Airlines in flyer hunt after demonetisation

New Delhi: This peak travel season airlines are forced to offer special schemes to fill up planes as demonetisation has led to a sharp fall in travel. While domestic air bookings were hit soon after the move was announced last Tuesday, now even international ticketing is seeing a decline.
Bharath Mahadevan, India head of Scoot, Singapore Airlines' (SIA) low cost airline which flies from the island nation to Jaipur, Amritsar and Chennai in India, said the airline used to have 500 sector bookings a day which have fallen 10% after last Tuesday.

Skill Development in the Civil Aviation Sector

Delhi: The Ministry of Civil aviation hired an agency - ICRA Management Consultancy Ltd. (iMaCS)- to undertake a comprehensive skill gap analysis of the civil aviation sector and to formulate a future road map for skill development in the sector. The main objective of conducting the study was to thoroughly review and assess the skill needs in different segments/sub-segments of the civil aviation sector in the present and future. Accordingly, the study was conducted to gauge competence skills across various segments of the sector, gaps in it, road map for skill development in the sector etc.

iMaCS submitted its final report on 15.03.2016. As per the said report, there will be a requirement of about one million personnel directly in the Civil Aviation Sector by 2035.

Scoot eyes long-haul flights from India

New Delhi: With budget airlines controlling almost 65% of domestic skies, it is now the turn of foreign low-cost carriers (LCC) with wide-body planes to eye the lucrative long-haul traffic to-and-from India.
Singapore Airlines' (SIA) long-haul LCC Scoot wants to operate its Boeing 787 Dreamliners on Singapore-India-Europe/Gulf routes under something known as "fifth freedom" of aviation. Under this freedom, an airline can fly from its home country to a second nation and take passengers from there to a third country and same on return.
"There is a market for long-haul LCCs to come into India or be based here. If allowed, our fare (basic, with everything else like baggage check-in, meals, beverages and Wi-Fi costing extra) could be Rs5,000 and Rs10,000 on Delhi-London and Delhi-New York, respectively, one-way," said Bharath Mahadevan, India head of Scoot.

SpiceJet receives World Travel Leaders Award at WTM, London

Mumbai: SpiceJet received the World Travel Leaders award at the WTM (World Travel Mart) Awards in London on 7th November 2016. The airline was recognised for its dramatic turnaround and its use of innovation to rebuild customer loyalty. SpiceJet was the only airline to be recognised this year, globally.
The award recognised that SpiceJet, under the leadership of its Chairman Ajay Singh, had recorded consistent profits for 7 quarters in a row, after years of losses. The airline was commended for exemplary performance, high load factor and the use of innovation such as yoga-on-board, flash mobs and smart boarding technology, amongst other customer engaging experiences.
To Read the News in Full 17/11/16 India Infoline

PIL seeking more international flights from Madurai dismissed

Madurai: A division bench of the Madras High Court today dismissed a PIL seeking to direct the Centre to permit operation of more international flights from Madurai. The court dismissed the plea after the official of the Civil Aviation Ministry Sandesh Saxena submitted that the operation of international flights from air ports was a commercial decision which has to be considered by the airlines on the basis of traffic potential, safety, infrastructure and capacity of the airlines to operate flights.

CIAL’s new international terminal to boost Kerala’s tourism sector

The Cochin International Airport Ltd (CIAL), India’s first in the PPP-model, is all decked up to open its new international terminal later this month. With a peak hour capacity of around 4,000 passengers, the 15 lakh-sq-ft terminal was constructed at a cost of ₹1,150 crore.

The new terminal would give a boost to the state’s reputation as one of the most popular tourist destinations in India. The present terminal has benefited from the tourist traffic. Passenger arrivals stood at 7.7 million during FY-15, compared to less than half-a- million when operations began in 1999. Today, CIAL stands fourth in the country in terms of international passengers and seventh in total passengers.

Indian airports more connected than ever

Airports are becoming increasingly connected – and complex as a result. By 2030, 18,000 airline communication connections will be needed at the world’s airports, of which there’ll be 500 more in operation. New aircraft, more stakeholders, more passengers – and all eager to put the latest technology to work.

Reliable, secure, high performance connectivity is essential to meet these challenges as well as connectivity demands and expansion plans.
An overriding need is for high levels of connectivity, data services and security for increasingly bandwidth-hungry applications, not only in hub airports but also for airlines with networks covering remote regions.

SriLankan Airlines increase flights to India by 20%

SriLankan Airlines has increased its flight services to India by over 20 percent in the last three months, making it the fifth largest international airlines operating in the country in terms of both number of services as well as seat capacity. The Sri Lankan national carrier, which is also a part of the 14-members global airlines grouping, Oneworld, has added four cities -- Kolkata, Madurai, Bodh Gaya and Varanasi -- in its network during this period, according to a release. With the addition of 19 flights per week to India from 88 earlier, SriLankan has surpassed 100 flights per week mark, it said.

‘One shouldn’t lose the opportunity to improve regional connectivity’

The introduction of a fresh National Civil Aviation Policy nearly six months ago was expected to spur more players to enter the sector. But it hasn’t happened so far. In an interview with BusinessLine, Dinesh Keskar, aircraft manufacturer Boeing’s Senior Vice President (Sales) for Asia Pacific and India, says the key to success of the policy lies in regional connectivity. Excerpts:

It has been six months since the National Civil Aviation Policy was introduced and yet no new airline has entered the sector so far...

