Category: Aviation

Virgin Atlantic has announced that it will resume its India operations, under the air bubble arrangement between the UK and Indian government. The carrier plans to operate three flights a week from Delhi to London Heathrow, starting from September 2, and four flights a week from Mumbai to London, September 17 onwards. Both the destinations will offer connections to New York JFK and will operate on 787-9 Dreamliner. Virgin Atlantic will operate temporarily from Terminal 2 at Heathrow. Alex McEwan, commercial manager India, Virgin Atlantic said, “This year marks 20 years of flying between the UK and India and we are ... Read more

Vinay Dube has been replaced by Kaushik Khona as GoAir’s new CEO. Six months after he joined GoAir from the now-defunct Jet Airways, Dube has quit the Wadia group owned carrier, which seems to be struggling the most among all airlines in the fray. “Vinay Dube has ceased to be in employment with immediate effect and hence, ceases to be the CEO of the company,” a statement from GoAir said. “The nominations and remuneration committee and the board met today and appointed Kaushik Khona as CEO with immediate effect.” Khona had earlier served as the CEO of the airline between ... Read more

The US administration has suspended all private charter flights between the United States and Cuba, to increase economic pressure on Havana, the BBC has reported. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tweeted that “the Castro regime uses tourism and travel funds to finance its abuses and interference in Venezuela”. Last October the US banned regular scheduled flights to all cities in communist-run Cuba except Havana. Tourism to Cuba has already been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic. Hardline policies towards Cuba and its regional ally Venezuela are welcomed by conservative Cuban-American groups in Florida, a key battleground state which Donald ... Read more

Domestic air traffic made a minor recovery in July, growing to 21.07 lakh passengers, a 6.1% increase from June, when 19.84 lakh fliers took to the air. Year-on-year, however, the traffic declined 82.3% in July.  In July 2019, 1.19 crore passengers had travelled by air. But here also there is a silver lining. The drop is lower than what was seen in June when the decline was 83.5%, year-on-year, Moneycontrol has reported. The data was released by industry regulator DGCA, on August 13. For the year till July, the industry had a total of 3.72 crore passengers, a drop of ... Read more

SpiceJet has unveiled an automated customer service and check-in facility via WhatsApp. The carrier’s customer service agent called “Ms Pepper” can be accessed by passengers at the mobile number 6000000006, SpiceJet said in a press statement. Earlier, these facilities were available in SpiceJet’s website or mobile application. “WhatsApp “Hi” to Ms Pepper on your way to the airport and she will help you with the mandatory web check-in process without the need to visit SpiceJet’s website and deliver your boarding pass directly to your mobile phone,” it stated. Moreover, the automated agent will solve customer’s queries on WhatsApp, the airline ... Read more

Emirates airline will resume passenger services to three more destinations in the coming weeks, taking its network to 74 cities.  The Dubai carrier will resume operations to Birmingham (September 1) four times a week, Cebu (August 20) two times a week, and Houston (23 August) three times a week. The addition of Houston will see Emirates resume flights to six US destinations in total, in addition to New York JFK, Washington DC, Boston (15 August), Chicago and Los Angeles, with a total of 27 weekly flights to the country. All inbound and transit passengers arriving to Dubai require a negative ... Read more

Air India has closed down five of its stations in Europe in view of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, namely Vienna, Milan, Madrid, Copenhagen and Stockholm. “In view of #COVID19, Air India (AI) has decided to close down its stations in Vienna, Milan, Madrid, Copenhagen, & Stockholm. AI would immediately initiate action for closure in consultation with local lawyers & advise the timelines by which the stations will be closed,” read a tweet from news agency ANI. According to reports, Air India is likely to cease all future flights to these countries as it was not financially viable for the airline ... Read more

American Airlines is the latest major carrier to ban face masks with one-way valves or vents, following similar mandates from airlines including United, Delta and JetBlue. The announcement comes shortly after the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advised against any masks that feature valves or vents, Fox Business reports. “Wearing a face covering is a responsibility we all share. An effective covering, worn properly, is one of the best ways we can control the spread of COVID-19 to protect our team members and customers,” said Alison Taylor, the chief customer officer at American Airlines “Since American began requiring face ... Read more

