Dgca

(Representative Image) Aviation regulator DGCA's chief Arun Kumar has said that incidents of unruly passenger behaviour onboard flights are under control and rules are now being strictly enforced unlike earlier, when the enforcement was not up to the desired level that led to some embarrassing incidents. In an interview to PTI, he also asserted that existing rules to deal with unruly air passengers are "sufficient" at this point of time. In recent times, there have been multiple cases of unruly air passenger behaviour, including incidents of a male passenger allegedly urinating on a female co-passenger and people found smoking in the lavatory of flights. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has taken strict action in these incidents and airlines concerned had also imposed a flying ban on the passengers concerned. Against this backdrop, the DGCA chief said that airlines are empowered to take action against passengers indulging in unruly behaviour in flights. … [Read more...] about Unruly air passenger behaviour incidents under control; current rules ‘sufficient’ at this point of time: DGCA chief Arun Kumar

Air India, or “Maharaja”, landed back in the hands of its founders, the Tata group, in January last year. Aviation regulator DGCA has rejected the plea to revoke the suspension of the licence of an Air India pilot in connection with the urination incident onboard New York-Delhi flight in November last year, according to a source. The licence of the pilot was suspended for three months by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on January 20. A joint forum of six unions had also appealed to the regulator to revoke the suspension of the pilot's licence. On Wednesday, the source said the appeal of the pilot to revoke the licence suspension has been rejected. In connection with the urination incident that happened onboard the Air India flight on November 26, 2022, the regulator had suspended the licence of the pilot for three months, imposed a penalty of Rs 30 lakh on the airline and Rs 3 lakh on the director of the carrier's in-flight services. The enforcement … [Read more...] about Air India urination incident: DGCA rejects plea to revoke suspension of pilot’s license

Air India on Thursday said it will operate a ferry flight to Stockholm to bring back passengers who were stranded after their flight from Newark was diverted to Sweden's capital on Wednesday. The Boeing 777-300 ER aircraft from Newark to Delhi was diverted to Stockholm on Wednesday morning due to an oil leak in one of the engines. An Air India spokesperson said the ferry flight will be operated with Boeing 777 plane that will fly out from Mumbai at around 2 pm and is expected to reach Stockholm at 11 pm (IST). The ferry flight will take off from Stockholm at around 1 am (IST) on Friday morning and reach Delhi at about 8 am (IST), the spokesperson said. The Newark-Delhi flight had 292 passengers, including 8 infants, 15 cabin crew members and 4 pilots. It had made an emergency landing at the Arlanda airport in Stockholm. The flight had landed safely. In a late evening statement on Wednesday, an Air India spokesperson said the airline was in discussion with the Swedish … [Read more...] about Air India to operate ferry flight to bring back passengers stranded in Stockholm

Recovery in air travel continued in December 2022 and was signed up for the whole year compared with 2021. Domestic air travel in India improved significantly and scaled to 85.7 percent of pre-Covid levels in 2022, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA). Recovery in air travel continued in December 2022 and was signed up for the whole year compared with 2021, IATA said earlier in February. With concerns of fresh Covid-19 outbreaks fading in India, airlines saw a significant improvement in domestic air travel as well as revenue. India's domestic RPKs (revenue passenger kilometres) rose 48.8 percent last year compared with 2021, IATA said. Also Read: India's aviation sector has enough potential for recurring aircraft orders: GE Aerospace Air traffic in December almost matched the 2019 level, falling by just 3.6 percent. In 2022, Indian domestic ASK (available seat kilometres) surged 30.1 percent over the last year. India's domestic air … [Read more...] about Air travel soars higher to 85% of 2019 level, revenue passenger kilometre up 49%

Vacancies for direct positions including pilots, cabin crew, and technical and non-technical staff will increase The mega aircraft deal where Air India placed an order for 470 passenger planes worth $80-100 billion from Airbus and Boeing, is expected to open up numerous jobs for pilots, cabin crew and engineers. Moreover, other Indian airlines such as IndiGo, Akasa Air, Vistara, and Go Air together have around 1,100 planes on order — which means the aviation market and allied sectors will have several job openings in the near future - a report by CNBCTV18 stated. Also Read: Air travel soars higher to 85% of 2019 level, revenue passenger kilometre up 49% The deal is not only expected to create jobs in the US and the UK but also in India. According to agency reports, Air India will need more than 6,500 pilots to operate the 470 aircraft it is acquiring. US President Joe Biden had said the Air India deal would provide “over a million American jobs across 44 states”. … [Read more...] about Hiring in aviation sector to soar backed by mega aircraft deals, say experts

This is entirely 3D generated image: Image Ctsy Getty According to data released by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) for 2022, domestic aviation has bounced back phenomenally from the early days of January 2022, when it looked like Covid would trip the march of the market yet again. Airlines in India carried 12.32 crore domestic passengers in 2022, with December clocking the highest traffic —1.27 crore passengers. The numbers were lower than in 2019 (the last full pre-pandemic year), but higher than 2017, when 11.71 crore passengers took to the air. In 2019, the industry had ferried 14.41 passengers across the country. However, with Covid, the traffic dropped to 6.3 crore in 2020 and 8.38 crore in 2021. Intense battle for the number two spot As many as four airlines occupied the number two spot in market share in 2022, even as IndiGo cornered 58.8 percent of the market in July. IndiGo closed the year with 56.1 percent market share. It’s dominance can … [Read more...] about On Cloud Nine: Three airlines clocked their best performance ever in 2022

It is a well-coordinated balance that airlines have struck between capacity deployment and market demand. (Representative image) India's domestic air traffic in January nearly doubled, when compared to the same month last year. The number climbed to 125.42 lakh passengers carried, data released by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on February 20 shows. However, domestic air traffic fell 1.5 percent in January when compared with December 2022's reading which stood at 127.35 lakh passengers. The air traffic still remained lower than pre-COVID levels. In January 2020, domestic airlines flew 127.83 lakh passengers. The aviation pie The market share of India's largest airline, IndiGo, shrunk 30 basis points in January, after shedding nearly 80 basis points each month from October through December. The airline's market share is now 54.6 percent, with the low-cost carrier flying 68.47 lakh passengers in January. COVID-19 Vaccine Frequently Asked … [Read more...] about January aviation data: Domestic passenger traffic nearly doubles on year on a low base

A Calicut-bound Air India Express plane returned to Abu Dhabi airport early morning on Friday due to engine failure while taking off, according to officials. As per initial report, fire was noticed in one of the engines, a senior official at the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said. The Boeing 737-800 aircraft had 184 passengers onboard and all are safe, an airline spokesperson said. A source said there was an engine failure. VT-AYC operating flight IX 348 from Abu Dhabi to Calicut was involved in air turnback due to No.1 engine flameout at 1,000 feet during climb, according to the DGCA official. The spokesperson said the plane had a technical snag in one of the engines while taking off. Air India Express, in an official statement, said, "Air India Express flight IX 348, on the Abu Dhabi-Kozhikode route, returned to Abu Dhabi airport following a technical snag in one of the engines. The technical snag was identified while taking off and the aircraft … [Read more...] about AI Express plane suffers engine failure, returns to Abu Dhabi airport; airline regrets inconvenience caused