Passengers of a San Francisco-bound Air India flight from the city had a tough time on Friday as they had to wait inside the aircraft for more than five hours. The flight was later rescheduled for Saturday. An airline official said the Boeing 777 plane, which was scheduled to take off at 1600 hours, was first delayed due to a technical glitch, then some passengers deboarded and subsequently, another passenger fell ill. After deboarding the passenger who started feeling unwell at around 1917 hours, it was noticed that by the time the flight AI 179 would have reached San Francisco, there would be night-landing restrictions and also, the crew would have crossed the flight-duty limitations. The official said the flight has been rescheduled for Saturday and would take off at 1030 hours. The number of passengers onboard the aircraft could not be immediately ascertained. According to the official, AI 179 from Mumbai to San Francisco, scheduled to depart at 1600 hours, was delayed due to
Qantas, the national carrier of Australia, on Tuesday announced that it is adding flights from Bengaluru to Sydney to cater to the strong demand over the peak holiday season. Between mid-December 2024 and late March 2025, the airline will increase flights from five a week to daily, adding over 12,000 seats between the two cities over the four-month period, Qantas said in a statement. The flights add to Qantas' existing services from Delhi to Melbourne, which operate three days a week. Qantas' flights from India are operated with its fleet of Airbus A330 aircraft with 27 Business Class suites in 1- 2-1 configuration, with each suite featuring direct aisle access and converting into a lie-flat bed. All Qantas international fares include checked baggage allowance, food and beverages and in-flight entertainment as standard with every booking. Qantas recently announced it would accelerate a programme to introduce fast and free' Wi-Fi across its existing fleet of international aircraft,
NCLT indicated that it needed more time to study the Delhi High Court's order that told the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to deregister all its 54 aircraft by May 3, 2024
The regional labour commissioner will seek inputs from aviation regulator DGCA in the ongoing conciliation process with respect to the dispute between Air India Express management and a section of the cabin crew members, according to a source. Tata Group-owned profit-making Air India Express is in the process of merging loss-making AIX Connect, formerly AirAsia India, with itself. Meanwhile, Air India Express has cancelled over 90 flights since Tuesday night as a section of cabin crew members reported sick to protest against alleged mismanagement at the airline, which said it is working hard to minimise the disruptions. A union representing a section of the Air India Express cabin crew had filed a complaint before the labour department last year. The union had raised various concerns at the airline, including about room sharing during layovers. The matter is now under the conciliation process as per the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947. The source on Wednesday told PTI that the ...
The Delhi High Court, on April 26, directed the DGCA to deregister planes leased to Go First within five working days, providing much-needed relief to the lessors
Sources said that the issue arose when 12 Vistara pilots, trained on A320 family planes, were undergoing conversion training for B787 aircraft
Go First's resolution professional did not immediately respond to a Reuters' email seeking comment
The new DGCA guidelines require airlines to offer these services as "opt-in" options. This means the base fare will not automatically include these charges, and passengers can choose to add them on on
The Delhi High Court instructed the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to proceed with deregistering and surrendering all 54 aircraft to the lessors
Airlines shall ensure that children up to the age of 12 years are allocated seats with at least one of their parents or guardians, who are travelling on the same PNR the DGCA mentioned
The DGCA has made it mandatory for airlines to assign seats for children up to 12 years old when at least one parent or guardian is traveling on the same PNR
Air India has operationalised five new contact centres, including in Cairo and Kuala Lumpur, to provide assistance to its customers worldwide. The Tata Group-owned airline has partnered with Concentrix, a California-headquartered customer engagement firm, to manage premium services from centres in Mumbai, Cairo, and Kuala Lumpur. Besides, the carrier has signed up iEnergizer to operate contact centres in Noida and Bengaluru, focusing on domestic inquiries, a release said on Friday. Recently, Air India introduced a premium desk for its premium frequent flyer members as well as business and first-class guests. In the release, the airline said it has implemented a comprehensive back-office insourcing strategy to manage emails, social media, and chat support internally to assist the customers. "A 24/7 grievance management desk promptly addresses all customer queries, escalations and provides round-the-clock support," it added.
'Challenging start to new financial year', says Vinod Kannan after airline had to cancel 150 flights between March 31 and April 4
FDTL norms are crucial as they guarantee sufficient rest for pilots, minimising the risk of untoward incidents
The cancellations and delays forced India's civil aviation ministry to intervene and monitor the situation, while the aviation regulator has sought daily information on flight disruptions
Airline asked to comply with regulations on assisting passengers affected due to cancellations or delays
Aviation watchdog DGCA has asked Vistara to submit a daily report on flight cancellations as well as delays, and is also monitoring the situation to ensure minimum inconvenience to passengers. The move comes against the backdrop of non-availability of pilots forcing Vistara to cancel a significant number of flights in recent days. In a statement on Tuesday, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said that in view of the various flight disruptions of Vistara, it has asked the airline to submit daily information and details on the flights that are being cancelled and delayed. The officials of the DGCA are also monitoring the situation to ensure compliance with requirements for providing facilities to passengers in case of flight cancellations and delays. This is to minimise the inconvenience to passengers. On Monday, the airline cancelled around 50 flights due to non-availability of crew and many flights were delayed. Vistara, which is in the process of getting merged wit
The regulator on Tue said airlines can continue to comply with the old FDTL norms, issued in 2019, 'till approval of their respective scheme in compliance with this CAR (civil aviation requirement)'
On Friday, the regulator stated it conducted an audit of Air India in January to check compliance with regulations related to FDTL and the fatigue management system (FMS)
Air India was fined Rs 80 lakh two months after the DGCA conducted a spot audit of Air India Limited in the month of January in order to check regulatory compliance