Page 10 - Aviation Industry

Air India to roll out key initiatives in 2025, may turn profitable: CEO

Air India will see progress on various key initiatives, including refitting of wide body and narrow body planes, in 2025 as well as tighten practices and processes to ultimately become profitable, the airline's chief Campbell Wilson said on Friday. After taking over the loss-making Air India from the government in January 2022, Tata Group has been working on an ambitious transformation plan to turn around the airline, which recently also placed orders for 100 more aircraft. In his message to the staff on Friday, Wilson said 2024 saw the realisation of some of the most significant milestones, including the completion of the mergers of Air India Express and AirAsia India, and Vistara with Air India that "position us as the fourth largest business, by revenue, in the Tata group". Air India group operates 300 aircraft across both brands, flying over 60 million customers annually to more than 100 destinations in India and around the world. While describing 2024 as a transformative year

Akasa Air expects to add more planes to its fleet by March 2025: CEO

Akasa Air is in continuous discussions with Boeing on aircraft deliveries and expects to add a few more planes to its fleet in the current fiscal ending March 2025, the airline's chief Vinay Dube has said. The carrier, which started flying in August 2022, currently has a fleet of 26 Boeing 737 MAX planes and 200 aircraft are on order. In a recent interview to PTI, Dube said that 2024 has been a good year for the airline and will continue to build on it in 2025. "On the service excellence we have provided, I think consumers look at Akasa as being a kind and gentler airline, little more empathetic. We will continue to treat our travellers in a kind, gentle manner," he said and added that the airline also continues to make sure its employees feel loved and respected. Earlier this month, some pilots flagged concerns about alleged training and safety issues, and the airline had rejected them as baseless and untrue. This year, the carrier has inducted 4 planes into its fleet. When aske

SpiceJet to operationalise 3 grounded B737 MAX planes by April 2025

SpiceJet has entered into an agreement with US-based StandardAero that will provide the services for operationalising the airline's grounded Boeing 737 MAX planes and three of the aircraft are expected to return to service by April 2025. Seven Boeing 737 MAX aircraft of the no-frills carrier are on the ground. The airline has inked an agreement with MRO (Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul) services provider StandardAero for enabling restoration of its grounded Boeing 737-8 MAX fleet, according to a release on Friday. StandardAero is also a MRO services provider for CFM LEAP-1B engines, which power SpiceJet's Boeing 737 MAX planes. The agreement with StandardAero follows successful arrangements with CFM International -- the manufacturer of LEAP-1B engines -- and the lessor for the Boeing 737 MAX aircraft. "These developments pave the way for the un-grounding and return to service of three Boeing 737 MAX aircraft by April 2025," SpiceJet said in the release. SpiceJet Chairman and Man

Asia-Pacific regions lead 2024 with 7 of top 10 busiest airline routes

Asia-Pacific dominates Official Airline Guide's 2024 report, claiming seven of the 10 busiest airline routes. Hong Kong-Taipei leads, signalling a strong recovery in post-pandemic air travel

The aim is to make India a top global domestic aviation hub: Minister Naidu

India's civil aviation sector has witnessed rapid growth over the last ten years and now the aim is to make the country the top global domestic aviation hub, Union minister K Rammohan Naidu said on Friday. The civil aviation sector in India has witnessed rapid growth over the last ten years and the aim should be now to become the number one domestic hub globally, Naidu said. Launching the centenary celebration logo on completion of 100 years of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport Kolkata, he noted that the last ten years have been glorious for the civil aviation sector with expansion of several airports and the way the number of passengers has expanded. "Under the leadership of the Prime Minister, we have pushed all the boundaries, and now we are the third largest domestic country a civil aviation hub in the whole world itself, and now we need to take it forward," Naidu said. "We need to break the barriers once again, level up the civil aviation sector in the country,

Boeing likely to restart 737 MAX production a month after strike ended

Getting the 737 MAX production line moving again is essential to the heavily debt-burdened planemaker's recovery, and Boeing has about 4,200 orders for the jetliner from airlines

