Airspace

Airbus sees profit boost this year, but defense and space challenges

Airbus is urging stepped-up European cooperation to ensure the continent's security and future access to space after a year that saw the company suffer fallout from Russia's war in Ukraine and the crash of a European satellite launcher. The France-based plane maker on Thursday reported a record overall 2022 profit of 4.25 billion euros (USD 4.55 billion), up from 4.21 billion euros the year before, despite inflation challenges and supply chain disruptions that slowed efforts to ramp up aircraft production. CEO Guillaume Faury said the company aims to deliver 720 planes this year, up from 661 last year, in an effort to keep up with growing demand by airlines as travel picks up worldwide following pandemic disruptions. On Tuesday, Air India unveiled an massive order that included 250 Airbus passenger jets. Airbus didn't disclose financial terms of the deal, which could be worth tens of billions of dollars. Airbus took in 820 orders in 2022 and reported revenue of 58.8 billion euros (

Romania, Moldova both report mysterious balloon-like objects in their skies

Romania briefly scrambled military jets and neighbouring Moldova temporarily closed its air space Tuesday after authorities in both countries reported mysterious weather balloon-like objects traversing their skies. The incidents occurred at around midday local time and briefly raised concerns in the two Eastern European countries, both which border Ukraine and have been affected by Russia's war. Romania's defence ministry said it deployed two jets that are under NATO command to its southeastern skies to seek an aerial object it described as being small with "characteristics similar to a weather balloon." It had been detected initially by radar systems in Romanian airspace at an altitude of about 11,000 metres (36,000 feet). "The crews of the two aircraft did not confirm the presence of the aerial target, neither visually nor on the onboard radars," a ministry statement said, adding that the two MiG-21 LanceR aircraft stayed in the vicinity for about 30 minutes before returning to ..

Russia to launch new capsule to return space station crew back to Earth

Russian space corporation Roscosmos said Wednesday that it will launch a new spacecraft to take some of the International Space Station's crew back to Earth after their capsule was damaged and leaked coolant. Russian cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin and NASA astronaut Frank Rubio arrived at the station in September on board a Soyuz MS-22 and planned to use the capsule to return to Earth. But it leaked coolant last month, resulting in higher cabin temperatures. After analysing the situation and discussing it with NASA, Roscosmos decided to launch a new Soyuz MS-23 capsule in crewless automatic mode on February 20 to take the trio back, Roscosmos chief Yuri Borisov told reporters. In case of an emergency on the International Space Station that would require the evacuation of the entire crew before the new capsule arrives, space officials will consider whether the Soyuz MS-22 could be used safely, Borisov said. The leak from the Soyuz MS-22 was spotted in December when t

Isro set for 1st runway landing experiment of reusable launch vehicle

The Indian Space Research Organisation appears set for the first runway landing experiment (RLV-LEX) of Reusable Launch Vehicle - Technology Demonstrator (RLV-TD) from aeronautical test range in Karnataka's Chitradurga district, with its Chairman S Somanath indicating that weather is being monitored. "We are looking at the climate. Climate is still not good. So, we are waiting for the wind and other systems to become benign. We will do that," Somanath, also Secretary in the Department of Space, told PTI here. According to ISRO officials, the RLV wing body will be carried using a helicopter to an altitude of three to five km and released at a distance of about four to five km ahead of the runway with a horizontal velocity. After the release, the RLV will glide, navigate towards the runway and land autonomously with a landing gear in the defence airfield near Chitradurga. Sources in the national space agency headquartered here earlier said new systems like landing gear, parachute, hoo

Can low earth orbit satellites roar? Mittal, Musk, Tatas putting in money

The size of the market will also depend on which customer segment the players are targeting

Rajasthan govt sanctions Rs 37.75 crore for expansion work of 10 airstrips

The Rajasthan government has sanctioned Rs 37.75 crore for expansion work at 10 airstrips in the state. An official statement said Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has approved the fund for various airstrip development works including boundary wall construction, campus wall construction and airstrip refurbishment. Of these, Rs 14 crore will be given for shifting the mega highway and Buddha Mandavar Road and construction of boundary wall for the Kolana (Jhalawar) airstrip, Rs 4 crore for increasing the height of the boundary wall of the Abu Road (Sirohi) airstrip and other works there. As much as Rs 1.97 crore has been allocated for works at the Phalodi (Jodhpur) airstrip, Rs 3.40 crore for the Talwara (Banswara) airstrip, Rs 4.60 crore for the Padihara (Churu) airstrip, Rs 4.50 crore for the Sirohi airstrip. The government allocated Rs 2 crore each for the Tarapura (Sikar) airstrip and the Kumher (Bharatpur) airstrip, Rs 1.23 crore for the Sawai Madhopur airstrip and Rs 5 lakh for the .

Russian foreign minister's Serbia visit cancelled after overflight refusal

The announcement followed reports that Serbia's neighbours, Bulgaria, North Macedonia and Montenegro had refused to allow Sergey Lavrov's plane to fly through their airspace to reach Serbia.

ATC suspended for okaying IndiGo flights that came too close post take off

The incident was called "breach of separation", which happens when two aircraft cross the minimum mandatory vertical or horizontal distance in the airspace.

Friendly gains: Airspace coordination in India helps airlines save big

Since Dec 2020, savings of airlines have been over Rs 200 crore

Ukraine crisis: Europe, Canada set to close airspace to Russian planes

Russia is now widely expected to further retaliate against the air blockades and other sanctions

Airlines likely to skip Ukraine airspace after US warning of Russian attack

Dutch airline KLM said it would halt flights to Ukraine and through the country's airspace, while Germany's Lufthansa said it was considering a suspension

Despite Pak denying air space, Srinagar-Sharjah flight won't stop: BJP

Denial of air space by Pakistan won't affect direct flights between Srinagar and Sharjah, J&K BJP President Ravinder Raina said on Friday.

India requests Pakistan to let Srinagar-Sharjah flight use its airspace

Sources said subsequently, Pakistan put the clearance for the same flight on hold for the period from October 31 to November 30

Pakistan refuses use of its airspace for Srinagar-Sharjah flight

There were no specific reasons given by the Pakistan government as yet for refusing the permission to the flight

Govt notifies framework for traffic management of drones in lower airspace

Current air traffic management (ATM) systems have not been designed to handle the traffic from unmanned aircraft, the framework issued on October 24 stated

Govt releases interactive digital airspace map for drone operations

The government on Friday released an interactive digital airspace map for drone operations that demarcates areas into zones, including yellow and red, across the country for flying drones

Airspace stimulus to save over Rs 1,000-crore in jet fuel costs in FY21

Aviation turbine fuel accounts for 35-40 per cent of the total operating cost of an Indian airline

Govt revives flexible use of airspace policy, move to help airlines

Sitharaman said only 60 per cent of Indian airspace is freely available and restrictions will be eased so that civilian flying becomes more efficient

FM announces easing of restrictions on utilisation of Indian airspace

Announcing the fourth tranche of economic stimulus, she said only 60 per cent of Indian airspace is freely available

DGCA reroutes flights to avoid Iranian airspace, MEA issues travel advisory

The decision comes after Iran fired missiles at two US air bases in Iraq, leading to heightened tensions in the region