The presence of an engine maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) facility in India could have prevented Go First airline from going "belly up", as sending engines abroad for servicing is not an efficient way to operate a carrier, Piyush Srivastava, senior economic advisor, Ministry of Civil Aviation, said in a statement on Tuesday. On May 3, Go First suspended its flights and filed for insolvency, squarely blaming engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney (PW) for its cash crunch. The airline claimed that about half of its 54 aircraft were grounded on May 3 due to a delay in the supply of engines by the US-based company. PW has denied the charges.
Indebted Air India, which last made an annual profit in 2007, has seen its market share shrink in recent years.
In the midst of the Left parties raising questions over moves to privatise airports, the Civil Aviation Ministry said the move was meant to enhance the public-private partnership in modernising the airports and not to 'selloff' the assets.
A proposal to set up an international airport at Agra is being examined by the Centre, Uttar Pradesh Tourism Minister Kokab Hameed said in Lucknow on Thursday.
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.
Centre is likely to make a decision on allowing foreing airlines to operate out of Kozhikode soon.
Deploying additional Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel, providing real-time updates through social media, adding more immigration counters and ensuring 100 per cent manning of immigration counters - these are some of the steps that the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) is now taking in coordination with other stakeholders to avoid congestion at major airports during the upcoming festival season. During the last year's festival and winter season, major airports in the country suffered from congestion due to lack of sufficient airport infrastructure, inadequate X-ray screening machines, bunching of flights at peak hours, as well as inadequate CISF and immigration personnel, the MoCA stated on Thursday. Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, after last year's congestion issue, had asked major airports - including Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Chennai - to identify bottlenecks and augment capacity to meet the growing passenger demand.
Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray leader Priyanka Chaturvedi on Wednesday took potshots at the rival Shiv Sena over its minister not finding a place in the reconstituted NITI Aayog.
It neither mentions timelines for refund or compensation, nor talks about penal provisions for airlines.
Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy on Monday sought to allay doubts about the speedy execution of work on the Bangalore International Airport Project.
The Indian Air Force has around 60 air bases, of which 18 are open for civilian flights.
Over 80 domestic flights of all major airlines to and from Mumbai were cancelled on Monday.
Private airlines will explain before the Delhi High Court the reasons for imposing a Rs 150 per head surcharge to meet additional jet fuel expenses while aircraft hovers over major airports due to air traffic congestion.
The sources said the aircraft was allotted a remote bay C-33 instead of a Contact Stand, an aircraft parking stand that is suitable for walking passengers to and from an aircraft from an allocated boarding gate. This further added to passenger woes and deprived them the opportunity to avail basic facilities like rest rooms and refreshments at the terminal, they added.
National carrier Air India is preparing a blueprint to save over Rs 1000 crore (Rs 10 billion) from August this year by cutting down its total capacity by around 10-12 per cent.
The plane landed after experiencing some engine trouble, sources said, adding the aircraft was badly damaged.
Airports levy charges such as FTC, infrastructure charge, and into-plane charges on sale of jet fuel. The levy is passed through to airlines, pushing up costs.
Indian Air Force fighter jets were scrambled to intercept a foreign aircraft with its origin in Iran that was moving towards New Delhi's airspace.
Airline systems across airports, which were impacted due to a global IT outage on Friday, have started working normally, and all issues are likely to be resolved by noon on Saturday, Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu said. The ministry is constantly monitoring the operations at airports and airlines to ensure travel readjustments and refunds are taken care of, he added.
The ambitious cargo hub project proposed to be set up near Nagpur has run into rough weather.
Fliers may have to shell out more with the government mulling to impose a two per cent cess on air tickets
The plane, also carrying the AIDS symbol, on Friday landed in New Delhi with a group of AIDS-affected children on the eve of World AIDS Day.
Budgetary support of Rs 10,00,000 each was provided to Hotel Corporation India, Aero Club of India and Indira Gandhi Rastriya Uran Akademi.
In the season of aviation action, Rakesh Jhunjhunwala-backed Akasa Air has secured the crucial no-objection certificate (NoC) from the civil aviation ministry. It expects to start operations next summer. The airline will now have to apply for the Directorate General of Civil Aviation for operations permit. Aviation sector has been in the limelight with the Tata Group winning the Air India bid last week.
An IAF flight carrying Indian student Harjot Singh, who was shot in Ukrainian capital Kyiv a few days ago, landed at the Hindon airbase in New Delhi on Monday evening, officials said.
Airport upgrade bids to be finalised on Dec 5
The addition of new flights at airports will now be based on passenger-handling capacity at security checkpoints, according to the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS). The civil aviation security regulator issued directions in this regard on May 22 in a move to reduce congestion and delays inside airport terminals. Following this, airports will have to check passenger-handling capacity at security checkpoints before allotting slots.
With Air India's Gulf monopoly under threat and likely to end very soon if the civil aviation ministry has its way, the state-owned airline is now pitching aggressively for direct flights to the US and Australia to make up for the loss.
