National carrier Air India has once again been caught violating flight duty time limit (FDTL) of its cabin crew. It was on the Delhi-Australia sector for the past two years, where the airline flew with the same set of crew to test the impact of fatigue on its cabin crew. And with more than 60 follow-ups with the DGCA there is still no action against the errant officials, claim sources. In...
A court in Mumbai, India, has ordered that an impounded Airbus ACJ319 owned by former Kingfisher Airlines founder Vijay Mallya must be sold before March 1. The jet was seized three years ago by India’s tax authority after Kingfisher failed to remit $28 million in service taxes collected from passengers. The ACJ, manufactured in 2006, is on a finance lease from CJ Lea...
Indian budget carrier SpiceJet Ltd., which has surged more than 280 percent this year, said it's received interest from Gulf airlines looking to acquire a stake. "Some of the Gulf airlines have expressed an interest in SpiceJet as we have come back into the market, but this is not the right time to be diluting the equity," Chairman Ajay Singh said in Dubai Sunday, without nam...
After San Francisco, Air India (AI) plans to launch direct flights to Washington DC and other cities in the U.S. AI already operates non-stop flights to three U.S. cities - New York, Chicago and Newark, with operations to San Francisco scheduled to commence from December 2. "AI is actively pursuing to connect more cities in the U.S. (with India). A New Delhi-Washington flight is al...
Further simplifying the procedures and making it easier for the procurement of aircraft by airlines, the Ministry of Civil Aviation has delegated the power to grant initial No Objection Certificate (NOC) or in-principle approval for import or acquisition of aircraft to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). This comes two after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) relaxed norms for r...
The Indian air force has received its eighth and final batch of Antonov AN−32RE tactical transports to be upgraded in the Ukraine. The delivery of the five aircraft completes the total life extension, overhaul and modernisation of 40 aircraft to AN−32RE standard by Plant 410 of Civil Aviation and Antonov in Kyiv, Ukraine. The “RE” in the aircraft’s new de...
India is likely to become the third largest aviation market in the world displacing the UK by 2026, according to a forecast by global airlines grouping International Air Transport Association today. Besides, the IATA expects India's air passenger traffic to grow to 378 million passengers by 2034 with 275 new passengers likely to be added during this period. Globally, the IATA projec...
Indian budget carrier SpiceJet Ltd. has surged more than 340 per cent in the past year after surviving a crisis. Chairman Ajay Singh said the best performing airline stock in the world remains undervalued. SpiceJet’s market capitalisation of about 41 billion rupees ($621 million; Dh2.3 billion ) is too low given the $5.7 billion valuation for the operator of IndiGo, India’s biggest...
The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has found three local carriers guilty of colluding to artificially manipulate fuel Surcharge (FSC) fees relating to cargo and freight. The motion was brought on by a complaint filed by the Express Industry Council of India. The CCI said in a statement that Jet Airways (India) Ltd. had been fined 1.5 billion rupees (US$22.69 million), IndiGo Ai...
Jet Airways (9W, Mumbai Int'l) will close its Brussels National scissors hub in late March of next year citing its unprofitability Belgium's Standaard newspaper has said. The report says the airline has already informed its thirty-three Brussels based staff (twenty-five Belgians and eight Indians) of the decision. Established in 2007, Jet Airways uses Brussels to connect Delhi Int&...
Air India has mopped up 7,000 crore rupees by selling nine of its 21 Dreamliner aircraft to a Singaporean lessor, which it has taken back on lease from the company under an SLB (sale and lease back) arrangement. A major chunk of these funds will go into repayment of the bridge loan availed earlier for purchasing these Boeing 787-800s, airline sources said. Under an SLB arrange...
Emboldened by a quick turnaround in fortunes under its new promoters, budget airline SpiceJet has initiated talks with aircraft manufacturers to place orders for at least 150 planes, said Ajay Singh, chairman of India's fourth largest carrier. "It will be a significant sized order. And it will be placed soon," Singh told ETin an interview recently. SpiceJet is in talks to...
