He will assume charge with effect from April 19, after the incumbent Hari Shankar Brahma demits office
The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government on Friday toughened its anti-hijacking law by declaring that a death sentence will be given to those involved in it.The Cabinet took up a proposal of the civil aviation ministry, to amend the Anti-Hijacking Act of 1982, to deter hijackers from using an aircraft as a missile. The Cabinet approval paves the way for amending Section 4 of the 1982 Act, which provides for life imprisonment and a fine for hijacking.
Maintaining that civil aviation flew thousands of tonnes of equipment and passengers across the country on a daily basis, he said grant of infrastructure status would help the industry in its dealings with the RBI as well as the commercial banks, both in the private and public sectors. On Kingfisher's global plan, Mallya said the airline would launch services to Hong Kong and Singapore as soon as its aircraft were ready.
Ashwani Lohani is presently working as Managing Director of Madhya Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation in Bhopal.
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FIRs have been registered against top officials of the aviation ministry, GVK Ltd and police department on a complaint that Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL) received undue benefit to the tune of hundreds of crores of rupees from the government.
The government is likely to consider infusion of Rs 800 crore (Rs 8 billion) as equity in the cash-strapped Air India on Wednesday, but wants the airline to take "extraordinary" measures to achieve a financial turnaround.
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.
A Russian fund submitted its interest to the resolution professional on February 14 and also hired a consultancy firm to help them with the bidding process.
The plan, vetted by the finance and civil aviation ministries, is likely to include proposals relating to the nature of financial assistance it wants from the government, including equity infusion and soft loan.
Last year, Air India replaced veg and non-veg sandwiches with veg hot meals on flights
Without identifying the airlines, official sources said notices had been issued to some carriers against which the Civil Aviation Ministry had received complaints. The sources said 'affirmative action' would be taken against carriers flouting the refund guidelines issued a few months ago.
The airline would offer Re 1 ticket to a few passengers through a lucky draw as part of its promotional campaign.
The Civil Aviation Ministry is looking to increase air seat entitlement to Dubai by 20%.
With full-service carrier Jet Airways and budget airline SpiceJet operating 737 MAX planes, the DGCA has decided to seek information about the aircraft from Boeing as well as the two domestic carriers in view of the air crash in Ethiopia.
The Indian nationals, mostly students, research scholars and professionals are working in Indian and international companies in the Chinese province.
Civil aviation minister Praful Patel has directed Bangalore International Airport Limited, the Siemens-led private consortium developing the new greenfield airport, to increase its capacity to handle passengers.
The civil aviation ministry has asked airlines not to charge excessive fares from passengers in the wake of agitation by pilots of Jet Airways.Media reports said that following strike by Jet pilots, other airlines were charging an average of Rs 9,000-10,000 for Mumbai-Delhi route, while some are even charging up to Rs 15,000 per seat.
The government is understood to have decided to infuse additional equity in Air India and give a soft loan to counter the financial crunch, as a high-level committee on Saturday asked the Civil Aviation Ministry to move a note on the issue for consideration of the Union Cabinet. There was no official confirmation of the quantum of equity infusion and the soft loan the government could give to the national carrier.
Issues raised by the industry, like rationalisation of the eight per cent central excise on jet fuel, still remain to be addressed. As a result of the government abolishing five per cent customs duty on aviation turbine fuel from Tuesday, state-run oil firms have cut jet fuel prices by Rs 2,100 per kilo litre, on top of the 17 per cent price reduction announced late last week.
Differences have cropped up between the civil aviation ministry and Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL) over the closure of the airport's main runway.
The directive from the civil aviation ministry came after the airlines together failed to utilise over 13 per cent of the slots allocated to them last year, official sources said. The domestic carriers have already filed their summer schedules which shows a marginal increase in the number of flights each week -- from 11,048 last year to 11,116 this year.
Don't threaten a strike, check your business model
The Tehelka magazine on Friday claimed some officials, bureaucrats and other VIPs had 'abused' their status to get free tickets and other facilities from a private airline in gross violation of service rules and propriety.
