Flights

Poha to biryani, instant food firms have a full plate as airlines focus on in-flight experience

Two passengers on board a Dubai-Mumbai IndiGo flight were arrested for allegedly hurling abuses at crew and co-passengers in an inebriated condition, a police official said on Thursday. They were placed under arrest after the flight landed in Mumbai on Wednesday and were granted bail by a court here, the official said. "The two accused are from Nalasopara in Palghar and Kolhapur. They were returning after working for a year in the Gulf and started celebrating by consuming liquor they had brought from a duty-free shop," he said. "When co-flyers objected to the ruckus, the two abused them as well as the crew that intervened. One of them was drinking while walking down the aisle. The crew took away their bottles," the official added. They have been booked under Indian Penal Code sections 336 (for endangering life and safety of others) and 21,22 and 25 of Aircraft Rules, the Sahar police station official said. As per officials, this is the seventh incident this year when a case has be

Air India will reduce the frequency of flights on certain US routes due to crew shortage issues for a temporary period, its chief Campbell Wilson said on Monday. He also said the airline will have 100 pilots for Boeing 777 planes in three months as they are being "activated" and around 1,400 cabin crew are in training. In recent months, there have been instances of some long haul flights getting impacted due to crew shortage issues. Wilson, who is the CEO and MD, said frequencies will be reduced on some US routes due to crew shortage issues. The airline has a staff strength of around 11,000 people, including flying and non-flying employees. "There is a lot happening," he said, adding that the airline is shrinking and growing now. He was speaking at the CAPA India Summit in the national capital. Tata Group took control of loss-making Air India along with Air India Express and 50 per cent stake in AIATSL in January 2022. Air India has put in place a road map under Vihaan.AI for .

At least three international flights of Air India have been affected in two days due to technical issues, according to sources. The flights from Chicago and Vancouver were cancelled on Tuesday as the aircraft was grounded on account of technical issues. Both flights were to be operated with Boeing 777 aircraft, the sources said. Meanwhile, the sources also said that an aircraft has been grounded in Paris on Wednesday. The plane was to operate the flight from Paris to Delhi. When contacted, an Air India spokesperson said that flight AI 126 had to be cancelled due to technical reasons on March 14. "The affected passengers were offered all-around support and every effort is being made to accommodate them on alternate flights. We sincerely regret the inconvenience caused to our passengers," the spokesperson said in a statement. Details about the number of passengers who were booked in the three flights could not be immediately ascertained.

India and Russia have "in principle" agreed to revise their bilateral air services agreement whereby Russian carriers will be allowed to operate as many as 64 weekly flights to various Indian cities, according to a senior official. Under the existing agreement, Russia can operate up to 52 weekly civilian flights to India. India has "in principle" agreed to increase the number of weekly flights that Russian carriers can operate to India to 64 from 52. In this regard, the bilateral air services agreement will be amended in due course, the official told PTI. Currently, Aeroflot is operating seven weekly flights to India while no Indian airline is flying to Russia. Earlier, Air India used to operate flights to Moscow. On the condition of anonymity, the official also said it will take some time before Russian carriers will be able to fully utilise the quota of the total number of weekly flights permitted to operate to India. Last month, an Indian delegation led by Civil Aviation Secret

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The country's largest airline IndiGo, which is "back with a bang", is looking to start flights to Nairobi, Jakarta and some central Asian destinations as the carrier focuses on internationalisation, according to its chief Pieter Elbers. Amid intensifying competition and Air India set for expansion with massive plane orders, the IndiGo chief asserted that there is a lot of growth ahead in the Indian market that "justifies multiple airlines". "There is a lot going on in the Indian aviation landscape... The fact that Indian aviation is getting into the next stage, including the consolidation being done under the Air India group, is a natural evolution of the market. "I look to the competition. It is good to have competition but it will be a competition that is going hand-in-hand with the growth of the market," Elbers told PTI in an interview here. IndiGo, which has more than 300 planes in its fleet, currently operates to 76 domestic and 26 international destinations. Flights to two mo

Crew shortage is impacting the operations of Air India, with some flights to the US and Canada either getting cancelled or facing inordinate delays, according to a source. Tata group-owned Air India, which is the only air operator flying on ultra-long haul routes, had faced problems last year also due to the shortage of crew members. An ultra-long haul flight's duration is more than 16 hours. "There is an acute shortage of manpower, which is impacting airline's operations particularly to the US and Canada," the source in the know told PTI. In the last 5-6 days, the airline has cancelled three flights to San Francisco in the US and one flight to Vancouver in Canada. Also, some of the flights on these routes are facing a delay of 10-12 hours, the source said on the condition of anonymity. There was no immediate response to queries sent to Air India. In the last two months, Air India has inducted two leased wide-body Boeing 777 planes as part of its fleet augmentation plans. The ai

Under this "streamlining" plan, Air India is likely to completely exit from five routes and AirAsia India might stop operating services on four other routes, sources said

The govt has set a target to operationalize 1,000 UDAN routes during the currency of the scheme and to revive and develop 100 unserved and underserved airports, heliports, water aerodromes by 2024

According to the Jeju branch of the Korea Airports Corp., 50 flights to and from the airport -- 18 departures and 32 arrivals -- had been cancelled, while nine other flights were delayed

Most incidents verbal in nature and involved intentional non-compliance with safety regulations

Regional carrier Flybig on Sunday started service from Itanagar to Guwahati. The carrier has commenced flight from Hollongi in Arunachal Pradesh to Guwahati in Assam. "Itanagar is the 10th destination on Flybig network; while the third destination in Arunachal Pradesh alone. Flybig also flies six days a week to Tezu and seven days to Pasighat in Arunachal Pradesh from Guwahati," it said in a release. The direct morning flight from Itanagar to Guwahati will be operated on all days except Wednesday. Flybig started its operations in January 2021 with ATR 72-500 and ATR 72-600 planes.

Here is the best of Business Standard's opinion pieces for today

On-board incidents point to poor training

A total of 1,230 flights were delayed within, into or out of the United States as of 7.19 am ET (1219 GMT), flight tracking website FlightAware showed

Officials said that the passengers were given an alternative to take the Air India flight at 10 am

Air India's handling of an incident in which an inebriated male flier allegedly urinated on a woman co-passenger suggests an urgent need for stricter rules to deal with unruly passengers, according to legal and aviation experts. Instances of inappropriate conduct on flights have gone up in the recent past because airlines try to cover up such incidents due to their commercial interests, the experts said. According to police, the male passenger, Shankar Mishra, allegedly urinated on a woman co-passenger in her 70s in the business class of the Air India flight from New York to Delhi on November 26 last year. Delhi Police registered an FIR against him on January 4 on a complaint given by the woman to Air India and arrested him from Bengaluru on Saturday. To prevent such incidents in future, the experts said, the Civil Aviation Requirements (CAR) of 2017 for handling of unruly passengers should be amended. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) framed the rules in 2017 after

Among the top 10, Delhi-Srinagar was the only route that has crossed its pre-Covid peak

With planned daily flights to Mekele, the airline said it will increase the daily frequency depending on the demand on the route