Page 3 - Aviation

Air India to get fresh brand identity: CEO Campbell Wilson tells staff

Airline will take some years to attain 'world class heights', he says in year-end note

Experts express worry as China opens air travel amid Covid-19 surge

As CAAC announces to lift Covid-19 travel restrictions from January 8, experts have warned that this can be the worst situation for the world, as Covid is still spreading in the country

Inquiring video of passengers' fight in Bangkok-Kolkata flight: BCAS chief

The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) on Thursday said it is inquiring about the video clip of a scuffle between passengers onboard a plane from Bangkok to Kolkata earlier this week. The video clip of the scuffle where a passenger was being slapped multiple times by a few co-passengers was shared on social media on Wednesday. "BCAS has taken cognisance of the video. We have started inquiring and further action will be taken depending on the inquiry outcome," BCAS Director General Zulfiquar Hasan told PTI on Thursday. According to a passenger who was onboard the plane, the incident happened on December 26, just before the plane was taxiing to the runway for takeoff. The plane landed at Kolkata early morning on Tuesday, the passenger, who was travelling with his mother, said. The passenger, who is from Kolkata, told PTI about the incident on condition of anonymity. He said that he was worried about his mother who was sitting near the seat where the incident happened. Accordi

Airlines worldwide keep capacity tight despite boom in Chinese demand

Bookings for outbound flights from China surged by 254% on Tuesday morning versus the same period the day prior, data shows

Scuffle onboard plane from Bangkok to Kolkata, video on social media

A few passengers onboard a Thai Smile Airways plane from Bangkok to Kolkata were reportedly involved in a scuffle earlier this week. A video clip of the scuffle inside the aircraft was shared widely on social media on Wednesday. In the clip, a man could be seen being slapped multiple times by a few co-passengers. According to a passenger who was in the plane, the incident happened on December 26 just before the plane was taxiing to the runway for takeoff. He was travelling to Kolkata along with his mother. The passenger, who hails from Kolkata, told PTI about the incident on condition of anonymity. He said that he was worried about his mother who was sitting near the seat where the incident happened. Later, other passengers and air hostess pacified the individuals involved in the scuffle, he added. According to the passenger, the reason for the scuffle was not clear. The plane landed at Kolkata early on Tuesday morning. It could not be immediately ascertained whether the incident

Aloke Singh to head Air India's low-cost airlines January 1

The new appointments are part of an organisational revamp announced today by Air India

No order issued by govt to stop flights to and from China: Report

Government sources said that there is no order issued by the central government to curb incoming flights from China where a wave of Covid cases has been reported

Delhi HC dismisses plea against Sikhs carrying 'kirpans' on flights

The Delhi High Court on Thursday dismissed a plea opposing the permission given to Sikhs to carry kirpans while travelling on civilian flights in India

Heated exchange between IndiGo passenger, air-hostess mid-air; DGCA probing

An IndiGo passenger and an air-hostess were involved in a heated exchange over choice of meals onboard a flight from Istanbul to Delhi, and aviation regulator DGCA is looking into the incident. A video clip of the heated exchange onboard the flight on December 16 was shared on social media on Wednesday. In a statement, the airline said it is looking into the incident. "My crew is crying because of you," the IndiGo air-hostess is heard telling the passenger. The passenger is also heard telling her, "You are a servant of a passenger", to which she responded, "I am an employee and not your servant... I am not your servant." At one point, the passenger said "why are you yelling? Shut up" to the air-hostess, who also asks the former to "shut up", according to the nearly one-minute-long clip that was apparently shot by a passenger in the flight. According to IndiGo, the issue related to meals chosen by certain passengers travelling via a codeshare connection. A senior official at the

IndiGo airline ranked number one in on-time performance in November

IndiGo carried more passengers on a sequential basis, while its market share fell to 55.7 per cent (from 56.7 per cent in October)

11 people sustain serious injuries amid turbulence on Hawaii flight

Nearly a dozen people were seriously injured when a flight to Hawaii was rocked by severe turbulence on Sunday about 30 minutes outside Honolulu, an emergency response agency said. Eleven people were hospitalized in serious condition and nine others were in stable condition, the Honolulu Emergency Medical Services said in a statement. It said a call came in shortly after 11 a.m. about the injuries on a Hawaiian Airlines flight from Phoenix. Responders treated 36 people and of those, 20 people were transported for further medical treatment. The statement said the wounds included a serious head injury, lacerations, bruising and loss of consciousness. Passenger Kaylee Reyes told Hawaii News Now that her mother had just sat down when the turbulence hit, and did not have a chance to buckle her safety belt. She flew up and hit the ceiling, Reyes said. Hawaiian Airlines in a statement said 13 passengers and three crew members were taken to area hospitals for further care. The airline sai

Elon Musk cries foul over flight data that's readily available on the net

People who for security or privacy reasons don't want their location known can opt for FAA to screen their aircraft's identity

Chaos on the ground

Nobody seems to know what has changed in the past week or so to make Delhi Airport-the busiest in the country-such a no-go zone

Trai seeks views on regulating spectrum for aviation for communication

Telecom regulator Trai on Saturday issued a consultation paper to explore regulating communications services being provided by two entities to airlines using very high frequency band spectrum. Based on a reference from the Department of Telecom, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) is exploring methodology through which spectrum should be assigned keeping in mind the Supreme Court judgement in the 2G case which ordered the allocation of spectrum to entities for commercial use to be based on market determined prices. The telecom ministry had allocated very high frequency, which is between 30 to 300 Mhz band, to two agencies --Societe Internationale de Telecommunications Aeronautiques (SITA) and Bird Consultancy Services (BCS) for data communication link between aircraft and ground stations. In the consultation paper on 'Data Communication Services Between Aircraft and Ground Stations Provided by Organizations', Trai has asked "Whether there is a need to bring data ...

