737 Max faults blamed on HCL, Cyient engineers; Boeing refutes

New Delhi: After two major airline crashes and several restrictions imposed by the United States aviation regulators on Boeing, faults are being blamed on "temporary" Indian engineers, claiming the 737 Max software was outsourced to engineers from Indian companies HCL and Cyient Ltd. Boeing, however, has refuted the allegation, saying it did not rely on engineers from these companies for the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation (MCA) System, a fault in which allegedly caused Lion Air crash in October 2018 and the Ethiopian Airlines disaster in March. Boeing has also denied involving these engineers for addressing cockpit warning light issue, which was revealed after these crashes. As many as 356 people were killed in these two crashes.

A report published in Bloomberg has said the iconic American planemaker and its subcontractors relied heavily on temporary workers from India, which earned as low as Rs 620 per hour ($9/hour). The company, which bagged its biggest ever contract worth $22 billion from SpiceJet Ltd in 2017, reportedly outsourced work to several employees of HCL at its Seattle Boeing Field office in the US. It was reportedly working in partnership with HCL and Cyient since 2010-11.
These coders, many of them college graduates, were given the task of writing codes for complex specifications set by Boeing. "It was controversial because it was far less efficient than Boeing engineers just writing the code," Mark Rabin, a former Boeing software engineer, told Bloomberg. He said this resulted in a lot of "going back and forth" due to incorrect codes. Boeing had fired several senior engineers from the company as it no longer needed them because it felt Boeing's products were mature, he claimed.

The engineers who worked on the Max projected -- developed to beat rival company Airbus' SE plane --  also faced "pressure" from the senior management, which directed to them limit changes that could have caused a delay in its launch, said the report. It also claims to have seen resumes of HCL and Cyient engineers who said they worked on the project that developed Max's flight-display software and flight-test equipment. In one such resume posted on social media, an HCL employee reportedly claimed he "provided a quick workaround to resolve production issue which resulted in not delaying flight test of 737-Max".

Boeing's association with HCL and Cyient dates back to early 2000 when cockpit electronics maker Rockwell Collins started outsourcing work to HCL. In 2010, Boeing also partnered with HCL to "create software critical for flight test". The next year in 2011, it announced to work with Cyient Ltd for design, stress analysis and software development of 787 and 747-8 planes. A major reason to outsource work to Indian tech companies was contract obligations. For example, Boeing in 2005 grabbed $11 billion order from Air India, and in return, it promised to invest $1.7 billion in Indian tech companies.

Meanwhile, the company said its "focus is on always ensuring that our products and services are safe, of the highest quality and comply with all applicable regulations." Indian IT services giant HCL also told Bloomberg it would not comment on "specific work" it did for Boeing. Cyient also refuted the claim that it was involved in the development of the Boeing 737 MAX MCAS or the cockpit warning light. "Cyient takes immense pride in our association with Boeing and look forward to growing our partnership across engineering, design and manufacturing across various platforms," the company said.
30/06/19 Business Today

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Cloud seeding operations to begin next month

Bengaluru: The government will launch cloud seeding operations in the second week of July, Krishna Byregowda, rural development and panchayat raj minister, told reporters on Friday. The cabinet had approved the plan last month and had set aside Rs 91 crore for the two-year project.


“Preparations for cloud seeding operations are on and the company which bagged the contract is in the process of importing radar,” Byregowda said. “In all likelihood, cloud seeding will begin from the second week of July.”


Byregowda revealed the operation will based out of Mysuru and Hubballi airports. “We had earlier decided on making Bengaluru the base, but since there is far more air traffic in the city, securing permission was an issue. So we decided to shift operations to Mysuru,” Byregowda said.

The government also decided to release Rs 546 crore for its crop insurance scheme for the kharif and rabi seasons. “We have divided the state into 10 clusters for convenience and have appointed insurance agencies for each of these clusters,” Byregowda said.
29/06/19 Times of India

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Ghana: India Seeks Ghana's Support for Its Candidature At ICAO Council Election

The High Commissioner of India to Ghana, Mr Birender Singh, on Wednesday, paid a courtesy call on the Aviation Minister, Joseph Kofi Adda, to ask for Ghana's support for their candidature at the upcoming International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) council election, scheduled for September in Montreal, Canada.

It was also to further strengthen the bilateral cooperation between the two countries, as well as recognise the minister's enormous contribution to the aviation sector.

ICAO is a United Nations (UN) specialised agency, established by the United States in 1944 to manage the administration and governance of the Convention on International Civil Aviation (Chicago Convention) to provide a set of standards to regulate aviation across the world.

Speaking to the media, the commissioner said, though India had been assisting Ghana in areas such as rural electrification, agro processing, and railway, they were prepared to do more to help Ghana.
28/06/19 Benedicta Gyimaah Folley/Ghanaian Times/All Africa

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India needs 600 civil copters, HAL woos pvt players

India needs at least 600 helicopters in the civil sector now. But, instead of relying on costly imports, can Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) address this demand by co-producing the Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) Dhruv's civil variant with private participation? 
Having clocked over 2.4 lakh flying hours in its defence and civil avatars combined, the ALH has been in action for some time now. But a recent Director General Civil Aviation (DGCA) airworthiness directive issued after complaints of vibration and jerks in the Civil-Dhruv's cockpit, has put the aviation major in a spot of bother.   Dismissing this as a precautionary letter, HAL has instead redoubled its efforts to woo the private sector in the Civil-Dhruv project under Transfer of Technology (ToT). On Saturday, HAL organised a workshop for Indian private players, chaired by Secretary, Defence Production, Dr Ajay Kumar.
HAL is the Design Authority and Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) of ALH-Dhruv. The upgraded Civil-Dhruv is equipped with the latest avionics and glass cockpit and is under production and certification from DGCA.
The partnership programme has already moved on. A Request for Quotation (RFQ) was issued in April 2019. Under this deal, the selected Indian Partner will also be required to provide support to the customers throughout the life of the product (20 years).
Prospective bidders, various supply chain partners, industry chambers of commerce such as  ASSOCHAM, FICCI, CII, Society of Indian Defence Manufacturers (SIDM), Karnataka State Development Council and Karnataka Udyog Mitra were invited to the workshop.
Indigenously designed and developed by HAL, the multi-role, multi-mission helicopter in the 5.5-ton weight class is currently operated by both defence and civil customers.
29/06/19 Rasheed Kappan/Deccan Herald

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India Not Mulling to Phase Out An-32 Aircraft Despite Fatal Crashes

New Delhi: Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government has no plans to phase out the AN-32 transport aircraft from the Indian Air Force (IAF).

Responding to a question raised by a member during Friday's Budget Session in India’s Parliament, the defence minister said the AN-32 aircraft, a turboprop twin-engined military transport aircraft, continues to serve as an integral part of the transport fleet of the IAF. However, he said the government intends to upgrade the entire fleet with better avionics and airframe reinforcement in phases.
Responding to another part of the same question about the AN-32 having been involved in a series of accidents, the minister said that since 2016 there have been only two accidents – one on 22 July 2016 while flying over the Bay of Bengal and the second on 3 June 2019 in India’s northeastern Arunachal Pradesh state. The first crash claimed the lives of 29 people, while the second crash claimed the lives of 13.

Defence Minister Singh’s clarification about the future of the AN-32 came almost a week after IAF chief Air Chief Marshal B.S. Dhanoa said on Monday 24 June on the sidelines of a seminar held in the central Indian city of Gwalior that the AN-32 aircraft would continue to be deployed for rescue and relief missions in the mountainous areas of the country until more modern aircraft can be procured.

Air Chief Marshal Dhanoa also said the IAF is in the process of finding a modern replacement for the AN-32 aircraft, which could perform other functions.

The Indian Air Force is said to be looking to improve its rescue capabilities through the purchase of All Terrain Vehicles (ATVs) following the aircraft crash that took place earlier this month. All Terrain Vehicles are already being used by the Indian Army and the country’s paramilitary forces. These vehicles can be equipped with basic rescue and medical equipment.
28/06/19 Sputnik

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Jet Airway’s misfortune seems a boon for rivals

Mumbai: Lenders of Jet Airways may have badly hit by the grounding of the country's oldest private sector airline, but its misfortune has turned out to be a boon for the airline's competitors like SpiceJet and InterGlobe Aviation.

In the December-March quarter of FY19, both Indigo and SpiceJet reported strong top line growth on the back of robust growth in Revenue Passenger Kilometres (RPKM) over same quarter last year and an increase in their yields.
For the quarter Q4FY19, airlines saw an increase in yields coupled with a stark increase in their capacities.

Indigo is still flooding the domestic market as well as the international market with capacity and is guiding for a 30 per cent growth in capacity over FY20; 50 per cent of which will be led by the international fleet addition.

Similarly, SpiceJet did well for quarter despite of the grounding of B737MAX airplanes; the company offset the grounding of the MAX planes by mounting additional frequencies, inducting JET planes on wet lease and by rationalising & optimising the use of its existing fleet.

Indigo is increasing its share in the international market which has a travel time of less than 6 hours (UAE, some routes in China) which have higher yields according to the management.
28/06/19 Ashwin Punnen/Asian Age

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Budget 2019 expectations: TCS, UDAN, passenger security fee, GST rates, bookings - check what airlines want

Just like every industry, the aviation sector also has high hopes from NDA government during Budget 2019, which will be announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on July 5, 2019. The fiscal FY19 was a gamechanger for airlines, with SpiceJet, Indigo, GoAir, AirAsia and Vistara strengthening their international market presence on back of private carrier Jet Airways operations shutdown. But the airlines also faced issues like cancellation, passenger grievances, rising airfares and Aviation Turbine Fuel. But now with Budget 2019 right around the corner, Indroneel Dutt – Chief Financial Officer at Cleartrip explained few major pointers which can help revive both airlines and passengers.

Since the past decade, India has established itself as one of the fastest growing travel markets across the globe and is poised to become the 3rd largest market by 2025 given the secular growth trends. Today, it is home to one of the largest travel and hospitality ecosystems in the world which contributed INR 15.24 trillion to the country’s GDP in 2017. The Indian travel and tourism sector also provided employment to over 41.6 million people in 2017 alone. In the same year, the number of foreign tourist arrivals (FTAs) in India was in excess of 10 million.

Hence, Dutt says, "it is essential to ensure that infrastructural inadequacies should not become impediments to the booming Indian travel sector. Therefore, the Government needs to take notice and resolve the numerous challenges that the aviation Industry is currently facing. These obstacles are not only affecting the stakeholders and service providers but the consumers as well."

Here's what Dutt points out in aviation industry, and what can be done.

For one, out of all the stakeholders in the aviation ecosystem, airlines operate with the most paper-thin margins. This, coupled with TCS (Tax collection at source), ends up hampering the working capital of airlines, giving rise to numerous operational difficulties. The macro headwinds being faced by the industry is well documented with a significant airline going out of business after struggling for months.
28/06/19 ZeeBiz.com

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Pak. extends closure of its airspace

New Delhi:Pakistan on Thursday yet again extended its airspace closure for flights from and through India till July 12.
This means that passengers bound for Europe and the U.S. would continue to suffer longer flights and higher airfares. The Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority had earlier imposed airspace restrictions till June 28.
Pakistan first shut its airspace for all civilian flights on February 27 following IAF strike at Jaish-e-Mohammad terror camps at Balakot. While it gradually opened its airspace for all airlines, most of its eastern border remains closed for flights from and through India. Only two routes have been opened by Pakistan, while the Indian Air Force has removed all restrictions.
Indian airlines are also avoiding parts of the Iranian airspace and re-routing flights after Iran shot down a U.S. military drone leading to a heightening of tensions between Tehran and Washington.
28/06/19 The Hindu

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Thanks to Kerala bus strike, flight tickets cost a bomb

Bengaluru:  With the strike by Kerala private inter-state bus operators showing no signs of ending and a reserved train ticket to destinations in that state next to impossible to obtain at short notice, people are looking at air route. With the demand high, air ticket fares have shot up in the last three days forcing many to shelve their travel plans.

A staffer at IndiGo told TNIE that the occupancy on its flights to Kerala has touched 75% this week. “It is definitely higher than the usual occupancy.” A staffer at Air Asia, which runs two flights to Kochi, said flights have been running full. SpiceJet did not respond to calls.

While both the airlines did not specify the ticket fare, Rejikumar, general secretary, Kerala Samajam, Bengaluru branch, said, “From what I have heard from people heading to Kerala, the ticket fare to the two main cities has increased. The starting fare used to be Rs 2,500-plus to Thiruvananthapuram earlier, it now starts at Rs 4,000-plus while the fare to Kochi used to be Rs 1,500-plus and it now starts at Rs 2,500 plus and even touches Rs 3,000.”

Rejikumar said he had planned to visit Thiruvananthapuram, but has now dropped the plan. “When I checked online and realised I would have to pay up to `9,000 for my onward and return trip, I have decided not to travel.”

The strike began on Monday affecting many travellers between Bengaluru and Kerala. Nearly 2,000 people travel daily from Bengaluru to Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram, according to Rejikumar.

The Samajam has been requesting the Railways to run more trains between Bengaluru and the two Kerala cities and also asked the Kerala Transport Corporation to run more buses, he added. Stating that passengers heading to Kerala have been affected, he said that most Bengalureans travelling to Kozhikode, however,  prefer to take a bus from Electronics City, Madiwala or Koramangala as it is only a six-seven hour journey compared to a 10-hour journey by train.
28/06/19 S Lalitha/New Indian Express

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Harsh Vardhan: The journey from aviation to astrology

In 2013, Vardhan co-founded online astrology consultancy Shubhpuja. Previously, as CEO of Vayudoot, he helped the company navigate the aviation industry; as an astrologer he helps individuals navigate adverse planetary positions, he says >>

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Cutting Aviation Fuel Bills

The aviation sector is getting serious about cost savings. Last year, SpiceJet operated the country's first test flight powered by bio-jet fuel, which was followed by fuel saving initiatives of Air India, IndiGo and SpiceJet this year. Now, Turkish ground handling firm Celebi Aviation has commercially deployed taxibots at the Delhi airport after testing them on narrow-body aircraft (Airbus A320 and Boeing 737) since early this year.

Taxibots are used to tow aircraft from gates to the runway, and saves up to 200 kilogram of aviation fuel (ATF). ATF constitutes 30-40 per cent of an airline's costs, and fuel savings through such measures improve the bottom line.

Taxibots, which are controlled by pilots in the cockpit, typically make more sense at large airports such as Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru, where the taxiing time is higher at over 15 minutes per flight.
27/06/19 Manu Kaushik/Business Today

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Issue of steep air fares raised in Lok Sabha

New Delhi: Members of the opposition in the Lok Sabha Thursday flagged the issue of steep air fares especially during natural calamities like cyclones and riots.

Raising the issue during the question hour, BJD MP Pinaki Misra said during the Jat riots in Haryana in 2016, the Delhi-Chandigarh fare shot up to Rs 90,000.


The same was the case when Cyclone Fani hit Odisha last month.

Civil aviation minister Hardeep Singh Puri said airlines set their fares in different segments.

Opposition members, including those from the Congress, TMC and DMK protested over the reply of the minister.
27/06/19 PTI/Times of India

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Jayalalithaa’s chopper yet to find a buyer

A Bell 412 EP helicopter, bought during former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa’s tenure way back in 2006, has still not found any takers and remains grounded at the Chennai airport, awaiting a buyer.

The State Trading Corporation (STC), a Government of India enterprise, has been tasked with auctioning the 11-seater.

A few months ago, an effort to auction it did not receive any favourable response.

Now, the STC has floated the tender yet again to dispose of the helicopter. A senior official entrusted with the task of supervising the proposed sale said advertisements had been issued by the government not only in local newspapers but also in journals specialising in aviation. Any individual or institution is free to take part in the auction, the official said.

According to the STC, the chopper, parked at the Old Kingfisher Airlines Hangar at Chennai airport, had flown less than 2,500 flying hours and was last used in December 2018.
27/06/19 Sunitha Sekar/T. Ramakrishnan/The Hindu

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These two Indian carriers feature in Skytrax's top 100 airlines list

Qatar Airways is the world's best airline of 2019, according to UK–based consultancy firm Skytrax. Singapore Airlines, ANA AII Nippon Airways, Cathay Pacific and Emirates made the top five in the list while Indian presence in the top 100 carriers has been ensured by two homegrown airlines.
See which are they >>

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TCS wins deal to digitise daily operations of India's aviation regulator

New Delhi: Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has won a mandate from India’s civil aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to digitise its daily operations.

As part of National Civil Aviation Policy (2017), it was planned that the aviation regulator’s daily functioning will be digitised. The project is named as E-Governance for Civil Aviation (eGCA).

The aviation regulator had called for the purpose in 2018. The project envisages online service delivery, automation of systems, processes at the back-end and implementation of required IT infrastructure and service delivery framework, DGCA said.

For TCS, it is another prestigious government project that it has won after server system for passport services, rural system for employment program MNREGA, India Post and GST service portal for multiple state governments.

“TCS has won the mandate for online transformation of workings of DGCA. The scope of work is huge-basically digitising entire functioning of the DGCA so that no airlines, airport operators and other stakeholders do need to visit DGCA for their work,” said an official aware of the development.
“Currently, the stakeholders view DGCA in terms of directorates and not as a single entity. For example, an airline operator deals with Air Safety Directorate, Air Transport Directorate and Flight Standards Directorate independently and as separate entity. eGCA envisages that the platform allows stakeholders to access all services holistically as a single window rather than accessing services through multiple windows. It is envisaged that stakeholders, for any service, view DGCA as a single entity rather than directorate level view,” the official said.
26/06/19 Arindam Majumder/Business Standard

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‘Notam’ against using Iranian airspace to increase cost of travel

Visakhapatnam: Those planning to fly to places in Europe including Berlin, London, Amsterdam or Paris and even to USA or Canada might have to shell out a few extra bucks on airfare owing to the directive against using Iranian airspace to Indian Airlines.

The DGCA’s (Directorate General of Civil Aviation) notice (Notam— notice to airmen) to Indian airlines against using Iranian airspace would force the airlines to take new routes to reach their destinations. These routes being longer than the traditional ones would increase the cost of travel. The airlines in turn would have to increase airfare.


According to aviation experts, the shortest route to fly to north-western parts of the world was over the Strait of Hormuz and Gulf of Oman on the Iranian airspace. With this notice, flights will have to use the Saudi Arabian airspace. Flights operating from southern India are expected to be affected by this.

“This would increase the flying time by at least 25 minutes depending on congestion as most flights would now take this route. An additional flying time of 25 minutes will have an immense effect on operational costs,” said Sumanta Roy Choudhury, a veteran pilot.

The notice to fly in the Iranian airspace comes after the Iranian Revolutionary Guard shot down a US-owned military drone flying over its airspace. As tensions escalated, the DGCA in consultation with the Indian Airlines decided to restrict Indian carriers flying through the Iranian airspace.

Airlines of a few other countries too have decided against using the Iranian airspace for the time being.
26/06/19 Arpit Basu/Times of India

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Airfares set to fall as Jet Airways headwinds beginning to cool down, says Thomas Cook

Air passengers, who have been bearing the brunt of a surge in airfares due to troubles in the Indian aviation industry of late, may have a reason to heave a sigh of relief as the higher airfares are cooling down, Madhavan Menon, CMD of Thomas Cook (India), told CNBC TV18 in an interview. “The headwind of higher fares due to the Jet Airways ceasing to exist is coming off now and in reality, both domestic and international fares have stabilised,” Madhavan Menon said. The abrupt grounding of Naresh Goyal-founded Jet Airways had caused a stir in the domestic aviation market as other airlines increased the air ticket prices due to high demand. 

