Indian-Aviation

The US Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) restored India's top safety rating, 14 months after it downgraded the local aviation regulator over lack of trained officials and fulltime flight operations inspectors. India has taken corrective measures to address the concerns, the US said.  Returning to Category I rating will allow the nation's carriers such as Air India and Jet Airways to go ahead with plans to increase flights to the US and other parts of the world. The FAA informed the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and the aviation ministry about the move in a letter that ET reviewed.  The Indian government and US authorities later confirmed the development.  US Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx announced the upgrade at a meeting with Indian Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju, the American consulate in Mumbai said. This followed India complying with safety standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organization, it said in...

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has initiated a process to make psychological tests compulsory for pilots, in what will be a global first. The move comes after the Germanwings crash in which one of the pilots is suspected to have deliberately slammed the airliner to an Alpine ridge in France. "We are looking at rules asking airlines to carry out psychological tests on pilots at regular intervals and introducing provisions of mental tests on pilots at the flying schools,"  a DGCA official said on the condition of anonymity. The regulator plans to also discuss the matter with the Air Force too.   Industry experts, however, say it is too premature on the part of the DGCA to introduce such a rule. "The inquiry on the Germanwings crash is still on and we are awaiting final report on the matter. It is premature on the part of the DGCA to announce any such rule when the world and regulatory authorities are waiting for the final report to come," s...

Imagine you apply for a driving licence and the road transport officer says: "I don't know driving. So how will I give you a licence?" Flummoxed? Pop comes a solution. The officer says: "Psst! Let me first learn driving but you will have to bear the cost of my driving lesson." Preposterous, right? A similar rule exists in Indian aviation. Seriously. It is there on Page 71 of the CAP3100 manual, a 'guide' created by the regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) for people who apply for an air operator's permit to start charter services. If an applicant imports an aircraft that is unfamiliar to a DGCA flight operations inspector (FOI), it is the responsibility of the applicant to train the FOI, says the rule.  Training an FOI is of course far more costly than car driving lessons. It will set back an applicant by at least Rs 30 lakh because it involves flying the officer abroad where the aircraft maker is located, paying for ...

Air Pegasus today commenced its commercial operations with flight services to Hubballi and Thiruvananthapuram from its base in Bengaluru, becoming the second regional air operator after Air Costa.  Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju launched the operations of the airline promoted by ground handling services provider Decor Aviation. "The new routes with a regional focus will help local business and boost tourism, opening up potentials in both business and leisure travel," said Raju, who was on board the inaugural flight of the newly-launched airline.  The company plans to have five ATR aircraft in South India by December and would increase it to 20, Air Pegasus Managing Director Shyson Thomas told reporters. He said that connecting to the country's IT capital, the newly launched flights will boost the economies of these two towns by simplifying the travel options for both in-bound and out-bound passengers.  "We aim to be the truly regional ai...

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has allowed airlines to offer all their seats for pre-booking to passengers.  Airlines charge an add-on fee of up to Rs 600 for pre-booking premium seats like those in the front or emergency rows that have more legroom and window and aisle seats. In June 2013, UPA-II had capped the number of seats for pre-booking at 25 per cent of the aircraft capacity.  "A number of Indian airlines had requested us to remove the cap. We asked them what percentage of seats are actually being pre-booked by flyers, to which they said 7 per cent. Now we have allowed them to offer every seat in the aircraft for pre-booking," said a senior official. Airlines had complained that they face problem in group travels as those flyers are unable to block seats and be seated together. Under the earlier order, no middle seat could have been pre-booked.  "Globally there is no cap on things like these and airlines are free to optimize t...

India may bar import of aircraft at low rates by corporate groups for personal and official use in a move likely to generate opposition from companies with large in house charter operations. The aviation regulator, Directorate General of Civil Aviation, (DGCA), has proposed to ban the use of non-scheduled operator's (NSOP) licence by companies to import aircraft at rates as low as 3-4%. While aircraft imported for personal use are taxed higher (19-21%), companies, especially large corporate groups, are able to pay very low rates by securing an NSOP licence. They create an aviation subsidiary company to house the aircraft. The aircraft are then chartered out to the parent organisations for official and personal use. The DGCA believes that this is a misuse and wants to reframe the rules by barring such subsidiary companies from letting their parent firms use the aircraft. Companies can still buy aircraft under personal names of promoters or chief executives but must comp...

