Page 2 - Aviation

Boeing cuts India's aviation mkt outlook to 2,210 new jets over next 20 yrs

India's air traffic has "transitioned from recovery to growth," having returned to 98% of pre-pandemic levels, Boeing said, adding that domestic traffic should double by the end of this decade

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

Air India to borrow Rs 18K-cr from SBI, BoB to refinance existing debt: Rpt

These loans will be in continuation of the debt facility Tata Group received following the acquisition of Air India

Vistara plans to launch flight services to Hong Kong and Mauritius

The Tata group-run airline on Monday inducted an Airbus A321LR, the first by an Indian carrier. Vistara now has 54 planes and will add six more in 2023

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

Jet fuel price hiked 4% by Rs 4,218 per KL in line with rising oil rates

Jet fuel (ATF) price on Wednesday was hiked by 4 per cent in line with firming international oil prices but petrol and diesel rates remained on freeze for a record 10th month in running. Aviation turbine fuel (ATF) price was increased by Rs 4,218 per kilolitre, or 3.9 per cent, to Rs 1,12,356.77 per kl in the national capital, according to a price notification of state-owned fuel retailers. The increase follows three rounds of reduction since November. The price on January 1 was reduced to Rs 1,08,138.77 per kl from Rs 1,17,587.64. Prior to that, the price was slashed by 2.3 per cent on December 1 and 4.19 per cent on November 1. The rate hike will increase the burden on airlines for whom fuel makes for almost 40 per cent of the operating cost. ATF price is revised on the 1st of every month based on the average rate of international benchmark and foreign exchange rates. Petrol and diesel prices, however, continued to remain on freeze for a record tenth month in a row. Petrol costs

India has become world's third-largest aviation market: President Murmu

India has become the third-largest aviation market in the world and is growing rapidly, with the number of airports increasing to 147 from just 74 in 2014, President Droupadi Murmu said on Tuesday. She also said the Indian Railways is emerging as a modern institution and many inaccessible areas are being added to the rail map of the country. In her first address to the joint sitting of Parliament, Murmu said the country's aviation sector is also growing rapidly. "Up to 2014, the number of airports in the country was 74, it has now increased to 147. Today India has become the third-largest aviation market in the world. The UDAN Yojana has played an important role in this regard," she said. UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik) is the government's ambitious regional air connectivity scheme and UDAN flights have carried around 1.15 crore people over the last six years. Talking about the India Railways, Murmu said a modern and semi-high-speed train has become part of it in the form of Vande

Air India likely to post consolidated profit in current fiscal: Report

Air India had been ailing for a long time, before the Tata Group took it over on January 27 last year

Rolls-Royce's performance 'unsustainable', says CEO Tufan Erginbilgic

The new CEO Erginbilgic told employees that they lose money in every investment and investors were losing patience with the engineering group

Air India urination case: Court adjourns accused's bail plea to Jan 30

A Delhi court on Friday adjourned Shankar Mishra's petition seeking bail to January 30. Mishra, who is accused of urinating on a woman co-passenger onboard a flight in November last year had filed a fresh bail application seeking regular bail. The court adjourned the matter after noting the investigating officer was not present. Further, the complainant's counsel was not provided a copy of the bail plea, it noted. The incident took place onboard the Air India flight from New York to Delhi on November 26, 2022. Mishra was allegedly in an inebriated condition.

Air India's progress has been nothing short of stunning: CEO Wilson

Air India chief Campbell Wilson on Friday said the airline's progress over the last 12 months has been "nothing short of stunning" and there is much more to be done as Tata group completes the first year of takeover of the carrier. Listing out the major initiatives over the last one year, Air India said it is "finalising a historic order of new aircraft to power future growth". Campbell also said that while working on improvements, the airline has not shied away from other ambitious actions such as merging Air India Express with Air Asia, or Vistara with Air India, or kicking off the establishment of a new InfoTech Centre, or an Aviation Academy. "And that's not to mention our much talked-about short- and-medium term fleet expansion," the CEO and MD of Air India said in a communication to the employees. Tata group took control of Air India from the government on January 27 last year. "Taken together, the progress over the last 12 months has been nothing short of stunning, even if

Contract personnel deleted software files: US on mega aviation outage

The US has blamed the third-party contractors for last week's mega outage that grounded thousands of flights, saying that "contract personnel unintentionally deleted files"

Urination fiasco: Air India fined Rs 30 lakh; pilot grounded for 3 months

DGCA asks director of in-flight services to pay Rs 3 lakh

Air India's mega jet deal with Airbus, Boeing held up by engine-cost debate

Air India has spent months negotiating an order of about 400 narrowbody and 100 widebody jets that would allow the country's flag carrier to upgrade service and reliability

Air India says staff made error of judgment in handling urination incident

Airline's report to National Commission for Women acknowledges delay in reporting incident to regulator

Regional aviation looks to soar higher, carriers chart growth plans

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

Departures resume after FAA lifts ground stop; no evidence of cyberattack

Flight-tracking website FlightAware showed 4,948 delays for US flights at 10:05 a.m.

Flights across US delayed due to system outage at FAA, says report

Over 400 flights were delayed within, into, or out of the United States as of Wednesday at 5:31 am ET, says the report

Air India will have to wait till March to implement new HR policy: Report

According to the acquisition agreement signed with the government in January 2022, the airline is not allowed to change the "terms of employment" for one year

Air India CEO apologises for urinating incident; crew, pilot de-rostered

Tata Group-owned Air India CEO Campbell Wilson on Saturday apologised for a flyer urinating on a fellow female passenger on a flight from New York in November, and said four cabin crew and a pilot have been de-rostered and the airline is reviewing policy of serving alcohol on flights. Facing backlash for the handling of the incident, Wilson in a statement said the airline could have handled the issue better and promised a robust reporting system of unruly behaviour and a system of reporting such incidents. "Air India is deeply concerned about the in-flight instances where customers have suffered due to the condemnable acts of their co-passengers on our aircraft. We regret and are pained about these experiences," he said. "Air India acknowledges that it could have handled these matters better, both in the air and on the ground and is committed to taking action." With questions being raised about the airline not immediately reporting the unruly passenger to law enforcement authoritie