Page 3 - Airline Sector

Airlines add 51 new passengers to no-fly list for unruly behaviour in 2024

The civil aviation ministry on Monday said 51 passengers have been placed under the no-fly list of airlines for unruly behaviour this year till July 1. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has norms in place for handling unruly/disruptive passengers, including procedures for placing unruly passengers on the no-fly list. A total of 300 passengers have been placed on the no-fly list in the last five years, including 51 people this year till July 1, according to data provided by Minister of State for Civil Aviation Murlidhar Mohol to the Rajya Sabha. In 2023, as many as 110 passengers were placed on the no-fly list while the count stood at 63 and 66 in 2022 and 2021, respectively. As per the data, 10 passengers were placed on the list in 2020. Adequate regulatory frameworks are in place to ensure safety of the aircraft/ persons/ property/ good order and discipline on board the aircraft and to handle the unlawful/disruptive behaviour on-board the aircraft, the minister sai

Airlines operations return to normal after systems restored from IT outage

Airlines operations across airports, which were impacted due to a global IT outage on Friday, returned to normalcy on Saturday with all services from ticket bookings to reservations and issuing of boarding passes going back completely to the online mode, sources said. Earlier in the day, Union Minister for Civil Aviation K Ram Mohan Naidu said that the airline systems have started working normally, and all issues were likely to be resolved by noon on Saturday. All operations are back to normal. All our services including bookings and reservations are online since Friday late evening, said an airline executive. System is restored and there is no disruption in our services. It is getting back to normalcy, said a senior executive from a budget airline. Nevertheless, as many as six to eight flights in the domestic sector were cancelled at Chennai Airport on Saturday, airport authorities said. "About six flights in the domestic sector, including those airlines operating in Coimbatore,

Tech outage: Airlines rush to get back on track after global tech disorder

Transport providers, businesses and governments on Saturday are rushing to get all their systems back online after long disruptions following a widespread technology outage. The biggest continuing effect has been on air travel. Carriers cancelled thousands of flights on Friday and now have many of their planes and crews in the wrong place, while airports facing continued problems with checking in and security. At the heart of the massive disruption is CrowdStrike, a cybersecurity firm that provides software to scores of companies worldwide. The company says the problem occurred when it deployed a faulty update to computers running Microsoft Windows, noting that the issue behind the outage was not a security incident or cyberattack. Here's the Latest: Britain's transport system still trying to get back on track LONDON Britain's travel and transport industries are struggling to get back on schedule after the global security outage with airline passengers facing cancellations and de

Boeing restoring output, expects 787 suppliers to catch up by year end

Boeing halted deliveries of the 787 widebody jet for more than a year until August 2022 as the FAA investigated quality problems and manufacturing flaws

Air India announces full fare refund, vouchers after 30-hr flight delay

Airlines also said that their priority all along was to make passengers reach San Francisco at the earliest and for this, they dispatched relief flight in collaboration with the relevant authorities

Boeing case puts focus on plea agreements involving corporate defendants

After two jetliner crashes killed 346 people, a USD 2.5 billion settlement that let Boeing avoid criminal prosecution failed to resolve questions about the safety of the aerospace giant's planes. Federal prosecutors now accuse the company of failing to live up to terms of the 2021 settlement. Boeing has agreed to plead guilty to a felony fraud charge in a new deal with the Justice Department. The department hopes to file the detailed plea agreement Friday, but says it may need a few more days. Experts on corporate behaviour say whether the new agreement has a more lasting impact on safety than the earlier settlement could come down to how much power is placed in the hands of an independent monitor who is assigned to oversee Boeing for three years. Prosecutors made the appointment of such a monitor a condition of the plea deal, which also calls for Boeing to pay a new USD 243.6 million fine. Your real concern is protecting against the loss of future lives in future crashes, and that

Khandu urges Centre to boost flight connectivity from Donyi Polo Airport

Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu on Tuesday urged the Centre to increase flight connectivity from Donyi Polo Airport near here to improve connectivity, tourism and commerce in the northeastern state. In a letter to Union Civil Aviation Minister Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu, Khandu pointed out that as of now, one flight each is being operated from Donyi Polo Airport to Kolkata (six times a week) and to New Delhi (four times a week). These flights, he said, are regularly operating at complete capacity, often leading to immense surges in travel fares and unavailability of tickets for prospective passengers, including in cases of medical and other exigencies. Also, the absence of daily flight operations hampers ease of access for visitors, tourists, often forcing them to seek other travel options. He said there is no same-day connectivity while travelling from Itanagar to Bhopal and Kochi, causing passengers to spend an additional night in New Delhi or Kolkata. The layover whi

Canada's WestJet's union ends strike after reaching deal with carrier

Canadian labour minister had urged the union and the airline to resolve their differences and reach an agreement

British Airways to start New Delhi-London daily flight from April 20

Expanding its services to India, British Airways will start a new daily flight between the national capital and London Heathrow from April 20, 2025. "This will increase the airline's schedule across India to 63 flights a week across five cities," the airline said in a release. Currently, the carrier operates 56 weekly flights to India. These include daily services from Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad. The new flight, starting from April 20, will be operated with a Boeing 787-8 aircraft. Neil Chernoff, British Airways' Chief Planning and Strategy Officer said the airline is celebrating 100 years of flying to India. "We eagerly anticipate welcoming passengers on board our new flights and continuing our legacy of excellence in the skies," Moran Birger, Head of Sales Asia Pacific and Middle East at British Airways, said.

