Gold seized at airport

Thiruvananthapuram: he customs DRI department Wednesday seized 2.5 kilograms of gold which was found abandoned under the seat of an Air India flight. The gold was found in the flight which reached the capital city early Wednesday morning. The yellow metal was in the form of a biscuit and gold bar.

Minor fire breaks out in Air India building

Mumbai: A minor fire broke out in the control panel department at the ground floor of the Air India building at Nariman point on Tuesday night.
The fire broke out before midnight and it was doused by the in house staff. Short circuit seems to have caused the fire.

Air India Felicitates Staff Involved in Rescue, Relief Operations

New Delhi: The Air India on Tuesday felicitated those employees who took part in evacuation efforts during different emergency situations across the world.

The event called ‘Humane Efforts of Air India’ was held at PVR cinema at Vansant Kunj in the national capital.

Regional Secretary of Air India Regional Sports Club said that the national airlines had carried out several operations to rescue Indians stuck on difficult situations.

Two ships searching for missing jet MH370 have damaged vital equipment

The hunt for the Malaysian airliner in the Indian Ocean has been set back with two of the three search ships sustaining damage to vital equipment in recent days, officials said on Wednesday.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau, which is coordinating the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, said Wednesday that a piece of underwater communications equipment fitted to the Havila Harmony had become tangled in fishing net and had been bent. The damage was discovered by divers last week the during a maintenance visit to the Australian west coast city of Perth.

In transit

Major airports in the country have been late to the party of global airports, unlike Atlanta, Chicago, Dubai or Singapore which are hubs connecting one end of the world to another. However, in a case of better late than never, the Indian airports are now taking steps to becoming global hubs.

The Indian Government’s decision to allow private sector participation in domestic airports and the opening of the integrated domestic and international terminal under the same roof at Terminal 3 (T-3) in Delhi in 2010 was the first step, and possibly a game changer. While in fiscal year 2010 the airport handled 1.6 million transfer passengers — about 6 per cent of all passengers who travelled through the airport — this figure touched 8.4 million transfer passengers or 20.5 per cent of all passengers handled in fiscal year 2015.
A hub airport is one where a passenger, say from Chennai, can fly to Singapore and within a short time connect to another flight to Auckland as the final destination. And for that to happen an integrated passenger terminal is important.

Foreign airlines owe billions to CAA

Islamabad: The Civil Aviation Authority has said the airlines of several foreign countries, including the United States and India, owe billions of rupees to the CAA. Officials yesterday told the Public Accounts Committee that the foreign airlines have yet to pay Rs 15 billon, including Rs18 million by the US Air Force. The US had to pay these dues in the heads of using Pakistan airspace, rent, electricity bill and aeronautical revenue during the war in Afghanistan.

According to the CAA, the US has not cleared the arrears from 2002 to 2003 and Pakistani authorities have repeatedly raised the issue with the American embassy in Islamabad but in vain. The US declared war on Taliban in Afghanistan in the 2001 following Sept 11 attacks.

AirAsia's 3rd flight on Delhi-Bengaluru sector

New Delhi: Budget passenger carrier AirAsia India on Wednesday, Jan 27 said it will commence operations of its third flight connecting Bengaluru and New Delhi. The new service will be operational on a daily basis from March 1.
"With our continued growth, strong demand and learning from the local market trend and passenger's request, we strongly believe in the enhanced connectivity between Bengaluru and Delhi," said Mittu Chandilya, chief executive and managing director of AirAsia India.
To Read the News in Full 27/01/16 One India

Direct Flight for Pakistan to Guwahati, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka on Board Too

Chennai: Finally it’s official. As reported by Express, Pakistan will take chartered flights directly to Guwahati for the South Asian Games next month. This was decided after the Organising Committee got clearances from the Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of External Affairs, Express has learnt.

Pakistan who are sending a large contingent of around 450 (including officials) will arrive in two batches – one on February 2 and the other two days later  — before the event begins on February 5. According to top officials in the SAG organising committee, India have agreed to Pakistan’s request to let them fly directly to Guwahati instead of stopovers in Delhi or Mumbai. The organising committee, through a special notification from the Ministry of Home Affairs, got the nod. Even the MEA has ratified it.

Indigo deplanes 3 passengers in Ahmedabad from Mumbai flight

Ahmedabad: Three passengers, all family members, were de-boarded by Indigo officials from a Mumbai flight on Monday morning allegedly over unruly behaviour.
The Modi family, including Aashil Modi and his parents Kapil Modi and Avani Modi, were scheduled to board Indigo's 6E-214 flight for Mumbai. The Modi family not only lost tickets worth Rs 15,000 as Indigo did not refund them, but they also missed an important family function in Mumbai besides important business meetings.

Trujet to add seven aircraft, expand services to West and North India

Mumbai: Regional airline Trujet plans to add seven ATR aircraft to its fleet and is looking to expand its services to North and West India.

The airline began operations with a Hyderabad-Tirupati flight last July and flies to eight destinations now.  It holds a regional operations permit.

“We have three ATR-72 planes now and will add two more aircraft by May,” said V Umesh, chairperson, Trujet. It will add services from Hyderabad to Pune and Visakhapatnam.

IndiGo adds eight new daily flights

New Delhi: Budget carrier IndiGo has added eight new flights in its pan-India network, which will take the total number of daily flights operated by the airline to 679.

The new services, effective from today, include a second non-stop daily flight between Chennai and Kochi, a third direct daily connection to Guwahati from Delhi, a ninth daily non-stop flight between Hyderabad and Delhi as well as the 10th daily non-stop flight between Delhi and Chennai, IndiGo said in a statement.

SpiceJet re-negotiating contracts to bring down costs: Ajay Singh

New Delhi: To reduce overall costs, SpiceJet is re-negotiating contracts related to aircraft lease, engineering, maintenance and other areas as some of the pacts are "out of sync" with realities, airline's chief Ajay Singh said.
After grappling with turbulent times a year ago, SpiceJet is on the path of turnaround and has remained profitable for four straight quarters.

Key airports' capacity to get saturated in 10 years

New Delhi: The Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation has said that key airports in the country will saturate in the next ten years and the government needs to start planning for alternative airports in the cities.

Milan-bound Air India flight forced to return to Delhi airport after smoke detected in cabin

New Delhi: A Milan-bound Air India plane carrying 167 passengers onboard was forced to return to IGI Airport in New Delhi barely two hours after it had taken off as smoke was "detected" in its cabin.

Fly to India for just Dh193? Airfares from UAE nosedive

Airfares from the UAE have been dropping after the New Year’s busy period, with most airlines offering discounted rates.

The latest to join the bandwagon is the Indian low-cost carrier SpiceJet, which us running adverts in local dailies to promote its offer for one-way tickets to India for just Dh193.

This, however, is the base price of a one-way ticket excluding taxes.

Airlines offer lean season low fares till mid-April

New Delhi: With the peak holiday season coming to an end, airlines have started offering discounted fares to fill up planes during the ongoing lean travel season which will last till summer breaks begin.
On Monday, low cost carriers IndiGo and SpiceJet came out with discounted offers for travel till mid-April.

IFR: change in flight timings from today

Visakhapatnam: The timings for operation of scheduled commercial aircrafts at Visakhapatnam International Airport have been changed from Tuesday (January 26) to February 7 to facilitate conduct of rehearsals and exercises by the Indian Navy as part of the forthcoming International Fleet Review (IFR).

“The operation of scheduled flights would be suspended for about three hours a day during different timings on each of the above days. The airline operators have already informed their passengers about the changes in the schedules of their flights on those days and also posted the same on their websites,” Airport Director Vinod Sharma said on Monday.

Jet Airways' senior official Rajeev Nambiar quits

New Delhi: Jet Airways' Vice President for Sales Rajeev Nambiar has quit, becoming the first top level executive to move out of the Naresh Goyal-led airline this year.

Mumbai Least Punctual Airport in 2015: 1 in 4 Flights Delayed

Through 2015, the Mumbai airport was the least punctual among four private-run metro airports -- Delhi, Bangalore and Hyderabad being the other three .

The on-time performance (OTP) report showed that on an average, only 74.36% flights every month were on schedule in Mumbai. Hyderabad (84.06%) and Bangalore (82.47%) did better. Even Delhi, which handles about 100 more take-offs and landings a day than Mumbai, recorded an average on-time performance of 81.56%. Mumbai handles an average of 865 flights daily. Barring January (when it was the third best), Mumbai stayed at the bottom of the table for the whole year.

IndiGo in discussions with Airbus over A320 neos delivery delay

IndiGo's parent InterGlobe Aviation on Monday said it is in discussions with aircraft maker Airbus regarding the delay and revised schedule for the delivery of new planes. In December, the no-frills carrier said there was no clear visibility about the delivery of A320 neos as delivery of the first aircraft was delayed by Airbus due to "industrial reasons". In a filing to the NSE on Monday, InterGlobe said it continues to monitor the situation regarding the delay.

SpiceJet: Increasing connectivity

Indian budget carrier SpiceJet began the New Year by announcing the launch of two new flights from Jaipur and Hyderabad to Dubai. The new flights will begin from February 16.

"Dubai is SpiceJet's key international market," says Ajay Singh, Chairman and Managing Director, SpiceJet. "We will continue to increase our presence here. Our customers can expect many more flights and many more exciting offers in the coming months."

‘For stress-free boarding, air travellers must report early’

Mumbai: After a series of hoax calls and sightings of parachute-like flying objects over the past three weeks, a number of air security measures have been put in place in preparation for Republic Day on Tuesday.
"For now, no airport entry passes are being issued by the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security," said a source.

Air India eyes new service from Madinah to Indian cities

India ’s national carrier, Air India operates 42 services from Saudi Arabia to India including the services of its subsidiary company ‘Air India Express’ which operates 7 flights from Dammam to Indian destinations.

Air India operates 14 services weekly each from Jeddah, Riyadh and Dammam.
The Indian subcontinent is a potential market for all the regional airlines in Asia, Gulf and Middle East region, and Air India serves as major carrier connecting Jeddah, Riyadh and Dammam with all major Indian cities.

Air India to have a reserve bench of cabin crew similar to IT firms

New Delhi: A passenger recently tweeted about an Air India flight being delayed because the cabin crew did not show up on time. To avoid such incidents, Air India is planning to form a ‘reserve bench’ of cabin crew who can be called deployed in case of manpower shortage.

According to a senior Air India official, the state-run carrier is going to hire around 1,500 people on contract basis, who will be kept as reserves and paid a standard salary. “The base salary will be Rs 40,000-50,000 a month. Whenever they fly, they will get compensated depending on the flying hours.”

Air statistics mirror Amartya flight slight

Nobel laureate Amartya Sen's lament about lack of industry reducing Calcutta from 18 flights to London a week to no air link with Europe soars on city-specific statistics: Delhi has 22 flights to Europe every day, Mumbai 12, Bangalore three and Chennai two.

Aviation industry experts said on Sunday that direct flights to Europe vanished from Calcutta along with the flight of capital, starting in the mid-1970s.

"There is no business case for airlines in Bengal to start flights to Europe. This means, there is not enough economic activity in Bengal to excite the airlines," said Kapil Kaul, CEO (South Asia) at the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation, a global aviation research and consulting practice.

Wreckage found in Thailand unlikely to come from missing Malaysian jet

Bangkok: A piece of suspected plane wreckage found off the east coast of southern Thailand on Saturday was unlikely to belong to Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 which vanished nearly two years ago, said aviation experts and Thai officials.

A large piece of curved metal washed ashore in Nakhon Si Thammarat province, Tanyapat Patthikongpan, head of Pak Phanang district, told Reuters. Villagers reported it to authorities for identification, he said.

"Villagers found the wreckage, measuring about 2 metres wide and 3 metres long (6.6 by 9.8 feet)," he said.

DGCA Examining IndiGo Report on Passengers Offloading: Report

New Delhi: Aviation regulator DGCA is "examining" the report submitted by budget airline IndiGo on the offloading of 70 passengers in Hyderabad from its Raipur-bound flight allegedly for "unruly behavior" last week.

The incident, fourth such related to IndiGo in the last one month, triggered a controversy with the aggrieved passengers lodging a police complaint, prompting the Directorate General of Civil Aviation to seek a report from the Gurgaon-based carrier, sources said.

Air Costa announces Republic Day offer

Hyderabad:  Air Costa has come out with an offer wherein a passenger gets Rs. 555 off on every ticket across its network to mark India’s 67th Republic Day celebrations.

Aviation Policy may impose 35% royalty on airlines

New Delhi: The Cabinet is likely to take up in February the new Civil Aviation Policy which may a 35 per cent royalty to airports for self ground-handling operations by airliners.

Sources told Bloomberg TV India that the government has held its final meeting on new Civil Aviation policy with stakeholders on Monday and the policy will be put before Cabinet in February.

“The new policy is likely to have fresh guidelines on ground handling. Airport Authority of India and private airport operators have demand airlines to pay up to 35 per cent royalty on self ground handling operations,” said an official privy to the development.

Large group kicked off flight for 'unruly behaviour'

Hyderabad: Citing 'unruly behaviour,' a large group of 70 passengers were booted off a flight about to take off in Hyderabad, India.

The IndiGo flight was preparing to depart for Raipur when a dispute developed as several passengers in the group were attempting to change seats among themselves.

An 'altercation' with cabin crew then escalated as ground staff were called in to assist.

Mumbai: Man opens emergency gate of aircraft, just for fun

Mumbai: After a mentally unstable passenger making four hoax calls to various airports, an arrival passenger on Sunday created nuisance when he landed from Abu Dhabi at 1.05pm.

GoAir Launches Republic Day Sale; Tickets Start From Rs 1826

Budget carrier GoAir on Monday announced a Republic Day promotional offer. The company has priced fares from Rs 1,826 (base fuel surcharge) under this scheme.
The offer is applicable on Delhi to Lucknow route. Also, under the same offer, fares on the Delhi-Mumbai route start from Rs 2,268.

Bomb threat to Kathmandu-bound Jet flight, aircraft grounded

New Delhi: A Kathmandu-bound Jet Airways flight with 111 people on board was today halted minutes before take-off from the IGI Airport here after a bomb threat and the plane was grounded and being searched thoroughly.

The bomb scare arose at a time when security is at an all-time high in view of the Republic Day celebrations tomorrow across the country and especially in Delhi.

No explosives detected, Jet Airways Delhi-Kathmandu flight set for take off

New Delhi: Jet Airways Delhi-Kathmandu flight 9W 260 from the Indira Gandhi International Airport was cleared for take off on Monday evening, five hours after it was halted following a bomb threat.

This after no explosives were found on board during search operations. The threat call came about half an hour before the plane, carrying 104 passengers and seven crew members, was to take off for Kathmandu at its scheduled departure time of 1.25pm.

SpiceJet Republic Day offer: ‘India will fly sale’ cuts ticket prices to Rs 826

SpiceJet ‘Republic Day’ offer: SpiceJet has announced ‘India will Fly sale’ offering tickets prices as low as Rs 826 on domestic flights and ticket prices starting at Rs 3026 on international flights. The three-day sale will be applicable for booking between 25 January-27 January 2016 for travel between 01 February to 12 April, 2016. The offer is available on first-come-first-served basis, and seats per flight are limited.

Fake airline executive dupes BSF officer of Rs 60,000

In a bizarre turn of events a Border Security Force (BSF) officer not only missed his flight, but was also duped out of Rs 60,000 from his bank account.
Ompal Singh Yadav, who is a sub inspector with the BSF, alleged that he missed his flight due to a misunderstanding with a private airline. When he complained and asked for a refund, he was duped by an unidentified caller who took his bank details and transferred Rs 60,000 from his account.
According to the complaint made by Yadav, he had booked IndiGo airlines' flight to Agartala from Delhi. He said that he was on time and was waiting to board when he was asked to go for a fresh round of checking.

The airlines claimed that Yadav was called back from the boarding gate by DIAL security after the dead bullet was detected in his check-in baggage. Since an object of potential threat was found in the passenger's bag, the airline immediately informed the CISF.

India's SpiceJet leasing another Bulgarian A320

SpiceJet has supplemented its winter fleet with an A320-200 LZ-BHH (cn 2863) wet-leased from BH Air - Balkan Holidays Air.

The Indian LCC also wet-leases an A319-100 from the Bulgarian operator - LZ-AOA (cn 3139).

Dense fog at IGI, mercury hits new depths

New Delhi: The Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) here saw flight disruptions on Friday due to fog and near zero visibility conditions for more than four hours in the morning. Delhi has been going through a continuous fog spell and conditions are not expected to improve in the next three to four days.

Malaysia-bound flight fails to take off in Chennai

Chennai: A Malaysia-bound flight, carrying 160 passengers on board, failed to take off from here today following a technical problem, airport officials said.

Indigo airline passengers spend night at airport

Shamshabad: About 70 passengers of Indigo airlines spent the night at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) on Friday following heated arguments with the crew of the scheduled plane.

Bomb scare forces GoAir flight to make emergency landing at Nagpur

New Delhi: Panic gripped aviation authorities following reports of a bomb planted in a Bhubaneswar-Mumbai GoAir flight on Saturday morning.
Sources said that immediately after that the GoAir flight GA 284 made an emergency landing in Nagpur at 10.50 am.
After the aircraft made an emergency landing at the Nagpur airport, all the passengers were safely deplaned.

SpiceJet lands on highest ever profit, Rs 238 cr in airline kitty

Mumbai: Gurgaon based low cost airline SpiceJet, on Friday, reported net profit of Rs 238.40 crore in the October- December quarter of the current financial year on the back of a substantial reduction in fuel cost, rise in revenues due the increase in the number of passengers carried and better operating efficiency.
In the corresponding quarter of FY15 SpiceJet  had posted a net loss of Rs 275.02 crore.
According to the company, this was the highest ever net profit posted by the company since its inception in 2005.

Air travel getting increasingly popular in Hyderabad

Hyderabad: With the airliners offering attractive packages and discounts, air travel is becoming increasingly popular. The travelers appear to be more and more inclined to choose air travel over other modes of transport.

Jet Airways sees another top-level exit

Mumbai: Close on the heels of the resignation of its chief executive officer Cramer Ball, Jet Airways has seen another senior level exit.

Jet Airways Vice-President (Sales) Rajeev Nambiar has quit and is returning to Etihad Airways after more than 18 months. He was the sales head of Etihad before joining Jet Airways in July 2014 and will now join Etihad at the same post of sales head.

Mangaluru airport handles record passengers in 2015-16

Mangaluru: Mangaluru lnternational Airport (MIA) has witnessed a record handling of passengers in 2015-16, expecting more than 16 lakh passengers in this year. There is a growth of 40% in international passengers and 15% in domestic passenger movements in his year and overall about 22% growth compared to previous year.

New York's JFK airport reopens after 'Snowzilla' with Air India flight

New York: A day after life-threatening monster snowstorm almost paralysed the entire US East Coast, the iconic John F Kennedy International airport here partially
resumed its services with Air India's plane being the first one to land at the airport.

Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said John F Kennedy International had its first arrival at 7:10 am yesterday as Air India flight landed on the tarmac.

Weather blues continue, fog grounds 2 flights, delays 5

Chandigarh: Two flights were cancelled while at least five flights were delayed due to poor visibility at the civil terminal of the Chandigarh airport here today. However, passengers stranded at the airport blamed the VIP visit of French president Francois Hollande and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the same.

Air India to lease out 17,000 sq ft of commercial space at erstwhile Mumbai headquarters

New Delhi:  Air India plans to lease out 17,000 sq ft of commercial space at its erstwhile headquarters in Mumbai, which could fetch the state-owned carrier an additional Rs 5 crore revenues annually.

Air India is a victim of govt’s apathy

Is India’s national carrier Air India heading towards a slow but certain death after more than six decades of unhindered service? If so, the Government is itself to blame.

Ever since the Government allowed operation of private carriers as part of its open sky policy under the overall economic reforms agenda that began in the early 90s, first the then PSU domestic carrier Indian Airlines began losing revenue. The international arm Air India held aloft for some time but soon started giving in to pulls and pressures from both the industry and the Government. The merged entity Air India may now be in deeper mess.

Wadia-owned GoAir opposes scrapping of 5/20 rule that will benefit Tatas' airlines

New Delhi: The Tatas and Wadias — two friends and allies for many decades — are now facing off at opposing lobbies as the civil aviation ministry considers dismantling the 'five years and 20 aircraft' (5/20) norm for domestic carriers to fly international.
Nusli Wadia and Jeh Wadia, promoters of GoAir, were part of a delegation that met Minister of State for Civil Aviation Mahesh Sharma on Tuesday as part of a Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA) team.

Local airlines raise ownership concerns of new players to stall 5/20 scrapping

Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) may be tilted in favour of scrapping the rule that allows domestic airlines to start international operations only after completing five years and ownership of 20 aircraft, also known as 5/20 rule, but local incumbent carriers continue to vehemently oppose any such move.

An email shot off to the government on Wednesday by Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA), which represents leading domestic airline IndiGo, Jet Airways, JetLite, SpiceJet and GoAir, makes a case for retaining the 5/20 rule by raising concerns over principles of substantial ownership and effective control (SOEC) being flouted by foreign partners of "Indian airlines".

Now, AI flyer sees three ‘gliders’ near Mumbai airport

Mumbai: From his window seat, an Air India passenger spotted three white, triangular flying objects below the plane about 10 minutes before the aircraft touched down at Mumbai airport on Tuesday. With this report, the mystery of suspected hang- or paragliders deepened as two weeks in a row, these objects have been spotted flying at locations close to the airports at Santacruz and Juhu.
On January 13, a Pawan Hans pilot spotted six paraglider-like objects flying north of Juhu airport in a 3-1-2 formation as he was preparing to take off.

India orders airports to ban visitor entry due to security concerns

India's Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) has issued an order to all regional and international airports in the country to stop sale of entry tickets to visitors in the wake of growing terror concerns.

BCAS has ordered all the airports to immediately stop the sale of entry tickets to visitors. This move will bar visitors from accompanying passengers till inside the airport terminal.

GoAir first domestic carrier to operate night flight to Port Blair

Mumbai: The Wadia group-promoted GoAir has become the first domestic airline to operate night flights to Port Blair's Veer Savarkar International Airport with the roll out of an commercial charter flight from Bengaluru.

Come up with ideas to develop air services: Minister

New Delhi: Union Minister of Civil Aviation P. Ashok Gajapathi Raju on Friday called upon various stakeholders to come up with new ideas for improved air services delivery in India.

"India is on the path of growth providing immense economic opportunities. Growth of air passenger traffic and air cargo traffic also needs to be given due importance.

"There is a need to plan for the future while deriving inspiration from the past," Raju said in a statement.

Foreign currencies seized at RGIA

Hyderabad: The officials of the Directorate of Revenue have seized foreign currencies worth Rs 1.19 crore from an passenger at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport on Friday.

Airline passenger load factor at 84.8% high in the past decade: DGCA data

There is more good news for the domestic aviation sector, which is among the biggest beneficiaries of the falling fuel prices. Recent data from the Directorate General Civil Aviation (DGCA) shows that the current average passenger load factor (PLF), or occupancy, of 84.8% is highest in the past decade. In 2006, India's airline industry had a load factor of 67.6%.

Airports in India: Security air pockets

An escalated threat perception at Indian airports in the wake of the Pathankot attack notwithstanding, the security of eight of India’s airports that are categorised as ‘hyper-sensitive’ and another 19 airports deemed to be ‘sensitive’ from a security standpoint are currently not being handled by the Central Industrial Security Force’s (CISF) Aviation Security Group, the only specialised force handling aviation security in the country.

Ruckus at airport over AI flight delay

Ahmedabad: More than 200 Mumbai-bound passengers created ruckus at international terminal of city airport on Tuesday after the Air India's AI-614 Ahmedabad-Mumbai flight was delayed for almost seven hours. The delay was caused due to late arrival of Air India's flight from London.
According to Air India officials, the Dreamliner which operates on LondonAhmedabad route as AI-130, is used again on Ahmedabad-Mumbai route as AI-614. As many as 224 passengers were scheduled to leave by AI-614 from Ahmedabad at 6.30am. Since the flight kept getting delayed, the passengers created ruckus at the airport.

Aggrieved by delayed flight: AI flier calls cops, says ‘there is a hijack-like situation’

The Mumbai police on Tuesday woke up to a shocking call after a sexagenarian flier contacted the police control room to say that “there is a hijack-like situation” at the international airport.
A short-lived probe, however, revealed that the ominous call was only “an expression” shared by the aggrieved passenger over his delayed Air India flight.
The London-Ahmedabad via Mumbai AI-130 flight, which operates using a Dreamliner aircraft got delayed by over three hours over some “administrative issues”, airport officials claimed.

After Air India, IndiGo's check- in counters to close an hour before departure

New Delhi: Passengers flying with IndiGo will have to report to airport earlier till January 31 as the low cost carrier will close its check-in counters an hour before flight departure time instead of the regular 45 minutes. This essentially means flyers will have to reach airport about one-and-a-half hours before departure time to check-in.

Cambodia looking at direct air connectivity with India

Manila: Cambodia is looking,at improving air connectivity with India through direct flights. Speaking exclusively to Express TravelWorld at the ongoing ATF 2016 in the SMX Convention Centre in Manila, Prak Vuthy, deputy director, marketing and promotion department.

Tigerair to have additional flights from Hyderabad, Tiruchirappalli to Singapore

New Delhi: No-frills carrier Tigerair will start additional flights from Hyderabad and Tiruchirappalli to Singapore between April 25 and June 15.

The carrier, a subsidiary of Singapore Airlines Ltd, has decided to operate one seasonal additional flight each from both places after seeing good response from passengers during peak seasons.

Kingfisher Airlines to pay Rs 30,000

Chandigarh: Finding Kingfisher Airlines grossly deficient of services, the UT Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has directed the airline to pay Rs 20,000 compensation to the complainants and Rs 10,000 as litigation costs.
The airlines has also been directed to refund Rs 53,000 to the complainants, being the price of air tickets of the cancelled flight.

Flemingo wins nine duty free airport concessions

Flemingo International has been awarded duty free concessions to operate at nine Indian airports, including Chennai, Kolkata, Calicut, Trichy, Mangalore, Goa, Ahmadabad, Amritsar and Lucknow.

All these concessions will run from 2016 until 2023, although the Trichy Airport business is covered by a 10-year agreement. Flemingo now has the sole duty free rights to sell liquor, tobacco, confectionery, perfume and cosmetics, fashion, fashion accessories, electronics and destination categories.

Airline cancels flights to Varanasi, stranded passengers protest at Mumbai airport

Mumnbai: IndiGo passengers to Varanasi protested at Mumbai airport on Tuesday, after the airline cancelled two flights citing poor visibility.
The passengers were peeved that instead of making alternative arrangements to fly them to Varanasi, IndiGo asked them to get a refund. "I don't want a refund. I want to fly today, I need to attend an RSS meeting in Benares," said advocate AK Sayani, an aggrieved passenger. "We enquired at Varanasi and found that other airlines have landed."

Only scheduled flight at Porbandar airport to stop operations

Porbandar: Only one schedule flight operated at Porbandar airport which is Jet Airways flight connecting Porbandar to Mumbai will cease to operate from 27 March this year.

It is learnt that decision to stop this service has been taken due to not enough availability of passengers and some technical issues which could be related to lack of enough ATR planes.

Air India to hire cabin crew as reserves

New Delhi: When it comes to cabin crew hiring, Air India has decided to follow the IT companies' model. The Maharaja, which currently has 3,200 cabin crew staffers, will hire 1,000 more over the next year. The idea: Keep some on 'bench' at base salaries to ensure that no flight is cancelled due to crew crunch, something which has been happening very frequently in past few months.
"Of our 3,200 cabin crew members, anywhere up to 20% are on leave at any given time due to medical or other reasons.

Intra-state flight operations start today

Bhubaneswar: Chief minister Naveen Patnaik will flag off intra-state flight operations at the Biju Patnaik International Airport here on Tuesday.
The local carrier, Air Odisha, through an MoU with the government, has taken up the operation. In December, a three-member team from the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) conducted on-board airworthiness test and gave final approval for the operation.

CM Naveen Patnaik flags off Air Odisha flight service

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today flagged off the intra-state flight service offered by chartered carrier Air Odisha connecting four destinations in the state.

On its inaugural journey, the carrier took off to Sambalpur from Biju Patnaik International Airport (BPIA) here and would return to Bhubaneswar via Jharsuguda. The inauguration ceremony was held at the hangar of the old terminal of the airport at 11.15 am.

Vistara has potential to soar in global air travel market

Vistara turned one on Jan 9.
For co-parent Singapore Airlines (SIA), which owns 49 per cent of the New Delhi-based Indian premium carrier, it would have been a proud day. The rest of the airline is owned by Indian conglomerate, Tata.

Before Vistara was finally born, SIA had tried for two decades and failed twice to secure a foothold in one of the world's fastest-growing air travel markets.
But was it worth the long gestation and has Vistara lived up to its parents' expectations?

On the surface, it looks good for the new kid on the block.
Within a year, Vistara - which operates narrow-aisle planes - has grown to nine Airbus 320s and serves 12 domestic destinations with more than 300 weekly flights.

To date, it has carried more than a million passengers.

Four more aircraft are expected this year with plans to grow the total fleet to 20 jets by the end of 2018.

Not too bad for a start-up in a very competitive market dominated by Air India, IndiGo and Jet Airways.

Ahmedabad-Dubai air fares touch the skies

Ahmedabad: If you are planning a visit to Dubai in the next few days, then be ready to shell out extra bucks for air tickets. The huge traffic on he Ahmedabad-Dubai route including large numbers of ravelling NRGs and visitors to the Dubai Shopping Festival has led to a spike in air fares.
Ordinarily , a one-way ticket for a single person from Ahmedabad to Dubai costs around Rs 8,000 for a non-stop light. Currently , the same tickets are fetching prices upwards of Rs 25,000.

17 flights delayed at Ahmedabad airport

Ahmedabad: Flyers continue to face trouble with foggy conditions in northern and eastern parts of India affecting air traffic. On Monday, as many as 17 flights -eight arrivals and nine departures -were delayed to and from Ahmedabad airport by between 45 minutes and 5 hours, following dense fog in Jaipur and bad weather at several airports in the country. Seven flights on the Ahmedabad-Mumbai route, three on the Ahmedabad-Delhi route, two each on the Ahmedabad-Jaipur and AhmedabadChennai routes and one flight each on Pune, Indore and Bhopal routes were delayed over the day, due to traffic congestion. More than 2,700 passengers were affected by the delays through the day.

Met dept. tool to enhance safety at airport

Chennai: The Meteorological Department will soon launch two initiatives, one of which is expected to enhance passenger safety at Chennai airport and the other, aimed at providing timely and specific weather forecast for farmers.

The Airport Meteorological Office (AMO), Meenambakkam, is planning to install a meteorological device on the secondary runway of the airport to facilitate safe landing of flights.

Domestic air traffic: SpiceJet, Jet Airways marginally lose market share; GoAir, IndiGo, Air India gain

SpiceJet and Jet Airways saw a marginal decline in their market share in domestic air traffic in December 2015 as compared to November 2015, while GoAir, IndiGo and national carrier Air India saw modest gains, according to statistics released by the ministry of civil aviation on Monday.

SpiceJet's market share declined to 12.7% in December 2015 from 13.3% in November, while Jet Airways saw its share go down to 18.2% from 18.6% in November 2015 and 18.8% in October 2015.

Indian airlines carry 19.71 per cent more passengers in December: DGCA

New Delhi: Airlines in India registered another good month in 2015 by carrying 19.71 per cent more passengers during the month of December compared to the same month last year. A higher growth in passenger resulted in airlines flying with over 75 per cent seats full on every flight that took off in December, shows the DGCA data. IndiGo remained the largest carrier in the domestic market by flying 35.9 per cent of the total passengers flying during the month of December. The market leader was followed by the Jet group that flew 21.2 per cent of the total passengers flown during the month.
month of December. The market leader was followed by the Jet group that flew 21.2 per cent of the total passengers flown during the month.

No night flights to Amritsar from Feb 15

Amritsar: The airport will be closed for flights from February 15 to December 31 from 8 pm to 6 am for re-carpeting of the runway and other allied works. The project is worth Rs 103 crore.

AI to serve meals in thalis for business class flyers

New Delhi: This is the most traditional Indian thing to make a debut on an airline after the sari worn by airhostesses of some carriers. Air India is going to start serving meals in thalis to passengers in business class of its domestic and international flights very soon, airline chairman Ashwani Lohani told TOI.

Crackers to shoo away boars from Pantnagar airport

Nainital: Fed up of numerous incidents of wild boars, hares, deer and other animals straying into the runway and even digging up the area, thereby endangering aircraft safety, authorities at Pantnagar airport have sought help from forest department officials to tackle the menace. The forest department is now using measures such as bursting crackers to keep the animals away from the airport.

Air India flight makes emergency landing

New Delhi: A Nagpur-Delhi Air India flight coming via Raipur, landed on emergency at the Indira Gandhi international airport on Saturday morning, after some of its tyre parts were found at the runway in Raipur after its take off. All 165 people on-board, including the crew members were reported safe.

Air India clears IATA's enhanced operational safety audit

New Delhi: Government-run Air India on Sunday said it has cleared an enhanced operational safety audit, carried out by global airlines body International Air Transport Association (IATA), with an extended validation of up to two years.
The carrier, in a statement, claimed that it has become the first domestic airline to have cleared the E-IOSA (E-IATA Operational Safety Audit) programme with an extended validation till January 2018.

Jet Airways flight forced to abort take-off as dog enters Mumbai airport runway

Mumbai: One domestic flight had to abort take-off while four others were made to hover in the skies for more than 15 minutes after a dog strayed into the runway at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai on Sunday.
The flight which aborted take-off was of Jet Airways. Of the four other flights affected, two were of IndiGo and one each of GoAir and SpiceJet.

Air India to remove First Class cabin from B777 long range planes

New Delhi: State-run Air India has decided to do away with the First Class cabin on its Delhi-San Francisco flight in view of "low occupancy," barely a month after the carrier launched the services operated by a three- Class B777-200LR aircraft.

Air India's decision to reconfigure these aircraft, which currently have eight first class seats, 35 business and 195 economy class seats, comes in the backdrop of heightened demand for business and economy classes, airline sources said.

SpiceJet chief looks to build on Indian low-cost carrier’s turnaround

SpiceJet’s co-founder Ajay Singh seemed surprised that someone would even ask what was going through his mind when, in December 2014, the Indian low-cost carrier’s aircraft were grounded.

Fuel suppliers had refused to refill its planes for fear that they wouldn’t be paid. Thousands of its customers’ holiday plans had been thrown into disarray and the carrier’s 5,000 workers were sent home, unsure of whether they would be paid the salaries they were owed. It was a bleak Christmas for all concerned and there were fears its planes would not take off again.

AI pilots to be penalised for reporting late

New Delhi: Come February, Air India passengers may face lesser delays as the Union government has approved a plan to penalise the national carrier's pilots for reporting late for flights, along with incentives for those who fly more.

According to the new pay structure, in order to claim their salaries, the Air India pilots will have to fly minimum 40 hours. At present, irrespective of a minimum threshold, pilots get a fixed allowance for up to 70 hours of flying.

Tighter norms for Air India pilots in new wage agreement

New Delhi: In order to improve operating efficiency, national carrier Air India has been making tighter provisions for its pilots. In a latest development, Air India has made it compulsory for pilots to fly for a minimum 40 hours to become eligible for guaranteed salary. This says an official of Air India is to discourage the habit of pilots of flying very few hours and drawing full salary.

The clause is a part of the new wage agreement that has been passed by the Ministry of Civil Aviation. The pilots will also have to make themselves available for at least 150 days over six months. The new wage agreement has also provisions to penalise the pilots if they report sick two hours before the scheduled departure of the flight.

Will full-service carriers gain ground in 2016?

Unlike in the past when the low-cost carriers (LCCs) gained at the expense of the full-service carriers (FSCs), the latter held their own in 2015.

The market share break-up between LCCs and FSCs in 2014 and 2015 remain around the same level at 60:40. This is despite IndiGo increasing its dominance and most of the new entrants being LCCs. That’s because SpiceJet — the second largest LCC — lost a lot of ground temporarily, and Jet Airways exited the low-cost space earlier being operated under the JetKonnect brand.

New airlines take off, but yet to soar

Indian aviation went from strength to strength in 2015, attracting many new players. Three new airlines — Vistara, Air Pegasus and Trujet — took off last year. With this, five new players now compete for passenger patronage in the domestic skies. These players have taken off, but they have a long way to reach cruising altitude and challenge the well-entrenched larger carriers.

For regional player Air Costa, which started flying in late 2013, traffic grew a robust 30 per cent plus year-on-year in the January-November 2015 period. AirAsia India, which began operations in June 2014, flew nearly thrice the number of passengers between June and November 2015 than it did a year ago.

From just 15,000 passengers in January 2015 when it was launched, Vistara — the Tata-Singapore Airlines joint venture — increased traffic nearly nine-fold to 1.36 lakh in November.

Air India changes stand on 5/20 rule to allow airlines to fly abroad

In an apparent change of stance over the much-debated 5/20 norm, state-run Air India now is of the view that national interest should be the criteria for the Government when it decides on either retaining or scrapping the rule to allow Indian carriers to fly overseas.

