Page 10 - Civil Aviation

Civil aviation ministry, airlines to discuss airfare spike on some routes

The civil aviation ministry will hold discussions with airlines later in the day on issues related to airfares, which have surged on certain routes in recent weeks, according to an official. Airfares have jumped significantly on certain routes, especially in the wake of crisis-hit Go First suspending operations from May 3. The meeting with representatives of airlines is likely to be chaired by civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, the official said. The official also said that airfares are deregulated and the meeting is for monitoring and facilitation purposes. Amid a rise in airfares on certain routes, Scindia, last week, said the ministry was doing an analysis of routes that have been affected by the suspension of flights by Go First. Go First is undergoing an insolvency resolution process.

Sudan extends airspace closure to June 15 amid continued armed conflict

Sudan's Civil Aviation Authority has extended the closure of the country's airspace to June 15 amid continued armed conflict between the Sudanese Army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces

Civil aviation ministry comes with draft aircraft bill to simplify rules

The civil aviation ministry has come out with a draft bill for putting in place a simplified approach for regulations pertaining to the aviation sector. The Draft Aircraft Bill, 2023, has been prepared after reviewing the existing Aircraft Act, 1934. As per the preamble of the Draft Aircraft Bill, 2023, it aims to have an Act to make better provisions for regulation and control of the design, manufacture, possession, use, operation, sale, import and export of aircraft and for connected matters. The bill has been issued by the ministry for public consultations for a period of 30 days, according to a communication dated May 30. "The existing Aircraft Act, 1934 has been reviewed and accordingly a bill providing for regulating provisions in a simplified manner, identifying existing redundancies and to provide for provisions to meet the current needs for regulation of civil aviation in a simplified language...," the ministry said. According to the preamble, it is expedient to make bett

Angshumali Rastogi India's representative to global civil aviation org

Senior bureaucrat Angshumali Rastogi was on Tuesday appointed India's representative to the council of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) in Montreal, Canada, according to a Personnel Ministry order. Rastogi, a 1995 batch officer of the Indian Railway Service of Mechanical Engineers (IRSME), has been appointed in place of Shefali Juneja for three years, it said. Hemang Jani, Secretary of the Capacity Building Commission, has been named Senior Adviser to the Executive Director, World Bank, Washington DC, for three years. Jani, who has earlier worked as a senior private sector specialist at the World Bank headquarters in Washington DC, has been appointed in place of Ritesh Kumar Singh, according to the order. Sai Venkata Ramana Anil Das will be an adviser to the Executive Director, World Bank, Washington DC, in place of Suresh Yadav, for three years, it said. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved 12 appointmen

As Go First seeks to plug exit, 200 pilots accept Air India's job offer

Go First CEO announces retention allowance and longevity bonus

China's domestically built passenger plane successfully makes maiden flight

China's first indigenously built passenger aircraft C919 on Sunday successfully completed its first commercial flight, marking its official entry into the civil aviation market as part of the country's bid to compete with Western rivals like Boeing and Airbus. The first commercial flight of C919 from the eastern metropolis of Shanghai to Beijing was operated by the state-run China Eastern Airlines. The plane carried 128 passengers on board. The flight time between Shanghai and Beijing was about two hours and twenty-five minutes, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported. The single-aisle, twin-engined aircraft has 164 seats. The plane was greeted with a water salute after touching down at Beijing Capital International Airport at 12:31 pm on Sunday, the report said. The water salute ceremony is performed as a symbol of respect and honour for the aircraft, its crew, and passengers. The C919 is China's first self-developed trunk jetliner in accordance with international airworthines

Covid-19 pandemic thruster off, demand for chartered flight declines

Operators hopeful of business travel driving demand

Air India will move to better ticket pricing system in a few mths: MD & CEO

Air India, which was handed to the Tata Group in January last year, posted a loss of about Rs 7,000 crore in 2021-22

Uncertainty remains over revival of Jet Airways as certificate expires

Uncertainty continues over the revival of grounded Jet Airways as the validity of the airline's air operator's certificate expires on Friday. There was no word from the Jalan Kalrock Consortium (JKC), which emerged as the winning bidder for the carrier under the insolvency resolution proceedings, on the status of the airline's flying permit. The Air Operator's Certificate (AOC) of the airline, which has not flown since April 18, 2019, was revalidated on May 20 last year for a one-year period and the validity ended on Friday. However, it could not be immediately ascertained whether the consortium has sought any relaxation from aviation regulator DGCA with respect to the AOC, which is the most crucial requirement for operating an airline. A query sent to Ankit Jalan, a board member of the JKC, on whether the consortium has sought renewal of the AOC remained unanswered. The ownership transfer of Jet Airways to the JKC is yet to happen amid continuing differences with the lenders of t

