Page 2 - Aviation

Loco pilots push for FDTL-like rest rules as IndiGo crisis continues

A union for loco pilots has demanded norms similar to those for airline pilots, including capping duty hours at six hours for passenger trains and eight hours for goods trains

'Need to have 5 big airlines': Civil Aviation Minister amid IndiGo crisis

Ram Mohan Naidu said India needs to have five big airlines given the demand, and that has been the effort from the ministry to encourage more airlines to join the industry

Hyderabad airport receives three bomb threats for incoming flights

Rajiv Gandhi International Airport has received three bomb threats to flights coming from different cities, including two international, sources said. The airport received emails on late Sunday night targeting British Airways' (BA 277) from Heathrow, Lufthansa's (LH 752) from Frankfurt and IndiGo's 6E 7178 from Kannur. Airport sources said all the flights landed safely. The two international flights landed here during the early hours of Monday. "Standard safety protocols were initiated for all three aircraft," sources said. Standard safety protocols include isolation of the aircraft, screening of baggage and passengers, keeping fire engines ready and pressing sniffer dogs into services, among others, sources added. Last week, the RGIA received bomb threat emails for the Dubai-Hyderabad Emirates flight and IndiGo's MadinaHyderabad and Sharjah-Hyderabad flights separately. MadinaHyderabad was diverted to Ahmedabad airport.

Indigo crisis exposes operational gaps as punctuality plunges to record low

Indigo's mass cancellations and delays pushed punctuality to just 3.7% early December, with passenger grievances peaking and experts linking the crisis to crew roster implementation issues

IndiGo flight disruptions cause widespread travel woes across India

The chaos is not limited to the national capital but across the major metropolitan cities of the country

Air India rolls out 'proactive' measures for passengers amid disruptions

To provide greater flexibility, they have introduced a special waiver of change or cancellation fees on eligible domestic bookings

IndiGo apologises for disruptions, offers refunds and full waiver to flyers

In an official statement, IndiGo acknowledged the inconvenience caused to passengers and expressed regret over the situation

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