Page 4 - Aviation Sector

Flight ops at Mumbai airport see temporary disruption due to heavy rains

IndiGo informed passengers about delays while advising them to check their flight status

Tata, Airbus sign contract to establish H125 Final Assembly Line in India

Airbus Helicopters and Tata Advanced Systems have made great progress in determining the FAL's location, which will be announced shortly

SpiceJet to raise $360 mn by selling securities to restore normalcy

The company will issue shares to institutional investors, it said in an exchange filing, without disclosing the price at which they would be sold

Microsoft outage disrupts aviation in India; other services unaffected

IndiGo, India's largest airline, reported the cancellation of at least 192 flights over Friday and Saturday

Air India's Delhi to San Francisco flight diverted to Russia due to glitch

According to the information, the aircraft has landed safely and airline officials are working with relevant authorities to ensure guests are taken care of until the next course of action is decided

SpiceJet posts net loss for sixth consecutive year amid ongoing cash crunch

SpiceJet said that due to its operational and financial position, it has deferred payments to various parties, including lessors, vendors, and statutory authorities

Airbus expects China, India to drive jet sales in next two decades

Carriers in India have loaded up on new plane orders as demand for flying soars with a growing middle class

NCLT directs grounded carrier Go First to release 4 aircraft engines of ELF

The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on Thursday directed grounded carrier Go First to release four aircraft engines of Engine Lease Finance (ELF) BV. The counsel appearing for the resolution professional (RP) submitted that he has already started the process of returning one engine to the lessor. The RP submitted that he has no objection over the process of releasing the four aircraft. Headquartered in Shannon, Ireland, ELF is the world's leading independent engine financing and leasing company. The NCLT has put the matter for further hearing on August 9, when other engine lessors may argue their case for return. Earlier in June, NCLT had granted an extension of 60 days to the grounded air carrier Go First, for completing the Insolvency process of grounded air carrier Go First for 60 days. This is the fourth extension for Go First to complete the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP), which is struggling to find a buyer. The Delhi-based NCLT bench said this is the f

Domestic air passenger traffic momentum to continue this year: Report

The momentum in air passenger traffic is expected to continue and airlines' net loss is projected to be Rs 3,000-4,000 crore in the year ending March 2025, both trends similar to the previous financial year, a report said on Tuesday. In June, the domestic air passenger traffic was estimated at 132.8 lakh, around 3.7 per cent lower than seen in May but about 6.3 per cent higher compared to the year-ago period. Rating agency Icra said the outlook for the country's aviation industry is stable amid the continued recovery in domestic and international air passenger traffic, with a relatively stable cost environment and expectations of the trend continuing in FY2025. "The momentum in air passenger traffic witnessed in FY2024 is expected to continue into FY2025, though further expansion in yields from the current levels may be limited," it noted. According to its report, the pace of recovery in industry earnings is likely to be gradual owing to the high fixed-cost nature of the business a

Tata group airlines complete harmonising operating manual ahead of merger

The harmonisation of operating manuals across all Tata group airlines has been completed in the run-up to the Vistara-Air India merger and amalgamation of AIX Connect with Air India Express, a statement said on Monday. At present, the steel-to-software conglomerate fully owns three airlines -- Air India, Air India Express and AIX Connect (formerly AirAsia India) -- while it holds a majority of 51 per cent in Vistara. Singapore Airlines holds the remaining 49 per cent in Vistara. Following the completion of the harmonisation of the operating manuals, Air India said there will be two separate manuals, one for the full-service carrier Air India and the other for the low-cost cost-carrier Air India Express. Before this, all four airlines had separate operating manuals. Over the last 18 months, a team of more than 100 members have worked to align on the best practices and adopt common operating procedures, Air India noted. "This is an important milestone in the merger of the Tata Grou

Sky high: Premium airfares increase much faster than economy class

Premium economy fares have skyrocketed by up to 128.6 percent on major domestic routes such as Delhi-Mumbai and Mumbai-Bengaluru since 2019

