Page 23 - Aviation Industry

Fog-induced chaos: Regulators impose fines on 3 airlines, Mumbai airport

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) imposed a total fine of Rs 2.7 crore on the aforementioned four major aviation sector players in India

Fog impact: Give real-time update on flight delays, DGCA tells airlines

DGCA to issue SOP to airlines for better communication with passengers as fog impacts flight operations, he added

Boeing to step up inspections of aircraft during production after blowout

Boeing will also bring in an outside party to review its quality controls and suggest improvements, he said, adding another layer of scrutiny to its manufacturing process

Sensitise airport staff to inform passengers on delays: DGCA to airlines

Aviation watchdog DGCA on Monday asked airlines to publish accurate real-time information regarding flight delays and appropriately sensitise staff at airports to suitably communicate with passengers amid fog-related disruptions at airports. Against the backdrop of a significant number of flights getting delayed and cancelled and passengers facing tough times, the regulator has come out with a set of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said that airlines should publish accurate real-time information regarding delays in their flights. There should also be appropriate sensitisation of the airline staff at the airports to suitably communicate with and continuously guide and inform the passengers about flight delays, according to a release. "In view of the prevalent fog season and adverse weather conditions, airlines may cancel, sufficiently in advance, such flights that are anticipated to be delayed or consequentially delayed on accou

Scindia revises timeline for Navi Mumbai airport launch to March 2025

Adani Group, the parent company of Navi Mumbai International Airport, had earlier stated that the airport was on track to start commercial operations by December 2024

US govt investigating Boeing's design of part that blew off jetliner

Federal officials are investigating whether Boeing failed to make sure a panel that blew off a jetliner in midflight last week was properly designed and safe to use. The Federal Aviation Administration said on Thursday that the investigation is focusing on plugs used to fill spots for extra exits when those doors are not required on Boeing 737 Max 9 jetliners. The plug that blew off an Alaska Airlines Max 9 was found near Portland, Oregon, and will be be examined in a government laboratory. This incident should have never happened and it cannot happen again, the FAA said in a statement. Boeing's manufacturing practices need to comply with the high safety standards they're legally accountable to meet. The FAA notified Boeing of the investigation in a letter dated Wednesday. The agency asked the aircraft maker to present any evidence or statements in its defense within 10 business days. The FAA has grounded Max 9 jets, including all 65 operated by Alaska and 79 used by United Airli

SpiceXpress, Star Air partner to manage belly space in Star Air's fleet

SpiceJet's cargo arm SpiceXpress on Thursday said it has partnered with Bengaluru-based Star Air to manage the belly space capacity for carrying cargo in Star Air's fleet. The Kolhapur-headquartered Sanjay Ghodawat Group-owned Star Air has a fleet of nine Embraer planes, operating across 20 domestic destinations. This collaboration underlines SpiceXpress's commitment to expanding its reach and strengthening the domestic air cargo infrastructure, SpiceJet said in a statement. Under the collaboration, Star Air will significantly enhance SpiceXpress's domestic network, incorporating nine new destinations, it said, adding, the three-year agreement, extendable by mutual consent, establishes a foundation for seamless cooperation between the two companies. These destinations are Belagavi, Bhuj, Kalaburagi, Kishangarh, Kolhapur, Jamnagar, Jodhpur, Nagpur, and Shivamogga. With this, SpiceXpress' domestic network will increase from 39 to 48 destinations helping the company strengthen its ..

Boeing blowout occurred hours before key US deal on 737 Max crashes expired

That deal resolved a probe into Boeing following the crashes of Lion Air Flight 610 in October 2018 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 in March of 2019, which together killed 346 passengers and crew

No plan to modify mid-cabin doors in current, future planes: Akasa Air

Akasa Air has no intention to modify the standard mid-cabin door in its aircraft, according to a senior airline executive amid the recent Alaska Airlines incident where in-flight departure of a mid-cabin door plug had resulted in rapid decompression of a Boeing 737-9 Max aircraft. The airline has 22 Boeing 737 Max planes in its fleet. Following the incident on January 5, aviation regulator DGCA ordered Akasa Air, Air India Express and SpiceJet to carry out an inspection of the wing emergency exits of their Boeing 737-8 Max planes. The checks were completed satisfactorily and there were no adverse findings. In an e-mail to staff on Monday evening, Akasa Air's Chief of Flight Safety Gaurav Pathak said the airline does not have the intention "of modifying the highly standard mid-cabin door on any current or future aircraft that we are contemplating". Mid-cabin door refers to any emergency exit door on the aircraft that is not over the wings of the aircraft. According to Pathak, the .