Sri Lanka to resume flights from Jaffna to Chennai after 3 yrs from Dec 12

Sri Lanka is set to resume flights from the northern Jaffna peninsula to Chennai from Monday, three years after the island nation discontinued the services due to Covid, a spokesman from the Sri Lankan Airport Authority said on Friday. "The commercial flight operations from Chennai International airport to Jaffna International airport will be back effective 12th December 2022," SLAA spokesperson Sumith de Silva told PTI. This will be a resumption of flights since they were stopped for Covid," de Silva said. India's Alliance Air would operate four flights a week between the two cities, said de Silva. Earlier, Sri Lanka's Aviation Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva told Parliament that flights will be operational between Jaffna and Chennai by December 12. However, there are still some improvements left to be done to the runway. The present runway can only accommodate 75-seater aircraft. The airport in Palaly was named the Jaffna international airport as Sri Lanka's third internation

Pak working to operationalise closed airports, revive aviation assets: Rprt

Pakistan has started working on a comprehensive plan for the operationalisation of long-closed airports on a commercial basis to boost regional connectivity and revive civil aviation assets worth billions of dollars that are lying idle in the country, a media report said on Sunday. As part of the project, regional connectivity will be promoted, closed airports will be made operational, and Pakistan Airways, a subsidiary of the Pakistan International Airlines, will be reactivated, The Express Tribune reported, quoting official documents available with the paper. A framework for regional connectivity was finalised at the domestic level, enabling the national airline to enter into a joint venture with any foreign company. For this purpose, Pakistan Airways can also be activated, which will operate as a regional airline, the report said. The objective of this project is to make air travel accessible to all Pakistanis, besides repurposing the civil aviation assets worth billions of ...

On a wing and a prayer

Among the many virtues of John Lancaster's delightful The Great Air Race is how vividly it conveys the entirely different world of aviation at the dawn of the industry a century ago

Airbus looking at India, Aus, Latin America for green hydrogen supplies

European aerospace major Airbus is looking to source green hydrogen from markets like India, Australia and Latin America as part of its decarbonisation efforts, a senior company official said. Airbus is currently developing a hydrogen-powered fuel cell engine for its ambitious zero-emission aircraft that will enter service by 2035. It has also signed a partnership agreement with HyPort to set up a low-carbon hydrogen production and distribution station at the Toulouse-Blagnac airport in France. The cost of renewable energy production in India and Latin America, among others, make them attractive as potential supply hubs, Glenn Llewellyn, VP Zero-Emission Aircraft at Airbus, said. "One of the key activities that are underway at Airbus is to make sure that when we have a hydrogen aircraft available, we also have green hydrogen at airports. So, we are doing a lot of work with different airports and energy providers all across the world to make sure that green hydrogen is available at t

A challenge to maintain, better India's aviation safety ranking: DGCA chief

With the country getting its highest-ever rank in the ICAO aviation safety rankings, DGCA chief Arun Kumar on Sunday said the challenge now is to maintain and further improve the air safety ecosystem. The comments also come against the backdrop of the country's aviation sector slowly coming back into the growth trajectory after being severely hit by the Covid-19 pandemic and the domestic air traffic is also inching towards the pre-pandemic level. In the latest rankings by the Indian Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), India's position has jumped to the 48th place from 102nd spot in 2018. The ranking, which also places it ahead of China (49), is the highest ever received by India, according to DGCA officials. "A robust safety oversight system certified and acknowledged by the experts is sine qua non for flight safety and very assuring for the flying public... The DGCA team has worked tirelessly to strengthen aviation safety. Now, we are on a peak and so the challenge is to maintain a

India jumps to 48th place in ICAO aviation safety ranking: DGCA officials

India has jumped to the 48th position in the global aviation safety ranking by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), according to DGCA officials. Four years ago, the country was ranked at the 102nd position. In the ranking, Singapore is at the top, followed by the UAE and South Korea at the second and third positions, respectively, the officials said. China is at the 49th place, they added. Under its Universal Safety Oversight Audit Programme (USOAP) Continuous Monitoring Approach, an ICAO Coordinated Validation Mission (ICVM) was undertaken from November 9 to 16. On Saturday, DGCA chief Arun Kumar told PTI that the regulator has worked tirelessly to upgrade India's safety ranking and the results are there. "Hopefully, we continue to remain vigilant and improve further". The country's score in terms of effective implementation of key safety elements has improved to 85.49 per cent, the officials said. On November 16, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA