Aviation

Deep-sea search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 to resume from Dec 30

Malaysia's transport ministry said Wednesday that the deep-sea hunt for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 will resume Dec 30, renewing hopes of finally locating the jet that vanished without a trace more than a decade ago. The Boeing 777 plane disappeared from radar shortly after taking off on March 8, 2014, carrying 239 people, mostly Chinese nationals, on a flight from Malaysia's capital, Kuala Lumpur, to Beijing. Satellite data showed the plane turned from its flight path and headed south to the far-southern Indian Ocean, where it is believed to have crashed. The transport ministry said in a statement that US-based marine robotics firm Ocean Infinity will search intermittently from Dec 30 for a total of 55 days, in targeted areas believed to have the highest likelihood of finding the missing aircraft. The latest development underscores the government of Malaysia's commitment in providing closure to the families affected by this tragedy, it said. Malaysia's government gave the green

Check-in systems at airports face issues due to outage, flights delayed

Check-in systems at various airports faced issues on Wednesday morning due to a system outage, according to a source. The source added that some flights have been delayed due to the issues. "Microsoft Windows reports major service outages globally. IT services/ check in systems at airports are impacted," as per a message for the passengers at the Varanasi airport. According to the message, airlines have implemented manual check in and boarding procedures. At least four airlines -- IndiGo, SpiceJet, Akasa Air and Air India Express -- have been affected, it said. There were no immediate comments from Microsoft or from the airlines. "Some domestic airlines are currently experiencing operational challenges, which may lead to delays or schedule challenges. "Our on-ground teams are diligently working with all stakeholders to ensure a seamless and efficient passenger experience," DIAL said in a post on X at 7.40 am. Specific details could not be immediately ascertained.

Airlines complete software upgrades for 323 operational A320 family planes

Aviation regulator DGCA on Sunday said Indian carriers have completed the software upgrades on 323 operational A320 family planes to address a potential issue related to flight controls. On Friday, Airbus said intense solar radiation might corrupt data critical to flight controls in a significant number of A320 family aircraft and that the software changes required to fix the issue would lead to operational disruptions. A total of 338 A320 family aircraft with the three Indian airlines -- IndiGo, Air India and Air India Express -- were initially identified for the software upgrades to address the issue. Among them, 323 were operational, 6 were under base maintenance and later it was found that the upgrades were no needed for 9 such planes in the fleet of Air India, according to a senior DGCA official. IndiGo has completed the upgrades on all the 200 of its operational A320 family planes. Air India had 113 affected aircraft and out of them, the upgrades have been done for the ...

Global flights in chaos as top-selling Airbus A320 planes hit by recall

Airlines rushed to implement the updates for affected A320 jetliners, grounding flights and upending plans for thousands of travellers, in a rare global recall of Airbus's top-selling je

41 flights delayed as dense fog disrupts operations at Bengaluru airport

According to IMD reports, the sky had remained partly cloudy on Wednesday, but Thursday's dense fog worsened visibility around the airport precincts

Ethiopia volcano subsides, disrupts flights as ash blankets far-off places

Volcanic activity in northern Ethiopia's long-dormant Hayli Gubbi volcano subsided Tuesday after an eruption over the weekend that left a trail of destruction in nearby villages and caused flight cancellations after ash plumes disrupted high-altitude flight paths. Villages in the district of Afdera in the Afar region were covered in ash, officials said residents were coughing, and livestock found their grass and water totally covered. Airlines cancelled dozens of flights scheduled to fly over affected areas as the meteorological department said the ash clouds were expected to clear later on Tuesday. India's flag carrier, Air India, said it cancelled 11 flights, most of them international, on Monday and Tuesday to inspect aircraft that may have flown over affected areas, acting on a directive from India's aviation safety regulator. Another Indian operator, Akasa Air, said it had cancelled flights to Middle East destinations such as Jeddah, Kuwait, and Abu Dhabi scheduled over the pa

Ethiopia's Hayli Gubbi volcano erupts for first time after 10,000 years

The explosive eruption began around 8.30 am UTC on Sunday, said the Toulouse VAAC advisory

IndiGo to invest $820 mn in IGA Financial Services for aircraft acquisition

Domestic carrier IndiGo on Friday said it has approved an investment of USD 820 million (about Rs 7,270 crore) in its wholly-owned subsidiary InterGlobe Aviation Financial Services IFSC Private Limited for aircraft acquisition. The investment will be made through a combination of equity shares and 0.01 per cent non-cumulative optionally convertible redeemable preference shares (OCRPS), in one or more tranches, the airline said in a statement. The funds raised by the subsidiary firm will be primarily deployed towards acquisition of aviation assets, thereby enabling ownership of aircraft, the airline said. IndiGo has 411 aircraft in its fleet as on November 21, according to aircraft fleet tracking website planespotter.net, with 365 in operations and the remaining 46 on ground.