There are several aspects to the policy. The 0-20 rule which allowed the airlines to quickly scale up their fleet size to start flying international routes hasn’t happened so far. I do not see an incredible haste among airlines to go for the international routes just because it (new policy) has been introduced. But the regional connectivity has a huge potential. It is not going to be easy for regional connectivity to start yielding results immediately. If implemented properly, it will certainly lead to more growth.

Levy for regional connectivity to make air travel expensive

Domestic air travel is set to get costlier as the government has decided to impose a new levy per flight operation to fund its regional connectivity scheme (RCS).
The government plans to impose a levy of around Rs 7,500 per flight for travel up to a distance of 1,000 kms. Similarly the levy per flight journey between 1,000 kms and 1,500 kms would be Rs 8,000 and for distances above 1,500 kms the levy will be Rs 8,500.
According to the Ministry of Civil Aviation, the objective of RCS christened as UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik) is to enhance air passenger traffic in the country by stimulating demand on regional routes.

Air Canada launches Delhi – Vancouver services

To facilitate growing economic and tourism ties between Canada and India, Air Canada recently launched the Delhi – Vancouver direct services. The non-stop flights are expected to take 14 hours and 10 minutes, which is the fastest flight time to India from anywhere on North America’s west coast. The route is being served by 787-9 Dreamliner service and offer the shortest elapsed flying time from Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Seattle and Los Angeles to the Indian subcontinent. This is the fastest connection between the two cities, saving up to five hours compared to the other best connections currently available the seasonal, thrice a weekly flight, compliments Air Canada’s Delhi – Toronto services that was launched in the first week of November 2015.

“We are absolutely delighted with the response to our Delhi – Toronto service so far and we have high expectations from the Delhi – Vancouver flights. Our Delhi –Toronto service is becoming a daily service beginning November 6 from the current four times a week service.

Cathay Pacific plans to increase air cargo services to India

Cathay Pacifc Airways, the Hong Kong-based aviation company, is planning to increase the frequency of its cargo flights from the city to India, given the spurt in business. Currently, the carrier operates from six Indian cities and there are 25 freighter departures every week. 
"At this moment, we plan to optimise our network base in India and want to increase our frequency here," Mark Sutch, Cathay Pacific's General Manager (cargo sales and marketing) was quoted as saying by the PTI.
During the first nine months of calendar year 2016, the airline's cargo business grew about 8 percent in volume terms, up from 4 to 5 percent in the past.
The carrier provides freight services from Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru and Hyderabad.
To Read the News in Full 14/11/16 Kalyani Pandey/International Business Times

New norms hit airlines' ancillary revenue

The government’s passenger-centric initiatives such as limiting cancellation charges and reducing passenger baggage fees have hit airlines’ revenue from ancillary sources.

IndiGo, which announced its September quarter results last week, saw its ancillary revenue record a sequential decline of 3.8 per cent, compared with the double-digit growth in previous quarters. For the September quarter, revenue from ancillary sources stood at Rs 558.4 crore compared to Rs 581 crore in the April-June period. The same had grown 9.2 per cent and 3.1 per cent, sequentially, in the previous two quarters.

IndiGo exploring more slots for Gulf

With newer carriers focussing on overseas operations after the government relaxed 5/20 norms, leading Indian carrier, IndiGo that has traditionally focussed on domestic operations, is now eyeing on increasing foreign operations, especially to Gulf nations.

The airline is exploring for more flying slots to different Gulf nations with the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA), according to a top government official.

A senior airline official said as other newer carriers like AirAsia India, Vistara and GoAir are gearing up for overseas operations, IndiGo does not want to lag behind and so is exploring the best way out remain at the top.

Novoair to launch Kolkata flights Dec 01

Country's private airline, Novoair, is set to start flights on the Dhaka-Kolkata route from December 1 as its second international route aiming to provide the passengers with better aviation services.

In addition, the airliner will start flights on the Chittagong-Kolkata route from December 14, Novoair officials said at a press conference held at a city hotel Sunday morning.

'Nashik needs air connectivity with major cities'

Industries and Manufacturers' Association (NIMA), an apex body of industries have engaged in promoting industrial development across the district. In an interview with TOI's Tushar Pawar, chairman of infrastructure committee of NIMA, Manish Rawal talks about various activities the association has initiated and their efforts in promoting industrial development across the city.
What is the current industrial scenario here?
The industrial sector is passing through a phase of recession which has seen a slowdown across industries for the past few years now. The growth of these industries is adversely affected because of recession. In the meanwhile, we are expecting some improvement in sales and growth in the next few months. The Centre's decision to bring in Goods and Services Tax (GST) is definitely a boost for the industries to fetch foreign investments in the long run. The profitable outcome of GST will take some time.
What are the infrastructural issues?
There have been several infrastructural issues we deal with on a daily basis. The civic administration has just developed roads for Rs 70crore at Satpur and Ambad industrial estates of Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC). But, almost 20% of the streetlights in these industrial estates do not function.

Jet Airways to operate flights to Fiji, Shanghai

Naresh Goyal-promoted Jet Airways plans to operate flight services to south pacific nation Fiji and Chinese city of Shanghai and is likely to tie up with Fiji Airways and China Eastern Airlines as it seeks to expand its global network further with direct flights and forging partnership with overseas carriers.

At present Jet Airways, in which Gulf airline Etihad holds 24% stake, has codeshare pacts with 19 international airlines besides having over 100 interline partners.

