This incident was also not reported to the DGCA, for which the regulator pulled up the full-service carrier, stating its conduct was unprofessional and issued show cause notices to the airline, its director of flight safety and the crew that operated the New York-Delhi flight, asking them to explain within two weeks why action should not be taken against them.
DGCA convenes meeting to discuss rules for safety operations.
Protocol to accord such services to MPs have been in existence for over three years now.
A SpiceJet spokesperson said, 'On May 1, SpiceJet Boeing B737 aircraft operating flight SG-945 from Mumbai to Durgapur encountered severe turbulence during descent which unfortunately resulted in injuries to a few passengers.'
The Federation of Indian Airlines had challenged the aviation regulator's decision this week to issue an operating permit to AirAsia India.
The entire flight -- from take off to landing -- was fully autonomous, which means it was on auto-pilot, Omnipresent Robot Technologies Founder and CEO Aakash Sinha said.
Aviation consultancy CAPA on Thursday said allowing domestic airlines to take advance bookings from April 15 is "unfair" to consumers since a decision on lifting the nationwide lockdown is yet to be taken. During the lockdown period only special flights approved by aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation, medical evacuation flights and those carrying cargo, including medical equipment, to and from different parts of the country are operational.
Air services of cash-strapped Kingfisher airlines were badly hit on Sunday with almost half of its flights from major metros cancelled or delayed, causing hardship to passengers and prompting aviation regulator DGCA to contemplate action against the beleaguered carrier.
'From our survey we found that there was a problem in the agricultural sector and drones could solve the problem.'
According to sources, Kingfisher Airlines has started disbursing salaries to some of its employees apart from approaching the aviation regulator seeking licence renewal.
The airline has not been paying salary to its employees since May last year, while it had started delaying salaries much before the crisis broke out last October.
Kamra was banned by India's largest airline for six months on Tuesday for allegedly harassing Goswami on the Mumbai-Lucknow flight. SpiceJet, GoAir and Air India also imposed a similar ban on Kamra without specifying any period.
Beleaguered Kingfisher Airlines on Wednesday faced fresh trouble with its employees deciding to move court seeking a formal closure of the company if it did not spell out future plans giving a time-line for clearing their salary dues of eight months.
A business jet carrying Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was forced to make a go-around while landing recently at Delhi airport as an IAF aircraft had still not cleared the runway, airport sources said on Thursday.
The load factor of six major domestic airlines--IndiGo, SpiceJet, Air India, GoAir, Vistara and AirAsia India -- stood between 70 per cent and 64.9 per cent in January.
DGCA chief Arun Mishra said he would talk to the cash-strapped airline's stakeholders to ascertain whether it would be able to operate in a sustainable manner.
The airline expressed the hope that it would be able to resume operations, after DGCA approves its resumption plan, from November 6.
The parent company, UB Group, is willing to pump in money.
The airline requires these pilots for the wide-body Boeing 777s.
The routes, for which ticket pricing information has been sought, include those connecting Jammu and Kashmir, Leh and Port Blair.
People in the know said the move would impact around 110 engines, virtually putting a spanner on the expansion plans of IndiGo - counted among the fastest growing airlines in the world.
An Air India pilots' grouping has raised fatigue concerns in the wake of flight crew rosters generated using a new rostering tool, saying that extended waiting periods between duty time will jeopardise crew alertness and performance. "Extended waiting periods, occurring before active flight duties, run counter to enhancing crew readiness and, in fact, contribute to the accumulation of fatigue over time," the Indian Pilots Guild (IPG) has said. In a letter to Air India head of safety Henry Donohoe last week, IPG said it has been recently observed that the relentless pursuit of operational efficiency and economic gains has led to an unintended overshadowing of the primary intent behind Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) regulations.
Lenders to Kingfisher Airlines (KFA) will meet its promoter, Vijay Mallya, and the rest of the brass on Monday, to chart a way forward for the grounded airline.
Rhe unruly passenger was handed over to the security personnel after landing at the Delhi airport.
The Planning Commission on Tuesday emphasised the need for setting up "effective" regulatory institutions in civil aviation and ports sectors even as it said the functioning of the existing regulators in power and telecom was "uneven."
The license of Kingfisher was issued on August 26, 2003, and is valid till December 31 of this year.
Lenders to Kingfisher Airlines, whose combined exposure of nearly Rs 7,500 crore is at risk, have said they will go in for recovery measures only as the last resort and expressed hope that its promoters will be able to find an investor and resume operations.
Facing severe turbulence, Kingfisher Airlines today started truncated operations in accordance with its new flight schedule, as aviation regulator DGCA examined its operational details to consider whether to take any punitive action against it for flouting norms.
Only two no-frill carriers, IndiGo and SpiceJet, have applied for permission for more flights from the DGCA this season than they did last year, official sources said, adding that other airlines have scaled down the number of flights they wish to operate this year.
Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh had on Monday ruled out any bailout of the airline.
IndiGo and GoAir, which have Pratt & Whitney-powered Airbus A320 Neo planes, have been facing problems with these engines, manufactured by the US firm, since their induction three years ago.
SBI Chairman Pratip Chaudhuri told reporters in New Delhi on Thursday the Kingfisher Airlines (KFA) account had turned into a non-performing asset (NPA). "The account became an NPA on December 31, 2011. They are in default," Chaudhuri said.
In conformity with civil aviation regulator DGCA's guidelines on reducing flight delay, private carrier Kingfisher Airlines will close its check-in counters for domestic flights 40 minutes prior to departure.
Prabhat Kumar, who has been appointed as the DGCA chief three months ago, is taking steps to ensure safety of passengers.
With airfares mounting in the last couple of weeks primarily due to cancellation of Kingfisher flights, aviation regulator DGCA on Thursday warned airlines not to raise air ticket prices beyond a given range.
The All India Jet Airways Technicians Association cautioned that in case the allocation is not stopped, it would be forced to resort to legal means for a resolution.
This announcement comes a day after the DGCA asked IndiGo to take 'appropriate action' after it found alleged violation of safety and social distancing protocols by mediapersons in the airline's Chandigarh-Mumbai flight that had actor Kangana Ranaut as a passenger.
Earlier, the JV company got a go-ahead from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board in October 2013 and was awaiting AOP for launching a full-service carrier.
India and the European Union on Monday decided to extend an agreement to continue cooperation in the civil aviation sector, especially in safety, security and air traffic management for two more years.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances