Page 20 - Airlines

DGCA issues guidelines to prevent runway incursions, calls for training

Aviation regulator issues circular after Jan 2 accident at Haneda Airport in Tokyo

Airlines record lowest on-time figures in 11 months in Jan amid fog issues

DGCA and aviation security regulator Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) on January 17 came down heavily on three airlines namely IndiGo, SpiceJet and Air India

Boeing 'undoubtedly' making progress on quality issues: Avolon CEO

Boeing has been under fire from regulators and airlines over a succession of quality issues that have snagged production and development timelines

Lufthansa cancels hundreds of flights as ground staff strike for a day

Ground staff for Lufthansa walked off the job at five major German airports on Wednesday, causing the airline to cancel hundreds of flights. The Ver.di union called on ground staff at Frankfurt and Munich, Lufthansa's two main hubs, as well as Berlin, Duesseldorf and Hamburg, to strike for 27 hours starting at 4 am Wednesday. Lufthansa said ahead of the strike that it expected to be able to operate around 10-20 per cent of all planned flights. It said tickets could be re-booked free of charge, and tickets for German domestic flights could be converted to rail vouchers. In Frankfurt, the company canceled 80-90 per cent of the planned 600 departures and arrivals by Lufthansa itself and subsidiary Air Dolomiti ahead of the strike, German news agency dpa reported. More than 400 departures and arrivals at Munich Airport also were canceled. All Lufthansa departures from Berlin and Hamburg were canceled, as were most domestic flights from Duesseldorf. Lufthansa anticipated that, in all, m

Airlines cancel 7,427 flights in 2023 for various reasons: VK Singh

Indian commercial airline operators cancelled 7,427 flights in 2023 due to various reasons, including weather and technical, Parliament was informed on Monday. Eleven domestic airlines, including the now grounded Go First, cancelled a total of 7,427 flights, including 3,210 flights cancelled on account of weather and 2,109 due to technical reasons, Minister of State for Civil Aviation VK Singh said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha. In another reply, the minister said there were 157 aircraft grounded due to engine or other issues. He also said that "there are no Indian carrier's aircraft seized by lessors or creditors abroad".

IndiGo issues apology after para-athlete alleges mistreatment by crew

The airlines reaffirmed their commitment to inclusivity and pledged to address the matter swiftly and transparently

IndiGo's Q3 results: Profit doubles to Rs 2,998 cr on strong demand, fares

IndiGo, a low-cost carrier, has India's largest airline fleet of 358 aircraft and commands a market share of over 62%

Laser strikes against aircrafts have surged to new record, says FAA

The Federal Aviation Administration said Wednesday that it received 13,304 reports from pilots about laser strikes last year, erasing a record set in 2021

Around 100 flights delayed, 5 diverted due to bad weather at Delhi airport

Flight operations were significantly impacted at the Delhi airport on Wednesday as around 100 flights were delayed, at least five were diverted and many were cancelled due to bad weather. As dense fog persisted from early morning hours, at least five flights, including an international flight, were diverted to various cities, an official said. According to the official, four flights were diverted to Jaipur, one each to Ahmedabad, and Mumbai. The six flights were diverted between 9.30 pm on Tuesday and 9 am on Wednesday. Also, around 100 flights were delayed and many were cancelled due to the adverse weather conditions at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in the national capital, the official said.

IndiGo asks flyers not to share PNR on social media after techie conned

Budget carrier IndiGo on Wednesday cautioned flyers against sharing their PNR number on social media or to unauthorised people in light of an incident in which flight tickets of eight passengers were cancelled without consent. The Noida-based software engineer had reportedly shared ticket details, including the PNR, on social media platform X and the airline believes that is when cyber thugs took him for a ride. The techie was travelling from Thiruvananthapuram to Delhi on January 7 and had booked eight tickets at around Rs 72,000. He reportedly shared on X a purported screenshot of the web check-in process, and tagged IndiGo to ask "Why forced to web check in? If it is mandatory, why should I pay additional charges?" "If auto-assignment stopped and I have 8 passengers on my PNR, why is the portal forcing me to pay an additional amount for all eight seats?" he added. Later, a conversation took place between the techie and an IndiGo representative over direct messages (DM), whose .