Cathay Pacific planning more freight services to India

Hong Kong: Buoyed by solid growth in cargo traffic, Cathay Pacific Airways plans to increase frequency of its freighter services from here to Indian cities.
The city-headquartered airline has freight services to six Indian cities and there are 25 freighter departures every week from India.
A sign of significant market potential in the freighter segment, the carrier has seen an eight percent jump in cargo volumes in first nine months (January-September) of this year.

Level flight: Charting India's airline course

Bengaluru: Last month, Jet Airways introduced wide-body services on two of its busiest domestic routes — Mumbai-Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Kolkata-Delhi — in a move that significantly enhanced connectivity, besides boosting capacity on these key sectors.

The double-aisle Airbus A330 that was deployed, puts the airline in a niche club of Indian carriers that boast of such large aircraft (Jet Airways has Boeing 777s too), enabling them to fly long routes, non-stop. Only in this case, the airline found huge demand in the domestic market itself, compelling it to ply one of its big boys.

Air India Express to connect Dhaka with Kolkata

Air India Express (AIE) introduced low-cost flight services from Dhaka to Kolkata, with convenient onward connection to Singapore with effect from November 20 this year.
The services will be available four times a week on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays, Air India said in a statement yesterday.
“In line with AIE's policy of offering cost effective travel, we will be offering competitive and affordable fares on both sectors,” said K Shyam Sundar, CEO of the airline.
“We maintain 100 percent schedule reliability and the on time performance of the airline is above 80 percent.”

Govt measures slow down ancillary revenue of airlines

The government’s  passenger-centric initiatives limiting cancellation charges and steep reduction in passenger baggage fees has started to impact growth as money earned from ancillary sources has slowed down significantly in the September quarter.

Market leader IndiGo, which announced its results last week, saw its ancillary revenue recorded a sequential decline by 3.8 percent compared to the almost double digit growth it was registering earlier.

Still lacks connectivity to smaller cities, abroad

The Coimbatore airport is still lagging behind some other airports in the two-tier cities in terms of passenger traffic, largely due to the lack of connectivity to smaller cities in the country and abroad. While the city has recorded a 22% rise in passenger traffic, higher than the 15% increase recorded by Trichy airport and 19.4% rise by Calicut airport, it has fallen way below Madurai airport which recorded an increase of 37.9% passenger traffic and Trivandrum, where passengers rose by 41.2%.

Aviation Ministry refutes reports of new UDAN levy on airlines

New Delhi: After the official launch of UDAN scheme last month by the Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju, the government has taken its first step towards the implementation of UDAN (Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik), a plan that aims to making flying affordable for masses. However, the move is not expected to go down well with the existing flyers.
According to news reports, the government plans to impose a levy of Rs 7,500-Rs 8,500 on departure of every flight by scheduled carriers on major routes such as Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Kolkata.

Domestic flight prices set to increase as govt imposes new levy from Dec 1

Airfares are set to rise with the government deciding to levy up to Rs 8,500 per flight on major routes to fund the regional air connectivity scheme.

The levy amount would be for an entire flight and the price of each ticket could go up depending on the number of seats in that particular flight.

Civil Aviation Secretary R N Choubey today said the levy would be up to Rs 8,500 per flight depending on distance.

Now, single checkpoint at Patna airport

Patna: There will be single checkpoint for flyers at Jayaprakash Narayan International Airport here from November 14. The passengers will have to undergo security check only at the main gate after which they will go straight to x-ray machine for getting their luggage checked and to check-in counters for boarding passes from Monday onwards.
The visitors' area will also be restricted to arrival side only. Hence, visitors would enter the terminal building from the exit gate while passengers would go through the entry gate as usual.
Patna airport director Rajendra Singh Lahauria attributed the new system to congestion at the terminal building.

Tirupati to have more flight services soon

Tirupati: Renigunta Airport here will soon have more flight services from several places including Coimbatore, Goa and Mumbai, a top official said today.

As part of its efforts to promote tourism in Andhra Pradesh, the state Revenue Department has succeeded in its talks with private airline promoters to connect their flight services to the spiritual city of Lord Venkateswara, Tirupati Sub-collector Himanshu Shukla told PTI.

Air Carnival, an Indian regional airline based in Coimbatore, would begin its operations in the Coimbatore-Tirupati-Coimbatore sector for four days a week from Thursday to Sunday from November 17, he added.

SpiceJet has also agreed to operate its flights from Mumbai to Tirupati from next month, said Shukla.
To Read the News in Full 12/11/16 PTI

Low fares, high costs are a challenge in India, says Lufthansa's India head Wolfgang Will

New Delhi: Lufthansa Airlines is the largest European airline in India with around 2.3 per cent of the market share of India’s international traffic. However, the German carrier faces challenge from Gulf airlines which dominate the Indian market. High costs and low fares in India is an issue too, Wolfgang Will, Lufthansa’s South Asia director tells Aneesh Phadnis. Excerpts:

Domestic and international airlines are seeing a passenger volume growth but yields are under pressure in India. What is Lufthansa’s experience?

2016 was an interesting year. As usual we saw airlines launch discount fares in February to get their base loads. But this year promotions have continued till now. We were reluctant to join the pack but we were forced to do it and yes there was a pressure on yields. Volume growth is never an issue in India because it is a growing market.

Chennai International Airport completes its first phase of flood-proofing after deluge last year. Is it enough?

The employees of the Chennai International Airport can’t forget how water engulfed the tarmac on December 1 last year. Aircraft were stranded, surrounded by the surging floodwaters of the Adyar river that flows beside.
For the first time in its history, the Chennai airport was forced to shut operations for five days “It was like a Hollywood film,” recalls R Narayanan, an employee, who witnessed the devastation.