Domestic airlines' fleet to touch 1,400 planes in 5 years: Official

Civil Aviation Secretary Vumlunmang Vualnam on Thursday said the number of planes with domestic airlines will increase to 1,400 in the next five years as he highlighted the growth potential of the country's aviation space. Currently, the fleet is around 800 aircraft and leading carriers IndiGo and Air India have placed significant plane orders. At a function in the national capital, the secretary also mentioned about the opportunities for women in the aviation sector, including in the drone segment. In the last 10 years, the number of airports has more than doubled from 74 to 157, Vualnam said. He also said the number of passengers has doubled to around 22 crore from 11 crore. The secretary was speaking at the 'Giving Wings to Dreams Awards 2024' hosted by Women in Aviation India in collaboration with the civil aviation ministry. According to him, the Rs 120-crore Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme was successful and that beneficiary companies have seen their overall turnov

Spirit Aero talks going well, industrial challenges lie ahead: Airbus CEO

Airbus plans to take over the running of four Spirit plants associated with its A350 and A220 jetliner programmes

Air India-Vistara merger complete; new entity to run 5,600+ weekly flights

Air India-Vistara merger: The combined airline will service 103 domestic and 71 international routes

Vistara's last flight takes off for Delhi ahead of merger with Air India

The flight, UK 782, departed from Odisha's Biju Patnaik International Airport at 8.30 pm, and landed at Delhi's Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport at 10.55 pm

Indian airspace getting more users, need to adapt new tech, says official

Emphasising the need for ways to further streamline air traffic movements in the Indian airspace, Civil Aviation Secretary Vumlunmang Vualnam on Saturday suggested that air traffic controllers should look at the use of new technologies such as generative artificial intelligence. He was speaking at the 40th Asia Pacific Regional Meeting (APRM) of the International Federation of Air Traffic Controllers' Associations (IFATCA), hosted by the Air Traffic Controllers' Guild (India), in the national capital. The three-day meeting, with the theme 'Safety in Future Air Traffic Management', began on Saturday. The participants will discuss cutting-edge technologies, innovative strategies, and sustainable practices that will shape the safety in future air traffic management, according to the meeting's website. Vualnam said airspace is getting crowded. "Airspace is getting more and more users". While mentioning about new technologies such as Generative Artificial Intelligence (Gen AI), he ...

Boeing to repay lost wages to furloughed employees, proceed with job cuts

Boeing on Monday won ratification of a contract giving its machinists a 38 per cent pay hike over four years and a $12,000 bonus, ending the strike

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

Spirit AeroSystems posts deep losses in Q3 as Boeing strike hit finances

Boeing suppliers that invested heavily on materials and tooling to support the planemaker's planned ramp-up of jets have been furloughing workers in recent weeks and holding off on investments due

Boeing's new proposal may lead to $1 bn in wage-related costs over 4 years

About 33,000 workers will vote on the contract proposal after a more than month-long work stoppage, which has halted production of models including its best-selling 737 MAX narrowbody jets

Boeing exploring sale of assets in a bid to boost finances: Report

The planemaker last week reached an agreement to offload a small defense unit that makes surveillance equipment for the U.S. military, the paper reported, citing people familiar with the deal

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,

SpiceJet's domestic passenger market share shrinks to 2%, says DGCA

Overall, the Indian carriers carried a total of 13.027 million domestic passengers, which was 6.38 per cent more year-on-year

Boeing's endless doom spiral gives no respite to CEO John Ortberg

Boeing's shares fell 2.5% as of 9:33 a.m. in New York on Monday, the first trading session since the cuts were announced

DGCA issues advisory on potential rudder system issue in Boeing 737 jets

Aviation regulator DGCA on Monday issued an advisory to Indian airlines operating Boeing 737 planes regarding the potential risk of a jammed rudder control system. The move follows the recent probe report by the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) that highlighted safety concerns involving Boeing 737 aircraft lanes equipped with Collins Aerospace SVO-730 Rudder Rollout Guidance Actuators. Against the backdrop of the potential risk of a jammed or restricted rudder control system, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has issued safety recommendations to the Indian carriers. Currently, Air India Express, Akasa Air and SpiceJet operate Boeing 737 planes. DGCA said all flight crews are to be informed through a circular/advisory regarding the possibility of a jammed or restricted rudder control system. "Appropriate mitigations must be communicated to help crews identify and handle such a situation," it added. Further, all operators have been asked to conduct a sa