Page 27 - Aviation Industry

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

Expressed interest with resolution professional to buy Go First: SpiceJet

SpiceJet itself has been facing a cash crunch for the past several quarters. It is also dealing with multiple court cases regarding money owed to former owner Kalanithi Maran

Public should be aware of SpiceJet's inability to pay dues, says Delhi HC

The airline was also asked to submit an affidavit outlining a plan for the return of the engines to two engine lessors, Team France 01 SAS and Sunbird France 02 SAS

Airlines likely to prune losses to Rs 3,000-5,000 cr in FY24: ICRA

Indian airline industry is expecting to prune its net losses to Rs 3,000-5,000 crore in this fiscal from an estimated Rs 17,000-17,500 crore in FY2023 on the back of improved yields and stable cost environment, credit ratings agency ICRA said on Tuesday. At the same time, ICRA also estimated that domestic air passenger traffic will expand by 8-13 per cent each in FY2024 and FY2025. The rating agency has also maintained its stable outlook on the industry in view of healthy passenger traffic growth, improved yields and a stable cost environment. Building on the fast-paced recovery in FY2023, ICRA at a webinar on Tuesday said it is expecting the domestic air passenger traffic to grow by 8-13 per cent in the ongoing financial year, thereby reaching 150-155 million and surpassing the pre-Covid levels of 141.2 million seen in FY2020. The Industry's net loss (is expected) to shrink to Rs 30-50 billion in FY2024 from an estimated Rs 170-175 billion in FY2023, aided by improved yields and .

Go Air troubles mount as billionaire-backed Indian airline nears collapse

Chief Executive Officer Kaushik Khona quit at the end of November, saying he couldn't get the carrier flying again and that staff hadn't been paid for six months

SpiceJet board adjourns meeting, to discuss funding plans on Tuesday

Crisis-hit SpiceJet's board of directors will continue to discuss fundraising plans on Tuesday after it could only partially complete the agenda items on Monday. On Monday, the no-frills airline's shares touched a 52-week high and ended with more than 10 per cent gains on the BSE as investors were enthused by funding plans and the proposal to list the company's securities on the National Stock Exchange (NSE). In an evening filing to the BSE, SpiceJet said its board on Monday "could only partially complete the agenda items and the meeting has now been adjourned to December 12, 2023 (Tuesday)". Apart from options for raising fresh capital through the issue of equity shares and/or convertible securities on a preferential basis, the board will also consider the September quarter results, as per the filing. Earlier in the day, shares of SpiceJet touched its 52-week high and closed with a gain of 10.19 per cent at Rs 60.57 apiece on the BSE. The airline has been grappling with multiple

SpiceJet, IndiGo among seven airlines owing more than Rs 95 crore to AAI

Seven airlines, including Alliance Air, SpiceJet, IndiGo and Emirates, together have pending dues of more than Rs 95 crore to the Airports Authority of India (AAI), according to the government. Other foreign airlines that have pending dues are Biman Bangladesh Airlines Ltd, British Airways Plc and Qatar Airways, as per data provided to the Rajya Sabha on Monday. The figures exclude interest and take into account only dues that are over Rs 1 crore pending for more than one year as of November 30, 2023. As per the data provided by Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia in a written reply, three domestic carriers -- Alliance Air, SpiceJet and IndiGo together owe Rs 86.89 crore to the AAI. Out of them, the maximum dues amount is that of Alliance Air at Rs 83.38 crore, followed by SpiceJet (Rs 2.13 crore) and IndiGo (Rs 1.38 crore). Among the four foreign airlines, Biman Bangladesh Airlines has the highest dues of Rs 4.02 crore, followed by British Airways (Rs 1.85 crore), Emirat

SpiceJet board considering raising fresh capital by issuing equity shares

Budget airline tells BSE about its plan; told court earlier it's 'struggling to stay afloat'