Govt measures slow down ancillary revenue of airlines

New Delhi: The government’s passenger-centric initiatives such as limiting cancellation charges and reducing passenger baggage fees have hit airlines’ revenue earned from ancillary sources.

IndiGo, which announced its September quarter results last week, saw its ancillary revenue record a sequential decline of 3.8% compared with the double-digit growth in previous quarters. For the September quarter, revenue from ancillary sources stood at Rs 558.41 crore compared to Rs 580.57 crore in the April-June period. The same had grown by 9.2% and 3.1%, sequentially, in the previous two quarters.

UDAN flights on popular metro routes to cost more

New Delhi: If the Narendra Modi government initiative ‘UDAN’ (Ude Desh ke Aam Nagrik) scheme excited you to enjoy your first flight – there is bad news. The government on Friday announced increase in the base fares on popular routes from the metro cities. The scheme aims to connect small places by air, which basically involves Tier 2 and 3 cities across nation. If there is no vacant seat on flight then you’re unlikely to pay more than Rs 50 each way; if all seats are not sold out, citizens will pay additional Rs 100.

Global Air Traffic Driven By India And China Increase For Almost Two Years Already

The strength of the increased domestic air passenger traffic in China and India is strong and is leading to the growth of the global aviation industry. India and China outran the average global traffic growth along with strong regional markets in the Middle East and Asia Pacific based on the September 2016 data given by IATA.
As reported by Travel Media Daily, last year, the strongest domestic air travel growth was found in India and Brazil then China. The growth in India started in the final part of 2014 and continued to grow in 2015. There has been growth in India for two consecutive years since up to this September 2016, India global traffic is still growing.

Air passengers affected

Kochi:  Like every other sector, the demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes hit the air passengers badly in the state. The transactions at duty free  shops at departure and arrival terminals were affected along with other  shops in the airport.
Though there was a provision to purchase foreign exchange equivalent to  Rs 5000 at selected points in the airport, the passengers were reluctant to go for routine shopping.

New aircraft on Gaya-Delhi route from January 2017

Gaya: Come January 2017 and the old and defect prone A320 air bus flying on Gaya-Delhi route would be taken off and a new series plane would fly on the said route. This will help to resolve the frequent grounding and emergency landing of the planes flying on this route. Till now Air India had been flying aircrafts procured a quarter century back with metal fatigue and other problems.
The issue of defect prone aircraft came up at a high-level meet chaired by the Union civil aviation secretary Rajiv Nayan Choubey in Gaya on Tuesday. The participants included Gaya DM Kumar Ravi and airport director Dilip Kumar.
To Read the News in Full 08/11/6 Abdeul Qadir/Times of India

Bengaluru airport sees highest growth in India this year

Bengaluru: The Kempegowda International Airport has recorded the largest growth in passenger and cargo traffic in the January-September period compared to Hyderabad, Mumbai and Delhi. In passenger traffic, Bengaluru recorded a 22.4% growth followed by Delhi at 21.5%, Hyderabad at 21%, and Mumbai at 11.7%.
In international passenger traffic too, the city has recorded the highest growth at 11.7%. For Bengaluru, this translated to 1.8 million passengers. Delhi comes second at 10.2%.

Advance booking: Air ticket sales fly

The average Indian traveller is not known to plan and book a holiday or an air ticket weeks in advance. On Wednesday, this habit was suddenly dumped as scores of people rushed to airline offices to buy tickets weeks and even months in advance.
"We have registered a 20% increase in ticket sales at our offices located at airports in Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Bengaluru among other places," said a SpiceJet spokesperson. "Many people have bought tickets in bulk for travel months later."

IndiGo quarterly profit rises to Rs 140 cr; to add more planes

IndiGo's parent InterGlobe Aviation today reported a 24 per cent jump in net profit at Rs 139.85 crore in the quarter ended September 2016, primarily helped by higher passenger revenues, while the budget carrier expects to have a fleet of 136 planes by end of this fiscal.
The net profit stood at Rs 113.13 crore in the year-ago period.
IndiGo, which has the largest market share in the domestic aviation market, saw its total revenue from operations surge to Rs 4,166.93 crore in the three months to September. The same stood at Rs 3,539.93 crore in the year-ago period.

Jet Airways to start direct daily services between Bengaluru and Singapore

Jet Airways will commence direct daily services from Bengaluru to Singapore with effect from December 14, 2016, further expanding its connectivity across the ASEAN region.

The new flight will offer guests from Hyderabad, Mangaluru, Coimbatore and Thiruvananthapuram connectivity to Singapore through Bengaluru. This service has been introduced in response to growing demand on this sector, particularly from business and corporate travellers.

Global Air Traffic Driven By India And China Increase For Almost Two Years Already

The strength of the increased domestic air passenger traffic in China and India is strong and is leading to the growth of the global aviation industry. India and China outran the average global traffic growth along with strong regional markets in the Middle East and Asia Pacific based on the September 2016 data given by IATA.
As reported by Travel Media Daily, last year, the strongest domestic air travel growth was found in India and Brazil then China. The growth in India started in the final part of 2014 and continued to grow in 2015. There has been growth in India for two consecutive years since up to this September 2016, India global traffic is still growing.