Korean Air, Malaysia Airlines flights disrupted by pressurisation issues

A Korean Air flight to Taiwan was forced to return to Incheon airport west of Seoul after a sudden depressurization on the plane, a Boeing 737 Max 8, the transport ministry said Tuesday. The ministry said 19 of the 133 people aboard the flight Saturday were sent to hospitals due to ear pain and nosebleeds, but none suffered serious injuries. The airline and the ministry said the cause of the problem was under investigation. The aircraft was grounded and the ministry ordered South Korea's 11 airlines to examine pressurization systems in all their 400 aircraft. The sudden depressurization occurred about 50 minutes after the flight's departure. Separately, Malaysia Airlines said one of its flights en route to Bangkok on Monday made a U-turn back to Kuala Lumpur after the Airbus A-330 experienced a pressurization issue. Malaysia Airlines said its pilots initiated an emergency descent even though the aircraft had not reached the altitude of 8,000 feet and oxygen masks were not deployed

Airports, airlines should have at least 25% women at various levels: DGCA

The DGCA said that the airports and airlines should periodically review the existing HR policies to remove any gender biases and to promote a positive work environment for women

DGCA issues advisory to increase women's representation in aviation sector

DGCA Circular is issued in line with the principle of gender equality that is enshrined in the Constitution of India

Boeing's CEO appears before Senate panel as new whistleblower emerges

US lawmakers are expected to press Boeing's chief executive Tuesday about the company's latest plan to fix its manufacturing problems, and relatives of people who died in two crashes of Boeing 737 Max jetliners plan to be in the room, watching him. CEO David Calhoun is scheduled to appear before the Senate investigations subcommittee, which is chaired by Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., a Boeing critic. Hours before Calhoun was set to appear, the Senate panel released a 204-page report with new allegations from a whistleblower who fears that nonconforming parts ones that could be defective or aren't properly documented are going into 737 Max jets. Sam Mohawk, a quality assurance investigator at the 737 assembly plant near Seattle, claims Boeing hid evidence of the situation after the Federal Aviation Administration informed the company a year ago that it would inspect the plant. Once Boeing received such a notice, it ordered the majority of the (nonconfirming) parts that were be

Boeing mishandled, lost track of up to 400 bad 737 parts: Whistleblower

The claims were detailed in a June 11 complaint by Boeing inspector Sam Mohawk with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and were made public by a US Senate subcommittee on Tuesday

Domestic air passenger traffic rises 4.4% to 1.37 cr in May: DGCA

Domestic air passenger traffic went up 4.4 per cent to around 1.37 crore in May, according to official data released on Friday. The Indian scheduled air operators flew 1.32 crore passengers on domestic routes in May last year. "Passengers carried by domestic airlines during January-May 2024 were 661.42 lakhs as against 636.07 lakhs during the corresponding period of the previous year, thereby registering an annual growth of 3.99 per cent and monthly growth of 4.40 per cent," the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said. In terms of on-time performance (OTP), Akasa Air topped the list at 85.9 per cent, followed by Vistara (81.9 per cent), AIX Connect (74.9 per cent), IndiGo (72.8 per cent), Air India (68.4 per cent) and SpiceJet (60.7 per cent), as per the data. During the previous month, no-frills carrier IndiGo saw its market share growing to 61.6 per cent, while that of Air India declined to 13.7 per cent from 14.2 per cent in April. The market share of Vistara stood at

FAA, EASA vow to boost collaboration on new airplane certification

Since two Boeing 737 MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019 that killed a combined 346 people, aviation regulators around the world have tightened oversight of new airplanes

FAA was too 'hands-off' in its oversight of Boeing, says agency head

The top US aviation regulator said on Thursday that the Federal Aviation Administration should have been more aware of manufacturing problems inside Boeing before a panel blew off a 737 Max during an Alaska Airlines flight in January. FAA's approach was too hands-off too focused on paperwork audits and not focused enough on inspections, FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker told a Senate committee. Whitaker said that since the January 5 blowout on the Alaska jetliner, the FAA has changed to more active, comprehensive oversight of Boeing. That includes, as he has said before, putting more inspectors in factories at Boeing and its chief supplier on the Max, Spirit AeroSystems. Whitaker made the comments while his agency, the Justice Department and the National Transportation Safety Board continue investigations into the giant aircraft manufacturer. The FAA has limited Boeing's production of 737 Max jets to 38 per month, but the company is building far fewer than that while it tries to fix

June 22 GST Council meet likely to give relief to foreign airlines

Clarification could end uncertainty around some services