As major domestic carriers have expanded their fleets and filled the void created by the Jet Airways grounding, the airlines would now price tickets cheap “to attract customers and fill capacity on new routes,” a recent Kotak Institutional Equities report said. While domestic carriers such as SpiceJet, IndiGo and others said that with the capacity expansion, the airlines have customer interest in the mind, the same also helped the airlines to gain majority market shares. Also, the second half of the financial year is a weak season for the airlines traditionally, and this also intensifies the impact and compels the airlines to bring down airfares, the report added.
Speaking about the impact of consumer slowdown on Thomas Cook’s business, Madhavan Menon said that the forward booking number is still 16% higher than the last time and the company is at the end of the forward booking season. “We continue to expect demand and this goes against all the news of slowing down in consumer spending and we have not seen it as yet,” he said. The company has also witnessed healthy growth in the June month which is the peak travel season.
26/06/19 Prachi Gupta/Financial Express

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Air services in Sikkim airport halted due to low visibility caused by unpredictable weather: Hardeep Singh Puri

Unpredictable weather that resulted in low visibility lead to suspension of air services at Pakyong airport in Sikkim from June 1, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri told Parliament on Wednesday.

"Pakyong is an operational airport and can handle ATR-72 and Q400 type of aircraft operations under Visual Flight Rules (VFR) conditions," he told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply to a question.

ATR-72 and Q400 aircraft are small aircraft that are run on turboprop engines and can carry up to 80 passengers.

"SpiceJet which was operating daily one scheduled flight on Kolkata- Pakyong- Kolkata sector have decided to temporarily suspend its operations with effect from 1.6.2019 due to unpredictable weather which results in low visibility at Pakyong," the minister said.

Pakyong Airport was constructed based on the design and drawings prepared by "renowned" consultant Mott McDonald, he said.
26/06/19 IndiaTV

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Donald Trump’s Iran threat is the last problem Indian flyers want to deal with

Six months into 2019, Indian flyers are still waiting for their year to take off. But it may only nosedive.

The country’s aviation sector faces a whole host of troubles, including rising fares, shortage of flights, and increasing travel duration due to various reasons.

“The turbulence over the past few months is a result of various factors which have reduced the number of operational flights in Indian skies and, as a result, increased the price of air travel,” said Balu Ramachandran, senior vice-president of the Mumbai-based travel portal Cleartrip.

Trouble began early in the year when over 20 flights per day were cancelled in February due to a shortage of pilots and bad weather. Things spilled over into March when sector regulator directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA), along with counterparts in many countries, grounded the Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft due to safety concerns.

Flyers also bore the brunt of an incessant rise in fuel prices.

However, the real nightmare came with the shutdown of India’s oldest private airline, Jet Airways, in April. Its decision to halt operations sparked panic and confusion among flyers, many of whom are still awaiting refunds and seeking help on social media.

Troubles to continue
There is no end in sight for travellers’ woes. So much so that, growth in air traffic has slowed down considerably.

“The number of air travellers in India registered a year-on-year increase of 2.62% between January and May 2019, growing from 57 million to 58 million. This is a steep slowdown from the 15-20% growth in many previous quarters,” said Ramachandran.

Now, there is fresh trouble on the horizon.
26/06/19 Niharika Sharma/Quartz

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Did not let tensions with Pakistan dictate our civil aviation: Air Chief

Gwalior: Civil aviation has a major role in the country’s economy and the Indian Air Force (IAF) did not allow tensions with Pakistan to dictate it, Air Chief Marshal (ACM) B.S. Dhanoa said on Monday.

“They have closed their airspace, that is their problem. Our economy is vibrant and air traffic is a very important part. You must have noticed that the Air Force did not stop civil air traffic.” Only on February 27, the Srinagar airspace was closed for 2-3 hours. “We did not allow tensions with Pakistan to dictate our civil aviation… ”

Following the IAF’s air strike on Balakot on February 26, Pakistan closed its airspace for civil traffic. In March, it was partially opened but flights to India are still forced to take longer routes.
24/06/19 Dinakar Peri/The Hindu

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No replacement, AN-32 aircraft will fly in mountainous areas: IAF chief

New Delhi: Air Chief Marshal Birender Singh Dhanoa on Monday said the Indian Air Force (IAF) will continue to use transport aircraft Antonov AN-32 aircraft as there is no replacement at the moment.

"AN-32 aircraft will continue to fly in mountainous areas, we don't have any replacement," Dhanoa said while addressing a press conference in Gwalior.

He, however, added that the IAF has expedited the process to acquire new equipment including advanced line of aircraft, following which they will not be used in a critical role. It would then become just a routine aircraft that would be used for training.

Dhanoa's statement comes after an AN-32 aircraft crashed in a remote location in Arunachal Pradesh earlier this month with 13 personnel onboard. The bodies were recovered 17 days after the aircraft went missing from the radar.

The exact cause of the accident may remain a mystery as the Black Box, which stores vital flight data, was damaged in the crash. However, many have raised questions over the use of the old Russian-made turboprop twin-engine military transport plane.

Dhanoa, who was the chief guest at the event to commemorate 20 years of Kargil War, also recalled how integration of targeting pod, laser-guided bomb system for the iconic Mirage 2000 was done before the crucial Tiger Hill strike.

"Purpose of our attack has always been to show our resolve and capability, and the message has been given to the person who is being hit, on 2 Aug, 2002 the message was given to the person who was being hit as that person never returned," he said.
24/06/19 India Today

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HAL has concrete orders to build Su30, LCA, Tejas and Chetak helicopters: Rajnath Singh

The HAL has concrete orders to manufacture Su30 MKI, Light Combat Aircraft Tejas, Dornier, Advanced Light Helicopter, Chetak, Cheetal helicopters among others and defence services have paid the aerospace major Rs 8,140 crore in the last six months, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said June 24. Arrears of Rs 868.14 crore are outstanding with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited for its contractors, he said.

"The present capacity available in HAL is adequate to fulfil the existing orders, projects in hand. Currently, HAL has firm orders to manufacture platforms like Su-30 MKI, LCA, DO-228 (Dornier), ALH, Chetak and Cheetal helicopters," Singh in a written response to a question in the Rajya Sabha.

He said that as and when required the HAL borrows from banks to meet its working capital requirements.

Just before the polls, the Congress had launched an offensive against the government alleging that Dassault Aviation, the makers of Rafale fighter jet, overlooked the PSU and gave the offset contract to another private company.
24/06/19 Moneycontrol.com

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Iran airspace restriction won’t add to flying time, fare for flights from Mumbai

Mumbai: Flight Movement to and from Mumbai are not expected to witness substantial delays or major increase in fares after all Indian airlines decided to avoid the Iran air space following geopolitical tensions between the US and Iran.

According to Sharat Dhall, chief operating officer (B2C) of yatra.com, “Directorate General of Civil Aviation’s (DGCA) announcement, made after consultation with all Indian carriers, to avoid the affected part of Iranian air space is likely to have only a slight impact on both schedules and prices.” Dhall said Air India and Indigo flights to locations like Saudi Arabia, Europe and US, will have to take a slightly longer route. “However, this impact is limited and alternate routes are being decided,” he said.

William Boulter, chief operating officer of Indigo Airlines, told The Indian Express that no diversion for any flight to and from Mumbai will be needed. “The only flight to be affected is the Istanbul-Delhi sector, so the impact on Indigo’s operation is very manageable,” he said. He added fuel consumption will only increase if diversion is required. Air India’s Jeddah-Mumbai flight is expected to be delayed by 30 minutes, while SpiceJet will see no impact on its flights.
25/06/19 Indian Express

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Aviation sector: Turbulence in wake of Jet Airways closure

The suspension of operations by Jet Airways, the country’s second-largest domestic airline, cast a shadow on the aviation sector’s performance in the last fiscal, with passenger traffic growth falling to a five-year low of 11.6% y-o-y in FY19. Passenger traffic had grown by 12.5-16.5% y-o-y in the 2014-18 period.

Full-service carrier Jet, which had 119 aircraft in its fleet in December, 2018, suspended all operations on April 17 owing to a financial crisis. This has had a ripple effect on passenger footfall and shipment of cargo at airports—domestic air traffic fell by 4.5% y-o-y in April, breaking a growth streak of over 55 months.

The top two airports—in Delhi and Mumbai—are the hardest hit by Jet’s closure as the airline had sizeable capacity deployed on tier-I routes. The two airports handle more than one-third of the total footfall at airports—of the 344.6 m passengers that used India’s 102 airports in FY19, over 118 m flew through the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi and the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai in FY19.
While passenger traffic at the Delhi airport declined by 3% y-o-y in February, the Mumbai airport, the hub of Jet’s operations, has been reporting de-growth in passenger footfall since October last year. Traffic at airports in Bengaluru, Chennai and Kolkata has also been impacted. Apart from the Metro routes, Jet had won rights to operate on regional routes under the UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik) scheme, for which the Airports Authority of India has been developing airports across the country.
The void created by Jet’s exit can be gauged from the fact that the carrier flew more than 50,000 passengers every day during calendar year 2018, operating 650 flights daily. It was also the largest Indian carrier flying international routes. According to ratings agency ICRA, Jet’s grounding has brought down industry capacity by 14%. Analysing the impact of Jet’s shutdown, Kinjal Shah, the agency’s vice-president and co-head, Corporate Sector Ratings, says, “overall, the moderation in capacity starting February, 2019 has resulted in higher air fares—a 30-40% increase between September, 2018 and March, 2019 – and inconvenience to passengers. India being a highly price-sensitive market, it has also affected passenger traffic growth from October, 2018 onwards.”
24/06/19 Arun Nayal/Financial Express

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Mizoram CM seeks check on airfares

Aizawl: Mizoram chief minister Zoramthanga has written to Union civil aviation minister Hardeep Singh Puri over the hike in flight fares to and from the state, an official said on Sunday.

