Ravi Subramanian, an Air India technician, died on Wednesday (December 16) after he was sucked into the engine of a parked plane at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport. When the Mumbai-Hyderabad flight AI 619 began its pushback at 8.46 pm, Subramanian got pulled into the engine and died instantly. Airport sources say his body is severely mutilated. The airline has ordered a...
India is getting set to launch an ambitious project to develop its own stealth combat drones or UCAVs (unmanned combat aerial vehicles), which will be capable of firing missiles and precision-guided munitions at enemy targets and then returning to home bases to re-arm for further missions. Sources said the government was close to approving a Rs 2,650 crore Project Ghatak to develop the futurist...
Jet Airways, India’s premier international airline has announced the launch of daily non-stop services between India and Amsterdam, its new European gateway which is ideally located for convenient onward connections. With effect from March 27, 2016, Jet Airways will operate two daily non-stop flights to Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, one each from its home hubs in Mumbai and New Delhi. Jet A...
Even though airlines have gone from offline to online to sell tickets, charter business still largely is carried out offline. But the trend is set to change. On Monday Baron Aviation announced launch of BookMyCharters, a website that promises customers domestic charter bookings in sixty seconds. JetSetGo, an online charter aggregator, also announced second round of funding for...
A severe shortage of air traffic controllers (ATCOs) in India may prove to be the latest worry for international aviation authorities and trigger a global fear over flying in the country. The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), a UN agency, completed its audit of Indian aviation last week and is learnt to have red-flagged the shortage. While the ICAO report will be ready in about...
In a bizarre turn of events, a 46-year-old man became unconscious and collapsed in an Agartala-bound flight today, minutes after he boarded the plane and was declared brought dead by doctors at a hospital. A resident of Agartala, Hasan Ali had come here for availing medical treatment. This afternoon, he boarded an Agartala bound flight via Kolkata to go back to his native town after comple...
As many as 284 foreign pilots were employed by domestic aviation companies at the end of September, with IndiGo having the highest number of overseas pilots at 94, according to the government. Minister of State for Civil Aviation Mahesh Sharma today informed the Lok Sabha there were 284 foreign pilots at various aviation companies as on September 30. Out of them, no-frills carrier IndiGo had...
As many as 17 incidents of tyre burst have been reported by different domestic airlines between 2012 and October 30 this year, with seven of them reported by Air India and its subsidiary Alliance Air, Minister of State for Civil Aviation Mahesh Sharma informed Rajya Sabha on Tuesday. The number of tyre burst incidents in 2012 stood at three, while four such incidents were reported in 2013,...
Chennai // India’s main airport in flood-devastated Tamil Nadu state reopened on Sunday as emergency workers strove to help thousands of residents forced to flee their inundated homes. Anger is mounting among some residents who accuse local authorities of failing to work swiftly to help those affected. The international airport in the state capital Chennai had closed on Wednesday leavi...
Technical flights have started from rain-hit Chennai airport where operations were suspended on Wednesday following flooding but it will take a few days to resume commercial flights, Union Minister Mahesh Sharma said on Saturday. "We started technical flights from Chennai airport. But we are unable to resume commercial flights as the basement of the airport is still waterlogged and po...
A Spicejet de Havilland Dash 8-400, registration VT-SUC performing flight SG-2458 from Mumbai to Jabalpur (India) with 49 passengers and 4 crew, was landing at Jabalpur at 7:30 p.m. L (2:00 p.m. Z) when a herd of 30-40 boars strayed onto the runway prompting the crew to attempt averting the animals by turning left. The aircraft went off the runway and came to a stop on soft ground with the left ma...
Air India Ltd., the state-run carrier that has survived on a 300 billion-rupee (US$4.5 billion) taxpayer-funded bailout, is struggling to pay for spare parts forcing it to ground two Boeing Co. Dreamliners. The aircraft were not operational for about 10 months each as worldwide demand for parts outpaced supply from Boeing, and Air India failed to procure components on credit due to a "...