Considering significant growth in international passenger traffic, the Airports Authority of India ( AAI) has asked domestic carriers to explore possibilities of operating more overseas flights from here, especially to the West Asian region.  "We have got in touch with SpiceJet, Jet Airways and Indigo and have suggested that this could be a viable business opportunity for them," Airport Director B C H Negi told reporters here last night. Given the rise in international passenger traffic in recent years, authorities are hopeful of more operators exploring services to overseas destinations from Tiruchirappalli.  There was 26 per cent growth in international traffic last fiscal compared to 2013-14, he said. The airport handled almost 12 lakh passengers in the last financial year out of which close to 11 lakh were international passengers, he said.  Read more at:  http://economictimes.indiatimes.com 

The battle between the world's top two plane manufactures for supremacy in the Indian skies is turning into a war. For now, Airbus has the advantage.  The European plane maker has 196 of its commercial passenger aircraft flying in India, compared with Boeing's 160.  Airbus' potential delivery backlog looks huge. It has signed an initial pact with IndiGo for 250 planes and has an earlier firm order for another 180. That, coupled with other orders takes its likely volumes over the next ten years to 516. The nation's newest local carriers, Tata Sons joint ventures Vistara and AirAsia India, have both picked Airbus as their initial choice.  Boeing's visible backlog is much smaller at 59 planes, which include long-haul Dreamliners to Air India and Jet Airways as well as narrow-bodied 737Max planes to SpiceJet. There have been talks of an order for fifty 737Max from Jet, but that hasn't been announced.  The US manufacturer is hoping for or...

There has been a decline of over 61 per cent in  baggage mishandling by airlines  around the world in the last seven years, despite a significant rise in the number of passengers over the same period, according to a report.  The improvement in baggage handling has been attributed to increased investment in technology, which has resulted in an estimated saving of $18 billion, it said.  The rate of mishandled bags in 2014 stood at 7.3 bags per thousand passengers, down from a peak of 18.88 bags per thousand passengers in 2007, global airlines IT solution services provider SITA said in its report today.  "This improvement in baggage handling over the past seven years is largely a result of strong technology investment and innovation in baggage systems automation and processes," SITA's Chief Executive  Francesco Violante  said.  This decline comes despite a significant rise in number of passengers over the same time period, peaking at...

State-run Air India plans to reward those pilots who make onboard announcements in Hindi, almost 10 months after the Central government came out with a circular on the use of official language in various public departments.  Most of the pilots currently make onboard announcements in English.  "They should do so in Hindi as well, as it is our national language. We will encourage them to use Hindi in the cockpit while making onboard announcements," Air India sources said. The issue had come up for discussions during a recent meeting of the civil aviation ministry and the airline management, sources said, adding that it was decided to reiterate the earlier instructions in this regard.  "Air India is one of the oldest organisations promoting Hindi in the country. So, the latest orders are nothing but a reiteration of the same," the sources said. The aircraft operating staff has also been told to maintain the record of announcements made by the p...

No-frills airline IndiGo has pushed back the delivery of two leased Airbus A320 to the third week of this month.  As part of a subleasing agreement with Singapore-based budget airline Tiger Air last year, the Gurgaon-based carrier had to take the delivery of 12 such planes between October 2014 and March 31 this year. "IndiGo, however, could take the delivery of 10 aircraft during this period," sources told PTI here. The domestic budget carrier currently has 94 aircraft in the fleet as against its target of 96 planes by the last fiscal.  When contacted, an IndiGo spokesperson confirmed the deferment of aircraft deliveries. "We currently have a fleet of 94 aircraft...... It will be 96 by the 3rd week of April 2015, the spokesperson told PTI in response to a query. The airline, however, did not specify reasons for pushing back the delivery schedule.  The airline said it had added three aircraft between February 20 and March 31 this year, whic...

