Page 11 - Airlines

Southwest Airlines names IndiGo co-founder Rakesh Gangwal as Chairman

Billionaire and IndiGo co-founder Rakesh Gangwal has been appointed as the Chairman of American carrier Southwest Airlines. Gangwal, who joined the board of Southwest in July this year, had also acquired shares worth USD 108 million of the airline recently. His appointment as the board chair comes a little over a week after Southwest settled issues with Elliott Investment Management, one of the airline's largest shareholders, that had sought sweeping changes at the carrier. On Monday, Southwest announced the appointment of Gangwal as the independent Chair of the Board of Directors and also named new Board Committee Chairs. "We are embarking on the next era of change at Southwest as we build upon its many successes and storied past. Our critical priority as a newly constituted board is to come together to work closely with Bob Jordan and the rest of the management team to return the carrier to superior financial performance," Gangwal said in a statement. Jordan is the President, Chi

Major domestic routes see up to 32% drop in spot airfares for Diwali travel

Travel associations observed that demand for flights on metro routes has eased this year compared to the previous surge, which largely met the pent-up post-pandemic travel appetite

Suspect who issued hoax threats to airlines sent emails from Delhi: Police

Police in Maharashtra's Nagpur, who claimed to have identified the person behind a spate of hoax bomb threats at airports and other establishments across the country, on Wednesday said that as per their probe, the suspect sent the threat emails from Delhi. Officials probing the case said the suspect, Jagdish Shriram Uikey (35), who has authored a book on terrorism and hails from Arjuni Morgaon in Gondia district of Maharashtra, has been living in the national capital since the past few years. In the last two weeks, more than 510 domestic and international flights received bomb threats that later turned out to be hoax, causing major operational and financial distress for the airlines. Most of the threats were issued through social media. An official of the Nagpur police earlier said the investigators found that Uikey sent emails to various government bodies, including the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), Railway Minister, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and his deputy, airline

Only one PIA bidder left: Why are buyers running away from Pak Airlines?

Initially, the government aimed to complete PIA's privatisation by June, but this timeline has since been pushed to October due to various delays

Irish tax perks under I-T lens: What it means for aircraft leasing?

The I-T department's scrutiny stems from notices issued to the offshore firms, asserting that their primary motivation for operating from Ireland is to evade taxation on operating lease rentals

Australian PM Albanese defends himself from free flight upgrades accusation

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Tuesday said he had always acted in a transparent and appropriate way after a new book claimed that he had repeatedly requested free upgrades for personal flights on Qantas Airways. Albanese, who was transport minister in a previous government, was accused in a book released on Monday of developing an inappropriately close relationship with Alan Joyce, who was Qantas chief executive for 15 years until 2023. Qantas is Australia's largest airline and was state-owned until the 1990s. The Sydney-based airline is the country's flag carrier and must by law remain at least 51 per cent Australian owned. According to Qantas insiders, Albanese would liaise with Joyce directly about his personal travel, a published extract of the book said. The insiders were not named. Albanese said he had declared 22 free Qantas upgrades in a register of gifts to lawmakers valued at more than 300 Australian dollars (USD 197). He noted opposition lawmaker Paul ...

AICCA terms Air India's new room-sharing policy illegal, seeks intervention

The All India Cabin Crew Association has termed Tata Group-owned Air India's room-sharing policy for a section of cabin crew members as "illegal, bad in law, and Void ab initio on multiple fronts." The association has requested intervention from the Labour Ministry, urging it to stall the move. The association is seeking these entitlements hotel accommodation and conditions of accommodation in line with the policy on accommodation for pilots, as per the previous agreements and tribunal awards. The association has also written to Air India Chief Campbell Wilson, urging him "not to violate" the existing status quo, and respect the sanctity of the Industrial Tribunal and the pending Industrial dispute over the issue. Under the new policy effective December 1, members will be required to share rooms during layovers except for cabin executives and those operating ultra-long-haul flights ahead of the merger of Vistara with it, scheduled for November 11. Cabin crew members on ...

