Page 13 - Civil Aviation

Man accused of smoking, unruly behaviour on Air India flight gets bail

A 34-year-old US citizen booked for allegedly smoking on board an Air India flight and unruly behaviour towards the crew was granted bail by a court here on Monday, police said. The passenger was found smoking in the lavatory of London-Mumbai flight AI130 on March 10 and behaved in an unruly manner with the crew after they were alerted by the smoke alarm and threw the cigarette from his hand, the official said. The airline officials handed him over to police when the flight landed in Mumbai, he said. "The man, who is of Indian origin and holds a US passport, was produced in Andheri court and was granted bail on a surety of Rs 20,000. He will be released once he deposits this amount," the Sahar police station official said. He was charged under section 336 (whoever does any act so rashly or negligently as to endanger human life or the personal safety of others) and other provisions of Indian Penal Code and Aircraft Act, the official added.

Civil aviation ministry organises chintan shivir for official, stakeholders

The civil aviation ministry on Monday organised a chintan shivir with the participation of ministry officials and other stakeholders. Addressing the participants, Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia emphasised on the government as a whole approach as well as the need for developing soft skills. The leadership has to be earned for which teamwork, compassion and empathy are very important for motivating the team. This can help in translating and focusing onto the larger aim, and also stressed on flat egalitarian structure. "During the second chintan shivir, brainstorming sessions were organised on subjects of self and team motivation, India as a drone hub, and coordination and collaboration amongst various offices/officials and the agencies involved in the sector," an official release said. Minister of State for Civil Aviation V K Singh said that inter-personal skills are not only important for understanding each other but one also has to be open-minded as that will help in

Air India plans single pay structure, common seniority list for pilots

Air India was unable to create a single seniority list of pilots after merging with Indian Airlines in 2007 as pilots from both sides bickered on the issue

Amid record aircraft orders, aviation remains a long-term play: Analysts

A linear profit growth is unlikely for the Indian aviation players as high oil prices hit the industry every two-three years

India has enough potential for recurring aircraft orders: GE Aerospace

Leading engine maker GE Aerospace has said there is enough potential for recurring aircraft orders by Indian carriers as massive growth is happening in the country's civil aviation space. Against the backdrop of Tata Group-owned Air India placing firm orders for 470 aircraft, a top official of GE Aerospace also said that India, which is the world's third largest aviation market, has the potential for growth in both wide-body and narrow-body aircraft. Besides, GE Aerospace's Country Head for South Asia & Indonesia Vikram Rai told PTI that the supply chain situation will be better this year, compared to 2022. There are around 700 commercial planes flying in India, with a majority of them being narrow-body aircraft. The civil aviation ministry is also working on ways to make an international aviation hub for which Indian carriers will have to have more wide-body planes in order to carry international traffic. Referring to the aircraft orders, Rai said these orders are huge "but there

Air India order accounts for 25% of Boeing, Airbus pre-Covid book

Earlier this week, Tata group-owned Air India announced a mega order for 470 new aircraft from Airbus (250) and Boeing (220)

HAL receives DGCA approval for indigenously developed 'black boxes'

The Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd said on Thursday it has received the Indian Technical Standard Order (ITSO) authorisation from Directorate General of Civil Aviation for its indigenously developed Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) and Flight Data Recorder (FDR). The ITSO is a minimum performance standard for specified materials, parts, processes, and appliances used on civil aircraft, the Bengaluru-headquartered HAL noted in a statement. CVR and FDR are popularly known as 'black boxes'. However, these recorders are painted in orange colour to help in their recovery following an aircraft accident. CVR and FDR are used to record critical flight parameters and audio environment in a crash proof memory which is later used for investigation of aircraft incident or accident, it was noted.

A jumbo deal

Air India's purchase commitment has multiple implications

Air India seals world's largest aircraft deal at $70 bn, orders 470 planes

Air India had last ordered planes in 2006, when it had booked 111 aircraft: 68 from Boeing and 43 from Airbus

A350 is centerpiece of Air India's long-haul strategy: Airbus India chief

Remi Maillard says first A350 will be delivered before end of this year; it only takes 11 days to qualify an A320 plane pilot into an A350 pilot

Air India to add over 90 planes in two years in first order since 2006

This includes 56 planes that are part of mega aircraft order signed with Airbus and Boeing. These will be in addition to previously announced leases of 36 planes