Mizoram has only one air link, a direct flight to Calcutta operated by Air India, after Jet Airways withdrew its service from the state on February 10.

Principal consultant for civil aviation, Wing Commander Joe Lalhmingliana, told The Telegraph that the chief minister had complaint about the exorbitant increase in airfares on the Aizawl-Calcutta and Aizawl-Imphal routes.

Puri is likely to receive the letter on Monday.

Lalhmingliana said they have appealed to the resident commissioner of Mizoram House in New Delhi to submit the letter to the minister on Monday.

He said the chief minister, apart from complaining about the exorbitant hike, also sought reduction in the airfares, citing it was a breach of the principle of equality enshrined in Article 14 of the Constitution.

According to Lalhmingliana, Air India fares on Aizawl-Calcutta and Aizawl-Imphal routes were exceedingly high compared to other sectors.
24/06/19 Henry L. Khojol/Telegraph

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IndiGo gains from Jet’s loss of foreign flyers

New Delhi: IndiGo, which now accounts for one of every two domestic flyers, is also increasing its international capacity rapidly. The rise in its foreign flyers in the January-March quarter (5.2 lakh) was almost the same as the decline seen in the number of Jet Airways’ foreign flyers (5.1 lakh). Air India Express also chipped in with a 19% rise in international flyers.

Jet, which stopped flying on April 17, was having its aircraft repossessed by unpaid lessors since late last year, leading to reduction of flights. While it did have a few flights to Europe and Canada, the majority of its international operations were on single aisle Boeing 737s to neighbouring countries — mainly the Gulf.

IndiGo, AI Express and others added large number of flights to their single aislerange destinations. To be sure, Jet’s disappearance from the skies will be felt in international numbers in April-June and perhaps in July-September quarters. Expansion plans of other Indian airlines like SpiceJet, Vistara and GoAir could fill Jet’s void by the year-end.
IndiGo chief commercial officer Willy Boulter said: “We now offer connectivity to over 1,300 city pairs… While we remain focused on building our domestic network, we will also continue to connect international destinations to additional cities in India and also open up new international destinations.”
24/06/19 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

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Iran airspace restriction to add flying time by up to an hour

The restriction over Iran airspace will add to the flying time of flights from India to the US and Europe, and will make tickets a tad more expensive.

Air India, which is the only Indian airline now with substantial international service after Jet Airways suspended operations, will be the most impacted. One of IndiGo's flights, to Istanbul, will also see a change.
On June 22, industry regulator DGCA had asked Indian airlines to avoid the Iranian airspace.

"All Indian operators in consultation with DGCA have decided to avoid the affected part of Iranian Airspace to ensure safe travel for the passengers. They will re-route flights suitably," said the regulator.
The advisory followed rising tensions between Iran and the US after the latter's drone was shot down for allegedly violating Iranian airspace.

Noting that the DGCA's announcement has been made keeping in mind passenger safety, Sharat Dhall, COO (B2C),  Yatra.com, said this will have a "slight impact" on schedules and prices.

"Carriers like Air India and IndiGo returning back from places like Saudi Arabia, Europe and the US, will have to take a slightly longer route. However, this impact is limited and alternate routes are being decided," he added.

Another senior executive talking to Moneycontrol added: "Depending on the destination, the flying time could increase by up to 60 minutes. The impact will be a little more crucial for flights to the US."
24/06/19 Prince Mathews Thomas/Moneycontrol.com

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Kerala govt willing to operate Thiruvananthapuram airport: CPI-M MP

New Delhi: The planned privatisation of five airports in the country with the Adani Group as their operator was opposed in the Rajya Sabha Monday, with a CPI(M) MP saying the Kerala government is willing to operate the Thiruvananthapuram airport.

Raising the issue through a Zero Hour mention, K K Ragesh (CPI-M) said the Adani Group has emerged as the winner in privatisation bid of five airports at Lucknow, Jaipur, Thiruvananthapuram, Mangaluru and Ahmedabad.

The Kerala government, he said, had expressed willingness to take over the Thiruvananthapuram airport but the Centre advised it to take part in the auction bid process. “It is regrettable that the state government is being considered on the same footing as the Adani Group,” he said.

The airport was built on land given by the state government and as such has a say in the operations of it, he said.
24/06/19 PTI/Indian Express

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Madras Flying Club building pulled down

Chennai: Another slice of the city’s history has been reduced to rubble. The 89-year-old building that housed the Madras Flying Club at the airport that groomed hundreds of pilots in the city was demolished by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) a few days ago.

AAI officials said the demolition was to give way for airport’s airside expansion work. Though the building (housing the club) was handed over for expansion work, the hangar (used by the club) with a few aircraft is yet to be pulled down, they said.

The AAI officials insist that they required the space for carrying out straightening of a taxi track in the airport.
“The straightening work has been on for many months now but will be completed soon. This work will improve efficiency, like saving aircraft fuel, as time taken to taxi to the main runway will be reduced and flight delays too are likely to come down,” an official said.
Jacob Selvaraj, honorary secretary, Madras Flying Club, had written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami requesting the government to stop the demolition activity till alternate arrangements are made for shifting the hangar to the Tiruchi airport.
In the letter, he said: “We, the Madras Flying Club agreed to shift the flying club to Tiruchi airport, with the negotiation made by the government of Tamil Nadu, Transport Secretary. An MoU was signed between the Government of Tamil Nadu, Airports Authority of India (AAI) and Madras Flying Club in this regard, and the AAI has to provide accommodation at the Tiruchi airport. Though we are ready to shift operations to the Tiruchi airport, our appeal is that the building of nearly 90 years may be preserved by both governments.”
24/06/19 The Hindu

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Bird Academy Introduces 'Safety Management System (Sms) Course For Airlines' In India, As Iata's Regional Training Partner

On the 21st year celebration of Bird Academy, the education vertical of Bird Group reaffirms its position as a regional aviation-learning hub by becoming the first ever IATA Regional Training Partner. The first RTP course IATA’s ‘Safety Management System Course for Airlines’ received overwhelming response and has participants from all across the globe. Regarded as a benchmark in the aviation industry, this training course is being conducted for the first time in India by Bird Academy. A five-day classroom course will be held in New Delhi from June 24th-June 28th, 2019 and will be imparted by an IATA instructor and will cover the full spectrum of Aviation Safety and Security.

This course is highly recommended for Airline Operations Managers, Corporate and Operational Safety Managers, Analysts, Coordinators, Postholders and Quality Managers. The course will help in developing, managing and monitoring the Safety Management System (SMS) that fits within the scope of an airline’s operations. It will help make improvement in the operations that will prevent costly accidents, incidents and injuries to the staff. The training will further benefit in understanding how to use the Safety Management System (SMS) as an effective management tool for safety performance and productivity along with understanding risk management tools to continually improve the safety performance.

Speaking on the same, Mrs. Radha Bhatia, Chairperson, Bird Group said, “Today the aviation sector supports 7.5 million jobs in India and we see huge potential for growth. We, at Bird Academy, have dedicated over 21 years to nurture highly skilled professionals and it is a testament to our hard work and commitment, that we have been chosen as IATA’s Regional Training Partner (RTP). We are elated to introduce the RTP course on Safety Management System Course for Airlines’ in the country, which is well-sought out by the aviation professionals, across the world. We will continue in our endeavor to support and build the aviation industry by nurturing the young minds with excellent educational trainings and courses.“
24/06/19 Silicon India

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Don’t fly over Iran’s troubled waters, India tells airlines

New Delhi: India on Saturday asked its airlines to avoid flying in the over-water area of Tehran (Iran) airspace with the Strait of Hormuz that connects Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman at its heart. Iran’s territorial boundary extends up to 12 nautical miles (22.2 km) from its coastline to over-water and the shooting of a US military drone near the Strait of Hormuz has dramatically escalated tensions here.
While the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) advisory does not bar Indian airlines from transiting Iran over-land, the latter are seeing if that also can be avoided. The impact on Indian carriers will be limited to some of Air India’s flights on way back from the West (including Saudi Arabia, Europe and the US) to India and IndiGo’s Doha-Istanbul-Doha. AI’s west-bound flights will not be impacted.
"On the way back, they will need to reroute over Muscat, adding to flying time by 20-25 minutes. Similarly, Doha-Istanbul-Doha sector of IndiGo will be affected," said a source. Airlines have indicated to the regulator fares of affected flights could see a rise by Rs 500. The new detour comes on top of the already longer routes flights between the west and south Asia, with Delhi at its heart, are taking after Pakistan closed its airspace since February 27. While they may add to travel time, better safe than anything else.
23/06/19 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

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Amid tension in Gulf, carriers find new routes

India on Saturday asked its airlines to avoid flying in the over-water area of Tehran (Iran) airspace with the Strait of Hormuz that connects Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman at its heart. Iran’s territorial boundary extends up to 12 nautical miles (22.2 km) from its coastline to over-water and the shooting of a US military drone near the Strait of Hormuz has dramatically escalated tensions here.
23/06/19 Times of India

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As tensions mount in gulf, Indian carriers expect turbulence

New Delhi: After an American drone was pulled down and the US strikes on Iranian targets were aborted, tensions have escalated in the Middle East which could be dangerous to civilian air traffic, Hindustan Times reported. Indian airlines are closely observing things to unfold.

India’s Director General of Civil Aviation has not taken any call on the matter whereas various airlines’ regulators have banned their airlines to fly over Iran. If India amends its stand, it would be difficult for Indian airlines to serve some routes.
An Air India spokesperson said so far, “Air India’s services are still normal”. An IndiGo spokesperson too said operations were on schedule.