GMR Airports rallies 15% in 1 month, stock at multi-year high; here's why

GMR Airports stock outlook: As the company entered quarter 3, historically the strongest quarter for travel and tourism, the management remains confident in the sector's trajectory.

DGCA to meet airlines and pilot bodies on revised crew duty, rest norms

Aviation safety regulator DGCA has convened a meeting with airline operators and pilots' bodies in New Delhi next week to discuss various issues related to the cockpit crew's duty and rest norms following the regulator making certain relaxations, including allowing more night landings and duty time extension for two-pilot Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft operations. The latest flight duty time limitation norms, which entail increased weekly rest periods to 48 hours, extension of night hours, and limiting the number of night landings to only two as against six earlier were initially opposed by the domestic airlines, including IndiGo and Air India. But they were subsequently rolled out by the DGCA following the Delhi High Court's directives, albeit after a delay of over one year and in a phased manner with the first phase in June and second phase this month. "The DGCA has called a meeting on Monday with the Federation of Indian Pilots (FIP) and Airlines' Pilots Association (ALPA-India)

Andhra to get India's first 'giga-scale' electric air taxi hub in Anantapur

Sky Factory involves investment of Rs 1,300 cr and it will put India on the 'map of next-generation aviation'

Navi Mumbai airport to begin operations on Dec 25 with 23 daily departures

Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA) will start commercial flight operations from December 25 and initially, there will be 23 scheduled daily departures. In the first month, the airport will operate for 12 hours between 8 am and 8 pm, handling 23 scheduled daily departures. During this period, the airport will manage up to 10 flight movements per hour, a release said on Monday. The airport has been developed by Navi Mumbai International Airport Pvt Ltd (NMIAL), a special purpose vehicle jointly owned by Adani Group and the City and Industrial Development Corporation of Maharashtra Ltd (CIDCO). NMIA, the second main airport in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 8. In the initial phase, the airport will handle around 120 air traffic movements daily. From February 2026, the airport will transition to round-the-clock operations, expanding to 34 daily departures. "The inaugural flight to arrive at NMIA will be IndiGo 6E

Flight bound for Jaffna carrying 44 passengers cancelled due to bad weather

An aircraft carrying 44 passengers bound for Jaffna on Saturday was diverted to Tiruchirappalli due to bad weather in the northern city of the island nation, sources said. However, as the weather did not clear and nearly after a delay of more than 3 hours, the airline cancelled its service, sources said. The flight, operated by a private airline, departed at 10.20 am and shortly after take off, the pilot was informed about the adverse weather conditions in Jaffna, they said. Later, the plane was diverted to Tiruchirappalli. "Right now the plane has landed safely in Tiruchirappalli with all the passengers. The flight will resume its journey once the weather is clear in Jaffna," they added. Due to persistent bad weather in Jaffna, the flight was delayed for over three hours before airline officials decided to cancel the journey. Later, the aircraft returned to Chennai, sources told PTI on Saturday. Upon landing, officials of the private airline informed passengers that the flight

Airlines need to be properly rewarded, says IATA chief amid supply woes

With supply chain woes continuing to impact aircraft deliveries, IATA chief Willie Walsh on Saturday said airlines need to be properly rewarded as he flagged concerns about talks of original equipment manufacturers planning to increase prices due to tariffs and other issues. The International Airport Transport Association (IATA) represents nearly 350 airlines that account for around 85 per cent of the global air traffic. Speaking at the 69th Assembly of Presidents of the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA) here, IATA Director General Willie Walsh said there was huge frustration that the supply chain issues are not getting much better. While airlines are a low margin industry, he said the margins of OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) are high. Taking examples, Walsh said engine makers are actually improving their financial performance during a period of massive disruption which has added massive costs to the airline industry. Walsh pointed out that it is bothering when

