The civil aviation ministry on Friday asked airlines to ensure that there is no abnormal surge in airfares for flights to and from the national capital amid suspension of operations at Delhi airport's Terminal 1 following the roof collapse incident.
Discontent has been brewing among a section of the cabin crew at the low-cost carrier for some time now, especially after the start of the process of merger of AIX Connect, formerly AirAsia India, with itself.
The Delhi high court on Friday directed the civil aviation regulator to deregister planes leased to Go First within five working days, giving respite to the lessors. This means that the airline will have to give back all 54 aircraft to the lessors if its resolution professional (RP) does not challenge the order or ask for a stay. Justice Tara Vitasta Ganju also refused the request of the RP, represented by advocate Diwakar Maheshwari, to keep the operation of the order in abeyance for a week to enable them to file an appeal before the division Bench of the court.
In the absence of the aviation policy, all decisions in aviation sector are left to the whims and fantasy of the ministry.
Starting July 1, passengers will be charged an aviation security fee of Rs 150, as opposed to the current Rs 130 for domestic flights, and $4.85 as compared to the current $3.25 for international flights.
"The DGCA is conducting an investigation into the matter. The Investigation team will examine the relevant facts," said a senior DGCA official.
A child who is less than 12 years of age must be allotted a seat beside at least one parent or a guardian with whom he is travelling, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) told airlines on Tuesday. The DGCA has said that the air transport circular on unbundling of services and fees by scheduled airlines is being modified. It allows airlines to charge for excess baggage, preferential seats, meals, snacks, drinks, and carriage of musical instruments.
An independent probe from the Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS) is unlikely in the Jalgaon train tragedy due to the negligence of passengers, according to railway sources. The tragedy occurred when 12 passengers were killed after stepping down from their train due to a fire rumor and were struck by another train. Experts say the CRS probe is unlikely because the passengers' actions were deemed negligent. While the CRS is typically involved in serious railway accidents, the 1998 rules allow for discretion when deaths or injuries result from passenger negligence. Passengers had ample time to move to safer locations but remained on the side tracks, ultimately leading to the tragic incident.
The proposal is awaiting final policy sanction from the home ministry.
The number of domestic air travelers in India grew 2.42 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) in April, reaching 13.2 million, according to data by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Tuesday.
The Centre expects cooperation from the state governments to slash the surcharge and taxation on aviation fuel to control its prices, a senior Civil Aviation Ministry official said in New Delhi on Thursday.
In a statement, Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu said the airport and emergency teams responded swiftly and effectively after a full emergency was declared at 18.05 hours.
The airport, being developed by the Adani Group, is expected to start commercial operations early next year.
Over four months ago the Foreign Investment Promotion Board cleared a proposal for the setting up of a new airline, AirAsia India, by Malaysian carrier AirAsia which has joined hands with the Tata Group and Arun Bhatia of Telestra TradePlace in a 49:30:21 joint venture partnership.
Religare Enterprises, a financial services firm, has disclosed that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) turned down its application to appoint Rakesh Asthana as its whole-time director in May this year without citing any reasons. Asthana is a former top official of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). In a notice to the stock exchanges, Religare said that while the company and Asthana were weighing the options of dealing with the letter of refusal by the RBI, it was also busy in preparing for the "herculean task" of making ready multiple applications to regulators.
Goa's second airport began operations last week and if all goes according to plans, the state will be the base for a new regional airline, Fly91. Promoted by the ex-executive vice-president of now grounded Kingfisher Airlines, Manoj Chacko, and Fairfax India's former head, Harsha Raghavan, the airline will offer no-frills buy on board product and serve unconnected routes with two ATR 72 aircraft. An application for the initial no-objection clearance was filed with the civil aviation ministry last week.
India will be among the top five aviation markets in the world - both in terms of size and scale in the next five years, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said.
New Civil Aviation Minister Vayalar Ravi on Thursday sought the support of all employees of ailing Air India in restoring its lost glory and said the staff and the management should work in coordination to achieve this.
The move follows the recent probe report by the United States National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) that highlighted safety concerns involving Boeing 737 aircraft equipped with Collins Aerospace SVO-730 Rudder Rollout Guidance Actuators.
During this financial year, the country's airports will handle 85 million passengers, likely to grow to 250-300 million in a decade, Zaidi estimates.
A Bengaluru-bound A320 ceo aircraft, carrying 184 people, aborted takeoff at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi due to fire in one of its engines Friday night.
The policy has been finalised after nearly eight months since the Ministry came out with the revised draft in October 2015.
The report quoted the civil defence as saying that there were no survivors in the incident.
The academy, a joint venture project, would conduct short term courses approved by the Director General of Civil Aviation and Transport Canada to train pilots and ground staff, Hemant H Shah, managing director of Cubex India.
The airline industry was impacted last year by the global economic slowdown but the growing Indian and Chinese markets are expected to help boost the sector, Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh said.
Indian airlines on Wednesday filled aviation turbine fuel (ATF) into the tanks of their aircraft at Rs 68,000 a kilolitre. Around the same time, ATF sold at $1,037.8 (Rs 41,500) a kilolitre at the Singapore airport -- full 39 per cent below Indian prices.
In a statement, an Air India spokesperson said a passenger travelling in business class was off boarded on the advice of the captain following some argument with members of the crew before the scheduled pushback.
The five Mexican nationals killed in a helicopter crash in eastern Nepal near Mount Everest on Tuesday visited India before touring the Himalayan nation for sightseeing.
Latur and Nanded in Marathwada region of Maharashtra would soon be on the aviation map with the launch of flights from this metropolis to these towns, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel has said.
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.
In a bid to bring down the cost of air operations, Aviation and Petroleum ministries will meet FM to get ATF notified as 'declared good'.
Maintaining that the air cargo and some other areas in the Indian aviation sector were very weak, the government on Thursday said it was mulling the opening of these areas to private and foreign investment.
Speaking at an interactive session on the sidelines of Wings India 2022, Dube on Friday said the airline hopes to have a fleet of 72 aircraft in the next five years. "We hope to launch our first commercial flight in the month of June.
Though NOC was issued by the Ministry last week, this was the first formal statement by the AirAsia CEO on microblogging site Twitter.
The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) has prepared a pool of more than 100 personnel to man additional security counters expected to be handed over to it for easing the ongoing congestion at large airports of Delhi and Mumbai, official sources said Wednesday.