Global carriers like British Airways, Quantas and Singapore Airlines on Friday suspended flights over the Strait of Homuz. US President Donald Trump confirmed that he backed off at the last moment from launching airstrikes on targets in Iran.

Areas under conflict pose grave threats to civilian air traffic. In 2014, MH-17 of Malaysian Airlines was blown up by a missile fired by Russia backed rebel forces based in Ukraine mistaking it for a Ukranian military aircraft.
22/06/19 Asian Age

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Dainik Bhaskar publishes exaggerated amounts as extra cost to air travellers due to closure of Pakistani airspace

Today the Hindi newspaper Dainik Bhaskar published an article regarding increased cost the airlines are having to bear due to the continued closure of international airspace over Pakistan. In the headline, the article says that daily 70000 travellers are paying upto 5 times more airfare due to this. Although it is correct that Airlines are having to spend more due to the longer route they are having to take bypassing Pakistan, the numbers mentioned in the report are highly exaggerated and defy logic.
The report by Dainik Bhaskar mentions that daily around 233 flights to and from India are affected due to the closure of Pakistani airspace, which carries around 70 thousand passengers. According to the report, passengers travelling to Europe and the US are paying 4 to 5 times more in ticket price due to this. But this is clearly an exaggeration, as airfare has not gone up by that much. A simple search on online ticketing portals show that the cost of flight tickets to European and American destinations remain the same as usual price, they have not gone up by any significant amount.
Moreover, the flight time has gone up by 1-2 hours for most airlines due to avoiding Pakistani airspace, which would be around 20% increase for a 10-hour flight. So, there is no reason why the ticket price will go up by 5 times for that increase.
The article also mentions that Air India is spending Rs 6 crore extra for its flights to Europe and the US due to the change in route. The flight time has increased, and the non-stop flights to New York are having to halt for refuelling. This has added extra fuel and airport ground handling charges for the already loss-making airlines. But an earlier article in Business Standard has mentioned that Air India was losing Rs 3 crore daily due to this reason. So, this means the amount has doubled to Rs 6 crore in the Dainik Bhaskar report.
23/06/19 OpIndia

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Addition of aircraft to hit airlines’ profits

Mumbai: The aggressive fleet induction by Indian airlines to fill the gap created by Jet Airways’ closure is expected to lead to lower yields, said ICRA in a note.

"With the capacity expansion planned by the various airlines, the industry is likely to start facing pressure on yields and thus profitability,” said Kinjal Shah, vice-president and co-head, corporate sector ratings, ICRA.

Providing an example of the planned capacity expansion, Ms. Shah said while Indigo had announced a 30% increase in its capacity in FY2020 (approximately half of which will be for the domestic operations), SpiceJet had announced an increase of about 80%.As the airlines would continue to expand their fleet, resulting in a gradual correction in the demand-supply imbalance, and it would lead to further moderation in airfares, she said.

Ms. Shah said the domestic passenger traffic growth is expected to continue to increase in the coming period.

During May 2019, all the airlines reported a month-on-month improvement in their passenger load factors (PLFs) while on a Y-o-Y basis, only Air India and GoAir had reported improvement in their PLFs.
21/06/19 The Hindu

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Explore if Jewar airport can have 8 runways: Yogi Adityanath

Greater Noida: The proposed Jewar international airport is a project the UP government is eager to showcase as a symbol of the state’s economic growth. So, during his visit to Noida last week (June 14), chief minister Yogi Adityanath asked officials to explore expanding the number of runways planned at the airport to eight.
The number of runways originally planned was four, for which PricewaterhouseCoopers carried out a survey, and the government had later sought another feasibility study to increase the number of runways to six. Delhi’s IGI airport currently has three runways.
In any case, Jewar will start operating with two runways in the first phase, for which the land acquisition process has just begun. Building the additional runways is a component of the subsequent phases, which will start after Phase 1 has been commissioned.
“Jewar airport will begin with two runways in the first phase. The civil aviation ministry had written for an expansion of four to six runways for which we had issued a letter to PwC on May 29 to conduct a feasibility report. In the meantime, the CM, who was in town on June 14 for a review meeting, directed that we look into the airport expansion to have eight terminals,” explained Shailendra Bhatia, additional CEO of the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority, which is piloting the airport project.
21/06/19 Meenakshi Sinha/Times of India

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Indian carriers fly in to occupy Jet Airways' foreign slots

New Delhi: The aviation ministry has distributed Jet Airways’ foreign flying rights among Indian carriers through an allocation process that was opposed by airlines such as IndiGo and GoAir, which have challenged the move in separate letters to the ministry, said people with knowledge of the matter. Government officials defended the method as transparent and fair.
IndiGo and SpiceJet have got the maximum number of rights, with 84 weekly flights for the first and 77 for the second. GoAir got the rights to operate 30 weekly flights, while Vistara got 28. All the allocations are for three months. Indi-Go’s contention is that it should have got more rights, in line with its share of about half the domestic market, said the people cited above.
Airline representatives were asked to pick a chit and were given preference, according to the number they got as well as their fleet induction plans, sources said. This took place last week and letters to airlines were issued earlier this week, they added.
With this allocation, the government has farmed out almost all the foreign flying rights of the grounded Jet Airways, which stopped flying on April 18.
Domestic routes had been distributed earlier — of the total 750 slots that Jet Airways had at various airports, 480 have been allocated.
GoAir has also written to the Prime Minister’s Office protesting about the model followed to allocate overseas rights, they said.
21/06/19 Mihir Mishra/Economic Times

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Change India's aircraft call sign 'VT', requests a BJP youth wing leader to aviation ministry

The aviation ministry has received a request to get rid of country code 'VT' from Indian aircraft. Sourabh Choudhary, the national general secretary of the youth wing of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJYM), approached aviation minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Friday and requested him to change it for the Indian aircraft.

The prefix 'VT' stands for Victorian or Viceroy Territory, which is the nationality code that each aircraft registered in India is required to carry. The code is generally seen just before the rear exit door and above the windows.

The call sign indicates the country where the aircraft is registered in and every nation is required to follow this norm. It helps air traffic control (ATC) and other authorities identify and recognise which country the aircraft belongs to, and is also able to obtain registration details based on the call sign.
Britain set the prefix 'VT' for India before the partition in 1929. 'VT' was given to all British colonies, however, countries like China, Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka changed their codes later. For India, the prefix has remained on the aircraft even after 90 years.

"India even after 72 years of independence retains the symbol of slavery 'VT', use of this symbol denotes us as still being the Viceroy Territory, which does not stand true but even after 72 years of independence our government refuses to get it changed or even make an effort regarding it," Choudhary said, in a letter to the Ministry of Civil Aviation.
21/06/19 CNBC TV18

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Domestic air passenger traffic grows 3 per cent in May

Domestic passenger traffic growth recovered in May, with rival carriers taking over Jet Airways’ fleet to cash in on the peak season demand. A total of 12.2 million passengers booked air travel in May 2019 compared with 11.8 million during May 2018, up 2.9% year-on-year, according to the data released by directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA) on Tuesday.
The passenger traffic had contracted 4.5% y-o-y in April for the first time in at least five years owing to complete grounding of full-service carrier Jet on April 17. The ministry of civil aviation allocated the vacant airport slots of Jet to rival carriers for operations. Airlines such as SpiceJet were quick to induct aircraft from Jet’s grounded fleet to cater to the holiday season rush.
Experts pointed out that domestic airfares have moderated compared with the sharp rise in ticket prices immediately after Jet’s grounding. “The fares have dropped by 7.5% in June compared with April and May this year. Consequently, our data also indicates a pick-up in overall flight bookings currently,” a MakeMyTrip spokesperson said.
19/06/19 Financial Express

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Airbus signs MoU with Pawan Hans to introduce 2 new categories of helicopters

New Delhi: Airbus Thursday said it has signed an MoU with Pawan Hans Limited (PHL) in Paris for collaboration in introducing two new categories of its helicopters - H145 and H225 - in the latter's fleet sometime in the future.
The Airbus also said according to the MoU, signed on Wednesday evening, it would provide "predictive and scheduled maintenance" for the repair, maintenance and overhaul of PHL's existing fleet of AS365N Dauphin helicopters.

Government-owned PHL is the largest customer in the world for Airbus Dauphin helicopters. It currently has 37 Dauphin units deployed for offshore oil and gas operations, VIP transportation and other utility duties.

"The MoU stipulates that Airbus Helicopters will support PHL in growing its onshore, offshore and inland travel markets by introducing the best-in-class H145 and H225 rotorcrafts (helicopters) into their fleet," Airbus said Thursday.

The H145 and H225 are multi-role helicopters, ideal for supporting PHL's wide range of missions across the country, Airbus said.
20/06/19 Times of India

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Jet closure impacts air traffic to Tier 2 cities

Mumbai: Airports like Bhuj, Rajkot and Aurangabad (categorised as Tier 2 cities) have lost out the most due to the closure of Jet Airways. They reported the highest drop of 85%, 55% and 42% in air traffic respectively, while sectors like Mumbai-Delhi that had a considerable share of Jet flights at its peak is back to nearly the same number of flights.

After Jet Airways suspended flights on April 17, airlines have been quick to fill the slots by inducting aircraft and adding flights across their networks. There are some airports which have been hit harder than others. While Bhuj reported an 85% impact, Mumbai was impacted 23%.

According to data released by the Airports Authority of India (AAI), Jet Airways operated four flights daily between Mumbai and Rajkot, while Bhuj and Aurangabad had two daily departures. Post April 17, Bhuj is now serviced by Alliance Air with four flights a week. Rajkot and Aurangabad similarly have a single daily flight by Air India.

While airlines have taken up most of slots vacated by Jet Airways, Spicejet on Tuesday reported the highest loads for May. “For the 50th month in a row, Spicejet has flown with the highest loads in India. In May, our Passenger Load Factor stood at 93.9%. This is a feat unparalleled in global aviation industry and a huge milestone for Spicejet,” said Shilpa Bhatia, chief sales and revenue officer, Spicejet.


