Page 8 - Indian Aviation

Indian domestic air travel is now at 85% of 2019 level, says IATA

IATA announced earlier this month that the recovery in air travel continued in December, 2022 and was signed up for the whole year compared with 2021

India has enough potential for recurring aircraft orders: GE Aerospace

Leading engine maker GE Aerospace has said there is enough potential for recurring aircraft orders by Indian carriers as massive growth is happening in the country's civil aviation space. Against the backdrop of Tata Group-owned Air India placing firm orders for 470 aircraft, a top official of GE Aerospace also said that India, which is the world's third largest aviation market, has the potential for growth in both wide-body and narrow-body aircraft. Besides, GE Aerospace's Country Head for South Asia & Indonesia Vikram Rai told PTI that the supply chain situation will be better this year, compared to 2022. There are around 700 commercial planes flying in India, with a majority of them being narrow-body aircraft. The civil aviation ministry is also working on ways to make an international aviation hub for which Indian carriers will have to have more wide-body planes in order to carry international traffic. Referring to the aircraft orders, Rai said these orders are huge "but there

Air India's aircraft order ignites expectation from Indian aviation sector

From increased direct international air connectivity to being a showpiece of divestment programme to job creation in faraway US, Air India's mega 470 aircraft order has ignited myriad expectations in and about the world's fastest growing aviation market -- India. A raft of factors -- surging air traffic demand, rising middle class population and disposable incomes, demographic dividend, over 1,200 planes on order by various Indian carriers and improving aviation infrastructure -- are all fuelling the growth of the market. Out of the 470 firm aircraft order, 250 will be supplied by Airbus and 220 by Boeing, while there is also the option to buy another 370 planes from the two plane makers. The firm order includes 70 wide-body aircraft. Aircraft & Air Traffic Indian airlines have placed orders for more than 1,100 aircraft that are to be delivered in the coming years. The country's largest airline IndiGo is to take deliveries of around 500 planes, Go First is to receive 72 aircraft, .

Air India Express flight from Dubai seeks airport assistance during landing

An Air India Express flight from Dubai to Thiruvananthapuram sought assistance from the airport here on Sunday after the pilot experienced some problem during landing, an airline source said. "The pilot felt something uneasy during landing and sought assistance from the ATC. It was a normal landing at the scheduled arrival time of 6.30 AM. No emergency was declared by the pilot," the source said. After the IX540 Air India Express flight was checked on landing, it was found that the top layer of a wheel of the nose gear of the aircraft had de-capped, he said. "There is nothing serious about that," he added. The plane was towed to the flight bay and all passengers deboarded safely, the source said.

Akasa Air to place large plane order in 2023, eyes international growth

The new order will be for narrowbody planes, said Akasa's co-founder, a former chief executive of now-grounded, bankrupt full-service carrier Jet Airways

India jumps to 55th place in ICAO aviation safety oversight ranking: DGCA

India's aviation safety oversight ranking has jumped to the 55th position from 112th place earlier, with a significant improvement in the country's score under the ICAO's coordinated validation mission, according to regulator DGCA. Under its Universal Safety Oversight Audit Programme (USOAP) Continuous Monitoring Approach, an ICAO Coordinated Validation Mission (ICVM) was undertaken in India from November 9 to 16, 2022. "After the final report India's safety oversight capability ranking has climbed from 112 to 55. It may be noted that this ranking is dynamic and is contingent upon the outcomes of various Audits undertaken by ICAO," the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said in a statement on Friday. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) undertakes audit of all the contracting states under this programme. Last year's mission to India covered the areas of LEG, ORG, PEL, OPS and AGA on-site while the area of AIR was validated virtually during the same period

Vistara announces launch of Mumbai-Mauritius flight service from Mar 26

Full-service airline Vistara on Thursday announced the launch of its flight services to Mauritius from the city, starting March 26. The five times weekly flight services will be catered with a long range A321 aircraft, which the airline inducted in its fleet recently, in a three class configuration (business, premium economy and economy), Vistara said. Mauritius is the 12th international destination that Vistara is connecting with Mumbai. The airline has already announced commencing flight services to Colombo and Dammam from Mumbai next month. "Vistara announces the addition of Mauritius to its constantly expanding global network. Besides being a popular tourist destination, Mauritius is an important business hub and home to many global financial institutions. "This new route will further aid the growing traffic between the two countries," said Vinod Kannan, Chief Executive Officer at Vistara. The Tata-Singapore Airlines-run Vistara is in the process of merging with Air India, wh

Skye Air Mobility comes out with unmanned air traffic management system

Drone delivery company Skye Air Mobility has come out with an unmanned air traffic management system that will provide situational awareness, autonomous navigation and risk assessment to all drone and other aerial mobility operators. The system -- Skye UTM -- was unveiled by Union Minister for Road and Highways, Nitin Gadkari here on Tuesday. A cloud-based aerial traffic management system that stitches unmanned air traffic with the manned aviation airspace, Skye UTM has supported more than 300 successful BVLOS (Beyond Visual Line of Sight) drone flights till now, a release said on Wednesday. "Skye UTM captures more than 255+ parameters of UAV movements and stores them into its 'Blackbox', which is a published systematic description of the entire flight. "The platform offers the first 3-Dimensional view of the drone airspace along with operations and regulations mapping servers, which offer the latest airspace status, verified paths, and display real-time UAV movements," it added.

