Rahul Bhatia-controlled domestic carrier IndiGo on Monday cancelled 562 flights from six metro airports, with 150 cancellations originating from Bengaluru airport alone, according to sources.
The Gurugram-based carrier, which commands over 65 per cent of India's total domestic traffic, had cancelled over 560 flights from six metro airports alone on Monday.
IndiGo has vacated over 700 slots at various domestic airports after the DGCA curtailed its winter flights by 10% following operational disruptions in December. Other airlines are invited to request these slots.
The flights have been cut across sectors, particularly on high-demand, high-frequency routes, according to a DGCA statement.
DGCA provided temporary relief to IndiGo, which is partially owned by Rahul Bhatia, by rolling back the night duty definition to 12 am-5 am from 12 am-6 am earlier, and allowing its pilots to do six night-landings from two earlier, besides other relaxations.
Bharti Group, which has bid for modernisation of the Delhi airport, would consider taking up similar jobs for other non-metro airports if it wins the bid, its chief Sunil Mittal said on Tuesday.
Arun Mishra, joint secretary in ministry of civil aviation, said investors from around the world including Gulf countries have shown interest in bidding for various projects. Of these, 24 airports would be taken up for city side development through Public Private Partnership, including maintenance and operation of the terminal buildings, cargo operations and real estate development, he said.
IndiGo had the best on-time performance (OTP) of 95.4 per cent at four metro airports in February, while Go First secured the number two position with 94.1 per cent in the same month, according to data released by aviation regulator DGCA. Bengaluru, Delhi, Hyderabad, and Mumbai were the four airports where Indigo had the best OTP, the data released on Monday said. In January, the situation was inverse as Go First had logged the best OTP of 94.5 per cent at the four airports while IndiGo was at number two with 93.9 per cent OTP.
There will be only three ground handlers at each of the six metro airports in the country.
Moving ahead with modernisation of non-metro airports, government would, in the next two months, come out with proposals for development of non-aero side of 10 such airports across the country, a top official said on Friday.
Serious lapses at several non-metro airports like damaged X-ray machines, absence of explosive detectors and faulty metal detectors have been found in an audit carried by the aviation security agency BCAS.
Qatar Airways said on Saturday that it was interested in bidding for the four metro airports and has formed a joint venture with an Indian company for this purpose.
A total of 27 out of the 35 non-metro airports that have been taken up for development suffered a total loss of Rs 172.64 crore in 2006-07. Six of these made a loss of more than Rs 10 crore (Rs 100 million) each.
Delhi Metro's Airport Express, the country's first corridor to come up on Public-Private- Partnership mode, will roll out for public on Wednesday, turning Delhiites' dream of a hassle-free ride to the Indira Gandhi International Airport into a reality.
When in Landour, discovers Supriya Newar, one of the most important things to do and that too in large measures, is to do nothing at all.
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.
India's domestic air passenger traffic nearly doubled to 1.25 crore in January compared to 64.08 lakh recorded in the year-ago period, according to official data released on Monday. In January, IndiGo saw its domestic market share decline for the fifth consecutive month at 54.6 per cent. It carried 68.47 lakh passengers last month.
'This kind of a last minute order creates immense problems for airlines.'
The Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group's Delhi Airport Express Pvt Ltd (DAMEPL) would run and maintain the line, which would reduce travel time between the heart of the capital and the Indira Gandhi International Airport to 20 minutes.
Free wifi with a speed of upto 50 mbps was rolled out on Friday across the six stations on Delhi Metro's premium Airport Express line.
The Societe Internationale de Telecommunications Aeronautiques, which has been in India since 1952, is now partnering with the Airports Authority of India to equip 25 airports with common use passenger processing systems to 'improve the experience of millions of passengers,' Hani El-Assaad, SITA President (Middleast, India and Africa), said in New Delhi.
Around 1.12 crore domestic passengers travelled by air in December, approximately 6.7 per cent higher than the 1.05 crore who travelled in November, the country's aviation regulator said on Wednesday. Overall, 8.38 crore people travelled on domestic flights in 2021 as compared to 6.3 crore in 2020, showing a jump of 33 per cent, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) stated in its monthly statement. IndiGo -- India's largest carrier -- carried 61.41 lakh passengers in December, a 54.8 per cent share of the domestic market, it mentioned.
A decision on upgradation of Delhi and Mumbai airports is likely to be taken by the finance ministry in a week's time as part of government's efforts to create world-class civil aviation infrastructure in the country.\n\n
The city's 24-hour average AQI was recorded in the 'poor' category at 265 on Saturday as residents flouted the ban on firecrackers in parts of the national capital ahead of Diwali, according to Central Pollution Control Board's (CPCB) data.
The load factor of six major domestic airlines--IndiGo, SpiceJet, Air India, GoAir, Vistara and AirAsia India -- stood between 70 per cent and 64.9 per cent in January.
Adani group is in talks to acquire a 50.5 per cent stake held by GVK Group in Mumbai International Airport (MIAL) and another 23.5 per cent of minority partners, Airports Company South Africa (ACSA), and Bidvest Group, two sources with knowledge of the matter said.
'Indian aviation cannot resume without at least three major airports being functional. If Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Kolkata are shut, there is little chance that airlines will start flying even if the government gives the go-ahead.'
The metro airports, where the ministry is thinking of restricting the number of ground handling agencies, are Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad.
Billionaire Gautam Adani's Adani group on Monday said it has reached an agreement to acquire GVK group's shareholding and control of Mumbai airport.
'A formula can be reached so that everyone gets a fair share.'
The Kalrock-Jalan consortium - new owners of Jet Airways - has got an assurance from around 30 airports that if the airline restarts operations, 170 pairs of slots can be made available. However, whether those slots will be according to the airline's demand will depend on the order of the insolvency court, which is slated to come next week. Sources said the new management feels it is extremely important that some of those slots are restored or else its business plan of operating Jet as a premium carrier will not be viable.
While IndiGo carried 16.82 lakh passengers, a 59.4 per cent share of the total domestic market, SpiceJet flew 3.91 lakh passengers, which is 13.8 per cent share of the total market, the DGCA data noted.
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