Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL), which operates India's largest airport, dismissed the expert committee report as "inaccurate", claiming it relied on "probabilities, hypothesis, and conjectures" rather than empirical data or complete documentation.
Wide-body aircraft like B747 and A350 have a bigger fuel tank and can therefore travel longer distances in comparison to narrow-body aircraft like B737 and A320. A wide-body aircraft also needs a longer runway length to take off or land. The table top runway 10 of the Kozhikode airport is approximately 2,700 metres long. Wide-body aircraft operations were permitted at this airport from 2019.
'It is indeed a fact that several issues were routinely red-flagged by DGCA, and were addressed by the (Kozhikode) airport operator. These pertain to excessive rubber deposits, water stagnation, cracks and other routine issues,' Puri tweeted a day after the plane crash in Kozhikode that claimed at least 18 lives.
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.
The regulator is now planning to bring in other workers in the aviation ecosystem under the purview of the breath-analyser test. It will include air traffic control officers (ATCOs), ground-handling personnel, flight despatchers, aerodrome operation personnel and engineers.
Earlier in the day, an IndiGo A320 passenger aircraft landed successfully at 1.32 pm at runway 08/26 of the under-construction Navi Mumbai International Airport, paving the way for the Navi Mumbai International Airport Ltd (NMIAL) to seek an aerodrome licence from the aviation safety regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to start commercial flight services.
Weeks before shutting down operations on April 17, a logistics vendor had taken possession of a Jet aircraft--a Boeing 777--at the Amsterdam airport for non-payment of dues.
Apple had on June 20 issued a notice on its website regarding the risk posed by the models of the MacBook Pro laptops.
Aviation regulator DGCA on Saturday suspended the flying licence of beleaguered Kingfisher Airlines for failing to come up with a viable plan for its financial and operational revival and resolve the impasse withits employees over payment of their salary dues.
Jet Airways will be able to take to the skies once again, after aviation regulator DGCA on Friday granted it a revalidated air operator certificate, allowing the airline to resume commercial flight operations.
DGCA was irked by was a video on social media that showed passengers dancing on board a midair flight. The regulator has summoned the airline officials seeking an explanation.
The DGCA had conducted an enquiry into alleged lapses in conversion training of some pilots. After the conversion training, a narrow body pilot can operate wide body aircraft.
The DGCA is conducting special audit of all airlines and airports which are in monsoon-affected areas in the wake of multiple landing incidents across the country.
The trails of mega-mergers, tailwinds of expanding fleets, flights and airports will dot the fast-growing Indian aviation firmament in 2025, though the dark clouds of supply chain woes will persist longer. Also, new airline takeoffs, the future trajectory of revised norms to tackle pilot fatigue and efforts to reduce carbon emissions will be on the radar.
The watchdog would also endeavour to do its best to help the company revive its operations within the set regulatory framework.
The watchdog has also asked the airlines to ensure various requirements are complied with by engineering and maintenance personnel with respect to 737 MAX planes.
While waiting for an independent aviation agency to be legislated, moves to address American aviation authority's audit rap.
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.
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.
Amid Delhi's worsening air quality, which has plunged into the severe plus category with an AQI consistently above 450, Environment Minister Gopal Rai on Tuesday called for immediate intervention from the central government.
Will operate only after FAA and DGCA gives green light.
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.
On Friday, the Alaska Airlines plane's outer section, including a window, fell off mid-air.
In a sudden development, DGCA chief E K Bharat Bhushan was on Tuesday removed as head of the aviation regulator with immediate effect, six days after his tenure was extended till this year end.
The regulator has been facing criticism from aviation experts who believe it has been lenient on the issue.
The DGCA official who wrongly assigned the code of Antonov AN-32 -- an aircraft used by the IAF -- to the SpiceJet aircraft has been suspended, report Arindam Majumder and Aneesh Phadnis.
A video clip of the heated exchange onboard the flight on December 16 was shared on social media on Wednesday.
Aviation security regulator BCAS on Wednesday slapped fines totalling Rs 1.80 crore on IndiGo and Mumbai airport operator MIAL over the incident of passengers having food on the airport's apron. The apron is the area around the aircraft where it has finally parked for deboarding.
SpiceJet, Air India Express and GoAir have been involved in three, two and one such incidents, respectively, in the past few days, prompting the DGCA to take action against the 12 pilots.
'We have seen some videos wherein mediapersons are standing too close to each other in the 6E264 flight on Wednesday. It seems to be a violation of safety and social distancing protocols'
An IndiGo aircraft grazed the wings of an Air India Express plane at the Kolkata airport on Wednesday, leaving the wings of both aircraft damaged, officials said.
In its submission to the Competition Commission of India, in response to a complaint filed by a travel agents body, DGCA said travel agents should be compensated by the airlines directly by paying commission, which should be a part of the fare itself.
The regulator will audit an airport's ground facilities, its turnaround and general safety procedures, and the movement of vehicles. Underground facilities, ground servicing equipment, passenger boarding bridges, condition of the apron, marking and lighting, and availability of foreign object dustbin bins will be checked.
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.
Now, harried air travellers can lodge their complaint on any problem faced by them relating to flights or airport facilities directly to aviation regulator DGCA for speedy action.
Concerned over the deteriorating condition of SpiceJet, aviation regulator DGCA on Friday withdrew 186 of its slots and asked it to clear salary dues of all its employees in the next ten days.
Kingfisher has a total debt of about Rs 7,057 crore (Rs 70.57 billion) and accumulated losses of about Rs 6,000 crore (Rs 60 billion).
Two pilots and an engineer were killed after a helicopter crashed and caught fire in Maharashtra's Pune district on Wednesday morning, police said.
Domestic air traffic rose 4.8 per cent on an annual basis to 126.48 lakh in February, while more than 1.55 lakh passengers were affected by flight delays during the same period, according to official data released on Friday. In February, Air India's market share rose to 12.8 per cent from 12.2 per cent while that of IndiGo marginally dipped to 60.1 per cent from 60.2 per cent in January. The domestic air traffic climbed to 126.48 lakh in February compared to 120.69 lakh in the year-ago period, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said.
As the majority of Pakistani airspace has remained closed for Indian airlines since the Balakot strike on February 26, the decision to avoid affected Iranian airspace on Saturday is going to further disturb the routes of their international flights towards middle-eastern and European countries, and the US.