Calicut-bound AI flight lands in Abu Dhabi after flames detected mid-air

Air India Express informed that the aircraft landed safely and all passengers are safe

Budget 2023: Govt to revive 50 airports, water aerodromes, landing grounds

The government on Wednesday said 50 additional airports, heliports, water aerodromes and advance landing grounds will be revived for improving regional air connectivity in the country. The announcement was made by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman while presenting the Union Budget for 2023-24. Over the past few years, the government has been taking various initiatives, especially the UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik) scheme, to boost the regional air connectivity. "Fifty additional airports, heliports, water aerodromes and advance landing grounds will be revived for improving regional air connectivity," Sitharaman said in her Budget speech. Besides, she said that 100 critical transport infrastructure projects, for last and first mile connectivity for ports, coal, steel, fertiliser, and food grains sectors have been identified. "They will be taken up on priority with investment of Rs 75,000 crore, including Rs 15,000 crore from private sources," she added. UDAN flights have transp

Air India to use new program for real-time reporting of in-flight incidents

Air India on Monday said it will use UK-headquartered Ideagen's enterprise cloud software application Coruson to help enhance safety management and facilitate real-time reporting of in-flight incidents. The Tata group-owned airline's announcement also comes against the backdrop of at least three incidents of unruly passenger behaviour on two international flights last year, for which aviation regulator DGCA had imposed penalties on the carrier for certain reporting lapses. Coruson, the safety data software application, will be online with effect from May 1, 2023 and will facilitate real-time reporting of in-flight incidents, Air India said in a release. Air India said the application will weed out the requirement of paperwork to a large extent and ensure automated processes relay critical information to key personnel and authorities without delay. "This will also lead to timely action". The airline is also engaged in procuring iPads for pilots and crew members and when introduced,

Urination incident: Air India amends existing in-flight liquor policy

Air India faced heavy backlash from everywhere including the Directorate General of Civil Aviation for its poor handling of the back-to-back incidents of unruly behavior of passengers on its flights

Air-passenger opens emergency door, creates panic in IndiGo plane

Aviation regulator Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has launched a probe into the matter and has sought a report from the airline

DGCA issues show cause notice to Go First for leaving behind 55 passengers

The regulator has issued the show cause notice to accountable manager/chief operation officer of Go First

Regional aviation looks to soar higher, carriers chart growth plans

Fly91 to enter airspace occupied by players like Alliance Air, Star Air, Flybig

Air India peeing case: Airline de-rosters 4 cabin crew members, 1 pilot

CEO says airline could have handled peeing incidents better; airline reviewing in-flight policy on serving alcohol to fliers

Govt gives 'in-principle' approval to 21 greenfield airports across country

The government of India has accorded an 'In-principle approval' for the setting up of 21 Greenfield Airports across the country

Govt working on last-mile air connectivity to Tier-III cities: Scindia

Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Thursday said the government is concentrating on last-mile connectivity to Tier-III cities to ensure democratisation of civil aviation in the country. Replying to a question in the Lok Sabha, Scindia said India has tremendous connectivity between Tier I-II cities. "What needs to be strengthened is last-mile connectivity to Tier-III cities. Our government is concentrating on last- mile connectivity to make sure the democratisation of civil aviation does truly take place in the country," Scindia said during Question Hour. The minister said the government is looking at the small aircraft scheme launched last year under which sub-20 seater aircraft are being used to provide last-mile connectivity. In the last round of UDAN -- UDAN 4.2 -- 132 routes have been awarded of which in the major sectors, 16 are helicopter routes, and almost 50 are seaplane routes, Scindia said. To a question on aerosports, Scindia said it is a new area and has .

Won't cooperate if issues are not resolved, say Air India pilots

The unions represent pilots from both the narrow-body Airbus and wide-body Boeing fleets

Scindia inaugurates Air India's direct flight between Mumbai-San Francisco

Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Thursday inaugurated Air India's direct flight between Mumbai and San Francisco. The flight will be operated thrice a week. After the Tata group took over the loss-making Air India in January this year, the airline has been working on expanding its services and fleet. After inaugurating the flight, Scindia said the country's civil aviation sector is on the cusp of transformation and boom. "We need to push further, stronger, faster...," the minister said. Last month, Air India Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director Campbell Wilson said the airline will increase its market share to 30 per cent in both domestic and international routes.