Civil Aviation Minister Naidu vows action amid surge in hoax bomb threats

On Friday, over 20 flights of various airlines reportedly received bomb threats, according to Civil Aviation ministry

Here's a list of airlines suspending flights amid tensions in Middle East

The Franco-Dutch group's low-cost unit Transavia cancelled flights to and from Tel Aviv, Amman and Beirut until end-March

US, Europe airlines approach Air India for developing their Gen AI chatbots

Major US and European airlines have approached Air India for developing generative AI chatbots similar to that of the Indian carrier's AI.g, which currently handles around 97 per cent of customer queries it receives without the help of contact centre agents. Besides, the Tata Group-owned Air India has filed for its first patent which is for the upcoming feature 'one click booking' of tickets on its website and mobile app. Air India's Chief Digital & Technology Officer Satya Ramaswamy on Tuesday said a lot of innovations are being done so that AI.g stands apart. "We are sharing the knowledge (about the chatbot) also but nobody has been able to come up with something like this yet," he said. At a select media briefing, Ramaswamy also said some US and European airlines have contacted Air India for help on building generative AI chatbots. "It is about thought leadership... we will help them with development," he said. Without naming the airlines that have approached it, he mentioned

All security protocols followed when flights receive bomb threats: Airlines

Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) is continuously in touch with the Ministry of Home Affairs on the situation of bomb threats to flights

Training lapses: DGCA issues notices to two senior execs of Akasa Air

Sources indicated that these pilots, who received training on unqualified simulators, may be required to undergo simulator training again

Vistara in-flight experience will continue post-merger: Air India

Air India on Friday said Vistara routes and schedule as well as the in-flight experience will continue and the flights operated with Vistara planes will have the code 'AI2' post-merger. The merger of the two full service carriers is scheduled to be completed on November 12, following which Singapore Airlines will have a 25.1 per cent stake in Air India. Vistara is a joint venture between Tata Group and Singapore Airlines. Post the merger, the vintage 'Maharaja' will be retained through the frequent flyer programme of the integrated entity. "The existing members of Club Vistara will be seamlessly transferred to Air India's Flying Returns program. With this merger, Flying Returns will also evolve into an all-new avatar 'Maharaja Club'," Air India said in the statement. Reiterating that the experience offered by Vistara will continue for customers post-merger, Air India said Vistara will be identified by a special four-digit Air India code beginning with the digit '2'. "For instance

Indian airlines will operate 25,007 weekly flights in winter schedule: DGCA

Indian airlines will operate 25,007 flights every week to and from 124 airports in the winter schedule starting October 27, according to aviation regulator DGCA. The number of flights is three per cent higher than 24,275 departures per week from 125 airports in the current summer schedule. In comparison to the winter schedule 2023, the number of flights has increased by 5.37 per cent. The winter schedule is from October 27, 2024 till March 29, 2025. "Out of these 124 airports, Pondicherry airport is proposed by the scheduled airlines whereas operations from Pakyong and Tezpur airport were suspended in the winter schedule 2024," the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said in a release on Thursday. More than half of the total 25,007 domestic departures per week during the winter schedule will be handled by IndiGo. The Gurugram-headquartered airline will see 13,691 departures per week, up 4.91 per cent from 13,050 departures per week in the on-going summer schedule. Also,

Centre plans strict norms to prevent hoax bomb threats to airlines

The civil aviation ministry plans to put in place strict norms to prevent incidents of hoax bomb threats to airlines, including placing the perpetrators on the no-fly list, a senior official said on Thursday. In four days, more than 20 flights of various Indian airlines received bomb threats, including international flights, and some of them were diverted. Most of the threats have turned out to be hoaxes. Against this backdrop, the ministry is looking at amending existing rules, including those related to the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS), in order to ensure stringent punishments are in place for the culprits, the official in the know said. Placing individuals making hoax bomb threats in the airlines' no-fly list is one of the proposals being looked at, the official said. The official also said legal opinions are being gathered with respect to making the changes in the rules. The provisions being followed in foreign countries to deal with hoax bomb threats are also bein