Data analysed by aviation analyst Ameya Joshi shows the number passengers who departed from Rajkot in April was 12,896 down from close to 30,000 at the same time last year. “In Bhuj, the drop is steeper. It fell from 15,633 passengers in April 2018 to 2,269,” he said.
19/06/19 Aditya Anand/The Hindu

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Shefali Juneja appointed India's representative to ICAO

Senior bureaucrat Shefali Juneja was on Wednesday appointed as India's representative in the council of International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), a United Nations body.

Juneja, a 1992 batch officer of Indian Revenue Service (Income Tax cadre), is at present the Joint Secretary in Ministry of Civil Aviation.

She has been appointed to the post of Representative of India in the ICAO, Montreal, Canada, for a period of three years, an order issued by personnel Ministry said.

Juneja will replace senior IAS officer Alok Shekhar who was named for the post in
October 2015.

The council, which is composed of 36 states, is elected for a three-year term.
19/06/19 CNBC TV18

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IndiGo is best low-cost airline, Vistara has best airline staff in India

Fliers in India often face dilemma over choosing airlines while booking flights. While there are a number of functional airlines in India, travellers more than often remain apprehensive about the quality of services that they offer, including the on-time performances. Skytrax has awarded airlines across the world based on the parameters pertaining to customer satisfaction. While IndiGo was awarded ‘The Best Low-Cost Airline in Central Asia and India’, Vistara received the ‘Best Airline Staff in Central Asia and India’ at the Skytrax World Airline Awards at the International Paris Air Show 2019. Vistara bagged the award for the second time in a row.

The ‘Best Airline Staff’ award is given based on consistent service excellence across the entire spectrum of customer touch points. Customer satisfaction scoring matrices include the service efficiency of airline staff, friendliness and hospitality, overall quality consistency for both, language skills, the airport and on-board experience.

“Every single day, our effort is to delight our customers by making flying an experience one can always look forward to. We’re happy to receive this esteemed award by Skytrax which reflects the trust of our customers and recognizes the dedication of all our customer-facing staff to consistently deliver an unparalleled flying experience to millions of travellers in India,” Vistara Chief Executive Officer Leslie Thng said.

“It is an honor to receive this award for tenth year in a row. Right from the inception, we have been committed to delivering an affordable, on-time, courteous and hassle-free flying experience. This award reflects those values as it is a measure of the travelers’ experience. I would like to dedicate this recognition to all the IndiGo employees who strive to deliver an exceptional, efficient and reliable service to our customers every day,” IndiGo Chief Commercial Officer William Boulter.

The Skytrax World’s Best Airlines of 2019 award went to Qatar Airways, Singapore Airlines and All Nippon Airways (ANA). Qatar Airways was named the World’s Best Airline at the 2019 World Airline Awards followed by Singapore Airlines at 2nd and ANA of Japan in 3rd place.
19/06/19 Debjit Sinha/Financial Express

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Lohegaon sees highest rate of domestic flyer increase

Pune: Domestic passenger traffic at the city airport is growing at a faster rate than in other facilities, including Mumbai, in Maharashtra, revealed the state’s economic survey for 2018-19.
The domestic passenger traffic at the Pune airport in 2017 was 65.12 lakh and it rose to 78.92 lakh in 2018, a 21.2% increase. On the other hand, the passenger traffic in Mumbai saw a 6.5% increase from around 327.12 lakh in 2017 to 348.50 lakh in 2018.

“We are continuously upgrading the infrastructure at the Lohegaon airport to sustain growth. We need land from the state government to provide infrastructure for mid-term growth. The new airport (in Purandar) is required for a long-term growth,” a senior Pune airport official said.
Another airport official said the facility was expected to grow at a rate of 15-18% in 2019. “The airport recorded a growth percentage of 20.6 in 2017-18 and is currently ranked third in the list of fastest growing airports in India in the category of 5-15 million passengers a year. We understand passenger amenities need to be on par with international standards. Some important projects, including terminal expansion, are lined up in the next two years,” he said.

Passengers and aviation experts, however, said the airport’s growth was its “worst enemy”, considering the inadequate amenities for passengers because of lack of space. “It is good that the airport is growing in terms of passengers, but what about the facilities? ,” said Rajiv Pradhan, a frequent flyer.

19/06/19 Joy Sengupta/Times of India

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Jet Airways loss is Indigo's gain, budget carrier now stands tall with 49% market share

New Delhi: The latest domestic aviation market numbers released by Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) reveal that Jet Airways downfall has propelled its competitors in comfortable positions.

The economy air carrier Indigo has been biggest benefactor of Jet Airways grounding.

According to the data released by the DGCA, Indigo has become the new leader with a market share of 49 per cent. The second spot has been taken up by Spicejet with 14.8 per cent market share. Air India has 13.5 per cent, Go Air 11.1 per cent, Air Asia 6.3 per cent and Vistara 4.7 per cent market share, the DGA numbers for May 2019 said.

Indigo, in spite of its recent hiccups in the top management, has managed to score substantial gains. On June 17, the airline announced that it had ordered CFM International LEAP 1A engines to power 280 Airbus A 320 and A 321 neo aircraft. The contract, which includes spare engines and an overhaul support agreements, is valued at more than $20 billion US at list price, read the airline release.

With 93.9 per cent Spicejet had the highest load factor for May. Go Air (93.3) and Indigo (90.9) stood at the second and third place, respectively in this regard.
18/06/19 Pankaj Upadhyay/India Today

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Govt agrees to cut VAT on ATF if airlines start new flights

Bhopal: The state government is willing to reduce VAT on aviation turbine fuel (ATF) provided airlines come with a concrete proposal to connect new cities from Raja Bhoj Airport. Airlines have been demanding reduction in VAT on ATF from the existing 25%.
The issue was discussed at a meeting of senior officials chaired by chief secretary SR Mohanty. The chief secretary assured that the tax reduction could be considered only if airlines also reciprocate by starting more operations from Bhopal. Presently, Air India, SpiceJet and IndiGo are operating from Bhopal.

In the meeting is was decided to start cargo operations from state capital. Mohanty is learnt to have asked Bhopal collector Tarun Kumar Pithode to identify about 50-acre land near the airport for operationg cargo services.

Commissioner, Bhopal division Kalpana Shrivastava said the chief secretary cargo services will start in next two months from Bhopal.

High VAT on ATF at Bhopal has been an irritant for airlines operating from the city. ATF constitutes around 40% of overall cost of a flight and airlines have been requesting the state government to reduce VAT on an immediate basis.

18/06/19 Ramendra Singh/Times of India

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India's latest aviation data: Highest-ever market share for SpiceJet

he Indian aviation regulator, directorate general of civil aviation, on Tuesday released the latest domestic air traffic data. The data enlists the most punctual airline, growth in country's air travellers, the airline with most complaints and much more.

Here are 10 things you must know about the data >>

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View from India: CAE geometry boosts aviation industry

Aircraft fleets of the future will be defined by 3D printing and meshless CAE and CAE data management: these were some of the insights shared at the 2019 Altair Technology Conference.

Computer-aided engineering (CAE) is vital to all stages of the aircraft development cycle. CAE is optimised for fuel consumption, thermal efficiency and emission predictions. CAE is leveraged to address several flying conditions, including inclement weather such as ice accretion modeling and blockage prediction or dust and sand ingestion. In short, CAE is a game changer.

“As CAE is integrated into the development cycle, it generates millions of data points. Data-science algorithms can sift through the information and direct the aircraft designers towards the optimum path of design. This in turn will help improve operational efficiency,” said Vikram Reddy, general manager, GE India, speaking at the conference.

New technologies are propelling the aviation industry forward. The next generation of commercial and military aircraft will be powered by digital twins for scaling up fleet management. Simulated digital twins are fed with real-time data. This gives a comprehensive and predictive analysis of the condition of the aircraft. Maintenance costs will be lowered. The aircraft will also have the ability to determine and predict engine failures. It’s not just aircrafts; airports of the future, too, will leverage digital twin technology. That’s because the technology is known for precision. This quality can be tapped for accurately predicting flight timings, thereby improving passenger experience.

A growing demand for production flexibility and improved performance has urged aircraft companies to upgrade the turboprop engines and components along with avionics. R&D teams constantly endeavour to achieve thinner fan blades and lighter engines. “Aviation parts are being designed, made, tested and analysed. The cycle is repeated again and again. Thousands of our GE engineers are behind each product,” added Reddy.

Aircraft manufacturers follow certain parameters while conceptualising an aircraft - the most crucial one being safety. The frame, its design and composite materials have to ensure flying safety measures for better air-traffic management.
17/06/19 Kavitha Srinivasa/E&T

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Domestic air passenger traffic grows by 2.96 per cent in May

New Delhi: Domestic air passenger traffic saw a rebound in May as it increased by 2.96 per cent after a slump in April, according to the data released by aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Tuesday.

In April, domestic air passenger traffic had dropped by 4.5 per cent over the same period last year.

The domestic air traffic in May this year consisted of 12.20 million passengers as compared to 11.85 million passengers in the same month last year, a jump of 2.96 per cent, as per the data.

Suspension of operations by Jet Airways on April 17 due to lack of funds was considered to be one of the primary reasons why domestic air traffic saw a fall in that month.

IndiGo maintained its lead position with 49 per cent share of the domestic passenger market in May, the data showed.

SpiceJet’s market share increased from 13.1 per cent in April to 14.8 per cent in May, giving it the number two spot, as per the data.

The market share of Air India, GoAir, AirAsia and Vistara were 13.5 per cent, 11.1 per cent, 6.3 per cent and 4.7 per cent, respectively, in May this year.

“During May 2019, a total of 746 passenger related complaints had been received by the scheduled domestic airlines. The number of complaints per 10,000 passengers carried for the month of May 2019 has been around 0.61,” the DGCA said.