Air India's Delhi-Vancouver flight faces delay, rescheduled for Sunday

Air India's flight from the national capital to Vancouver, which was to take off early Saturday morning, faced an inordinate delay due to technical issues. The airline said the flight has been rescheduled and is now expected to depart early morning on Sunday. In a span of three days, this is the second instance of an Air India ultra long haul flight getting delayed for long hours. After a delay of more than 30 hours, the airline's Delhi-San Francisco flight, that was originally scheduled to depart at around 1530 hours on Thursday, took off at 2155 hours on Friday. "AI185 scheduled to operate Delhi-Vancouver of 1 June was delayed because of technical issues and subsequently due to crew coming under the mandatory Flight Duty Time Limitations," an Air India spokesperson said in a statement on Saturday. The spokesperson said the flight is expected to leave early morning on June 2 and regretted the inconvenience caused to passengers due to the operational disruption. The flight was ..

Delhi-San Francisco flight delay: A-I apologises, offers $350 voucher

Air India has apologised and offered a travel voucher of USD 350 each to the passengers of the San Francisco flight that took off from the national capital after a delay of more than 30 hours. There were 199 passengers in the flight, according to a source. After a delay of over 30 hours, the flight took off from the national capital at 2155 hours on Friday and landed at San Francisco at 1245 hours (IST) on Saturday. The flight duration was around 16 hours. "Please allow me to sincerely apologise, on behalf of Air India, for the extended delay in bringing you to San Francisco, which was caused by several technical delays and other operational constraints," Air India Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Klaus Goersch said in a letter to the flight's passengers. As a gesture of apology, Air India has offered a "travel voucher worth USD 350" for future travel with the airline, the letter dated May 31 said. The passengers will also have the option to credit the amount .

Air India failing 'time and again' in taking care of passengers: DGCA

Regulator issues show cause notice to airline as passengers suffer on "inordinately delayed" flights

Air India gives increments to staff, announces performance bonus for pilots

Air India on Thursday announced annual salary increments for its staff, and also introduced an annual target performance bonus for pilots, according to sources. This is the first appraisal process after Tata Group took over the loss-making airline a little over two years ago. On Thursday, Air India CHRO Ravindra Kumar GP announced salary increments for employees, with effect from April 1, 2024, as well as performance bonus payouts for FY 2023-24 based on company and individual performance, sources said. They said that Air India, which is in the process of revamping itself under a five-year transformation plan, is providing competitive salary increments to attract and retain talent as part of larger efforts to have a performance-driven and meritocratic culture among the employees. Air India has around 18,000 employees. The airline has rolled out annual appraisals for all employees, who joined before December 31, 2023, including ground staff, cabin crew and pilots. The appraisals ar

IndiGo to introduce business class in flights on busiest routes this year

The country's largest airline IndiGo on Thursday said it will introduce business class in flights on the busiest routes this year. Details on product offering, launch date and routes will be unveiled around its 18th anniversary in August. "In a groundbreaking move to redefine business travel in India, IndiGo, India's most preferred airline, announces the plan to launch a tailor-made business product for India's busiest and business routes," the airline said in a release. IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers said it is constantly looking at innovating service offerings. "We believe, as India gears up to become the third largest economy in the world, it's our privilege to provide the New India even more options to choose from as they travel business. We are excited with this new phase and tailor-made product in IndiGo's evolution and strategy and aim to further give wings to the nation, by connecting people and aspirations," he said.

Integration of frequent flyer programs of Vistara, Air India begins

The integration of approximately 7,000 employees of Vistara will begin in June, with its merger into Air India targeted to be completed by the year-end, Air India CEO Campbell Wilson said on Monday

AI Express cabin crew calls off strike; airline assures to look into issues

A section of Air India Express cabin crew has decided to withdraw strike and join back for duty after the airline assured to look into all the issues raised by the cabin crew, sources said on Thursday. Besides, the airline has agreed to withdraw the termination letters issued to 25 cabin crew and the management will review the cases as per service regulations, they added. The Tata Group-owned airline has cancelled more than 170 flights since Tuesday night after the cabin crew started reporting sick to protest against the alleged mismanagement at the airline. The decisions on withdrawing the strike and the termination letters were agreed upon during the conciliation meeting between the cabin crew representatives and the airline representatives at the Office of the Chief Labour Commissioner (Central) in the national capital on Thursday.

Air India-Vistara merger: Tata Sons moves up deadline to year-end

Air India and Vistara have reached out to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and initiated the process of merging their operational manuals

Go First revival chance fades as HC allows lessors to reclaim 54 aircraft

The Delhi High Court instructed the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to proceed with deregistering and surrendering all 54 aircraft to the lessors

Boeing, Spirit agree on $425 mn deal to address supplier's issues

Spirit will also provide to Boeing specified financial information on a weekly basis

Boeing expects slower growth in 787 production rate and deliveries

Boeing said its 787 production rate was five per month during the last quarter of 2023