SpiceJet may order Boeing 737 Max-10s at their Paris launch

Mumbai: Low fare carrier SpiceJet is likely to place an order for the Boeing 737 Max 10 planes at the aircraft's debut at the Paris Air Show later this month, thus becoming one of its launch customers globally.

The Max 10 is the latest, longest version of the narrowbodied Boeing 737 Max series of planes, competitors to Airbus'A320 family. The 180-seater aircraft type is the most popular airliner in the world. The 737 Max 10 is a direct competitor to the Airbus A321neo, which SpiceJet's rival and A320 flier IndiGo is expected to upgrade to at a later date.

DigiYatra for a seamless air travel

The Ministry of Civil Aviation introduced a seamless digital experience for air travellers via the DigiYatra initiative to promote the government’s vision of a digitally empowered society.The aim is to make ‘boarding pass and security interactions’ digital to lessen the hassles for passengers.
The initiative comes closely in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of a Digital India.
This follows Air Sewa, which brings together all the stakeholders on a common platform for handling customer grievances and disseminating real-time data.
 The Indian aviation market is undeniably a booming one as India is predicted to become one of the major markets for aviation globally, by 2020. The union minister for Civil Aviation, Ashok Gajapathi Raju remained hopeful that DigiYatra initiative will transform the flying experience for passengers and position Indian aviation amongst the most innovative air networks in the world.

SpiceJet to launch RCS routes in July

SpiceJet has announced that it will launch two of its RCS routes in July. The route authorities, awarded under India's UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Nagarik, or "let the common man fly") scheme, will connect Mumbai Int'l-Porbandar and Mumbai-Kandla commencing July 10. The flights will be operated using Dash 8-400 equipment, of which the carrier has nineteen.
SpiceJet was awarded three-year exclusivity on eleven routes under the UDAN scheme. Of the five airlines awarded routes, SpiceJet was the only one which did not apply for viability gap funding. Other routes SpiceJet is expected to launch under the UDAN include Adampur-Delhi Int'l, Kanpur-Delhi, Pantnagar-Hyderabad Int'l, and Jaisalmer-Jaipur.
To Read the News in Full 15/06/17 ch-aviation

Gorakhpur To Have Air Connectivity With Mumbai, Kathmandu: Yogi Adityanath

Gorakhpur: Gorakhpur will soon have air connectivity with Mumbai and Nepal's capital Kathmandu, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said today after inaugurating the first terminal of Gorakhpur airport.

The chief minister, whose Lok Sabha constituency is Gorakhpur, emphasised the importance of regional air connectivity and said the terminal would provide better and more facilities to passengers.

The priority of the state government is to start flight services to places like Allahabad, Bareilly, Kanpur, Jhansi and Faizabad, he said.

Domestic airport in Tamil Nadu for Bengalureans

Bengaluru: Tamil Nadu has offered to open up its Hosur Air Station at Belagondapalli village, Thally Road for Bengalureans. Once commercial airlines mount operations from this airfield under the Centre's UDAN (Ude Desh Ka Aam Naagrik) scheme, people living in south-east Bengaluru (Electronics City and surrounding areas) will be able to reach Delhi or Mumbai sooner than reaching Kempegowda International Airport.
This coup d'etat of sorts by Tamil Nadu makes our politicians look real bad. Successive governments and civic agencies have been thinking up fantastical and futuristic solutions (underground tunnel to the airport; now-junked steel flyover; pod taxis as Metro feeders etc) instead of incremental changes that could tackle the terrible traffic problem (removing structural bottlenecks and not letting roads to be used as parking lots etc.).

Delhi airport:Airlines asked to 'discuss' shifting of terminal

New Delhi: The civil aviation ministry has asked three budget airlines to decide among themselves on the issue of shifting their operations to Terminal 2 at the Delhi airport.
To ease congestion in the wake of rising passenger numbers, there is a proposal to shift flight operations from Terminal 1 (T1) to Terminal 2 (T2) but there is no consensus between the airlines concerned and the aerodrome operator.
At a stakeholders' meeting held last week, IndiGo, SpiceJet and GoAir were told that the Ministry would not "force upon" them any decision on shifting operations to another terminal, a source said.
According to the source, the airlines would have to come up with a solution and one month's time has been given to them.
IndiGo, SpiceJet and GoAir operate flights from T1.
To Read the News in Full 15/06/17 PTI/Times of India

In six years, annual traffic at airport doubles

The Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) is witnessing an all-time high passenger rate, recorded to be at 57.7 million, with a growth rate of 19.2 per cent, during the fiscal year 2016-17. With this, the airport has achieved 21st rank in passenger volume, in a preliminary survey of top 30 airports, conducted by the Airports Council International in 2016. In financial year 2010-11, the airport handled a total of 29.95 million people. The international and domestic traffic in 2016-2017 was recorded at 15.5 and 42.2 million, respectively. This unprecedented passenger growth has, however, raised concerns about the already crowded domestic terminal of the Delhi airport, which is ready to undergo expansion. “The airport added 9.3 million passengers in 2016-2017.
To Read the News in Full 12/06/17 NYOOOZ

'Navi Mumbai airport may not be operational before 2022'

CANCUN (MEXICO): The Navi Mumbai international airport is unlikely to be ready for operations before 2022, said Alexandre de Juniac, director general and CEO of International Air Transport Association (IATA), an airlines' body that represents about 275 airlines which operate 83% of the global air traffic.
Early this year, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis had set a deadline of 2019 for the completion of the airport, which was then revised to 2020.The IATA DG's statement then makes the government's 2020 deadline for start of commercial operations a highly unrealistic one.

