Airline Industry

Air India flew 8 times without airworthiness licence: Here's what it means

The incident raised concerns as it came months after the deadly London-bound Dreamliner crash in June that killed 260 civilians

Direct Kolkata-Guangzhou flights resume after four-year suspension

After a hiatus of over four years, direct flights between Kolkata and China's Guangzhou city will resume on Sunday, with the first one scheduled to take off at 10 pm, said an official at the NSCBI airport here. Direct flights were operational between the two countries till early 2020 before being suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The services remained suspended in view of the eastern Ladakh border row. Following recent diplomatic initiatives, private carrier IndiGo said it will resume services to China, connecting Kolkata to Guangzhou with daily, non-stop flights, starting October 26. "The first flight is scheduled to leave Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport at 10 pm today," the official said.

Indigo to launch direct flights to Copenhagen from Mumbai starting Oct 8

Domestic airline IndiGo on Tuesday said it will launch flight services to the Danish capital city of Copenhagen from Mumbai, starting October 8, further expanding its international network into Northern Europe. The airline said the new services will be operated three times a week, using its Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft, taken on wet/damp lease from Norse Atlantic Airways. Copenhagen will be the airline's 44th international and 138th overall destination, it said. "With growing demand for travel between India and Northern Europe, we will be connecting Mumbai to Copenhagen, marking IndiGo's entry into the Scandinavian region. This expansion strengthens our presence in Europe, offering Copenhagen as a gateway to the Nordic region for Indian travellers," said Pieter Elbers, Chief Executive Officer, IndiGo. For Indian travellers, this direct link provides efficient access to the Nordics, while strengthening trade, education, and tourism ties between the two regions, IndiGo said. Ind

Deutsche Lufthansa sees growth in leisure unit as airline struggles

While the post-Covid travel boom shows no sign of letting up, the core Lufthansa airline is still facing aircraft delays and labor strife that dented profits and margins last year

India proposes global airline credit score system to ICAO for fair payments

India has mooted the idea of developing a standardised creditworthiness evaluation system for airlines that will also entail tiered risk-based terms for payments to be made to airports. A working paper for having a standardised Airline Health Score (AHS) framework to assess the financial, operational and safety performance of airlines was recently submitted to the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) ahead of its 42nd General Assembly scheduled to begin from September 23. Pitching for AHS, India said a significant proportion of revenue at most airports, particularly in developing countries, comes from aeronautical charges that are often collected on a post-service (credit) basis. While larger airlines may enjoy stable financials and timely payments, smaller or financially distressed carriers often accumulate dues, exposing airport operators to substantial financial risks. The absence of a globally accepted mechanism to assess the financial reliability of airline customer

India a key market, aiming to be core service provider: Malaysia Airlines

Malaysia Airlines plans to strengthen its position in India, aiming to be a core service provider, leveraging the country's growing aviation market and strategic partnerships with IndiGo and Air India

United Airlines tech outage grounds hundreds of flights across US hubs

United Airlines announced that it was holding all mainline (non-regional) flights at departure airports due to a 'technology issue'. Services later resumed gradually

48 passengers added to India's no-fly list this year till July: Govt

As many as 48 air passengers were placed on the 'no-fly list' this year till July 30, according to the government. Unruly passengers can face flying ban for extended periods depending on the severity of their misconduct. Minister of State for Civil Aviation Murlidhar Mohol has informed the Rajya Sabha that 48 people have been placed on the 'no-fly list' till July 30 this year. A total of 82 and 110 passengers were placed on the list in 2024 and 2023, respectively. As per the data shared by the minister as part of a written reply on Monday, a total of 63 people were placed on the 'no-fly list' in 2022, 66 in 2021 and 10 in 2020. Under the Civil Aviation Requirements (CAR) on 'Handling of unruly/ disruptive passengers' issued by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), unruly passengers are categorised into three levels based on the severity of their misconduct onboard an aircraft. "The duration of ban for Level 1 misconduct is up to 3 months, for Level 2 is up to 6 months

Air India crash risks fueling up to 30% jump in airline insurance premia

Insurance claims for the Air India crash are expected in the realm of $475 million, including those for the aircraft's hull and engine as well as additional liability for loss of life

Air fares surge post Ahmedabad plane crash, rampant price gouging

A travel agent mentioned that a ticket, which was priced slightly above Rs 6,000 before the accident, is now being sold for around Rs 34,000

Akasa Air signs pact with Adani Airport to launch operations from NMIA

Akasa Air partners with Adani Airports to begin operations from Navi Mumbai International Airport, starting with 100+ weekly flights and expanding to 350+ domestic and international departures

Airline profits to reach $36 bn in 2025 despite supply chain disruptions

Rise in passenger numbers and lower fuel costs drive airline revenue growth, while cargo revenue declines, says IATA

Cathay Pacific orders 100 new aircraft, to start deliveries this year

Cathay Pacific has placed 100 new generation aircraft as part of its HKD 100 billion (at current rate USD 12.86 billion) investment plan for the next five years, a senior official of the Hong Kong flag carrier has said. Rakesh Raicar, Cathay's Regional General Manager South Asia, Middle East, and Africa, said the airline expects 25 per cent growth in cargo this year from South India pinning hopes on exports of Apple products and pharma, among others. Raicar, in a press conference on Thursday, said the three cities - Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad constituted 43 per cent of the total over 1.30 lakh tonne of cargo it handled last year. "The total fleet size as of June 2024 was 178 (both passenger and cargo) with approximately 73 new passenger aircraft scheduled to join as of 30 June 2024. The 100 billion HK dollars (is being ) invested in products. Within that, a major chunk will go in terms of our fleet acquisition. And we've already placed an order of 100 new generation aircraft i

