As many as 460 foreign nationals are working as commanders in flights by domestic carriers to meet the shortage of pilots, Minister of state for Civil Aviation Praful Patel informed the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.
Budget carrier SpiceJet on Wednesday launched another discounted ticket scheme, offering fares as low as Rs 1,599 across its domestic network for travel between February 15 and April 15 to celebrate Valentine's Day.
The SC observed that the government should be more worried about the health of citizens rather than the health of commercial airlines.
Jet Airways, just out of a pilots' strike, sprung a surprise by announcing a 50 per cent discount this week on its Economy Class fares on all domestic flights.
The ISI was taking no chances and wanted no repeat of Pulwama; it wanted to make it clear at a political level it was not involved with the revenge attack being planned, but was only giving India a friendly tip-off. A stunning excerpt from Ambassador Ajay Bisaria's Anger Management: The Troubled Diplomatic Relationship between India and Pakistan.
Observing that the Indian aviation industry was passing through a 'fragile and delicate moment', he said some airlines could go bust in the coming few months if 'structural changes are not carried out expeditiously'. As many as 25 carriers worldwide have folded up operations in the past several months due to huge losses, the latest being Italian national carrier Alitalia, leading to over 100,000 jobs in the aviation sector being lost.
It's not clear how a party with a majority will do any better when our ability to tackle the roads, ports, power projects and airports problem has not shown marked improvement in the last five years.
Availability of Wi-Fi is also expected to provide local airlines an additional source of revenues amid stiff competition in the fast growing Indian aviation market.
India lost the Perth Test by 146 runs to allow the hosts level the four-match series 1-1.
With the Bangalore airport announcing stiff user developmental fee on domestic passengers, low-cost carriers -- JetLite, SpiceJet and Simplifly Deccan (formerly Air Deccan) -- have decided to drastically cut their flight schedules to the city and other new airports like Hyderabad.
Fireworks will be banned across the Chinese capital for three months in the latest in a series of security measures ahead of the August Beijing Olympics, state media said on Tuesday. Public transport has been subject to stringent security checks, and liquids, matches and lighters have been banned in hand luggage on domestic flights after a plot to blow up a plane was uncovered in March.
A finance ministry official said since the service tax was capped at Rs 100 for domestic and Rs 500 for international travel, in many cases, the credit of tax paid on inputs used to provide services was more than the service tax paid by the airline.
Indian civil aviation norms don't apply to foreign aviation companies, experts said.
Earlier this month, the carrier had announced 'Spouse Plus Offer', wherein the spouse of a customer travelling on certain domestic routes in executive class could do so for free. The offer, which became effective on January 7, would be valid till February 28.
The soft landing of the spacecraft is planned for late August. The mission is expected to be supportive to future interplanetary missions.
The eight active NASA astronauts and one former astronaut-turned-corporate crew member will launch on Boeing CST-100 Starliner and SpaceX Dragoncapsules to the International Space Station beginning in 2019.
The pilot-turned-airline owner and his partner Biraja Jena plan to launch FlyBig, which has secured 16 routes under the fourth phase of UDAN, the government's regional connectivity programme.
According to a calculation by the government, India's airlines currently have 633 aircraft of which they may operate only 200.
The agreement between the two airlines came on the second day of the four-day state visit of Mukherjee to the country.
The pilots and other senior staff have not been getting their full salaries since December.
Indian Airlines has cut by over 50 per cent its fares on selected destinations and announced that various promotional, round-trip or excursion fares had been extended till September end.
Air India on Monday said it will progressively induct 30 new aircraft, including 5 wide-body Boeing planes, from December this year, as the Tatas-owned airline looks to boost its domestic and international services. The airline has signed leases and letters of intent for inducting 5 wide-body Boeing and 25 Airbus narrow-body planes over the next 15 months. "These new aircraft, which will enter service from late 2022, will increase the airline's fleet by over 25 per cent.
Passengers will have to pay a development fee of Rs 200 for domestic flights and Rs 1,300 for international travel from March 1 over and above their ticket costs. The development fee is being levied for 36 months only to help the GMR-led consortium over its running costs to modernise Delhi's IGI Airport. The levy will be reduced after six months.
A 61-year-old Indian national has been arrested in the United States on charges of sexually assaulting a fellow woman passenger aboard a domestic flight.
With this growth in airline traffic and domestic air travel, it is only a matter of time before one day someone in India too carries a reptile in their underwear. Till then we wait, trying to fight the temptation to do it ourselves.
Heavy fog that engulfed New Delhi disrupted air services on Sunday, delaying about 18 domestic and international flights and leading to the cancellation or merger of 15 others. Passengers complained that they did not receive any information regarding delays or cancellation of scheduled connections.
Vijay Mallya-promoted Kingfisher Airlines's international service, which is expected to start by January 2008, will be staffed entirely by foreign cabin crew.
Days after it faced nationwide anti-government protests against its stringent zero-Covid policy, China in a major shift of its coronavirus response policies has announced that it will scrap quarantine for international travellers from January 8 as it reopens its borders and comes out of international isolation after nearly three years.
Budget airlines are now set to explore the non-metro markets. With high growth prospects there, the carriers are pumping in funds and offering attractive packages to lure customers.
'Were the Go First pilots aware that 55 passengers were missing when the aircraft was on ground?'
With a surge in domestic air passenger traffic, the airfares have risen by 30 per cent to 100 per cent of the pre-pandemic levels amid the festive season, a top Thomas Cook executive has said. The domestic air passenger traffic increased around 67 per cent year-on-year in October. Thomas Cook, however, expects the airfares to be levelled off going forward, as the domestic carriers operate with 100 per cent capacity.
No domestic flights could take off or land from the Indira Gandhi International Airport due to low visibility.
The five-day event will include aerial displays by aircraft and helicopters along with a large exhibition and trade fair of aerospace and defence companies.
Market estimates suggest the airline has already totted up Rs 1,800 crore of losses in FY20, and FY21 is expected to see losses in the region of Rs 2,500 crore to Rs 3,000 crore Many in the sector say that Vistara lacks the light-footedness of the airlines with which it competes, reports Anjuli Bhargava.
After years of being sequestered by the pandemic, some intrepid travellers are planning to settle their score with the novel coronavirus. With fewer or no travel curbs, they are eager to get back on the road, again. Hotels and tour operators, too, are eager to shed excess Covid baggage. And this year's Diwali promises to add that extra layer sparkle with the introduction of new flights.
Employees of Go First, which has filed for bankruptcy, hope that the airline will fly out of the crisis with government support but some are already scouting for work. Some Go First pilots have joined airlines in West Asia in recent weeks and others have approached IndiGo, India's largest domestic airline. Calls to IndiGo's human resources and operations department increased after Go First said on Tuesday it will suspend flights for three days starting May 3, sources said.
Jet Airways said on Friday it would launch a kiosk check-in facility from next month at Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore airports.
India's inclusion in JP Morgan's bond index can channel billions of dollars into India. How will the government securities market handle it?
An overriding ambition to rule the domestic skies prevented Jet Airways from becoming a strong and formidable player in the international market. The Sahara buy added to the complexity of its operations and a dilution of what the airline stood for, says Anjuli Bhargava.
The nationwide strike called by nearly 20,000 airports employees started this morning, protesting against the move to privatise Delhi and Mumbai airports.