Green signal to new Lohegaon airport road

Pune: The defence ministry has approved the construction of another road leading to the Lohegaon airport, paving the path to ease congestion on the approach path to the terminal.
The 400m road would pass through a private land. It would stretch towards the VIP Road in one direction and towards Vimannagar on the other, running parallel to the existing road through defence land. The road will originate from the Parking number-2 of the airport, said MP Anil Shirole, the chairman of the Pune Airport Advisory Committee.

More flights from Singapore for Bengaluru, Chennai and Kolkatta

Singapore's Changi Airport will add about 90 new flights a week this year to 10 Asian cities including Bangalore, Chennai and Kolkatta, a media report said today.

With these additional fights, Changi Airport will be able to offer more than 8,000 weekly one-way seats to popular Asian cities such as Dalian, Fuzhou and Xiamen in China, Luang Prabang in Laos, Yangon in Myanmar and Cebu in the Philippines.

New aircraft on Gaya-Delhi route from January 2017

Gaya: Come January 2017 and the old and defect prone A320 air bus flying on Gaya-Delhi route would be taken off and a new series plane would fly on the said route. This will help to resolve the frequent grounding and emergency landing of the planes flying on this route. Till now Air India had been flying aircrafts procured a quarter century back with metal fatigue and other problems.
The issue of defect prone aircraft came up at a high-level meet chaired by the Union civil aviation secretary Rajiv Nayan Choubey in Gaya on Tuesday. The participants included Gaya DM Kumar Ravi and airport director Dilip Kumar.
To Read the News in Full 08/11/6 Abdeul Qadir/Times of India

Airports Authority Of India Calls For Meeting Of UDAN Stakeholders

New Delhi: National airports operator AAI has called a "pre-bid" meeting on Friday of all interested prospective stakeholders, including airlines on the Government's ambitious regional connectivity scheme UDAN, which seeks to make flying affordable for the masses.

Airports Authority of India (AAI), which manages 125 airports, including 11 international ones', has been mandated to implement UDAN (Ude Desh Ka Aam Naagrik) scheme.

State-run auctioneer Metal and Scrap Trading Corporation (MSTC) would make a presentation on e-bidding process during the stakeholders' meeting on RCS, which is scheduled to take place here on Friday, sources said. 

IndiGo to add 18 A320neos by Mar, raise capacity 30%

Mumbai: Low-frills airline IndiGo expects to add 18 aircraft to its present fleet of 118 by the end of this fiscal year, its parent company InterGlobe Aviation revealed in its latest financial results released on Tuesday.

Based on a large fleet, the airline also expects an increase of about 30% in capacity during the next two quarters.

IndiGo, which is the biggest customer for Airbus’s A320neo aircraft had in August slowed down its delivery to allow engine supplier to catch up on the production of upgraded engines.

The airline has placed an order for 430 fuel efficient A320neo aircraft.

Indigo stops accepting Rs 500, Rs 1,000 notes after PM Modi launches crackdown against black money

After PM Narendra Modi’s critical announcement Indigo Airlines issued an official statement that the airline will not be accepting Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes. Indigo said that it would no more accept the denominations which have been ordered to be put out of circulation, starting midnight of November 8. “Pursuant to the announcement made by Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, IndiGo will not be accepting 500 Rupee and 1000 Rupee denomination currency notes with effect from 0000 hrs on November 9, 2016 for any services whatsoever including inflight sales, excess baggage charges, fast forward with the only exception for airline tickets at airport ticket counters till November 11, 2016”, the official statement of the airlines said.

Jet Airways’ campaign to highlight its ‘uniquely Indian hospitality’

Jet Airways has announced that it will roll out an integrated marketing campaign, highlighting its “uniquely Indian hospitality”, from next week across its key markets in the Gulf, including Qatar.
The six-week campaign comprises a mix of offline and online channels, the airline has said in a statement.
Branded ‘#Think Home. Think Jet Airways’, the campaign will highlight the advantages that Jet Airways offers its guests along with its partner Etihad Airways, when flying between the Gulf and India.
“Guests can take advantage of the airline’s network and experience its award-winning Indian hospitality, together with warm and personalised family spirit, which has helped the airline create new benchmarks in service excellence.

SpiceJet receives World Travel Leaders Award at WTM, London

Chandigarh : SpiceJet received the World Travel Leaders award at the WTM (World Travel Market) Awards in London on 7th November 2016. The airline was recognised for its dramatic turnaround and its use of innovation to rebuild customer loyalty. SpiceJet was the only airline to be recognised this year, globally.
The award recognised that SpiceJet, under the leadership of its Chairman Ajay Singh, had recorded consistent profits for 7 quarters in a row, after years of losses. The airline was commended for exemplary performance, high load factor and the use of innovation such as yoga-on-board, flash mobs and smart boarding technology, amongst other customer engaging experiences.
To Read the News in Full 08/11/16 Punjab Express

Bhubaneswar Airport to be fully functional by 2nd quarter of 2018

Bhubaneswar: The Biju Patnaik International Airport in Bhubaneswar is expected to be fully functional and declared as an operational airport by April or May 2018, said Guru Prasad Mohapatra, chairman of Airport Authority of India (AAI).

Talking to media persons soon after his arrival at the city airport from New Delhi today, Mohapatra said be it a domestic flight or international flight, resumption of flight service is the lookout of the concerned airlines.

New Goa airport at Mopa to be ready by 2020

GMR Airports Limited (GAL), a subsidiary of GMR Infrastructure Limited, today signed the agreement with Government of Goa for the development and operation of north Goa’s Greenfield International Airport at Mopa.
GMR Airports Ltd (GAL) a subsidiary of GMR Infrastructure Ltd, is one of the largest airport developers in the world; handling more than 70 million passengers per annum both in India & Overseas.
GMR will design, build, finance and operate the international airport for 40 years with extension option for another 20 years.