Bangalore's information and biotechnology majors have again trained their guns at the government over the closure of the existing HAL airport.
Premier British carrier Virgin Atlantic took the lead in introducing day time flights out of Delhi. British Airways followed suit by introducing its additional flight during day time. German carrier Lufthansa now also operates day time flights to Munich out of Delhi and Mumbai, apart from its night services to Frankfurt.
This was decided after Bangalore International Airport Ltd, the private consortium developing the greenfield airport, rejected the civil aviation ministry's proposal of keeping both the airports operational. The Karnataka high court had recently advised the government to reconsider the concession agreement with the private developers, which says that the existing airport in Bangalore should be shut down after the new one starts functioning.
The recent Cabinet approval to private and greenfield airport policies has enhanced the powers of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), which is now one of the key licensing authorities for almost all future airport projects in the country.
The Civil Aviation Ministry has ordered a probe into the incident involving the ground security staff of Continental Airlines which subjected Kalam to security check before he was to board a Newark-bound flight on April 24.
Civil aviation minister Praful Patel, who held this portfolio in the first government of the United Progressive Alliance, too, has so far followed a liberal open-sky policy, sharply increasing the number of seats offered to West Asian airlines on flights connecting India. According to internal figures available with airlines, the total number of seats offered to West Asian carriers rose from 2.5 million in 2004 to 7.5 million last year.
The Board for Reconstruction of Public Sector Enterprises wants to examine the grave financial problems of Air India, but neither the Civil Aviation Ministry nor the national carrier has responded to the BRPSE offer.
The civil aviation ministry and Maharashtra have been planning an international airport near Pune for almost 10 years. The airport site would see construction from year 2011 onwards, if the land acquisition happens within a year.
The civil aviation ministry granted the traffic rights to Deccan Aviation, in which Kingfisher Airlines merged in 2007, to operate services to London and other global destinations. The airline, which has already firmed up plans to launch its Bangalore-London (Heathrow) flight from the first week of September, would be starting its international services on the rights granted to Deccan Aviation on the India-UK sector.
The civil aviation ministry and the directorate general of civil aviation plan to award the low-cost carriers some key morning and evening peak-time slots (a fixed time for departure or arrival of a particular flight) lying unused with the full-service carriers at metro airports like Delhi and Mumbai. DGCA officials and airline officials confirm that airlines like Jet and Kingfisher are not using around 10 per cent of their slots during the peak periods.
The airport operations are likely to be disrupted as the employees have threatened to start an indefinite 'non-cooperation movement' from march 12 after the government today rejected their demands for continuing operations of Bangalore and Hyderabad airports. The existing airports in both the metros are to be closed down once the new greenfield airports launch their operations.
The trial run for one week would be applicable for domestic passengers.
The demand for reduction in air fares echoed at a meeting of a Parliamentary Committee, with several MPs demanding that airlines should pass on the benefits of the drastic cut in oil prices to their customers.
The appointments committee of the Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi cleared Bhalla's appointment as OSD in the ministry with immediate effect.
The Civil Aviation Ministry has moved a proposal to infuse Rs 2,000 crore of equity by December as the first phase of financial restructuring to bail out ailing Air India with some riders. Currently, A-I has an equity capital of only Rs 145 crore and debt of over Rs 16,000 crore. The plan is to stagger the infusion of Rs 5,000 crore of fresh equity in the next few years. The riders include a more aggressive plan for cost cutting.
Govt is mulling an increased scrutiny of airline pilots' mental state.
DIAL, the GMR-led consortium modernising Delhi airport, had projected it would get only a Rs 800 crore-Rs 1,000 crore deposit for the entire 45 acre land in the hospitality district, leaving a gap in funding for the modernisation plan. The aviation ministry allowed it make up the shortfall by levying an ADF on passengers. With DIAL managing to persuade bidders for the hospitality district to increase security deposits by close to 50 per cent, the ADF may now be reduced.
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