Airport operator DIAL gets arbitral award on revenue share payments to AAI

Delhi airport operator DIAL has won an arbitral award against Airports Authority of India (AAI) with respect to revenue share obligations during the coronavirus pandemic period. Under the Operation, Management and Development Agreement (OMDA) for the Delhi airport, DIAL had invoked arbitration against the AAI seeking certain reliefs as eligible to it on account of the occurrence of force majeure event during the coronavirus pandemic period. In a regulatory filing, GMR Airports Infrastructure Ltd said an arbitral tribunal passed the award on January 6. Mentioning about key aspects of the award, the company said DIAL has been "excused from making payment of Monthly Annual Fee (MAF) for the period from 19th March 2020 to 28th February 2022 due to existence of force majeure". The amount of MAF paid by DIAL to AAI for the period March 2020 to December 2020 was ordered to be refunded along with interest, the filing submitted to the stock exchanges late Sunday said. As per the filing, DI

DGCA orders urgent checks on Max aircrafts after Alaska Airlines incident

Indian carriers directed to check B737-8 Max planes following Alaska Airlines' emergency landing due to depressurisation

DGCA issues notice to Air India, SpiceJet for rostering untrained pilots

A senior DGCA official confirmed that the notice was issued to airlines after it was found that a large number of flight diversions that were reported at Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi

China expects int'l flights reaching 80% of pre-Covid levels by 2024 end

It added that for the year ahead it would continue to promote a "significant" increase in direct flights between China and the United States from 63 flights presently

Competition among Delhi, Noida airports expected to be intense: CAPA India

Airports will have to adjust to an environment in which two principal airlines will hold all of the strategic keys

Akasa Air set to close order for 150 Boeing 737 MAX narrowbody planes

Contract negotiations are ongoing and a deal is expected to be announced at Wings India, the country's largest civil aviation event scheduled for Jan. 18-21, said two sources familiar with ongoing ta

337 flights delayed at Delhi airport amid dense fog on Thursday morning

Multiple flights were also diverted from the Delhi airport to other nearby airports

Getting away from it all

And now lands Airplane Mode, by Shahnaz Habib, a lively and, yes, wide-ranging book that interrogates some of the pastime's conventions and most prominent chroniclers

Grounding 200 aircraft to have minimal impact on passenger traffic: Report

The likely grounding of 200 aircraft by March next year will have minimal impact on air passenger traffic, according to a report. Air passenger traffic is expected to reach about 375 million passengers, 1.09 times of pre-pandemic levels, in the current fiscal, the report by credit ratings agency CareEdge said. Research and advisory firm CAPA India had late last month said Indian airlines fleet continues to be severely constrained and close to 200 aircraft may go out of operations by the end of FY24 due to supply chain issues and maintenance purposes. "Despite the projection of around 200 aircraft being grounded by March 2024, the impact on traffic is expected to be minimal, at 3-4 per cent," CareEdge Ratings Director Maulesh Desai said. This is attributed to the extension of wet leases and an increase in passenger load, he said. Noting that passenger traffic will reach new heights in the next fiscal, with a healthy Compounded Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 14 per cent from FY23 to F

Govt asks airport operators to explore biometric models for smooth travel

The civil aviation ministry, which is taking measures to prevent congestion at airport in the upcoming festive season, has asked airport operators to look at the successful biometric models being used in other countries for smooth travel of air passengers. During a meeting with an advisory group, civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia asked airport operators to promote Digi Yatra, which provides for contactless, seamless movement of passengers at various check points at airports based on Facial Recognition Technology (FRT). Currently, Digi Yatra is available for domestic passengers at 13 airports, including Delhi, Mumbai and Varanasi. At the meeting on Tuesday, the airport operators were also tasked with presenting biometric enabled models being successfully used in other countries, according to an official release. On December 15, Scindia said the Digi Yatra facility will be available at 25 more airports in 2024. The release said that a suggestion at the meeting was to ...

Aviation industry expected to see 10-15% revenue growth in FY25: ICRA

The pace of recovery in the industry earnings will be gradual owing to the high fixed cost nature of the business