Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a meeting with National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar upon his arrival from Saudi Arabia to take stock of the situation following the terror attack in Pahalgam, Kashmir. The meeting also included Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri. The attack, which killed at least 26 people, including tourists from the UAE and Nepal, has sparked nationwide shock and outrage.
The phone conversation came amid escalating tensions between India and Pakistan over the April 22 terror attack that killed 26 civilians.
Etihad and Qatar Airways have held informal talks with Kingfisher and SpiceJet to expand their footprints in India.
Coordination between defence and civilian authorities has freed up airspace for commercial airlines in India, resulting in routes becoming shorter and costs coming down, apart from mitigating pollution. "Due to various restrictions of the military, only about 58 per cent of the Indian airspace was being utilised. It is close to 70 per cent now," said an official of the Airports Authority of India (AAI). Officials of the AAI said to date 119 routes had been shortened. Sources said since December 2020 the cumulative savings of airlines had been close to Rs 200 crore while there was a reduction in emission of around 45,000 tonnes of carbon.
'Even if India is attractive, FPIs currently lack the funds to invest, as money is being redirected to the US.'
A proposal to permit foreign airlines to pick up stake in domestic carriers is among the several measures being considered by the government to help the Indian aviation industry overcome the financial crunch.
The planning commission has suggested review of a policy that debars foreign carriers from investing in domestic ones, saying airline operations required expertise as much as capital.
In the past, Qatar Airways has repeatedly expressed a desire to invest in IndiGo, the country's largest domestic airline.
"We have found that a couple of international airlines are not adhering to the rules. Failure to adhere to rules shall entail strict action," said Director General of Civil Aviation Arun Kumar.
Domestic rating agency ICRA on Monday said Indian companies are likely to clock 7-8 per cent revenue growth during the March quarter of the current fiscal year, led by revival in rural demand and uptick in government spending. ICRA expects the private capital expenditure (capex) cycle to remain measured in view of the uncertainties around geopolitical developments and relatively subdued outlook on merchandise exports from India.
"We are in talks were several airlines like Turkish Airlines, Ethihad and Japan Airlines for starting their services from the Kolkata airport," AAI director of the city airport B P Sharma said.
The civil aviation ministry plans to put in place strict norms to prevent incidents of hoax bomb threats to airlines, including placing the perpetrators on the no-fly list, a senior official said on Thursday.
After allowing FDI by foreign carriers in their Indian counterparts, the government has put in place provisions to prevent Indian airlines from being controlled and managed by the foreign investor.
Vistara will operate the last flight under its brand on November 11 and the full-service carrier's operations will be unified with Air India from November 12. The government has given its nod for the foreign direct investment by Singapore Airlines as part of the Air India-Vistara merger. Vistara is a joint venture between Tata Group and Singapore Airlines.
In a December 2012 interview, Ratan Tata, then preparing to step down as chairman of Tata Sons, expressed doubts about the Tata group re-entering the aviation sector, calling it a space plagued by "destructive competition". But beneath that frustration lay nearly two decades of failed attempts to conquer the Indian skies. In 1994, Tata, along with Singapore Airlines, had plans to launch a joint venture (JV) airline in India.
Several changes have been carried out in the existing rules or Civil Aviation Requirements, including one which clearly states that a passenger airline 'shall not enter into an agreement with a foreign investing institution or a foreign airline, which may give such foreign investing institution or foreign airlines or others on behalf of them, the right to control the management of the domestic operator.'
It may just be a well-crafted strategy by Vijay Mallya to sail through the current crisis
Propelled by strong demand and lower costs, the country's largest airline, InterGlobe Aviation (IndiGo), reported solid operational performance in the 2024-25 (FY25) October-December quarter (Q3). While demand was driven by the festival season, year-end increase, and higher consumer spending, lower fuel and rental costs helped deliver a beat at the operating profit level.
Turning down a request for Rs 200 crore (Rs 2 billion) working loan by Kingfisher, the SBI-led lenders consortium on Thursday asked SBI Capitals to chalk out a fresh revival plan for the cash-strapped airline in the next 2-3 weeks.
Despite partial restoration of salaries, pilots across airlines remain dissatisfied, throwing challenges for managers.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has said that forcibly seizing someone's faith and trampling over their beliefs is "unacceptable," especially "when we know the truth about Sambhal" which predates Islam, with the Vishnu temple there being destroyed in 1526. He said that Sambhal has been mentioned in scriptures that are 5,000 years old, which contain references to Lord Vishnu's future incarnation. He also mentioned that a temple of Lord Vishnu in Sambhal was demolished in 1526, and two years later, in 1528, the Ram temple in Ayodhya was destroyed, both acts carried out by the same person.
An Air India passenger has complained of finding a cockroach in an omelette served onboard the flight from the national capital to New York, with the airline saying the matter has been taken up with the catering service provider for further investigation.
Travelling to foreign countries might become costlier with India's international carrier Air India and 40 other foreign airlines planning to levy a surcharge to offset increase in international prices of aviation fuel.
A day after notifying a policy measure to allow foreign airlines pick up 49 per cent stake in Indian carriers, the government today said the aviation industry was in an upbeat mood as it was expecting a positive response to the move.
The airline has been trying to gain additional flying rights in India.
A senior IDBI Bank official allegedly conspired with businessman Vijay Mallya for sanction and disbursement of loan to the latter's Kingfisher Airlines, the Central Bureau of Investigation said in its supplementary chargesheet filed in a Mumbai court. Mallya is an accused in the alleged Rs 900-crore IDBI Bank-Kingfisher Airlines loan fraud case, which is being probed by the CBI. The Central agency had recently filed a supplementary chargesheet before a special CBI court.
About 1.2 trillion tax evasion cases have been detected and as many as 59,000 entities identified for verification in order to ascertain whether they are fake.
In the previous decade, the government, with Praful Patel as the civil aviation minister, saw the introduction of an irrational 5/20 policy.
The agencies have also found some common lines and words used in these fake threats like "bombs", "blood will spread everywhere", "explosive devices", "this is not a joke" and "you will all die" and "bomb rakhwa dia hai" (Hindi for bomb has been placed) among others.
With carriers such as Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines all set to battle it out on international routes, leading expatriates with years of experience in global airlines are now being wooed for top management posts.
New Delhi said if the reports of Azhar's location are correct, then Pakistan's "duplicity" has been exposed as it has been maintaining that the JeM chief is not in that country.
The Indian government allowed foreign airlines to buy up to 49 per cent stakes in Indian carriers in September 2012.
The Yeti Airlines aircraft took off from Kathmandu's Tribhuvan International Airport at 10.33 am on Sunday and crashed on the bank of the Seti River between the old airport and the new airport in Pokhara, minutes before landing, according to the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal.
Austrian Airlines on Wednesday announced that it will operate daily flights between Delhi and Vienna during the limited open sky period till March 2005 and it would add Mumbai to its destination from May 2005.
In a major initiative to strengthen the cash-strapped aviation sector, a group of ministers on Tuesday decided to allow airlines to directly import jet fuel to enable them save on high incidence of tax and permit Air India to raise Rs 7,400 crore (Rs 74 billion) by issuing bonds or other means.
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