IndiGo reports net profit of Rs 919.2 crore in Q4FY23, revenue up 76%

In the whole year, 2022-23, IndiGo reported a net loss of Rs 305.80 crore

SpiceJet subsidiary SpiceXpress to get $100 mn investment from UK group

Budget carrier SpiceJet on Monday said its subsidiary SpiceXpress and Logistics will receive USD 100 million investment from a UK-based group. SpiceJet, which is facing financial headwinds and an insolvency plea by an aircraft lessor, had recently hived off SpiceXpress. Also, last week, the airline said it has no plans to file for insolvency and would invest USD 50 million to revive 25 grounded planes. The United Kingdom-based SRAM & MRAM Group will invest USD 100 million in SpiceXpress. Both sides have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) as part of the investment deal, the airline said in a release on Monday. The MoU also comes after a debt restructuring agreement between the carrier and aircraft lessor Carlyle Aviation Partner wherein the latter bought a stake in SpiceXpress at an anticipated future valuation of USD 1.5 billion (Rs 12,422 crore). SpiceJet Chairman and Managing Director Ajay Singh said the USD 100 million investment should help SpiceXpress to grow further

AWG's warning to India is to influence NCLAT ahead of hearing: Wadia Group

The recent action of issuing a "watch list notice" by AWG (Aviation Working Group) is laced with double standards, a spokesperson with the Wadia Group which owns the struggling airline Go First, said on Sunday.AWG should focus on ensuring that its own members abide by international arbitration awards rather than issuing threatening watch list notices to India and quoting the Cape Town Convention (CTC) to influence the proceedings currently being heard in the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT), the Wadia Group spokesperson said further.The Wadia Group spokesperson also advised the AWG to first address the root cause by advising Pratt & Whitney to comply with the law and abide by the award issued by the emergency arbitrator appointed in accordance with the 2016 Arbitration Rules of the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) to which, Pratt and Whitney voluntarily submitted themselves.The membership of AWG constitutes companies like Airbus, Boeing, Pratt ...

Pratt & Whitney faces higher risks after Go First filed for bankruptcy

NEW YORK/BENGALURU (Reuters) -Pratt & Whitney on Thursday opposed Go Airlines (India) Ltd's push to enforce an arbitration ruling in an engine dispute, with the U.S. company arguing in a Delaware court that the Indian airline's bankruptcy filing has raised risks for it.

Risky jurisdiction: Aircraft lessors raise alarm over Go First crisis

India is a critical market for lessors, in which sale-and-leaseback deals accounted for 75% of plane deliveries from 2018 to 2022, compared with a global average of 35%

Govt bailout of Go First unlikely unless engine issue resolved: Dy Minister

Deputy Aviation Minister VK Singh said the government has offered help to US-based Pratt & Whitney

Air India pilots get more time to accept revised compensation structure

Air India has given more time to pilots to accept the revised compensation structure, which has been opposed by two pilot unions, according to a source. The decision to provide more time to pilots who are yet to sign the new contracts also comes days after Air India organised a town hall meeting with many pilots to discuss their concerns. The source said the airline has given time till the end of this week for signing the new contracts apparently due to requests from people who had not earlier accepted the revised compensation structure. There was no comment from Air India on extending the deadline. Initially, the deadline for accepting the new contracts had ended on April 30. The move to extend the deadline also comes at a time when crisis-hit Go First has stopped flying and its future remains uncertain, a scenario that has also resulted in many of the budget carrier's pilots seeking job opportunities elsewhere. The source said that nearly 800 pilots who had not accepted the new

Here's why airlines keep folding in India's booming aviation market

The lure of aviation has proven particularly attractive - and brutal - for wealthy entrepreneurs, eager to enter a burgeoning sector and wooed by the status of owning an airline

Go First extends flight cancellations till May 12, awaits NCLT's order

The extension comes as the National Company Law Tribunal reserved its order on Go First's plea for an interim moratorium

Lessors seek deregistration of 23 Go First planes to secure their assets

Go First has 54 Airbus aircraft in its fleet and 26 of them were in operation until Tuesday when the airline filed its insolvency application

Lessors oppose Go First's insolvency resolution plea; NCLT reserves order

Airline seeks interim moratorium