Air India topped the list of passenger grievances with 1.7 complaints per 10,000 passengers in the month of May, while SpiceJet was on number two position with 0.6 complaints per 10,000 passengers, as per the DGCA data.

The passenger load factor -- which is measured by dividing the number of passengers to the number of available seats in a flight -- for SpiceJet was 93.9 per cent in May, as per the data.

“For the 50th month in a row SpiceJet has flown with the highest loads in India. In May, our PLF stood at 93.9 per cent. This is a feat unparalleled in global aviation industry and a huge milestone for SpiceJet. This record firmly establishes SpiceJet’s standing as country’s most preferred airline,” said Shilpa Bhatia, Chief Sales and Revenue Officer of SpiceJet.

For GoAir, IndiGo, Air Asia and Vistara, the passenger load factor stood at 93.3 per cent, 90.9 per cent, 87.8 per cent and 85.6 per cent, respectively, in May.

Air India’s passenger load factor was at 85 percent in May, the DGCA data showed.
18/06/19 PTI/Business Line

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AN-32 has served IAF for 35 years. We can’t turn our back on ageing workhorse now

My heart goes out to the families, friends and colleagues of all the 13 Indian Air Force personnel who lost their lives in the recent AN-32 crash in the forested mountainous region of Arunachal Pradesh. Being in the Air Force family for over four decades, I am aware of how challenging it can be for those involved in the search and rescue mission; it is like looking for a needle in that jungle. Determination unified our national effort that did eventually succeed in locating the crash site.

During the eight days of wait since the Russian-origin AN-32 aircraft crashed on 3 June, many reports and media analysis came out in public domain. This accident calls for introspection about the ways in which India views its losses and its responses to such tragedies. The news quickly become stale but the trauma remains. So does the fear: can it happen again? After all, it was not the first time that a military aircraft got lost flying over a jungle or the Himalayas. But will we see any action that actually prevents these accidents from taking place or will there be only statements of intent and expressions of grief over the losses?
The AN-32 has been the workhorse of the Indian Air Force (IAF). Hundreds of crew operate these aircraft and thousands are involved in maintaining this fleet today. We owe it to them. The AN-32 was a brand-new design when it entered the service in 1986, with the IAF as the ‘launch customer’. It proved reliable and its powerful engines gave high safety margins, especially while operating over the Himalayas. However, the aircraft aged quickly in service, requiring repairs and increased maintenance. Cumulatively, these contributed to AN-32’s early ageing.
An ‘upgrade’ was proposed in 2009 to improve the structural integrity, avionics and communication suits. It is reported that some 46 aircraft out of over a hundred in the AN-32 fleet have been upgraded so far. A slow pace indeed! The necessity to upgrade the aircraft arose out of obsolescence and wear and tear. However, considering the delays and further ageing, spares would become more expensive and difficult to acquire. The IAF is the only major operator of the AN-32 in the world today.
17/06/ACM S. Krishna Swamy/Print

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Faced with issues, IAF shifts to civilian airlines from AN-32 for Andaman ops

New Delhi : Faced with crashes and other issues, the Indian Air Force had to shift to civilian aircraft for ferrying military personnel to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands territory due to the performance of the AN-32 planes.
India has more than 90 of these planes which were imported during the Soviet era and several of them have been upgraded recently in a contract with Ukraine.
"Over the sea, the AN-32 flies at altitudes (18 - 20 thousand feet) that encounters heavy icing (Zero to minus Degrees Celsius outside air temperature). That is why we have shifted most of the passenger load from An 32 to Civil Airlines in the Andaman and Nicobar Sector," top IAF sources told ANI.
Sources said the Defence Ministry is also of the view that the AN-32 should be avoided being used in risk-prone areas in view of the crashes and other issues.
The recent crash took place in Arunachal Pradesh where 13 personnel lost their lives in the accident over the mountainous terrain of the Northeastern state after taking off from Jorhat.
16/06/19 New Kerala

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Rafale with Indian colours to be delivered in Sept: French envoy A Ziegler

The first Rafale with Indian colours will be delivered to the Indian Air Force this September, says A Ziegler.

Read full interview >>

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IAF Chief BS Dhanoa Gifts His ‘Wings’ to a Young Pilot, Says Soar High

New Delhi: Newly-appointed Flying Officer G Navin Kumar Reddy was in for a surprise when after his Graduation Parade at the Air Force Academy in Hyderabad, Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa pinned his wings on his uniform.

Reddy, who topped his class and won the ‘Sword of Honour’, received the ‘wings’ of the Air Chief from the Air Chief himself on Saturday.

Navin Kumar Reddy, the only son of a Subedar in the Indian Army, received a President Plaque and the Chief of the Air Staff ‘Sword of Honour’ for securing the first position in the pilot course.
BS Dhanoa was the Reviewing Officer for the Combined Graduation Parade.

Dhanoa told news agency ANI, “While I hang my uniform in September, let my wings be worn by the young boy to let him soar through trials and challenges of flying.”
The IAF Chief reviewed the parade and addressed the graduating course wherein he complimented the cadets on their exceptional drill standards and impeccable turn out. As the cadets passed through the portals of the Academy parade ground, a total of 152 were awarded the President’s Commission.
16/06/19 India.com

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Aviation pacts hurt national carriers: ED

The Enforcement Directorate has alleged that a substantial jump in seat entitlements and Indian points-of-call (airports) for the operation of foreign airlines, due to bilateral agreements struck with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar between 2005 and 2009, resulted in huge losses to the national carriers.

Being a signatory to the Convention of Civil Aviation, India has to comply with its principles. As part of the arrangement, two countries hold talks to decide routes and allocation/increase of seats on the basis of equality and reciprocity.

Under these agreements, traffic rights and capacity entitlements are exchanged based on market requirements. They specify the entitlements in terms of frequency of operations, number of seats and airport.

Between 2005 and 2009, India held bilateral meetings with the UAE and Qatar.
After each meeting, the ED alleges, a substantial increase in seat entitlements and airports was made, from which the airlines of both the countries allegedly gained more than the Indian carrier. In case of the UAE, the agreements were held separately for Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and Ras-al-Khaima.

According to the data quoted by the agency, under the agreement with respect to Dubai, seat entitlements for the Emirates were 8,400 up to 2001. However, after three agreements in 2005, 2007 and 2008, they went up to 54,200. “Finally, the seats were increased to 54,200 and points of call to 10 during the meeting held on April 23, 2008,” the ED says.
16/06/19 Devesh K Pandey/The Hindu

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Pak airspace to remain closed for all Indian flights till June 28

Pakistan on Sunday extended the ban on its airspace for all Indian flights till June 28, authorities have said.

Towards the end of May, Pakistan had extended for a fortnight the airspace closure for a fortnight which expired on June 14.

Pakistan had fully shut its airspace on the eastern border with India after an Indian Air Force carried out aerial airstrikes on a Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terror camp in Balakot on February 26.
The strikes were in response to the terror attack in Pulwama, in which about 40 CRPF personnel lost their lives on February 14.

In March, the country partially opened its airspace for all flights but not for Indian flights.

In mid-April, Pakistan also opened one of its 11 air routes for west-bound flights from India, and airlines such as Air India and Turkish Airlines have started using it.

Since then, foreign carriers using Indian airspace have been forced to take costly detours because they cannot fly over Pakistan. The closure mainly affects flights from Europe to Southeast Asia.

Pakistan lies in the middle of a vital aviation corridor whereby the airspace restrictions, which have been continuing since a long time, impacts hundreds of commercial flights each day, extending flight timings for passengers, as well as fuel costs for airlines.
16/06/19 ANI/DNA

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New initiatives are emerging to help Indians surmount the fear of flying

According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), close to 40% of people experience some form of anxiety regarding air travel. This does not even include the number of people who do not fly because of their fear of flying, ICAO had said in 2007. Considering that close to 140 million passengers flew in India during 2018, according to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, Amit would be just one of the millions of Indians who face anxiety while taking commercial flights. While some try to cope with it by popping anti-anxiety pills before boarding or trying to find solace in some other way, there are people who are terrified to even step into an airplane.
Clubbed under the category of general anxiety disorder, aviophobia is curable and depending on the severity of the condition, it may take a few weeks or a few months to get cured. “Aviophobia is a specific kind of a phobia which is a manifestation of an anxiety disorder and one in four people all over the world suffer either from depression or an anxiety disorder,” said Samir Parikh, director at Fortis National Mental Health Program.
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Prohibitive airfares on Srinagar sector

With mercury soaring in many states and people from mainland heading for cooler Kashmir, the airfares on Srinagar sector have become prohibitive.
A cursory look at the travel web portals shows that the airfare on Delhi-Srinagar sector is touching Rs 17,000 for the coming days. Only two weeks ago, the airfare on this sector was between Rs 4000 to Rs 5000.
As per travel portals, the airfare to Srinagar from Metropolitan cities like Bengaluru, Mumbai, Pune and even Kolkata has also seen steep hike.
The rising airfare is giving tough time to the ordinary people especially the students and patients planning to travel back home to the Valley.
“From Delhi to Srinagar if we book a ticket one week prior to the travel date, it costs around Rs 8,000 to 10,000, which is too high as compared to what the rate was just a few months back,” said a frequent flyer.
16/06/19 Saqib Malik/Greater Kashmir

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Hardeep Singh Puri says confident airline capacity problems will be solved

New Delhi: India's new civil aviation minister said on Friday he is confident that airline capacity shortage problems following the grounding of Jet Airways Ltd will be solved, in the government's first comments about the issue since it was re-elected last month.
We are "very confident we can solve that problem," Hardeep Singh Puri said on the sidelines of a conference in New Delhi.
Massive debt and suffocating price competition forced what was once India's biggest private-sector airline to halt operations in April at the cost of thousands of jobs, and resulting in higher airfares across the industry. It has also resulted in capacity constraints across the industry.
The airline and its lenders have been searching for new investors, while employee unions have been calling for government intervention. The government, however, has largely been quiet on the Jet issue since its election victory.
Puri has assumed office at a time of distress in areas of Indian aviation. Last year, the government unsuccessfully sought a buyer for money-losing state-owned carrier Air India Ltd .
14/06/19 Reuters/Economic Times

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Cheaper air travel: Flight ticket prices may fall from July as demand weakens, capacity expands

Air passengers may have a reason to heave a sigh of relief as the ticket prices may come down in the July-Sep quarter, said a report. Major carriers including SpiceJet, IndiGo and Vistara have expanded their capacity fast as the Jet Airways crisis left a void in the domestic aviation market. However, with the capacity expansion almost on the verge of completion and owing to a steep capacity increment recently, the “airlines price tickets cheap to attract customers and fill capacity on new routes,” Kotak Institutional Equities said in a report. This impact is further intensified by the traditionally weak season which is 2QFY20. In fact, budget carriers IndiGo and Go Air have already announced discounts on travel periods in 2QFY20, however, for limited inventories only.

