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Company secretaries' apex body ICSI on Tuesday cited the governance lapses at the country's largest airline IndiGo and called for stronger governance practices to ensure proactive risk identification, timely intervention and transparent communication. The Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI) has more than 78,000 members. In a statement, the institute flagged the "recent governance lapse highlighted by the IndiGo incident". ICSI President Dhananjay Shukla said the IndiGo incident serves as a reminder for corporates and professionals to ensure sound governance frameworks that can create as well as preserve shareholder value along with public trust. It is not often that ICSI publicly mentions governance issues at a company. IndiGo has been facing significant operational disruptions for the last one week, resulting in hundreds of flight cancellations and delays. The situation is stabilising now. Lack of proper planning in implementing the new flight duty norms is one of t
The Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) will be running special trains to clear passenger rush in view of flight disruptions, its chief spokesperson said on Sunday. NFR CPRO Kapinjal Kishore Sharma said extra coaches of various classes have also been attached to different trains. "The NFR has taken these initiatives in view of IndiGo flight cancellations," he said. Two special trains -- one each from Dibrugarh to New Delhi, and Guwahati to Howrah -- would run on Monday, the CPRO said. "Further, 20 coaches will be attached to 18 different trains to help clear the rush of passengers. These trains are running on different sectors," he added. IndiGo, the country's largest airline, has cancelled thousands of flights over the last few days as it grappled with significant operational disruptions mainly due to crew shortage.
Pilots' body Federation of Indian Pilots (FIP) has alleged that IndiGo, despite getting a two-year preparatory window before the full implementation of new flight duty and rest period norms for cockpit crew, "inexplicably" adopted a "hiring freeze." FIP said it has urged the safety regulator, DGCA, not to approve airlines' seasonal flight schedules unless they have adequate staff to operate their services "safely and reliably" under the New Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) norms. In a letter to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) late Wednesday, FIP urged the DGCA to consider re-evaluating and reallocating slots to other airlines, which have the capacity to operate them without disruption during the peak holiday and fog season if IndiGo continues to "fail in delivering on its commitments to passengers due to its own avoidable staffing shortages." On Wednesday (December 3), IndiGo cancelled over 150 flights and delayed hundreds by considerable time across various ...
With the "incredible potential" in the Indian aviation market, British Airways will look to expand its services to cater to the growing travel demand as well as continue to create employment opportunities in the country, according to a senior airline executive. Operating in India for more than 100 years, the airline, currently has 56 weekly flights from the country to London. There are three flights a day from Mumbai, two daily flights from Delhi and one flight daily from Hyderabad, Bangalore and Chennai. The airline plans to have a third daily flight from the national capital to London from next year, subject to regulatory approvals. "We are always looking to continue to expand our services as demand grows stronger. We continue to keep our network schedule under constant review to ensure we provide connectivity and choice for our customers. "As demand strengthens, we remain focused on expanding our services and elevating the travel experience," British Airways Chief Operating Offi
A major collision was averted at the Indira Gandhi International Airport here on Sunday when an Ariana Afghan Airlines flight from Kabul mistakenly landed on a runway from where another flight was taking off, a senior DGCA official said. The regulator has already launched a probe into the incident, he said. Ariana Afghan Airlines A310 aircraft operating flight FG-311 (Kabul-Delhi) was given clearance to land on runway 29L. However, the aircraft landed on runway 29R, he said. The pilot-in-command (PIC) of the Ariana flight stated that he lost ILS (Instrument Landing System) at 4NM (nautical miles) and the aircraft turned right, after which the captain landed with visual approach on runway 29R, the official said. The ILS is a precision radio navigation system that provides short-range guidance to an aircraft allowing it to approach a runway at night, during bad weather and poor visibility. As per the PIC, he lost ILS at 4NM and the aircraft turned right, after which the captain land