Page 4 - Aircraft

DGCA says checks of Boeing 737-8 Max planes completed satisfactorily

Aviation regulator DGCA on Monday said the checks of Boeing 737-8 Max planes have been completed satisfactorily. On Saturday, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) directed domestic airlines to immediately carry out inspection of emergency exits of all Boeing 737-8 Max planes in their fleets as an "abundant precautionary measure" in the wake of the Alaska Airlines incident. "These checks have been satisfactorily performed on the fleet of operational fleet of Boeing B737-8 Max aircraft by Air India Express (4), Spicejet (8) and Akasa (20)," DGCA said in a statement. Akasa Air fleet includes one B737-8200 aircraft which has a mid-cabin door on which the operational check has also been completed satisfactorily, it added. On January 5, Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft was involved in an incident of an in-flight departure of a mid-cabin door plug which resulted in rapid decompression of the airplane.

Runway at Tokyo's Haneda airport reopens a week after fatal collision

Tokyo's Haneda airport is almost back to its normal operation Monday as it reopened the runway a week after a fatal collision between a Japan Airlines airliner and a coast guard aircraft seen to have been caused by human error. The collision occurred Tuesday evening when JAL Flight 516 carrying 379 passengers and flight crew landed right behind the coast guard aircraft preparing for a take off on the same runway, both engulfed in flames. All occupants of the JAL's Airbus A350-900 airliner safely evacuated in 18 minutes. The captain of the coast guard's much smaller Bombardier Dash-8 escaped with burns but his five crew members died. At the coast guard Haneda base, colleagues of the five flight crew lined up and saluted to mourn for their deaths as a black vehicle carrying their bodies drove past them. The victims' bodies were to return to their families Sunday after police autopsies as part of their separate investigation of possible professional negligence. Haneda reopened three ..

Alaska Air grounds Boeing 737 Max-9 fleet after window, fuselage blowout

The airline is taking the "precautionary step" to temporarily ground the fleet of 65 planes until the completion of full maintenance and inspection, Chief Executive Officer Ben Minicucci said

NCLAT dismisses JKC's plea challenging sale of Jet Airways aircraft

Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Venkatraman, representing the lenders, said they were losing public money to keep the airline afloat due to maintenance costs

Go First lessors propose MRO agency to maintain aircraft, RP tells HC

The RP said that it is surprising that the lessors who have participated in the discussions have chosen not to place the above facts on record

China's homegrown C919 aircraft arrives in Hong Kong in maiden flight

A Chinese C919 jet arrived in Hong Kong on Tuesday in the Chinese-made plane's first foray outside of mainland China as its manufacturer prepares to take on Airbus and Boeing in the market for single-aisle commercial aircraft. The C919 and another Chinese-made aircraft, an ARJ21, will be on display at Hong Kong's international airport until Sunday. The C919 is due to perform a fly-past over the city's scenic Victoria Harbor on Saturday. The maker of the C919, the Commercial Aircraft Company of China, or COMAC, designed many of the C919's parts, but some of its key components are still sourced from the West, including its engine. The narrow-bodied airliner was in development for 16 years and received certification in 2022. It has a maximum range of about 3,500 miles (5,630 kilometres) and is designed to carry 158-168 passengers.

Delhi airport to levy higher charges on airlines for grounded aircraft

Delhi airport operator DIAL plans to levy higher charges from airlines for grounded aircraft as they occupy available parking space and impact overall operational efficiency, amid rising instances of grounding of planes due to technical and other issues. "We are planning that in the next traffic calculation, we are going to request that for people who are grounding (aircraft) here for more than a certain period, there should be some sort of higher charges because otherwise it disturbs the operations of other airlines," Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL) CEO Videh Kumar Jaipuriar told PTI in an interview. Jaipuriar, who is in charge of the country's largest airport, was responding to a query on whether the operator will look at levying higher charges from airlines for aircraft that are grounded at the airport. The next traffic review of the airport is to happen early next year. As many as 64 planes of various airlines, including IndiGo, SpiceJet and Air India, were grounded at t

Twin aircraft crashes: Flight academy officials booked for not cooperating

An offence was registered against officials of Redbird Flight Training Academy, located in Baramati near Pune, for alleged non-cooperation in the investigation into two of its aircraft crashing last month, police said on Monday. Aircraft from the academy had crashed on October 19 and 22 in Baramati tehsil. In the October 19 incident, a pilot sustained injuries after a training aircraft crashed near Katfal village, while in the October 22 incident, two persons were injured when another training aircraft crashed near Gojubavi village. The complaint against staffers of the Redbird Flight Training Academy has been registered by an official from the New Delhi-based Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) who was a part of a team to investigate the twin crashes, a police official said. Baramati taluka police station inspector Prabhakar More said officials of the academy allegedly did not provide the required information to the AAIB team and did not cooperate, thus creating obstruct

European planemaker Airbus looks to support 50% more jobs by 2025

Airbus procures components and services worth $750 million every year from India

Changes to insolvency law on leased aircraft to apply retrospectively: DGCA

The clarification of India's recent amendment to its insolvency law potentially paves the way for lessors of bankrupt budget carrier Go First to take back their planes

DGCA allows commuter airlines to operate single-engine aircraft at night

Aviation safety regulator DGCA has allowed scheduled commuter airlines to operate their single engine aircraft at night, a move that will help in enhancing air connectivity to remote areas during night hours. The operations with Single Engine Turbine (SET) planes was introduced for Scheduled Commuter Airlines (SCAs) in 2018. Till now, such operations were restricted to day operations and Visual Flight Rules (VFR). Generally, SCAs operate regional flights. In a release on Tuesday, aviation watchdog DGCA said it has amended its relevant regulations to include a provision for SCAs to fly at night on airplanes. The operations circular has also been amended to incorporate the guidance material and detailed guidelines to modify the assessment of routes, qualification, experience, training, and assessment requirements of the crew, among other aspects, the release said. Besides, operational, certification and airworthiness requirements have also been taken into account to ensure that safe