Aviation regulator DGCA has initiated comprehensive discussions with Directorate of Medical Services for formulating new norms for assessing the mental health of pilots which may include regular checkups.  The move is triggered by the recent Germanwings airline plane crash in the Alps, in which allegedly a mentally disturbed co-pilot crashed the plane killing all 150 people onboard. "We have flagged the issue (psychometric tests for pilots). We are already having detailed discussions with the authorities concerned in this regard," a source in the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said.  The regulator is in consultations with the Directorate of Medical Services for Civil Aviation on framing new norms which may include regular assessment of a pilot's mental health, the source said. The DGCA was now waiting for the DMS to revert on the issue, the source added. "An official announcement in this regard could come as early as next week," the sour...

Hospitality major Four Seasons' branded jet, that has embarked on its maiden world tour with 52 enthusiastic travellers who have paid $120,000 for a ticket, has touched down at the Maximum City on Thursday night. The guests on this $6.2-million tour, including top businessmen, entrepreneurs and some eminent personalities will be in Mumbai for two days and will be visiting architectural sites at Elephanta Caves, taking lessons in Indian cooking, going on hot air balloon trips over Lonavala,  and visiting Asia's largest slum Dharavi. The Four Seasons Jet, a completely custom-designed Boeing 757, is the hospitality industry's first fully branded private jet that started its maiden trip from Los Angeles, on to Hawaii, Bora Bora, Sydney, Bali, Chiang Mai, and now in Mumbai before taking off for Istanbul and finally London. "Making India part of the first Four Seasons branded jet aroundthe-world experience reaffirms the significance of India and Mumbai. On the glob...

Union aviation minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju on Tuesday stoked a controversy by admitting that he often carried matchboxes on flights.  And what's more, Ashok Gajapathi Raju went on to brag that being a minister he was not frisked any more and hence, he could now save his lighters and matchboxes. The minister questioned how matchbox could become a security threat. "You can't hijack a plane with a matchbox," the minister said, adding, "I haven't come across any incident worldwide where a matchbox had led to any threat." "I am a heavy smoker so my matchboxes came along with me which earlier used to get confiscated," Ashok Gajapathi Raju said at a function of Bureau of civil aviation security at DRDO Bhavan. Aviation rules do not allow anyone to carry matchbox on board flights. However, the minister later speaking to reporters defended his comments. Source:  http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Consumers whose bank accounts have been fattened with annual paychecks should waste no time in making travel plans for the financial year started on Wednesday. Indian carriers including IndiGo, Go Air and Vistara have introduced fresh discounted fares for the summer, across routes.  Full-service carrier Vistara — the joint venture between Tata Sons and Vistara — was the latest one to join the fray, introducing a 20% discount on its premium economy and business class fares. The fares are valid for purchase until April 5 and for travel between April 1 and 30 June. The discounts, however, are valid only for bookings which include minimum two passengers and up to nine passengers.  IndiGo also introduced fares as low as Rs 1,345 valid on flights from Delhi to Mumbai, Goa, Pune Bengaluru, Chennai, Kolkata and Jaipur. Go Air also offered fares as low as Rs 1,850 between Bengaluru and Goa Rs 1,932 between Lucknow and New Delhi and Rs 2017 between Patna and Kolkata....

A team of officials from the US aviation watchdog Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which is in the capital for a final assessment of India's aviation safety, is expected to submit its report by April 10.  The report could pave the way for a possible upgrade of the country's aviation safety ranking. The FAA officials, who arrived here yesterday for a final review of the steps taken by the aviation regulator to address the deficiencies in the country's aviation safety, are expected to complete the exercise today, DGCA sources said.  On January 31 last year, the FAA had lowered India's safety ranking to Category-II from Category-I which the country had been holding since 1997. The team is likely to submit its report by April 10, they said adding that "the decision on the ranking upgrade should come by the month."  Read more at:  http://economictimes.indiatimes.com

The US aviation regulator has asked Indian authorities to hire people with technical background at the  Directorate General  of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the local regulator which has typically been headed by a  senior civil service official . A delay in meeting the demand could potentially hamper India's prospects of getting back the top rating by the most powerful aviation authority in the world. The  US Federal Aviation Authority  (FAA) wants the  director-general  as well as other key officials of the Indian aviation regulatory body to have technical knowledge of the sector. The Federal Aviation Authority conveyed its demand to India's civil aviation ministry at the end of an audit conducted this week, a DGCA official said. A written response to the demand will be sent later, he said.  FAA downgraded India to a Category II market in January last year citing two key concerns: lack of training for DGCA officials and shortage of full-...