Air India has ordered 470 aircraft to serve the Indian economy and is set to receive a new aircraft every six days over the next 18 months, CEO and MD Campbell Wilson said on Friday. He was speaking at the 67th Assembly of Presidents of the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines here. "We have new aircraft, we are recruiting many, many new crew and staff, improving the training regime and there is more work to do and we are making good progress," he said.
Sources aware of the development said as part of the project, the airline had signed an agreement with Reliance Industries Ltd, which would extend quality control services at its coastal terminals for ATF imported by the airline.
The minister's remarks come against the backdrop of Surya, the ruling BJP's Bengaluru South MP, facing flak from Congress over the incident, which happened on December 10 last year at Chennai airport.
The outage comes as a result of the failure of the Notice to Air Missions system, which alerts pilots and other personnel about airborne issues and other delays at airports across the country.
Indian IT industry veterans believe lack of maturity from the political leadership may have helped people in the US to take advantages.
The guidelines come in the wake of back-to-back two urination incidents on Air India flights last year.
The railways has initiated a high-level probe into the train crash in Odisha to be headed by the commissioner of railway safety, South Eastern Circle.
Opposition Congress targeted Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya, amid reports that the passenger, who accidentally opened the emergency exit of the plane was the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha chief.
The airline asserted that the incident "did not affect the flight safety of any crew"
Grounded Indian planes will be up in air by end of April says company president
Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a pitch for electing a strong and stable government in an uncertain world beset by geopolitical tensions as the Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday released its manifesto, prioritising development and welfare while shunning populist measures and contentious issues like the National Register of Citizens (NRC).
The phenomenon of fog is largely Delhi-centric. 'Airlines may think that we only have conditions of extreme fog on a few days every year, and spending a pilot's time and the airline's money on training can add up to its expenses.' 'So, they may prefer holding it for a few days.'
'If the airlines are not given a clear deadline to change the altimeters by the DGCA, why should they do it voluntarily?' 'It means that the aircraft will be grounded for a while and lose money.'
The aviation regulator has also laid down training guidelines for the flight crew to handle the new facility being given to the air travellers.
Telecom operators will need to shut down 5G services in high-frequency bands in and around airports following restrictions imposed by the Department of Telecom at the request of the civil aviation ministry, according to sources. Based on buffer and safety zone details provided by the aviation ministry, the DoT has asked telecom operators to not install 5G base stations in the 3.3-3.6 Ghz band in the area of 2.1 kilometres from both ends of the runway and 910 meters from the centre line of the runway of Indian airports with immediate effect. "Telecom operators will need to shut down 5G service in the 3.3-3.6 Ghz band only in and around airports based on the order.
Aircraft debris and some personal belongings have been found at the air crash site in Tengxian County of Wuzhou City, but no survivors, state-run CGTN reported on Tuesday.
'The DGCA, the ministry of civil aviation, Air India, the Airports Authority, all of them together form what I call an organised syndicate' 'In India, it is a fashion to blame the pilot because then nobody asks questions about the incompetence and grave negligence of this State-run syndicate.'
Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Thursday said it's a pity that since switching sides, Scindia has adopted the Modi government's "uncaring attitude" to the public.
A passenger on a New York-New Delhi American Airlines flight allegedly urinated on a fellow male passenger in a drunken state, sources said on Sunday.
As SpiceJet faces heat from the aviation regulator DGCA for multiple flight incidents in the last few weeks, malfunction cases involving planes of IndiGo and Vistara came to light on Wednesday.
Most reported unruly passenger incidents were classified as level 1, or intentional non-compliance with safety regulations like not wearing face masks, not wearing seat belts.
Aviation watchdog DGCA will conduct a special audit of grounded airline Go First's facilities in the national capital and Mumbai from July 4 to 6 before approving the revival plan for resumption of flights, according to a senior official. Cash-strapped Go First stopped flying on May 3 and is undergoing a voluntary insolvency resolution process. Meanwhile, a senior executive at the airline expressed hope of resuming ticket sales -- which was paused by DGCA following the grounding of the carrier -- from July 7 or July 8 and subsequent relaunch of the operations from middle of next month.
The government's assurance came amid reports of Meiteis fleeing the state following an 'advisory' by an ex-militant's association of Mizoram asking them to leave due to tension triggered by the viral video of two women being paraded naked by a mob in Manipur.
189 people working at 59 Indian airports were found drunk on duty in the first half of this year, marking a 32 per cent year-on-year increase.
The airline is currently working to normalise its operations with the support of its pilots and cabin crew and expects to be on track by the end of this week, it said.
The plane crashed in the city of Wuzhou, the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region of China, causing a forest fire, Sputnik reported citing China Central Television (CCTV).
President Droupadi Murmu has approved 76 gallantry awards, including four Kirti Chakras posthumously and 11 Shaurya Chakras to personnel of the security forces, on the eve of the 77th Independence Day, officials said.
The recent spate of technical glitches in aircraft has prompted the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to issue an order on July 18, making aircraft maintenance engineers (AMEs) with category B1/B2 licences the final authorities in certifying planes. This has put the spotlight on the availability of such personnel. According to the order, airlines were resorting to frequent one-off authorisation by the Category A certifying staff at transit stations, which is not in line with existing regulatory provisions.
Helicopters are anticipated to be more in demand compared to fixed-wing aircraft as choppers will help in providing accessibility to rural and remote areas in a shorter time.
In recent times, there have been various incidents of unruly passengers onboard domestic and international flights.
'The lay of the runway is not at all safe.' 'Even operating a 737 is dangerous there.' 'During the monsoon, they must ban landing on runway 10.'
On Monday, the Boeing B737 Max aircraft with registration number VT-SZK operated the Mangaluru-Dubai flight, DGCA officials noted. After the aircraft landed, an engineer did a walk around inspection and found the nose wheel strut was compressed more than usual, they said.
Rhe unruly passenger was handed over to the security personnel after landing at the Delhi airport.
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.
Aviation regulator DGCA has allowed IndiGo to wet lease wide-body Boeing planes from Turkish Airlines for up to six months and has rejected the domestic carrier's request for leasing the aircraft for up to two years, according to sources. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) turned down the request of the country's largest airline to wet lease the aircraft for a longer period, citing that the move could become diversion of traffic rights in collusion with a strong foreign carrier that will mainly feed the latter's hub abroad with more passengers from India, the sources said. IndiGo, which currently has only narrow-body planes in its fleet, decided to lease wide-body aircraft to operate more flights on international routes to meet rising demand.
According to FlightAware, a flight tracking company, more than 9,500 flights within, into or out of the United States were delayed and more than 1,300 were cancelled due to the system failure.
An A320neo plane of Tata Group-run Air India returned to the Mumbai airport just 27 minutes after takeoff as one of its engines shut down midair due to a technical issue, sources said on Friday.
The Nepalese citizen was handed over to security agencies on arrival at the airport in New Delhi.
Earlier this month, Air India issued show cause notices to the Pilot-in-Command and four crew members of the flight and derostered them pending investigation.
Jet's air operator certificate will lapse on May 19.