Hindustan Aeronautics partners Safran of France for making engine parts

The products that HAL and Safran will jointly produce in Bengaluru will power the Airbus A320 Neo family and the Boeing 737 Max single-aisle airliners

Cloud seeding experiment over Solapur led to 18% rise in rainfall: Study

A cloud seeding experiment to artificially trigger rain over the Solapur region of southwest Maharashtra led to 18 per cent more rainfall than in normal conditions, a study has revealed. In the results of the study published in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society (BAMS), scientists from the Pune-based Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology and other institutes found that hygroscopic cloud seeding enhanced rainfall in a rain shadow area spanning 100 square kilometres in Solapur. Hygroscopic seeding is done in warm convective clouds with a cloud base height greater than zero degree Celsius. It uses hygroscopic flares of calcium chloride particles released at the convective cloud base. "As per radar observations over an area spanning 100 sq km downwind of the seed location, there was a relative enhancement of rainfall by 18 per cent in the 'seed' category clouds," Thara Prabhakaran, the project director of Cloud Aerosol Interaction and Precipitation Enhancement ...

Adani Ports and SEZ incorporates wholly-owned aircraft leasing unit

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd (APSEZL) on Monday said it has incorporated a wholly-owned aircraft leasing unit, Udanvat Leasing IFSC Ltd. The entity will have an authorised and paid-up share capital of Rs 2.5 crore. Udanvat has been incorporated with the objective to carry out business activity of owning and leasing of aircraft, the compay said in a regulatory filing. APSEZL has incorporated a wholly-owned subsidiary company "Udanvat Leasing IFSC Ltd" on October 23, 2023, the company said in the filing. It also said Udanvat Leasing IFSC Ltd has been incorporated with an authorised and paid-up share capital of Rs 2,50,00,000 divided into 25,00,000 equity shares of Rs 10 each. Last month, Tata Group-owned Air India had also announced setting up an aircraft leasing unit at IFSC (International Financial Services Centre) Gift City while budget carrier IndiGo also plans to establish a shop at IFSC Gift City. Aircraft leasing firms that commence operations from the IFSC in .

Delhi HC allows Go First lessors to deploy security around aircraft

The order was passed on the lessors' plea to allow them to maintain their aircraft. The next hearing is on October 19

90% of our MRO expenses directed to foreign firms: IndiGo to MoCA

Reach out to aircraft equipment makers to set up MROs in India: IndiGo to govt

Govt changes insolvency rules to exclude leased aircraft from moratorium

Some provisions of the Indian Bankruptcy Code will not apply to transactions relating to aircraft, aircraft engines, airframes and helicopters, the notice showed

Production of C295 aircraft in India will be game-changer: India to Spain

The production of 40 Airbus C295 medium tactical transport aircraft in India will be a "game changer" as it would facilitate the creation of a world-class aerospace ecosystem in the country that would help in manufacturing other planes in the long-run, Indian Ambassador to Spain Dinesh K Patnaik said here. The Indian Air Force received the first C295 aircraft on Wednesday, two years after New Delhi sealed a Rs 21,935-crore deal with Airbus Defence and Space to procure the planes. Under the deal, Airbus will deliver the first 16 aircraft in 'fly-away' condition from its final assembly line in Seville by 2025 and the subsequent 40 aircraft will be manufactured and assembled by Tata Advanced Systems (TASL) in India as part of an industrial partnership between the two companies. "The C295 project will be a game-changer project as it will create a world-class aerospace ecosystem in India," Patnaik told PTI in an interview. The first 'Make in India' C295 is set to come out of a productio

Embraer sees opportunity to partner with India for aerospace development

Brazilian aircraft maker Embraer sees a good opportunity to partner with India to develop a strong aerospace industry in both the countries by synergising their strengths, company President and CEO Francisco Gomes Neto said on Friday. The challenges in the global supply chain brought by the pandemic also brings about opportunities to develop new partnerships in order to develop resilience, he said while speaking at a panel discussion at the B20 Summit India 2023. "India has a very competitive labour cost. India has the availability of engineering, design, (and) technical expertise, and we from Embraer, we have knowledge and experience to develop, certify and manufacture aircraft. So it seems to be a good opportunity to have collaboration," Neto said. He further said, "I'm sure we can bring both things together, create a strong aerospace industry on both sides." Neto stressed that there are a lot of opportunities among the G20 nations for collaboration but it should be "more effecti

IndiGo taking measures to deal with aircraft on ground situation: CEO

The country's largest airline IndiGo on Thursday told shareholders that a whole range of mitigating measures are being taken to deal with the situation arising out of grounded aircraft and it is working hard to again have a positive net worth for the company. Speaking to shareholders at the 20th annual general meeting of InterGlobe Aviation, CEO Pieter Elbers also said it aims to "welcome 100 million customers" in this financial year. InterGlobe Aviation is the parent of IndiGo, which has more than 63 per cent domestic market share and is also focusing on internationalisation of its operations. The airline operates more than 300 planes and has nearly 1,000 aircraft on order. In response to a shareholder's query regarding Aircraft on Ground (AOG), Elbers said a whole range of mitigating measures are being taken to address the situation, including cooperation with Turkish Airlines. "We are dealing with some AOG situation... AOG is being dealt with a whole range of mitigating measure