive its first aircraft only in June or July, according to a senior DGCA official. The carrier, backed by ace investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, initially planned to start operations in June and then postponed the plan to July. A top airline official said it intends to start services in July. The Mumbai-based airline, registered as SNV Aviation, received the mandatory no-objection certificate from the civil aviation ministry in October last year.
National carrier Air India became part of the 27-member global airlines grouping Star Alliance, as budget airline AirAsia India launched operations and Tata-SIA joint venture carrier Vistara received the flying permit and announced its intentions to start operations from January 9.
In recent days, there have been complaints from passengers about long queues and waiting hours at the airport.
While the SBI-led lenders' consortium is still working on ways to revive the once-storied Jet Airways, the civil aviation ministry has already awarded the carrier's slots at various airports to other airlines on a temporary basis.
It is clear that foreign airlines have realised the growth possibilities of the Indian aviation sector and are keenly interested, the minister said.
India has announced suspension of all tourist visas till April 15 in a bid to contain the spread of the virus.
In a series of tweets, Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu said Friday that all airlines must immediately respond to the concerns of passengers affected by Cyclone Fani.
General Singh was assigned to receive leaders representing the planet's two superpowers -- the president of the United States and the premier of the People's Republic of China.
From a surge in airfares to rattled aircraft lessors to thousands of employees staring at uncertainty, it has been a month of continued turbulence since cash-strapped Go First suspended flights from May 3. As the government and other stakeholders hope that Go First restarts operations at the earliest, plans are being worked out for the budget airline's revival. A section of Go First staff are optimistic about restarting of operations, another section are pessimistic about the airline's future course considering what had happened to erstwhile Kingfisher Airlines and Jet Airways, according to employees who spoke to PTI.
The government on Monday decided to immediately dispatch search and rescue teams of the National Disaster Response Force, medical teams and relief material to earthquake-hit Turkey following Prime Minister Narendra Modi's instructions to offer all possible assistance to the country.
'If a drone can't fly airspace without the DGCA knowing about it, how did such a big plane get airborne?' 'The DGCA knows this aircraft had undergone major repairs. Now, the question is who allowed it.' 'The DGCA cannot come out of this.'
First and business class air travellers would find flying costlier.
To become a type-rated pilot, a person has to take additional training.
This comes against the backdrop of rising concerns in various quarters about steep fluctuations in airfares.
Air India had placed an order for 68 aircraft, including Boeing 737s, 777s and 787s, all valued at $11 billion in Dec 2005.
The airline has launched a series of discount offers since January this year.
Facing threat of terror attacks, the home ministry has ordered security audit of nearly 100 civil airports and decided to bring all such facilities under the Central Industrial Security Force cover gradually.
Amid a spate of hoax bomb threats to multiple airlines, the IT ministry has asked social media platforms to observe due diligence obligations and promptly remove or disable access to misinformation within the strict timelines prescribed under IT rules.
The issue had come up during a presentation by the Civil Aviation Ministry.
