The Centre has agreed in principle to grant 'mini-ratna' status to Airports Authority of India (AAI) to enable it to take up projects worth up to Rs 500 crore (Rs 5 billion) without taking government approval. Such a decision would also enable AAI to form joint ventures with private companies to modernise airports and aviation infrastructure across the country, sources in the civil aviation ministry said.
The pilots and other senior staff have not been getting their full salaries since December.
Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission made a presentation in which he pointed out the detailed process through which these targets were finalised and the high level of ambition they represent.
Kingfisher Chief Executive Sanjay Aggarwal met officials at the ministry of civil aviation to discuss the revival plan, which was earlier rejected by the regulator.
Last week, after a direction from ministry, airlines provided the maximum fares they would charge based on distance travelled.
A 61-year-old cardiac patient Virender Rai, who was being flown to Delhi, has been rushed to the Medanta hospital in Gurgaon immediately after the incident.
Govt moots new regional connectivity policy; plans to offer subsidy on non-viable destinations.
The Rs 4,675-crore Navi Mumbai airport project, which is being developed by CIDCO, may be delayed by a few months in the wake of serious objections being raised by the environment ministry. The project that has Cabinet clearance and approval from the International Civil Aviation Organisation will now be taken to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for final clearance since the environment ministry has raised issues relating to the site.
The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security was allocated Rs 40 crore (Rs 400 million) for procurement of security and IT items along with radiological detection equipment.
Even though Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel will move this proposal only on Thursday in the Cabinet meeting, the government is already going ahead with the proposal regardless of the response from other concerned ministries like finance, environment and forests, and tourism and the planning commission.
Rubbishing the allegation that his ministry went out of its way to facilitate the Jet-Etihad deal, Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh said he was open to "any inquiry" into the decision to increase air traffic rights to Abu Dhabi.
NACIL will meet all of its proposed investment from the internal and extra budgetary resources, the Budget documents presented in the Parliament today showed. The company had invested Rs 4,136.89 crore in 2008-09. Of the total Plan outlay of Rs 12,164.76 crore for the ministry of civil aviation, the government announced budgetary support of Rs 190 crore for the sector.
In an email, a SpiceJet spokesperson said: "A few foreign airlines/investors have evinced interest in SpiceJet. It will be very premature to comment on the possibilities of any fresh equity issuance to such interested parties."
Bilateral traffic rights define the number of weekly flights or seats a country's designated airlines are allowed to operate in another country's specified points.
GMR evinces interest in the project.
The ministry of civil aviation said on Thursday that about a third of operations will be allowed under strict norms when domestic flight services restart on Monday after a two-month hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic, and all the airlines will have to adhere to the upper and lower limits of fares prescribed by the government.
While no exact dates have been announced yet, the flights could take off from San Francisco, New York, Chicago and Washington DC, the officials said.
Raghu Menon, special secretary and financial advisor in the civil aviation ministry, has been appointed the chairman and managing director of Air India, ending weeks of speculation over the issue.The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet approved the name of Menon, a 1974 batch IAS officer of the Assam-Nagaland cadre, after a keen race for the top job in the National Aviation Company of India Limited (NACIL), which runs the merged national carrier.
This proposal is a part of the comprehensive aviation policy that the ministry has submitted to the Cabinet and which has now been referred to a Group of Ministers.
The government indicated on Saturday that an early decision was likely on the proposals of fleet acquisition by Air-India and Indian Airlines as well as of privatisating the four metro airports.
The government has requested the Civil Aviation Ministry to reduce the number of flights from these states in view of high prevalence of coronavirus cases there, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister J C Madhuswamy said in a statement.
Air India's appointment and removal of three senior officers was a circus all the way.
GMR, GVK have taken up the issue with civil aviation ministry.
The aviation ministry stated it has decided to review the on-board meal services in domestic flights considering "the increasing threat of COVID-19 and its variants".
Full service carrier Vistara expects to add a total of 10 planes as well as hire more than 1,000 people in the current financial year and has shelved plans to fly to the US, according to a top executive. Currently, Vistara, which is set to be merged with Air India, has a fleet of 61 aircraft and a staff strength of over 5,200. During an interaction in Istanbul this week, Vistara CEO Vinod Kannan said there has been a ready pool of talent, especially pilots and cabin crew members, with the collapse of Go First.
India must do away a pointless policy that mandates that a domestic airline must have been in operation for five years and have 20 aircraft before flying.
The Delhi International Airport Limited's (DIAL) ongoing tussle with the Airports Authority of India/Ministry of Civil Aviation (AAI/MoCA) isn't likely to get resolved in a hurry, though things appeared settled when, a few weeks ago, Aviation Minister Praful Patel said at a press conference that the government would go by the Attorney General's (AG) opinion on the dispute.
Of 1,400 pilots the airline has, 200 have quit in the past few months because of salary delays.
International and Indian airlines are refusing to refund cash and giving credit that can be used later.
A graphic showing how passenger traffic at Indian airports has grown over the years.
GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd, the consortium operating the new Hyderabad airport, has offered to halve ground-handling charges even as the civil aviation ministry allowed the domestic carriers to undertake their ground-handling till January 1, 2009. This will give the two sides enough time to resolve the contentious issue, which almost jeopardised the opening of the new airport and forced a postponement once.
The Dharmadhikari committee on pay fixation and promotion issues in government-owned Air India says minimal pay increments should be given till the airline makes an operating profit.
Observing that highly exorbitant rates were being charged closer to the travel dates, Civil Aviation Ministry officials, however, made it clear that the government had no intention to decide airfares which have to be determined by the market.
Airports hold pride of place in the government's National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP) programme to monetise public assets. Private airport operators, including the Adani group, Fairfax, GMR and Zurich Airport, are expected to evince interest in the next round of public private partnership (PPP) development of state-owned Airport Authority of India (AAI) airports. Industry analysts, however, do not expect bids to be as high as the last round, which saw Adani group gain control of six airports.
Last year, Air India replaced veg and non-veg sandwiches with veg hot meals on flights
San Fransisco and New York are touted to be the first destinations.
Biggest problem that Nandan faces is being able to simultaneously improve Air India's earnings and decrease debt.
The Delhi High Court on Tuesday said it would pronounce on Friday the verdict on the plea of a pilots' body of erstwhile domestic carrier Indian Airlines seeking parity with their counterparts in Air India.
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