The airline has submitted its new position on the 5/20 norm to the Civil Aviation Ministry, which has to take a final call on the issue before sending it to the Union Cabinet for approval, sources said.
Under the rule popularly called 5/20, a domestic carrier is allowed to fly abroad only after completing five years of domestic operations and having a minimum of 20 aircraft fleet. Air India's latest stand on the issue has come under the new Chairman and Managing Director Ashwani Lohani. It had earlier taken the position, along with other airlines like Jet Airways, that status quo should be maintained on the matter.

AirAsia to give 20% discount to ICICI Bank card holders

Malaysian budget airline AirAsia on Monday said it will offer 20 per cent discount on base fares to private sector lender ICICI Bank's debit and credit card holders, under an exclusive tie-up, for a limited period.
The offer will be valid for travel on AirAsia Berhad, AirAsia India and Thai AirAsia flights, the airline said in a release.

Air Asia CEO to speak at Flying High

Mysuru: The Confederation of Indian Industry and Young Indians, Mysuru, will present ‘Flying High’ in their next speaker series on January 22 from 10.30 to 1 pm at JSS Center for Management Studies, SJCE campus here.

 The audience will have an opportunity to listen and interact with one of the world’s youngest CEOs in aviation, Mittu Chandilya, currently CEO and Managing Director of Air Asia India. “Mittu is a global business leader only 35 years old. Having lived in India, China, Malaysia, Singapore and a majority of his life in the USA, Mittu Chandilya has been a fashion model, athlete and competitor and started his professional career in a successful entrepreneurial venture at the age of 19,” a release from Yi, Mysuru, said.

Chandigarh airport requires Centre nod to go international

Chandigarh: unjab government on Friday informed the high court that it is the central government that has to take serious steps to launch international flights from Chandigarh international airport.
The state government's statement was given as a reply to a petition filed by Mohali Industries Association over lack of international flights from the airport. "Any decision to operate international flights is to be taken at the level of Union ministry of civil aviation and the Airport Authority of India (AAI). Only they could give the reasons for non-operation of the international airport," submitted the state government in an affidavit.

Nagpur-Delhi AI 469 flight’s tyre bursts at Delhi airport, passengers escape unhurt

Nagpur: Around 153 passengers of Nagpur-Delhi Air India flight 469 had a narrow escape on Saturday, when one of the tyres of the aircraft burst while landing at Delhi airport. The flight which took off from Nagpur at 10 am on Saturday morning landed in trouble as it touched down ground at Delhi airport at 11.30 am.

Fog delays 39 flights, none cancelled

New Delhi: The visibility at IGI airport reduced early on Friday morning due to fog resulting in 39 flights getting disrupted. Low-visibility procedures were implemented for more than nine hours delaying 17 departures and 22 arrivals. However, no flight cancellations were reported.

Restriction On Airspace Use For Republic Day Celebrations From January 19

New Delhi:  The airspace will remain out of bounds for commercial flights arriving and departing out of the IGI airport in New Delhi for more than an hour every day beginning next week in view of the Republic Day celebrations.

The airlines have already been intimated about the airspace closure through a NOTAM (Notice to airmen), issued by the Airports of Authority of India (AAI), which manages Indian airspace, sources said today.

A booklet at Srinagar airport will soon give tourists a better idea of historical monuments

To give a better idea to the tourists about civilsation and culture of Kashmir, booklet with information on the historical monuments of the valley will soon be made available at the Sheikh-ul-Alam airport in Srinagar.

Divisional  Commissioner Kashmir Asgar Samoon has also directed the concerned officers to take up heightened measures to raise awareness about the historical monuments and conserve the heritage for posterity.

Airline staff cabs exempt from extra fee

New Delhi: Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) has exempted airline cabs from the additional fee of Rs 150 that commercial vehicles are being charged since October 20, 2015. Cabs will now be allowed to pick up airline employees from the staff parking located near T3. The parking site is well-lit and fully secured by the airport's security staff.

AI to operate Surat-Delhi flights daily from Feb 1

Surat: In a clear sign of victory for Diamond City residents, Air India (AI) on Friday decided to operate morning flights between Surat and Delhi on a daily basis from February 1. Recently, AI had slashed the frequency of its morning flights from six to four days a week till January 31.
The decision had invited widespread criticism from Surat Airport Action Committee and frequent flyers for meting out a step-motherly treatment to the Diamond City.

Kuwait Airways to increase India flights

Mumbai: Kuwait Airways on Saturday said it will add flights to Ahmedabad and Bengaluru in the summer schedule as a part of its expansion in India.

While the Gulf Big 3 – Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Airways – dominate aviation globally, Kuwait Airways has been a laggard. But things are changing. Kuwait Airways has phased out its two decades-old fleet (Airbus A300s and A310s) with new planes and is expanding its network. Last year it added eight new destinations, including the two Indian cities.

Direct flight to Bengaluru from March

Ranchi: Travellers from Ranchi got a new year bonanza from Go Air with the airline announcing that it will introduce a direct flight to Bengaluru from March 27. Currently, only Indigo operates a connecting flight to serve travellers to Bengaluru via Kolkata.
"Go Air is scheduled to start a direct flight to Bengaluru from Ranchi from March. The flight will serve Bengaluru-Patna-Ranchi sector. The flight will take off from Ranchi airport daily at 2pm and arrive at Bengaluru airport at 6pm. The returning flight will arrive in Ranchi via Patna," an airline source said.