It’s ‘Go Duty Free’ for Flemingo at nine Indian airports

Flemingo Duty Free, subsidiary of Flemingo International has unveiled its recently refreshed retail fascia ‘GO Duty free’ at Anna International Airport in Chennai where it has been operating since 2007. The shops were inaugurated by Mr Deepak Shastri, the Airport Director for Chennai International Airport.

This follows the company’s win of nine duty free airport concessions in India in January this year, which included the seven-year extension of Flemingo’s Chennai contract.

21.9% rise in passenger flow at Patna airport

Patna: The passenger flow at Jayaprakash Narayan International (JPNI) Airport in Patna is following a bumper growth trajectory amid efforts for its expansion as well as simultaneous operation of flights from the Bihta airbase. Patna airport has registered 21.9% increase in passenger flow in the first six months of 2016-17.
The Airports Authority of India (AAI), in its figures released recently, said Patna airport handled 9,40,405 passengers between April and September against 7,71,188 during the same period last year. In terms of monthly passenger movement, Patna airport handled 1,51,182 in September this year against 1,19,204 in the same month last year.

Airports authority of India officer raises safety concerns at city airports

Following news that a safety audit will soon be undertaken by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), a senior Airports Authority of India (AAI) officer has raised serious concerns about the operations and passenger safety at Mumbai airport and Juhu aerodrome.

S Mangala, deputy general manager of air safety at AAI, sent her report 'The Report of Air Safety in the Western Region,' dated October 18, to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and civil aviation minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju.

Recruitment of airhostess in Air India, training compulsory

Hyderabad: The two prominent Airlines of India, Air India and Air India Express are going to make recruitment on Airhostess and cabin crew posts, for which applications are being invited. Several students and youth especially Muslim community do not pay attention towards it due to lack of awareness about Airlines and Aviation Sector while it is an industry full of glamour through which one can travel across the globe.

Arunachalee youth Takar Toko joins Air India as pilot trainee

Not so many flares a chance to fly a machine in the air. This young lad Takar Toko from Poru village, Yazali circle of Lower Subansiri district in Arunachal Pradesh would soon manoeuvre the skies as his second home.

The former Sainik School Kurukshetra (Haryana) pupil has qualified Air India’s (AI) simulator proficiency assessment check (SPAC) to join as senior pilot trainee with A-320 endorsement.

He was among 17 candidates including four ST (scheduled tribes) to qualify the test which was conducted in Hyderabad recently, according to Arunachal Times.
To Read the News in Full 07/11/2016 TheNorthEastToday

Maldives seeks flight privileges

New Delhi: The Maldives has asked India for "fifth freedom" rights so that a new Male-Delhi flight to be launched by private airline Mega Maldives from the middle of this month can be extended to Dhaka.
Fifth freedom rights allow an airline to carry passengers from its own country to a second country and from there to a third (and so on) as long as the flight originates or ends in the airline's home country.

"The Delhi-Dhaka route is highly underserved and we foresee a huge growth potential on this route," said George Weinmann, founder and chief executive officer of Mega Maldives Airline.

Indian carriers may take to sky with foreign-registered planes

New Delhi: Government is planning to allow local carriers to operate foreign-registered planes in the country, as part of larger efforts to boost regional air connectivity and improve aircraft leasing activities.
Once the norm is in place, domestic operators can import overseas-registered aircraft and fly them on foreign registration with Indian crew.
Proposing changes to existing regulations, the Civil Aviation Ministry today said they are aimed at boosting the growth of the civil aviation sector and in particular, the regional air connectivity scheme.
"This will also make the aircraft leasing environment user-friendly," it said in a release.

15 new flights in winter schedule

Ahmedabad: In the wake of the festive season and with NRI season just round the corner, 15 new flights were introduced to and from the city airport to handle the rush of fliers. This was part of the new winter schedule, announced by the director general of civil aviation last week. The 15 new flights include those arriving from and headed to five major destinations including Goa, Delhi, Bengaluru, Kolkata and Pune.

Regional air link scheme runs into rough weather over defence installations

New Delhi: The Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) project or UDAN (Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik), launched by the Centre to connect unserved and underserved airports to the aviation grid, has hit a hurdle
with many defence installations and air bases falling between airports yet to be connected. Ironically, under pressure, the Civil Aviation Ministry announced the launch of the RCS project on October 21, without consulting with the Armed Forces opening up of restricted airspace for RCS commercial flights.

Finally, full-body scanners at IGI given go-ahead

After years of deliberations, a full-body scanner will be made operational by this month-end at the IGI airport as part of enhanced security and counter-terror measures at the one of the most sensitive installations in the country.
The is for the first time such a scanner, till now opposed over privacy concerns, will be installed and made operational for a trial at any civil airport in the country, officials said.

Campaign to save flights from bird hits

In an attempt to curb the waste menace on the airport premises, the airport authority on Saturday conducted an awareness campaign, 'Keep our City Clean, Save airport from bird hazard' near Trivandrum International Airport. A mass run and door-to-door campaign were organized in association with PRS College of Engineering and Technology. It was jointly flagged off by airport director George G Tharakan and mayor V K Prasanth from international terminal.

