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Akasa Air has joined global airlines' grouping International Air Transport Association (IATA) as a member. IATA represents over 360 airlines, including Indian carriers Air India, Air India Express, IndiGo and SpiceJet. In a release on Friday, Akasa Air said it became an IATA member after completing IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) which is mandatory for the membership. "We are excited to welcome Akasa Air as an IATA member. India's aviation potential is huge, with the industry supporting 7.7 million jobs and USD 53.6 billion in economic contribution," Regional Vice President for Asia-Pacific for IATA Sheldon Hee said. With a fleet of 31 Boeing 737 MAX planes. Akasa Air connects 26 domestic and 6 international cities. About the IATA membership, Akasa Air Founder and CEO Vinay Dubey said the association will strengthen the airline's global credibility and position it as a future-ready Indian airline on the world stage.
An Air India pilot was arrested at Vancouver International Airport last week as he was preparing for a flight, with Canada's transportation agency warning the airline that it faced loss of its flight authorisations if it did not comply with rules about alcohol consumption. Transport Canada said in a statement Friday that the incident took place on December 23, and it would engage with Air India and Indian aviation authorities to ensure appropriate followup actions were taken. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said the arrest occurred after a report of concern involving an airline crew member. Police said an investigation is ongoing and no further information would be released. A spokeswoman for the airport said the pilot had been preparing for Air India's scheduled daily flight from Vancouver to Delhi, which was delayed for several hours but later departed safely. Flight tracking website FlightRadar24 shows that the December 23 Air India flight from Vancouver to Delhi via Vienna w
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 ...