Indian Airlines to fly 3% more weekly flights in 2024 winter schedule: DGCA

It has been observed that there are 25,007 departures per week which have been finalized to/from 124 airports as per Winter Schedule 24, DGCA said

Accused behind threat messages being identified: Civil aviation secretary

The issue of multiple hoax threat messages to various airlines, which have disrupted many Indian flights, came up before a parliamentary committee on Wednesday as the civil aviation secretary told parliamentarians that accused are being identified and action taken. Civil Aviation Secretary Vumlunmang Vualnam suggested in the meeting of the Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture, which is headed by JD(U) MP Sanjay Jha, that investigators have gathered some information and are taking action. They are working on a few other cases of such hoax messages, he added. He, however, cited the sensitivity of information due to the ongoing probe into the matter to decline to share more details, sources said. They said Jha raised the issue of the number of hoax threat calls that airlines have received in the past couple of days, leading to diversion of flights, including one bound for Chicago. At least 10 flights have been disrupted due to bomb threat messages, mostly on social me

Domestic air passenger traffic rises 6% to 13 million in September

Domestic carriers flew 1.30 crore passengers in September, which is 6.38 per cent higher compared to the year-ago period, according to official data released on Tuesday. In September last year, airlines carried 1.22 crore passengers. IndiGo's market share rose to 63 per cent while that of Air India climbed to 15.1 per cent in September 2024, as per the data released by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). AIX Connect, which was merged with Air India Express this month, topped the list of airlines in terms of On Time Performance (OTP) at 70.1 per cent, replacing Akasa Air, whose OTP slipped to 62.1 per cent. The data showed that Vistara's market share dipped to 10 per cent and that of AIX Connect slipped to 4.1 per cent last month. The overall domestic market share of Air India Group comprising Air India, AIX Connect and Vistara touched 29.2 per cent. In September, Akasa Air and SpiceJet carried saw 5.73 lakh and 2.61 lakh passengers, respectively. While Akasa Air's m

A regional airline without call centre; FLY91 remains 'digital native'

After taking to the skies nearly seven months ago, FLY91 is on a steady flight path and that too with a difference. The regional carrier does not have a call centre for passengers. Focused on being a "digital native" company, the Goa-based carrier prepared a list of priorities before commencing operations and decided to do away with certain things that are traditionally done by the airlines. "We consciously wanted to go down that path (of not having a call centre)...," FLY91's Chief Technology Officer Prasanna Subramaniam said. There are huge cost savings with not having the call centre and it also gives the advantage as the savings are being used for building new digital applications somewhere else, he told PTI in a recent interview. Currently, FLY91, which commenced flying on March 18, operates two ATR 72-600 aircraft. It has around 16 departures a day. The airline has a fully automated bot that responds to customer queries. In case a customer wants to have a personal talk, then

A-I Express flight faces mid-air glitch post take-off from TN, lands safely

A Sharjah bound flight from Tiruchirappalli, shortly after departure on Friday evening, witnessed mid-air technical glitch and later landed safely, police said. Chief Minister M K Stalin held an emergency meeting with officials and directed them to follow all safety measures. Later, he congratulated the flight captain and crew for the safe landing. After taking off at about 5.30 pm from the airport, the fault related to hydraulic systems, the landing gear, was noticed. Deftly handling the situation, the pilots later safely landed the aircraft in Tiruchirappalli airport. The chief minister in a post on 'X' said: "I am heartened to hear that the #AirIndiaExpress flight has landed safely. Upon receiving news of the landing gear issue, I immediately coordinated an emergency meeting with officials over the phone and instructed them to implement all necessary safety measures, including deploying fire engines, ambulances, and medical assistance. "I have also now directed the District ...