The Wadia Group-owned GoAir has been put on cash-and-carry (pay as you fly) mode by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) over the pending dues. GoAir is the third such airline to go on this mode, after Air India and SpiceJet. GoAir has said there will be no impact on its flight operations. The Airports Authority of India’s letter dated August 10 stated the authority has put “GoAir on cash-and- carry mode for all AAI airports across the country from Tuesday (00:01hrs of August 11)”. GoAir is engaged in constructive discussions with AAI and would like to assure our customers ... Read more

Britain’s Heathrow Airport renewed its call for COVID-19 testing at airports on Tuesday as it reported an 88% plunge in July passenger numbers due to ongoing restrictions on travel which it said were strangling the UK economy. Heathrow, which is owned by a group of investors including Spain’s Ferrovial, the Qatar Investment Authority and China Investment Corp, said 60% of Heathrow’s route network remained grounded, requiring passengers to quarantine for 14 days on arrival, says a Reuters report. Despite thousands of Britons holidaying overseas after months of lockdown, the government has already reimposed quarantine on arrivals from Spain, Luxembourg, Belgium, ... Read more

SpiceJet flew its first flight to Canada this week, carrying 352 passengers from New Delhi to Toronto. This marks the low-cost carrier’s second long-haul flight, after its recent Amsterdam flight. SpiceJet is pushing to break into the long-haul market, using wet leased A330neos, and now has permission to fly to the US and UK. SpiceJet’s flight to Canada is its first outbound repatriation flight, carrying Canadian citizens and residents to Toronto. The previous flight, from Amsterdam to Bangalore, and onward to Hyderabad, on August 1, was the carrier’s first long haul flight.  The flights are a part of India’s Vande Bharat Mission, which ... Read more

Alliance Air employees union president Binoy Viswam has questioned the Government’s decision to privatise Air India and introduction of the leave without pay policy for its employees. He stressed that over the past two years, the entire Air India organization has been severely affected by the Government’s decision to privatise the airline.  ”The uncertainty over the future as well as the Government’s decision to cut wages and introduced a leave without pay policy has caused great mental stress to all employees. In such circumstances, it is possible that the maintenance and safety of aircraft is also jeopardised and it is ... Read more

British Airways has announced that it will be operating five flights every week from Delhi and Mumbai, and four each week from Hyderabad and Bengaluru to London’s Heathrow airport from August 17. India and the United Kingdom had finalised their air bubble last month to rescue stranded nationals amid the COVID-19 pandemic. In its latest statement, the British Airways said that all passengers eligible as per the home ministry guidelines will be allowed to board the flights. “Wearing a facemask at all times and bringing enough to replace them every four hours for longer flights, ensuring they have everything they ... Read more

The Union health ministry has issued a set of revised guidelines for international arrivals, that kicked in from yesterday. As per the new guidelines, five categories of passengers are exempted from the mandatory seven-day institutional quarantine such as pregnant women, children below 10 years of age and passengers who are suffering from serious illnesses. Last month, India formed air travel bubbles with countries like the US, the UAE, France and Germany under which airlines of both the countries are allowed to operate special international flights with certain restrictions. Following are the key guidelines to be followed: 1) All travellers should submit ... Read more

The iconic Emirates A380 will begin serving travellers on flights to Toronto starting August 16. The airline has already resumed A380 operations to Amsterdam, Cairo, Paris, London Heathrow and Guangzhou.  Customers can fly the Emirates A380 from Dubai to Toronto five times a week. Flights can be booked on emirates.com or via travel agents. Emirates flight EK 241 will depart Dubai at 9:10 and arrive in Toronto at 15:05 local time. The return flight, EK 242 will depart Toronto at 21:45 and arrive in Dubai at 18:30 local time, the following day. The Emirates A380 experience remains a favourite amongst travellers for its spacious ... Read more