Two new flights for Ranchi: Jayant Sinha

Ranchi: Minister of state for civil aviation Jayant Sinha on Friday said in July two more flights will be added to the Ranchi airport linking Bangalore and Kolkata. Sinha also promised that flights to Raipur and Bhubaneshwar too will be introduced in Ranchi very soon.
Sinha who was in the city for the Modi fest programme, added that new airports will be constructed at Dhalbhumgarh near Jamshedpur and one at Deoghar. He also spoke about the repairing of existing airports at Dumka, Daltonganj, Bokaro and Giridh for intra-state air connectivity.
Sinha added, "Two years back Ranchi had just nine flights, now there are 19 and soon there will more added to the airport. We are working on these projects."
To Read the News in Full 10/06/17 Times of India

New airlines look to link Pune to the east

Pune: Apart from the big players in the aviation industry, the newbies and smaller operators are setting their eyes on the city as well as other airports in the state.
Pune is not well connected to tier II and tier III cities in the east so the new as well as smaller players are trying to cash in on the opportunity by connecting Pune to these cities.
Kaustav Dhar, chief executive officer, Zoom Air, the newest airline operator in the country, said, "We shall be connecting Pune with quite a few cities starting July 15. We will connect Pune daily to cities like Jabalpur, Ranchi and Surat."
He added that the airline had been instrumental in providing convenient metro connections to tier II and tier III cities at affordable rates.

Flight operations between Mysuru and Chennai to commence in September

Flight operations between Mysuru and Chennai will commence from September 2017 with lower flight fares.

Lok Sabha member Pratap Simha had requested the Union Ministry of Civil Aviations to launch flight between Mysuru and Chennai under UDAN Scheme. The Karnataka and Tamil Nadu governments have made agreements with the Airports Authority of India, Air Odisha and Turbo Megha Airways.

The flight ticket is expected to be priced at Rs 2,500 per hour’s journey. It will be applied for a distance of 500 km.

Meanwhile, the authorities have promised to introduce connecting flights from Mysuru to other parts of the country in the days to come.
To Read the News in Full 12/06/17 City Today

Terminal 2 to finally open by Oct-end

NEW DELHI: Flyers at Terminal 1, which is bursting at the seams, are finally going to get some relief from October-end.
The aviation ministry held a meeting of all stakeholders last week and decided that low cost carriers (LCC) - IndiGo, SpiceJet and GoAir - will have to shift some domestic flights to Terminal 2 by the start of the winter schedule, which is starting October 29.
However, the decongestion of T1 will happen after the peak festive summer season as Diwali is on October 19.
"We have given the LCCs 2-3 weeks to decide on the shifting of flights. They can decide if someone will move operations completely to T2, or shift on a pro rata basis.

DigiYatra can reduce your airline boarding time considerably: All you need to know

New Delhi: Taking the Digital India dream to the skies, quite literally, the Narendra Modi government on Thursday unveiled the new air travel platform DigiYatra. Unveiled by the Civil Aviation Ministry, the DigiYatra Platform aims at bringing down the boarding and lodging time considerably and brings together all air travel essentials together on one platform. DigiYatra brings together all the stakeholders on a common platform for handling customer grievances and disseminating real-time data. From booking of tickets to security checks, immigration and cab service, DigiYatra will bring all of it under one blanket. This platform follows Air Sewa, which brings together all stakeholders to address flyers’ concerns.

Pune airport gets nightlife

The Pune international airport is expanding its operations by increasing the number of flights and developing its infrastructure. For the first time in the last four years, the Airports Authority of India (AAI), along with the airlines, has introduced seven new flights scheduled between 10.30 pm and 6 am. All of this has taken place in the last one month.
Seeing the changing trends of people travelling from Pune as per a recent survey by the AAI, which showed that most passengers prefer to travel during the night, all of these will be direct flights to various destinations which include Kolkata, Kochi, Bangalore, Delhi and Hyderabad.

To accommodate the increasing number of passengers, AAI is also building 12 new checkin counters inside the main terminus. Also, security arrangements will be enhanced considering the increasing in number of passengers during the night.

Calicut airport not a Haj embarkation point

Dashing the hopes of air passengers from Malabar, Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha has said that the Calicut International Airport is unsuitable for operation of wide-bodied aircraft, and hence, the airport will not be an embarkation point for Haj pilgrims from the State.

“I have had the matter examined and would like to inform you that a joint inspection carried out by the Director General of Civil Aviation and Airports Authority of India on January 9 and 10, 2017 to assess the possibility of wide-bodied (9 Code E) aircraft operations at Calicut Airport found that the runway is not suitable for wide-bodied aircraft operations,” the Minister said in a letter to Congress MP Mullappally Ramachandran.