The government has begun consultations on relaxing the eligibility criteria for allowing Indian carriers to fly abroad, Rajya Sabha was informed.
The Civil Aviation Authority of India Bill 2013, which was introduced by Minister of State for Civil Aviation K C Venugopal, would provide the CAA full operational and financial autonomy to regulate all issues concerning civil aviation safety and protect the interests of consumers in a fast-changing aviation scenario.
Forty six pilots were found to have violated aviation safety norms last year and 41 tested positive for alcohol during pre-flight medical examination.
The airline initiated an internal probe after Venugopal, who was on board a Delhi-Kochi-Thiruvananthapuram flight on January 4, saw 23 vacant seats inside while a Kerala minister was denied a seat on grounds of 'non-availability'.
Three bills were introduced in Lok Sabha on Tuesday amid uproar with members from Left parties trooping into the Well to protest against rising prices of onion while other members raised the Telangana issue.
Air India and its inefficiencies were among the top topics of discussion on Day One of the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas being held in Kochi.
The government also said it will hold consultations with the airlines to explore the possibility of curbing the menace of charging exorbitant airfares during emergency situations.
Four Air India pilots have resigned and five have taken voluntary retirement while 10 pilots of Air India Express have left their job, seven last year and three this year, since January 2012, Minister of State for Civil Aviation K C Venugopal said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha.
Only 14 routes of the 202 on which the airline operates, meet the total cost of operations.
A total of 406 aircraft are in the fleet of eight scheduled airlines in the country, most of which were suffering losses, Lok Sabha was informed.
Jet Airways, IndiGo and GoAir achieved operating profits of Rs 122.6 crore (Rs 1.22 billion), Rs 795.8 crore (Rs 7.95 billion) and Rs 85.1 crore (Rs 851 million) respectively during the same period, Minister of State for Civil Aviation K C Venugopal said in reply to a question.
Speaking at the 2013 CAPA Australia Pacific Aviation Summit held in Sydney, Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airline's President and CEO James Hogan said, "We are delighted to welcome Air Serbia to our equity alliance, and look forward to receiving final approvals from regulators in India of our investment in Jet Airways," he added.
The government which is proceeding with privatising six airports including those at Kolkata and Chennai, intends to give away 14 more to private parties for operation and development during the 12th Plan period, Rajya Sabha was told on Tuesday.
All these problems were fixed by the airline's and Boeing's technical teams, Minister of State for Civil Aviation K C Venugopal said in reply to a question.
The second half of the budget session of Parliament, beginning on Monday, is all set to be a stormy affair with opposition parties closing ranks over the imposition of Presidents' rule in Uttarakhand.
Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan came down heavily on Congress leaders for "persistently and willfully obstructing the House" and suspended them for 5 days. The members who have been punished include a president's son, ex-chief ministers' sons and an ex-CM's grandson. Rediff.com brings you the complete list.
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