Bengaluru airport will remain partially closed for nearly three months next year

The Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru will be partially closed for around two-and-a-half months early next year for upgradation work on the runway. Starting February 19 till April 30, the airport will be shut from 10.30 am to 5 pm every day, the Bangalore International Airport Limited said in a statement. The runway will also be closed for rehearsals and during show timings for the annual Aero India show in early February.

Passengers will not be inconvenienced too much by the closure, airport authorities promised, saying they will improve the flight handling capacity in the hours preceding and following the closure.

Trial of CAT-IIIB lighting system at airport from December 8

The authorities believe that the problem of fog delays would reduce for passengers flying in and out of Jaipur airport with the approval of CAT-IIIB lighting by the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). Now, the airport authorities will have to intimate various airports in India and abroad about having CAT-IIIB lightening system.
"We are hopeful to start the trial of CAT-IIIB lighting from December 8 onwards. Pilots who can run on CAT-IIIB lighting can only utilise this facility," said Jaideep Singh Balhara, director, AAI, Jaipur, on Sunday.
To Read the News in Full 07/11/16 The Times Of India

Another downgrade worry prompts DGCA to ask international airports to up standards

Fearing yet another downgrade, India’s civil aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) wants all 23 international airports across the country to ensure they upgrade their operational standards, customer outreach and infrastructure to world standards — to impress the international civil aviation watchdog’s team during its visit in March 2017.

A top government official told Express that the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) is more concerned about international operations and so, international airports need to tune up. Incidents involving commercial aircraft have been increasing at international airports in India, something which is also
disturbing Indian authorities ahead of the ICAO visit.

Municipal Corporation Commissioner V Vinay Chand wants to develop it like green Hyderabad airport

Tirupati: Municipal Corporation Commissioner V Vinay Chand said that beautification of the Tirupati international airport will be taken on the lines of the Shamshabad airport in Hyderabad.

The commissioner on Saturday inspected the beautification works which are going on at a brisk pace at the international airport (at Renigunta) which was taken up by the Tirupati Urban Development Authority (TUDA). He wanted the authorities to take steps for bringing the best of ornamental and floral varieties for planting at the airport and directed them to develop the entire open area before the airport as a green park with musical colour fountains and colour lights and geo-tagging of the flower varieties.
To Read the News in Full 06/11/16 Hans India

Up in the air

In his letter to Tata Sons’ board, Cyrus Mistry was particularly critical of the extreme fondness of the Group to keep investing in the airline industry and blew the whistle on a possible diversion of ₹22 crore in Air Asia.

Early in 2013, the Tata decided to enter a joint venture called Air Asia with an investment of $9 million. A few months later in 2013, they decided to take a 51 per cent stake in another JV which is now Air Vistara. Mistry claims he was against these ventures but he had no powers to stop them from being entered into.

He probably missed a trick by putting down his objections against the airline ventures in writing to the Board. One of the best methods to prove one’s independence when questioned is to produce an authentic document that corroborates the stand taken.

Jet Airways to launch more flights to India from Oman

Muscat: India’s premier international airline — Jet Airways — is looking to launch more direct flights to several Indian destinations from Muscat in the next couple of years.

Colin Neubronner, senior vice president, Sales and Marketing, Jet Airways and Shakir Kantawala, vice president, Middle East and North Africa, who were in Muscat, talked about the expansions plans for the airline.

“We plan to add one more flight to Mumbai besides launching direct flights to Calicut and Bangalore from Muscat,” Shakir Kantawala said, in an exclusive interview with the Times of Oman.
To Read the News in Full 06/11/16 Rahul Das/Times of Oman

FLY POP airlines to start low-cost Amritsar-London flight

Amritsar: Chairman of FLY POP (People for Profit) airlines Navdip Singh Judge visited the Sri Guru Ram Das Ji International Airport here today. The airlines had earlier announced to start a low-cost non-stop flight between Amritsar and London
Judge along with members of the Amritsar Vikas Manch met officials of the airport here today. Judge said FLY POP planned to start six flights on routes which were not served directly by any airlines.
He said flights between Amritsar-London and Ahmedabad-London would become operational in 2017.

AERA to hold talks on new airport tariff

The Airport Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA) has initiated a process to adopt a hybrid-till approach for calculating airport fees and the regulator is slated to hold talks with airlines and airport operators next week to seek their views.

The regulator has called for a meeting of airlines, airports, International Air Transport Association (IATA), Airports Authority of India (AAI), state governments, consumers’ organisation, fuel suppliers, and ground handling companies, among others.

Air Carnival likely to start Hubballi-Bengaluru daily flights soon

Hubballi: If everything goes according to plan, Air Carnival, a domestic air carrier, will start operations from Hubballi airport in the next couple of weeks.
Now, Air India is operating a flight to Bengaluru from Hubballi four days a week, and there is no daily flight to the capital city after Air Pegasus suspended its daily service two months ago. Hubballi is the only commercial hub in North Karnataka with many business activities like electronics, clothes, manufacturing and other businesses. The availability of air service would play a vital role in improving the economy of the city and bring more investors to Hubballi, say industrialists. But this city is always jinxed in the matter of air connectivity.

Your flight plan may soon be under govt. watch

New Delhi: India is sprucing up its aviation security apparatus with a profiling upgrade, under which potential troublemakers will come under the scanner of aviation security authorities the moment their tickets are booked. The Centre will track air travel data and may look for unusual ticket purchases in a bid to keep a check on terror, senior government officials said.

Additionally, the passenger pre-screening system, which will be adopted soon, will run a criminal check and see whether a passenger’s name is in the terror blacklist.

