Page 26 - Aviation

India has become world's third-largest aviation market: President Murmu

India has become the third-largest aviation market in the world and is growing rapidly, with the number of airports increasing to 147 from just 74 in 2014, President Droupadi Murmu said on Tuesday. She also said the Indian Railways is emerging as a modern institution and many inaccessible areas are being added to the rail map of the country. In her first address to the joint sitting of Parliament, Murmu said the country's aviation sector is also growing rapidly. "Up to 2014, the number of airports in the country was 74, it has now increased to 147. Today India has become the third-largest aviation market in the world. The UDAN Yojana has played an important role in this regard," she said. UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik) is the government's ambitious regional air connectivity scheme and UDAN flights have carried around 1.15 crore people over the last six years. Talking about the India Railways, Murmu said a modern and semi-high-speed train has become part of it in the form of Vande

Air India likely to post consolidated profit in current fiscal: Report

Air India had been ailing for a long time, before the Tata Group took it over on January 27 last year

Rolls-Royce's performance 'unsustainable', says CEO Tufan Erginbilgic

The new CEO Erginbilgic told employees that they lose money in every investment and investors were losing patience with the engineering group

Air India urination case: Court adjourns accused's bail plea to Jan 30

A Delhi court on Friday adjourned Shankar Mishra's petition seeking bail to January 30. Mishra, who is accused of urinating on a woman co-passenger onboard a flight in November last year had filed a fresh bail application seeking regular bail. The court adjourned the matter after noting the investigating officer was not present. Further, the complainant's counsel was not provided a copy of the bail plea, it noted. The incident took place onboard the Air India flight from New York to Delhi on November 26, 2022. Mishra was allegedly in an inebriated condition.

Air India's progress has been nothing short of stunning: CEO Wilson

Air India chief Campbell Wilson on Friday said the airline's progress over the last 12 months has been "nothing short of stunning" and there is much more to be done as Tata group completes the first year of takeover of the carrier. Listing out the major initiatives over the last one year, Air India said it is "finalising a historic order of new aircraft to power future growth". Campbell also said that while working on improvements, the airline has not shied away from other ambitious actions such as merging Air India Express with Air Asia, or Vistara with Air India, or kicking off the establishment of a new InfoTech Centre, or an Aviation Academy. "And that's not to mention our much talked-about short- and-medium term fleet expansion," the CEO and MD of Air India said in a communication to the employees. Tata group took control of Air India from the government on January 27 last year. "Taken together, the progress over the last 12 months has been nothing short of stunning, even if

Contract personnel deleted software files: US on mega aviation outage

The US has blamed the third-party contractors for last week's mega outage that grounded thousands of flights, saying that "contract personnel unintentionally deleted files"

Urination fiasco: Air India fined Rs 30 lakh; pilot grounded for 3 months

DGCA asks director of in-flight services to pay Rs 3 lakh

Air India's mega jet deal with Airbus, Boeing held up by engine-cost debate

Air India has spent months negotiating an order of about 400 narrowbody and 100 widebody jets that would allow the country's flag carrier to upgrade service and reliability

Air India says staff made error of judgment in handling urination incident

Airline's report to National Commission for Women acknowledges delay in reporting incident to regulator

Regional aviation looks to soar higher, carriers chart growth plans

Fly91 to enter airspace occupied by players like Alliance Air, Star Air, Flybig

Departures resume after FAA lifts ground stop; no evidence of cyberattack

Flight-tracking website FlightAware showed 4,948 delays for US flights at 10:05 a.m.

Flights across US delayed due to system outage at FAA, says report

Over 400 flights were delayed within, into, or out of the United States as of Wednesday at 5:31 am ET, says the report

Air India will have to wait till March to implement new HR policy: Report

According to the acquisition agreement signed with the government in January 2022, the airline is not allowed to change the "terms of employment" for one year

Air India CEO apologises for urinating incident; crew, pilot de-rostered

Tata Group-owned Air India CEO Campbell Wilson on Saturday apologised for a flyer urinating on a fellow female passenger on a flight from New York in November, and said four cabin crew and a pilot have been de-rostered and the airline is reviewing policy of serving alcohol on flights. Facing backlash for the handling of the incident, Wilson in a statement said the airline could have handled the issue better and promised a robust reporting system of unruly behaviour and a system of reporting such incidents. "Air India is deeply concerned about the in-flight instances where customers have suffered due to the condemnable acts of their co-passengers on our aircraft. We regret and are pained about these experiences," he said. "Air India acknowledges that it could have handled these matters better, both in the air and on the ground and is committed to taking action." With questions being raised about the airline not immediately reporting the unruly passenger to law enforcement authoritie

Air India to get fresh brand identity: CEO Campbell Wilson tells staff

Airline will take some years to attain 'world class heights', he says in year-end note

Experts express worry as China opens air travel amid Covid-19 surge

As CAAC announces to lift Covid-19 travel restrictions from January 8, experts have warned that this can be the worst situation for the world, as Covid is still spreading in the country

Inquiring video of passengers' fight in Bangkok-Kolkata flight: BCAS chief

The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) on Thursday said it is inquiring about the video clip of a scuffle between passengers onboard a plane from Bangkok to Kolkata earlier this week. The video clip of the scuffle where a passenger was being slapped multiple times by a few co-passengers was shared on social media on Wednesday. "BCAS has taken cognisance of the video. We have started inquiring and further action will be taken depending on the inquiry outcome," BCAS Director General Zulfiquar Hasan told PTI on Thursday. According to a passenger who was onboard the plane, the incident happened on December 26, just before the plane was taxiing to the runway for takeoff. The plane landed at Kolkata early morning on Tuesday, the passenger, who was travelling with his mother, said. The passenger, who is from Kolkata, told PTI about the incident on condition of anonymity. He said that he was worried about his mother who was sitting near the seat where the incident happened. Accordi

Airlines worldwide keep capacity tight despite boom in Chinese demand

Bookings for outbound flights from China surged by 254% on Tuesday morning versus the same period the day prior, data shows

Scuffle onboard plane from Bangkok to Kolkata, video on social media

A few passengers onboard a Thai Smile Airways plane from Bangkok to Kolkata were reportedly involved in a scuffle earlier this week. A video clip of the scuffle inside the aircraft was shared widely on social media on Wednesday. In the clip, a man could be seen being slapped multiple times by a few co-passengers. According to a passenger who was in the plane, the incident happened on December 26 just before the plane was taxiing to the runway for takeoff. He was travelling to Kolkata along with his mother. The passenger, who hails from Kolkata, told PTI about the incident on condition of anonymity. He said that he was worried about his mother who was sitting near the seat where the incident happened. Later, other passengers and air hostess pacified the individuals involved in the scuffle, he added. According to the passenger, the reason for the scuffle was not clear. The plane landed at Kolkata early on Tuesday morning. It could not be immediately ascertained whether the incident

Aloke Singh to head Air India's low-cost airlines January 1

The new appointments are part of an organisational revamp announced today by Air India