Every 50 days new airport coming up in India: Aviation Minister Naidu

Civil Aviation Minister K Ram Mohan Naidu on Friday said every 50 days a new airport is opened in India, which is unprecedented anywhere in the globe. Addressing the 30th edition of the two-day CII Partnership Summit-2025, the minister said Andhra Pradesh currently has seven airports and an equal number of aerodromes are coming up in the state. "Every 50 days we are opening a new airport which is unprecedented anywhere in the globe, and that is the kind of success we have achieved in terms of building up airports, the passenger capacity, and many other verticals in aviation," Naidu said. He further said that as many as four flight-training organisations are coming to the state, and that an MRO ecosystem and an aviation skilling university are coming up in Visakhapatnam. The minister further said the state is expected to expand the drone sector by creating a drone city, and aerospace and aircraft manufacturing also.

China Eastern resumes Shanghai-Delhi flights with 95% occupancy

China Eastern Airlines started its Shanghai-Delhi service on Sunday with a 95 per cent occupancy, becoming the first mainland Chinese carrier this year to resume direct flights to India after a gap of five years. Flight MU563, carrying 248 passengers, departed from Shanghai Pudong International Airport for Delhi, the state-run Global Times reported. Indian airline IndiGo will begin its daily Delhi-Guangzhou service from November 10. China Eastern becomes the first Chinese mainland-based airline in 2025 to resume direct passenger flights between China and India, the report said, adding that the Shanghai-Delhi flight achieved a load factor of over 95 per cent. The Shanghai-Delhi route is considered a key corridor linking two major economic centres and is expected to boost exchanges in trade, economy and culture, the report said. Flights between India and the Chinese mainland resumed on October 26 when an IndiGo aircraft landed at Guangzhou in Guangdong province from Kolkata, ending

UPS, FedEx ground fleets of MD-11 planes following deadly Kentucky crash

UPS and FedEx said they are grounding their fleets of McDonnell Douglas MD-11 planes out of an abundance of caution following a deadly crash at the UPS global aviation hub in Kentucky. The crash on Tuesday at UPS Worldport in Louisville killed 14 people, including the three pilots on the MD-11 that was headed for Honolulu. MD-11 aircraft make up about 9 per cent of the UPS airline fleet and 4 per cent of the FedEx fleet, the companies said. We made this decision proactively at the recommendation of the aircraft manufacturer, a UPS statement said on late Friday. Nothing is more important to us than the safety of our employees and the communities we serve. FedEx said in an email that it will be grounding the aircraft while it conducts a thorough safety review based on the recommendation of the manufacturer. Boeing, which merged with McDonnell Douglas in 1997, did not immediately respond to an email from The Associated Press asking for the reasoning behind the recommendation. Wester

Airbus India chief urges govt to include voluntary SAF spend under CSR

To promote sustainability, Airbus India chief Jurgen Westermeier on Thursday pitched for bringing corporates' spending on airlines' voluntary sustainable aviation fuel programmes under the government's CSR framework. Under the companies law, certain class of profitable entities are required to shell out at least two per cent of their annual profit towards Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities in a financial year. The President and Managing Director for India and South Asia said that the voluntary corporate SAF (Sustainable Aviation Fuel) programmes launched by airlines represent a direct, measurable investment in climate change mitigation. "We urge the government to recognise the funds spent by corporates on voluntary SAF contributions as a valid expenditure under their mandatory CSR obligations. "Such an inclusion would immediately unlock a substantial, new pool of capital to support SAF demand, instantly turning a compliance requirement into a powerful engine for a gre

US to cut flight capacity by 10% at key airports as shutdown persists

The announced plans, if they impact the top 40 airports in the US, could cut as many as 1,800 flights, data analytics company Cirium said

FAA reducing air traffic by 10% across 40 markets amid US shutdown

The Federal Aviation Administration on Wednesday announced that it will reduce air traffic by 10 per cent across 40 high-volume markets beginning Friday morning to maintain safety during the ongoing US government shutdown. The reduction stands to impact thousands of flights nationwide. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is confronting staffing shortages among air traffic controllers who have been working unpaid since the shutdown began October 1, with some calling out of work, resulting in delays across the country. FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said the agency would not for a crisis to act, citing growing staffing pressures caused by the shutdown. We can't ignore it, he said. Bedford and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said they will meet later Wednesday with airline executives to determine how to safely implement the reduction in flights. The early indicators are telling us we can take action today to prevent things from deteriorating, Bedford said. Both Bedford a