Category: Aviation

Seen as a welcome move, India’s national carrier Air India will be operating additional flights between India and UK from 11 DEC’20 till 27 MAR’21 under the air bubble agreement. Every Friday there would be a flight to Delhi-Amritsar-Birmingham and on every Saturday there would be a return flight on the route Birmingham-Amritsar-Delhi. The new flights to UK are in addition to the existing flights in operation. The bookings for flights to UK are presently open. It is expected that the additional flights would come as a major relief for the large population of Indian expatriates in UK, especially Birmingham ... Read more

Indians travelling home from UAE no longer need to register with the local consulate, the Consulate General of India in Dubai said in a statement. The registration was required for those traveling on the repatriation flights introduced from May under the Vande Bharat Mission. But “since a number of flights are operational by both UAE and Indian carriers along with flights operated by Air India/Air India Express from Dubai/Sharjah, tickets for which are available online, the process of registration at the website of the Indian Consulate, has been abolished with immediate effect,” the statement said. UAE was among the first ... Read more

The direct air connectivity between Kochi and Europe, a long-cherished demand of the NRIs and business community, came true on Friday with Air India commencing services in the London-Kochi sector. The Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL) welcomed the AI 1186 aircraft with a water salute as a mark of gratitude, according to a PTI report. In a statement, CIAL said as part of promoting direct connectivity to Europe, it has decided to waive the entire landing fee of airlines operating direct European services to Kochi. The decision will give instant advantage to the national carrier as it schedules direct London-Kochi flight ... Read more

India has revised the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for domestic and international travel, allowing airlines to serve pre-packed meals and beverages on board domestic flights. On international flights, carriers can now serve hot meals and alcohol. The crew, however, will have to wear a fresh set of gloves after serving each meal and beverage to the passengers, a note from Usha Padhee, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation, said. Airlines on domestic routes were not allowed to provide any refreshments, ever since the pandemic started. For international services, carriers were only permitted ‘minimum catering,’ with pre-packaged food placed on seats before boarding. Government ... Read more

Middle East airlines Emirates and Etihad Airways have again asked cabin crew to take voluntary unpaid leave as they try to manage the impact from the COVID-19 pandemic, said a Reuters report. Aviation has been one of the worst-hit industries during the pandemic and Emirates and Etihad of the United Arab Emirates have cut thousands of jobs, sources have said. In an internal memo, Emirates crew are told they can take unpaid leave for between one and three months from September 1 to November 30 owing to expected staffing requirements, the Reuters report said. Emirates, which in July asked pilots ... Read more

The San Francisco International Airport (SFO) has become the first airport in the United States to launch the rapid COVID-19 testing program for airport employees. The airport has tied up with Dignity Health-Go Health for the same. This partnership provides employee testing both at airport and at nearby Dignity Health-GoHealth care locations. The airport testing facility, located in the International Terminal, is currently returning test results in less than an hour, and anticipates further reductions in test result wait times. The GoHealth Urgent Care Return to Work program provides knowledgeable and experienced clinical guidance and resources, rapid COVID-19 testing capabilities ... Read more

Emirates will operate repatriation flights to Bengaluru, Kochi, Delhi, Mumbai, and Thiruvananthapuram till August 31. These special flights will facilitate travel for Indian citizens in the UAE wishing to return home, and for UAE residents who are currently in India. Only Indian citizens stranded in the UAE will be allowed to fly from Dubai to the five Indian destinations. All flights will be operated with the Emirates Boeing 777-300ER and can be booked on emirates.com or via travel agents. Passengers must meet all the entry requirements of the destination to be allowed to board the flights. Flights will be available for UAE nationals ... Read more

Passengers will have to pay Rs 10 extra for their air travel from September 1 as the Ministry of Civil Aviation has decided to revise the rates of aviation security fee (ASF) for domestic and international passengers. According to officials, the ASF for domestic flyers will be increased by Rs 10 to Rs 160 while the international passengers will have to pay $5.2 instead of the current $4.85. The ASF is used to fund the security arrangement at airports across the country. The ASF was hiked last year to Rs 150 from Rs 130, and international passengers were charged $4.85 ... Read more

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has started a special safety audit of all Indian airlines, two weeks after the plane crash in Kerala’s Kozhikode in which 18 people were killed, a senior official of the aviation regulator said on Thursday. “It will be a complete FOQA (Flight Operations Quality Assurance) audit,” he said. The FOQA is the process of obtaining and analysing all kinds of data from flights to improve the safety and efficiency of future flight operations, PTI reports. “All Indian airlines will undergo the special safety audit that has begun. In the first phase, we are ... Read more

The Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Wednesday approved the proposal for leasing out three airports, Jaipur, Guwahati and Thiruvananthapuram, to Adani Enterprises that won these in an auction last year. Billionaire Gautam Adani-led private developer had emerged as the successful bidder in a global competitive bidding conducted by the Airports Authority of India (AAI).  The AAI will get an upfront amount of Rs 1,070 crore from handing over the airports to the private developer, said Union minister Prakash Javadekar. “The upfront amount of Rs 1,070 crore that will come to AAI will be used for developing airports in smaller airports. The other benefit ... Read more

India is negotiating with 13 countries, including Australia, Japan and Singapore, to establish separate bilateral air bubble arrangements for international flight operations, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri has said. Under a bilateral air bubble pact, airlines of both the countries can operate international flights with certain restrictions. Puri said on Twitter air bubbles have also been proposed with our neighbours Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Nepal and Bhutan. Since July, India has established such bubbles with the following countries – the US, the UK, France, Germany, the UAE, Qatar and the Maldives. “We are now taking these efforts forward & ... Read more

Effective August 21, Etihad Airways will operate a series of special passenger flights from Abu Dhabi to Bengaluru, Delhi, and Mumbai. The flights can be booked through Hala Travel Management, Etihad’s travel management arm, by calling +971 2 511 7777, or via email at support@htm.ae . Flights must be booked at least 24 hours in advance. The mandatory documentation required will be collected and processed by Hala travel consultants.  Travellers leaving Abu Dhabi to India are required to show a negative COVID-19 PCR test result from a government accredited medical facility, received within 96 hours prior to departure. This negative result certificate will exempt ... Read more

Private airline Vistara is likely to start flight operations between India and the UK, Germany and France under the bilateral air bubble arrangements that have been signed with these countries, news agency PTI has said. Earlier this month, India and the UK signed a bilateral air pact, under which the airlines of both the countries can operate international flights with certain restrictions. India had signed similar bilateral pacts with Germany and France in July. Vistara got its second B787-9 wide-body aircraft on Saturday. It received its first B787-9 aircraft in February. “Vistara has already got the slots at the Heathrow ... Read more

Air passenger numbers in Europe are expected to drop by 60% in 2020 due to the coronavirus crisis, the global aviation industry has said. Although air traffic in Europe has increased in recent months since its low point in April, flights remain “more than 50% below the same period in 2019″—a drop of around 705 million passenger journeys, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) has said. “The near-term outlook for recovery in Europe remains highly uncertain with respect to the second wave of the pandemic and the broader global economic impact it could have,” IATA said in a statement. IATA ... Read more

Around 50 Air India pilots have received termination letters and have sought the intervention of the management on the issue of “illegal termination” of pilots from service. The Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA), in a letter to Rajiv Bansal, Air India’s Chairman and Managing Director, said that around 50 pilots have received illegal termination letters from the Personnel Department in blatant violation of company’s operation manual and service rules. “What’s happening? Around 50 of our pilots have been terminated overnight unceremoniously without proper procedure being followed. A rude shock for those who served the nation in this pandemic putting the ... Read more