Mega Maldives Airlines Eyes Partnership With Indian Carriers

Mega Maldives Airlines, which will start direct flights from the national capital to Male this month, is in discussions with some Indian carriers for possible partnership.


Seeing India as one of the largest growing markets, the private airline also has plans to ramp up its presence here with direct flights from Mumbai and services from the national capital to Dhaka, Bangladesh.


"There is more than one good candidate for us to partner with. We are going to look at that further in the coming months," Mega Maldives Airlines' Founder and CEO George Weinmann told PTI.

India continues on double-digit annual traffic flight path: IATA

In its latest report, IATA said that there continues to be “little sign of any slowdown in growth” in the domestic India and China aviation markets, with domestic traffic surging by 23.6%, and 14%, year-on-year, respectively, in September.

“Such strong growth rates relate to sizeable increases in real consumer spending in both countries, although growth in India is well ahead of what the usual elasticities would imply. This is partly because airlines are adding airport-pairs and flight frequencies, which reduce journey times for passengers and has the same stimulatory effect on demand as a cut in fares,” it said.

No unfair slot allotment for Indian airlines: Dubai

Dubai International Airport said that Indian carriers are treated on par with airlines from other countries in the allocation of flight slots.

“Time slot allocation is a fair process which applies equally to all airlines across the globe,” Lorne Riley, Director, Corporate Communications and Business Development, Dubai Airports, informed the press.

“The allocation of arrival and departure time slots is based on the available capacity.

Passengers will have to put up with rescheduling for at least 3 months

Bengaluru: Airlines flying in and out of the city are gearing up for a nearly three-month disruption of services, from February next year, with Bangalore International Airport Ltd. (BIAL), which operates Kempegowda International Airport, deciding to shut the runway for six-and-a-half hours daily.

While operators are rescheduling their flights, passengers will have to brace for inconvenience during the shutdown period. The airport’s only runway (09/27) will be closed for operations from February 19 to April 30, 2017. Incidentally, the work on the second runway that began recently, will take about three years for completion.

UDAN may well ensure many more people from small towns take to flying; all you need to know

New Delhi: Almost a decade and a half after low-cost airlines changed the face of flying for Indians in major cities, the government’s connectivity scheme—Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik (UDAN)—could ensure that many more people take flights from small towns. According to IATA, India is the fastest growing aviation market in the world. During 2015, 81 million Indians flew, which was an 18.8% growth over the previous year. At this rate, India, currently the ninth largest aviation market at $ 16 billion, will be the world’s third largest after the US and China in 2020. The growth is driven by rising incomes along with lower fuel prices, increased competition among private airlines and expanding airports.
To Read the News in Full 05/11/16 Financial Express

Now, more flight options for your Singapore trip

Starting November 20, travellers will have a choice of three flights to Singapore every Monday and Wednesday. Air India Express, which introduced flights between Kolkata and Singapore four days a week, will have Singapore Airlines and Druk Air for company on these two days. Singapore Arilines flies daily, while Druk Air operates three times a week.
With the introduction of the AI Express flights, capacity in the sector will increase to 2,870 seats a week — an addition of 756 seats. There are indications though that the capacity may double in a couple of years as Singapore Airlines introduces a larger aircraft and AI Express, as well as Druk Air, hikes frequency.

15 new flights in winter schedule

In the wake of the festive season and with NRI season just round the corner, 15 new flights were introduced to and from the city airport to handle the rush of fliers.
This was part of the new winter schedule, announced by the director general of civil aviation last week. The 15 new flights include those arriving from and headed to five major destinations including Goa, Delhi, Bengaluru, Kolkata and Pune.

E-cigarette banned on flights

E-cigarettes might not be as popular in India as compared to other countries, but for those who get their nicotine kick the electronic, unconventional way , it's time to stop vaping on board flights.
The directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA), in a safety circular issued early this week, banned on board flights the use of e-cigarettes, personal vaporizers, vape pens, e-cigars, e-hookah, or vaping devices -all products that produce an aerosolized nicotine mixture for inhalation by the user.

Southern cities spur Air India to double Delhi-San Francisco flights

Air India will operate six flights on the Delhi-San Francisco route from November 21 as the flight over the Pacific Ocean seems to have become popular because tail wind cuts down travel time by two hours. Now the airline flies thrice a week on the route.

Speaking at a programme organised to promote the direct service in southern cities, considered as the longest flight, Air India regional executive director Captain S Arulmani said, "The flight is popular because it saves around two hours flying over the Pacific though the distance is longer. The increased patronage was the reason for decision to make it six flights a week."

Jaipur airport braces for rush of flights in winter

The number of flights set to increase this winter at Jaipur airport, passengers are likely to witness congestion at Terminal 2 of the airport.
As per the new winter schedule, the airport will handle 49 flights, including six to international destinations and four unscheduled intra-state flights, on a daily basis.
"Earlier, we handled 47 flights. This has increased to 49. We are expecting an increase in this figure in the coming days this month as a few operators are planned to start direct flights to Kolkata and Ahmedabad," said a senior official of AAI, Jaipur, on Thursday .

Jharkhand's first flying club to take off soon

The much-awaited first flying club of the state government is set to touch ground at Dumka on public-private partnership (PPP) mode. The state civil aviation department is in search of a private partner to run the club and willing to complete the basic formalities by next year.
There is a single private flying club functioning in the state, Jharkhand Co-operative Flying Club Limited near Sonari airport where commercial pilot training is provided with facilities like library and computer laboratories.