UP to soon have maximum number of domestic flights in India: Scindia

Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Saturday said Uttar Pradesh will soon have the maximum number of domestic flight services in the country. Addressing a session on "Civil Aviation in Uttar Pradesh: The Emerging Opportunities" on the second day of the three-day Uttar Pradesh Global Investors Summit-2023 at Vrindavan Yojna here, Scindia said, "Uttar Pradesh will soon become the number one state with the maximum number of domestic flights." He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath have rejuvenated the country and Uttar Pradesh, a state that had only two airports earlier and which has nine operational airports now. Scindia said the land of Ayodhya, Kashi (Varanasi) and Mathura has always shown a new path to the country. Describing Uttar Pradesh as a favourable destination for investment, he said the state has made great strides in every field. Ten new airports are being built in the state and the land survey work has started for two mo

Civil aviation ministry asks users to update DigiYatra app to fix cache

The civil aviation ministry on Friday asked users to update the DigiYatra app to address app cache issues. The ministry's clarifications came a day after fintech firm BharatPe's co-founder Ashneer Grover tweeted that DigiYatra "won't work after new update". In a series of tweets, the ministry said the shared boarding pass QR code is available on the home screen of the app, so that passengers can easily scan it at the airport entry gate. Passengers can also go to the device folder, search and open the airline issued boarding pass PDF. "Android users are requested to update to version 2.0.1 which takes care of the app cache issues. Apple iOS App users, are also requested update to version 2.0.2 which is now available on the App Store. "Once you scan/ upload the boarding pass, a pop up window allows you to directly share the boarding pass to the Airport," it said. In another tweet, the ministry also appreciated the feedback given by Grover, saying it only helps to make the app work .

Foreign tourists quadrupled to 6.19 mn in 2022, but 43% lower than 2019

The government hopes a hundred per cent recovery in foreign tourist arrivals by December-end

Indian civil aviation system jumps to 55th rank in latest ICAO audit: DGCA

The audit was done in five areas, following which India received an updated overall effective implementation (EI) of 85.65%

Domestic air passenger traffic up by 96% in Jan from last year: Icra

Domestic air passenger traffic touched 1.25 crore in January this year, an increase of 96 per cent compared to the year-ago period, according to rating agency Icra. However, it said the traffic remained around 2 per cent lower compared to the pre-Covid levels -- January 2020. The traffic stood at 64 lakh in January last year. Icra is maintaining a negative outlook on the Indian aviation industry, reflecting the view that the financial performance of Indian airlines is likely to remain under pressure in the near term, even though the recovery in domestic passenger traffic has been healthy. While a meaningful improvement in passenger traffic is expected in FY2023, the pace of recovery in the industry earnings will be gradual, it said on Wednesday. Icra noted that the net loss in FY2023 is expected to be notably lower compared to Rs 235 billion (RS 23,500 crore) net loss in FY2022, primarily due to recovery in passenger traffic, fare hikes and lower interest burden. In January this y

Passenger traffic at Bangalore International Airport surges 71% in 2022

Passenger traffic at Bangalore International Airport surged 71 per cent to 27.5 million in CY2022 aided by massive recovery in the domestic passenger volume, which reached 85 per cent of the 2019 (pre-pandemic) level and stood at 24.36-million during the year. The rapid recovery in traffic was driven by a host of factors including relaunching of key routes and introduction of new routes connecting leading business hubs and travel destinations, among others, Bangalore International Airport Ltd (BIAL) said on Tuesday. The international traffic recovered 65 per cent of the pre-Covid level at 3.14-million in 2022 as compared to around 940,000 in 2021. The private airport operator had flown a total of 12.39 million passengers as of December 31, 2021. There was a sharp increase in passenger numbers during the year-end holiday season with as many as 3.13 million passengers travelling in December 2022 (of which, 2.74 million were domestic passengers) surpassing the pre-Covid record of 3.0

846 domestic, 458 international flights delayed at IGI airport in Dec-Jan

20 domestic departures, three international departures, 31 domestic arrivals and three international arrivals were cancelled at IGI Airport in December 2022 and January 2023

IndiGo Q3: Focus on international destinations lifts outlook, say analysts

IndiGo's international business during the quarter stood at 105 per cent compared to pre-Covid levels

Number of airports in country to go up to over 200: Jyotiraditya Scindia

The Civil Aviation Ministry has drawn up plans to boost air connectivity by taking the total number of airports operating in the country to over 200 over the next five-six years under its vision of increasing the 'width and depth of air penetration,' Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said here on Saturday. Scindia, here on a brief visit, said in its 67 years of independence the country saw only 74 new airports being built while in the last 8.5 years it has been increased to 147 under the Prime Minister Narendra Modi rule. "We are just one short of doubling that number. The 148th airport will be also completed this month itself which means that what India took 66-67 years to build and under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi that has been done in a period of nine years." he told reporters. Scindia said the Ministry has envisaged to take the number of airports operating in the country to over 200 in the next five to six years. "Another 50 additional airports, waterdromes and