India Aviation

The CBI has arrested a deputy director general of civil aviation and the senior vice president of a major corporate group in a Rs 2.5 lakh bribery case to facilitate the import of drones for another private company, officials said Sunday. In an operation on Saturday, the CBI arrested M Devula, Deputy Director General at the Airworthiness Directorate, Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and Bharat Mathur, who is also associated with an aerospace company involved in drone technology- Asteria Aerospace Ltd. The CBI has booked Mathur, Devula and Asteria Aerospace Ltd under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023. The major corporate group where Mathur was working is not listed as accused in the FIR and is the "ultimate parent company" of Asteria Aerospace, according to Asteria Aerospace's financial statements for 2024-25. No immediate reaction was available from Asteria Aerospace or the corporate group. The accused DGCA public

Disruptions from Iran war have sharpened underlying challenges in a sector that is still recovering from last year's shocks

Air India Express MD Aloke Singh will exit on 19 March after steering the airline through privatisation, a merger with AirAsia India, a four-fold fleet expansion and a major brand overhaul

An IndiGo flight from Ahmedabad with 144 passengers on board was diverted to Imphal on Sunday after a severe dust storm rendered visibility at Dibrugarh airport "dangerously low", officials said. The sudden weather shift forced the flight crew to make a swift decision to re-route the aircraft from Dibrugarh to the nearest viable alternative in Manipur, they said. Flight 6E-6457, operating from Ahmedabad to Dibrugarh via Guwahati, departed from the Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport (LGBIA) in Guwahati at 10.20 am, an airport official told PTI. "While it was scheduled to touch down at Dibrugarh airport at 11.15 am, the arrival coincided with a heavy dust storm that significantly hampered operations. Conditions on the ground fell well below the minimum safety thresholds required for a safe landing, and the visibility was dangerously low," he said. With the situation leaving no room for risk, the flight crew opted to divert the carrier to Bir Tikendrajit International .

DGCA has launched a special safety audit of 14 charter operators, with field inspections underway and the first phase of the exercise expected to be completed by February 25

Asia is emerging as the engine of global aviation growth, with India, China and Southeast Asia forecast to account for eight of the world's 10 fastest-growing air travel markets between 2024 and 2044, according to a whitepaper released on Monday, ahead of the 2026 Singapore Airshow. The paper by Alton Aviation Consultancy outlines that international traffic in Asia-Pacific grew by 8.0 per cent in 2025, outpacing global RPK growth of 6.8 per cent. Carriers across the region have launched more than 600 new routes since 2015, significantly improving access to underserved destinations and enhancing intra-regional connectivity. The whitepaper highlights India as one of the world's fastest-growing aviation markets, underpinned by robust economic fundamentals and a rapidly expanding middle class. While China continues to play a dominant role, Alton notes that Southeast Asia is an emerging growth region, led by markets such as Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines. Mabel Kwan, Managing .

With IndiGo and Air India ramping up fleet additions, India's skies are set to remain a duopoly till 2030, with the top two airlines controlling nearly 85% of aircraft capacity

The government has asked airlines to share average fares charged during December after mass flight cancellations, mainly by IndiGo, disrupted travel and triggered a CCI probe into fare patterns

The aviation ministry has cleared three new regional airlines in a bid to spur competition. This won't be easy

Ram Mohan Naidu said India needs to have five big airlines given the demand, and that has been the effort from the ministry to encourage more airlines to join the industry

Asia-Pacific will need nearly 20,000 new planes in the next 20 years, with India and China driving most of the demand as passenger traffic grows and airlines expand their fleets

Dube said, "There is no next phase we are planning. Our next phase should be an IPO in a two to five-year time period."

Pilots' grouping ALPA India on Friday said AAIB has declined the request to include its representative in the team probing the Air India plane crash in June that killed 260 people, citing government norms. Representatives of the Airline Pilots Association (ALPA) India on Friday held a meeting with Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) Director General GVG Yugandhar in the national capital. The discussion mainly revolved around having subject experts in aircraft accident investigations. After the meeting, ALPA India President Sam Thomas said there was not much discussion on the Air India plane crash due to the ongoing investigation. "AAIB expressed its inability to include pilots from ALPA as subject matter experts in the team probing the Air India plane crash, citing government norms," he told PTI. In one of the worst aircraft accidents in India, a total of 260 people, including 241 passengers, died after Air India's Boeing 787-8 aircraft operating flight AI 171 to London

At the BS Infrastructure Summit, Noida airport CEO Christoph Schnellmann said greenfield airports give India an edge as they use modern tech and focus on faster, smoother passenger transfers

The Air India flight AI315 was operating from Hong Kong to Delhi; all passengers and crew are safe, while the aircraft has been grounded for investigation, the airline said

The airline confirmed that all passengers onboard the flight were safely disembarked following the incident

Given the nearly three-year construction timeline for a new terminal and runway, work on the northern side is proposed to begin by FY27 to ensure readiness by September 2029

Aviation stocks fall: InterGlobe Aviation shares fell as much as 5.62 per cent, while the counter of Spice Jet slipped 5.64 per cent on BSE

The company estimates India will require at least 500 aircraft in this segment over the next 20 years, driven by growing connectivity needs beyond metro routes and into Tier-II and Tier-III cities

Indigo has an extensive domestic network in India and is expanding its international reach