Airlines received 24 hoax bomb calls this year till March 2025: Govt

Airlines received 24 hoax bomb threat calls this year till March 25, the government said on Thursday. Citing data from the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS), Minister of State for Civil Aviation Murlidhar Mohol said a total of 836 hoax bomb threats were received by airline operators since 2022 till March 25, 2025. In 2022, the number of the calls stood at 13 and rose to 71 in 2023. Last year, there were 728 such calls and the count was at 24 this year up to March 25, as per the data. In a written reply to Lok Sabha, the minister said 13 people were arrested in 2024 for making hoax bomb threat calls to airlines. BCAS has mandated robust protocols for handling such threats in coordination with law enforcement agencies, central security agencies, CISF and stakeholders, leading to minimal impact on flight operations. Bomb Threat Contingency Plan (BTCP) is put in place to handle such threats. "As a part of BTCP, every airport has a designated Bomb Threat Assessment Committee (B

Air India enters into codeshare partnership with Air New Zealand

Air India and Air New Zealand on Wednesday entered into a codeshare partnership and both airlines will also explore the possibility of starting direct flights between India and New Zealand. On Wednesday, both airlines signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to boost air connectivity between the two countries. "The MoU includes the establishment of a new codeshare partnership on 16 routes between India, Singapore, Australia, and New Zealand," a release said. The two airlines have entered into a codeshare partnership. Generally, a codeshare partnership allows an airline to book its passengers on its partner carrier on a single ticket. Further, both carriers will explore the introduction of a direct service between India and New Zealand by the end of 2028, subject to new aircraft deliveries and approvals from relevant government regulators. "We are delighted to be deepening our relationship with Air New Zealand, which follows the recent expansion of our codeshare partnerships with

IndiGo has great opportunity to address long haul market: CEO Pieter Elbers

With internationalisation as a key focus area, IndiGo chief Pieter Elbers on Tuesday said the airline has a great opportunity to address the long haul flight services market from India. IndiGo, which has more than 400 planes in its fleet, is taking wide-body Boeing 787 aircraft on damp lease and is set to start services to Amsterdam and Manchester later this year. "International air travel in India probably for quite a long time was very much taken care of by non Indian airlines... there is a great opportunity to address that market (long haul) with our planes," Elbers said. Generally, long haul flights are those having a duration of more than nine hours. The airline expects to take delivery of long range A321 XLR planes this year and wide-body A350 aircraft in 2027. Speaking at the Skift India Forum, he also said that its order book for aircraft is an "incredible asset". The airline has more than 900 planes on order. Elbers also asserted that the airline wants to have the cost

SpiceJet MD Ajay Singh sells 0.9% stake in company for Rs 52 crore

Ajay Singh, one of the promoters and MD of SpiceJet, on Thursday divested nearly 1 per cent stake in the budget airline for Rs 52 crore through an open market transaction. According to the bulk deal data on the BSE, Ajay Singh sold over 1.15 crore shares, amounting to a 0.9 per cent stake in Gurugram-based SpiceJet. The shares were disposed of at an average price of Rs 45.34, taking the transaction value to Rs 52.31 crore. After the stake sale, Singh's holding in SpiceJet has come down to 22 per cent from 22.90 per cent. Also, the combined shareholding of promoters and promoter group of the company has declined to 28.23 per cent from 29.13 per cent. Details of the buyer(s) of SpiceJet's shares could not be ascertained on the exchange. Shares of SpiceJet on Thursday declined 6.38 per cent to close at Rs 45.48 apiece on the BSE. Earlier, the budget airline was facing a fresh round of troubles as three Ireland-based aircraft lessors and a former pilot filed insolvency pleas in NCLT

'Polythene bags, rags…': What clogged lavatories on Air India flight

AI126 from Chicago to Delhi returned to the US city on March 6. The company then stated that the flight was returned because of a technical issue

SolitAir to invest $25 mn in India's air cargo market this year: CEO

Dubai-based cargo operator SolitAir Holding is looking to invest USD 25 million in the domestic market in the first year of operations, its founder and Chief Executive Officer Hamdi Osman has said. Osman, a logistics industry veteran who served a 30-year stint with the American multinational conglomerate FedEx till 2011, also said that India is very "critical" to global trade and SolitAir places it at the top of its 50-city mission and vision that it is looking at in the long-term. The UAE's only dedicated cargo-agnostic airline operating express daily scheduled services between Dubai and high-yield key trade routes across the Global South, started operations last year with a Boeing 737 freighter plans to connect and service 50 cities within a six-hour flight radius of the UAE through its air cargo network. "Based on cost and investment coming into India, we are talking anywhere between USD 20-25-million investment in the Indian market in the first year," Osman told PTI. The compan

Delhi-bound Air India flight returns to Chicago due to technical issue

An Air India flight from Chicago to Delhi returned to the US city after being airborne for more than ten hours on Thursday, with the airline saying the return was due to a technical issue. However, a source aware of the development told PTI that the aircraft had to return as many of the lavatories were clogged. The flight was operated with a Boeing 777-337 ER aircraft and returned to Chicago's ORD airport after being airborne for over ten hours, according to information available on flight tracking website flightradar24.com. There are 10 lavatories, including two for first-class passengers, in the Boeing 777-300 ER aircraft operated by Air India and has little over 340 seats, including first, business and economy class seats, the source said. The source also said only 1 lavatory was functional. When reached out for comments, an Air India spokesperson said AI126 operating Chicago to Delhi on March 6 air-returned to Chicago due to a technical issue. "Upon landing at Chicago, all ..