Flag coercive call from management to extend duty: Unions ask A-I pilots

Tata Group-owned Air India's two pilot unions on Wednesday asked their members to flag any "coercive call" from the management for extending flight duty timings beyond the stipulated limits. In a joint communication to their members, Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA) and Indian Pilots Guild (IPG) also said that they are in the process of compiling the records of recent instances (of such calls). The communication comes in the backdrop of the two unions writing to Air India Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Campbell Wilson, alleging that the airline management is "intimidating and coercing" some of their members to extend flight duty timings beyond the prescribed limits. The letter to Campbell was also marked to Tata Group and Air India Chairman N Chandrasekaran, among others. "We wish to bring to your attention a matter of utmost importance concerning potential coercive calls related to the extension of Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL)," the pilots unions s

Boeing postpones 2024 outlook, CEO says company has 'much to prove'

The 787 production rate was at five per month, Boeing said, adding that it had also resumed 777X production during the fourth quarter

SpiceJet to launch eight flights to Ayodhya on Feb 1, Scindia to inaugurate

SpiceJet will launch eight new flights to Ayodhya from different places on February 1, according to an official. Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia will inaugurate the flights. The flights will connect Ayodhya with Delhi, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Patna, Darbhanga, Mumbai and Bengaluru, the official said. The official said that more people are visiting Ayodhya after the consecration ceremony at the Ram Temple. The Maharishi Valmiki International Airport at Ayodhya Dham was inaugurated earlier this month.

NCLT rejects Wilmington Trust's insolvency petition against SpiceJet

In a relief to low-cost carrier SpiceJet, the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on Monday dismissed an insolvency petition filed against the company by aircraft lessor Wilmington Trust SP Services. A Delhi-based bench of NCLT comprising members Mahendra Khandelwal and Rahul Prasad Bhatnagar dismissed the petition of the aircraft lessor based in Dublin, Ireland. Wilmington moved the insolvency plea against SpiceJet in June 2023 over unpaid dues. Last month NCLT had dismissed an insolvency petition by another aircraft lessor, Willis Lease Finance Corporation, which was also claiming dues. SpiceJet faced insolvency pleas filed by its aircraft lessors, including Willis Lease, Aircastle Ireland Ltd, Wilmington, and Celestial Aviation. However, NCLT has issued notice only on the petition filed by Aircastle so far. Earlier, the Delhi High Court directed SpiceJet to pay USD 4 million to its two engine lessors, Team France 01 SAS and Sunbird France 02 SAS, by February 15.

Financiers grapple with plane shortage issue amid Boeing MAX crisis

For months, aviation has been struggling to keep pace with a post-pandemic travel boom amid labour and parts shortages

Boeing one incident away from airplane 737 production halt, says lessor

Investigators are probing whether bolts were missing or wrongly fitted when the airplane was delivered just eight weeks before the Jan. 5 blowout that led to a partial grounding

Alaska Airlines begins flying Boeing Max 9 jetliners again after accident

Alaska Airlines has begun flying Boeing 737 Max 9 jetliners again for the first time since they were grounded after a panel blew out of the side of one of the airline's planes. The airline said in a statement that it has completed its final inspection of their group of the aircraft. They said they resumed flying the Max 9 with a flight from Seattle to San Diego on Friday afternoon. On Wednesday, the Federal Aviation Administration approved the inspection and maintenance process to return the planes to flying. Technicians at Alaska began inspections that night, the airline said. The airline said they expect inspections to be completed by the end of next week, allowing the airline to operate a full flight schedule. Inspections are expected to take up to 12 hours per aircraft. Each of our 737-9 MAX will return to service only after the rigorous inspections are completed and each plane is deemed airworthy according to FAA requirements, the airline said in a written statement ...

Digi Yatra voluntary, data can be collected only after consent: Scindia

Digi Yatra is purely voluntary for air passengers and personnel at airports have been directed to collect data for the application only with the consent of passengers, according to Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia. There have been complaints that biometric data for Digi Yatra were being gathered from passengers without their consent and the issue was flagged to the minister by Rajya Sabha member Saket Gokhale. Digi Yatra, which provides for contactless, seamless movement of passengers at various check points at airports based on Facial Recognition Technology (FRT), is currently available at a minimum 13 airports for domestic passengers. In response to the member, Scindia has said that the issue was examined and "airport operators have been advised to sensitise Digi buddies on consent taking process and keeping use of Digi Yatra completely voluntary". To support passengers with the use of Digi Yatra, services of individuals called Digi buddies have been made available at

Akasa Air orders over 300 CFM engines for its new B737 MAX aircraft

The deal is valued at around $4.5 billion and includes spare engines and a services contract

Alaska Air Q4 results: $150 million loss reported due to rise in expenses

Alaska executives are set to address investors and analysts later in the day. The airline placed orders for 42 737-10 and 10 737-9 jets in 2022, as part of a plan to sunset Airbus aircraft by 2023