Major domestic carriers have reported healthy 1Q yields from the dual impact of Jet grounding and the peak travel season, however, “2Q yields may trend down on capacity addition as well as seasonally weak demand,” the report added. The same wasn’t good news for passengers who ended up paying much more than they usually paid amid all the helter-skelter caused Jet Airways’ temporary shutdown.

The ongoing capacity expansion spree by various airline is expected to reverse the Jet Airways deficit within 4-5 months. This could be “even earlier depending on when Spicejet’s newly inducted aircraft commence operations,” the Kotak report said. Meanwhile, the Minister of Civil Aviation, Hardeep Singh Puri, said on Friday that the turbulence in the sky will be resolved with the enabling environment that the government will provide, without mentioning Jet Airways. He was addressing a gathering at the National Council Meeting organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry.
14/06/19 Prachi Gupta/Financial Express

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UAE, India to renegotiate bilateral air service agreement

New Delhi: The UAE Ambassador to India, Dr. Ahmad Abdulrahman Al Banna, has met with India’s new Minister for Civil Aviation, Hardeep Singh Puri, and discussed pressing issues relating to cooperation between the two countries in civil aviation.
This was the first face-to-face interaction from the UAE side with a member of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Council of Ministers since India’s new government was sworn in on May 30.
The UAE’s leaders had congratulated Modi on telephone and through cables following the Prime Minister’s landslide election victory last month.
Puri, who was Minister of State with independent charge of the Housing and Urban Affairs portfolio in the previous government, has been given independent charge of civil aviation this time, in addition to his previous charge.
He is also Minister of State for Commerce in the new government.
The ambassador briefed the Minister on the status of a bilateral air service agreement and reiterated a request by the UAE’s civil aviation authorities on the urgent need to start negotiations on revising the existing agreement since full capacity has been reached under the present pact.
Dr. Al Banna told the Emirates News Agency, WAM, that Puri was "very positive" in his response to issues raised by the UAE during today’s discussions.
The Minister stressed that the UAE and India shared an important strategic relationship.
Talks on renegotiation of the bilateral air service agreement are now expected to begin in two to three months.
15/06/19 WAM/Gulf News

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No relief yet for flyers as Pak extends airspace ban

Amritsar: The extension of airspace ban by Pakistan along the eastern border with India till June 28 will continue to affect nearly six flights from Sri Guru Ramdas Jee International Airport.

Two international flights continue to remain cancelled and five are being flown on long routes after Pakistan completely shut its airspace on February 26 following the IAF’s airstrikes in Balakot.
Air India’s Delhi-Amritsar-Birmingham and Turkmenistan’s Amritsar-Ashgabat-Birmingham flights continue to remain cancelled. Their termination is causing much inconvenience to passengers, majority of them are NRIs and their relatives.

Uzbekistan’s Amritsar-Tashkent and Qatar’s Amritsar-Doha flights are being flown via Mumbai instead of shorter route via Lahore.
15/06/19 Tribune

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PM Modi’s flight avoids Pakistan airspace: Here’s what overflying curbs mean for the industry

New Delhi: The flight of Prime Minister Narendra Modi — who is attending the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit — from Delhi to Bishkek on Thursday took six hours on account of the detour to avoid entering Pakistani airspace, which has restricted for overflying since late February.
According to a senior Aviation Ministry official, if the aircraft took the usual northward route to Kyrgyzstan’s capital, it would have taken half the time, in addition to the cost savings on fuel. The curbs on Pakistani airspace have also pinched commercial airlines in India and abroad leading to higher fuel burns, disruptions in flight operations, etc.

The Ministry of External Affairs on Wednesday said that the government had explored two options for Modi’s flight and a decision was taken that the aircraft would be flown via Oman, Iran and Central Asian countries. Notably, last month, Pakistan had given special permission to the then External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj to fly through its airspace while travelling to Bishkek to attend a meeting of SCO Foreign Ministers. As per sources, a decision on routes of VVIP flights is based on various factors, including security and efficiency. Pakistan on Thursday extended its airspace ban along its eastern border with India for the third time till June 28, according to a notice issued by the country’s Civil Aviation Authority, a PTI report said.
Following airstrikes by Indian Air Force in Balakot, Pakistan had fully closed its airspace on February 26. While it later opened up the airspace, restrictions on overflying the country still continue — and out of the total 11 air routes in Pakistan’s territory, it has opened up two since March. One of these is westbound waypoint over Arabian Sea towards Karachi, Hingol, Gwadar, and the other one is eastbound over Karachi, Badin into Gujarat, India towards Ahmedabad. The closure of routes affected hundreds of east-west flights flying over the subcontinent but westbound flights from airports in northern India such as Delhi, Lucknow, Amritsar etc have been worst affected.
14/06/19 Pranav Mukul/Indian Express

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Pakistan extends airspace ban along its eastern border with India till June 28

Lahore: Pakistan on Thursday extended its airspace ban along its eastern border with India for the third time till June 28, according to a notice issued by the country's Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).
Pakistan fully closed its airspace on February 26 after the Indian Air Force struck a Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terrorist training camp in Balakot.
Since then, it has only opened two routes, both of them pass through southern Pakistan, of the total 11.
The IAF announced on May 31 that all temporary restrictions imposed on Indian airspace post the Balakot airstrike have been removed.
The CAA notice issued to airmen (NOTAM) on Thursday says: "Pakistani airspace will be closed until June 28 along its eastern border with India. The Panjgoor airspace will remain open for overflying transit flights from the western side as Air India had already been using that airspace."
"See if some development takes place at the government's level in this respect before June 28," he said.
On Wednesday Pakistan gave a special permission to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's VVIP flight to use its airspace for his official trip to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan.
However Modi's flight avoided flying over Pakistan. Earlier, Pakistan had allowed India's (former) External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj to fly directly though Pakistani airspace to participate in the meeting of SCO foreign ministers in Bishkek on May 21.
13/06/19 PTI/Economic Times

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Cyclone Vayu: Flights update-Mumbai, Pune, Vadodara, Goa - check if your flight has been delayed or cancelled

Even though the Cyclone Vayu has diverted its course from Gujarat, and thereby eliminated the chances of landfall, yet air passengers may find it difficult to travel to this and neighbouring states - even places like Mumbai, Pune and Goa are on  the affected cities list where flights may be delayed or cancelled. Latest predictions of both Skymet and  IMD reveal that Cyclone Vayu has changed its course from Gujarat. However, it will skirt Saurashtra Coast and regions surrounding it.  But Skymet also points out that, Vayu still continues to be a Category 2 typhoon, and would still give heavy to very heavy rains over Gujarat. On Wednesday, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) suspended flight operations on some 5 airports of Gujarat for over 24 hours. Also on the same day, while Mumbai witnessed good showers, nearly 400 flights were affected due to weather caused by the cyclone.

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Pilot shortages, unsold planes weigh on ATR deliveries -sources

Paris: Franco-Italian turboprop maker ATR is tackling a slump in deliveries resulting from a combination of industrial delays, unsold aircraft and pilot shortages, industry sources said.

The turboprop maker, owned jointly by Airbus and Italy’s Leonardo, has delivered only a handful of aircraft in 2019 but aims to recover in the second half.

Toulouse-based ATR declined to give a figure for mid-year deliveries but said it was confident of achieving its target of matching last year’s total handover of 76 aircraft.

“Our market is a very volatile one and we are used to managing that well,” a spokeswoman said.

ATR dominates the turboprop market, competing against the Bombardier-developed Q400, recently acquired by Canadian manufacturer Viking Air, and China’s upcoming MA700.

With debate about aviation’s environmental impact intensifying, ATR aims to pitch its 72-600 at next week’s Paris Airshow as cleaner than regional jets, with 40 percent less emissions per trip.

While the show is dominated by competition for big jets, ATR says a third of the world’s commercial airports rely solely on turboprops, which help drive regional economic development.

But in India, a top growth market, ATR is struggling to deliver planes as quickly as it had hoped, partly due to problems finding enough pilots for leading customer IndiGo.

ATR agreed in 2017 to sell 50 ATR 72-600 aircraft, worth more than $1.3 billion at list prices, to the budget carrier.

In order to grab one of the turboprop sector’s biggest deals, ATR assumed responsibility for recruiting some pilots and instructors for IndiGo, which like many Indian airlines faces an acute shortage, the sources told Reuters.

“The Indigo deliveries progress on a monthly basis,” the spokeswoman said. “In addition we are working with Indigo to address the pilot shortage and co-operate very closely with them on pilot instructors,” she added.
13/06/19 Tim Hepher/CNBC TV18

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Vayu, bad weather affect flight movements

Pune: The inclement weather conditions owing to cyclone Vayu and other factors impacted some flight movements at the city airport on Wednesday.
Vayu is expected to make landfall as a very severe cyclonic storm in the south of Veraval and Porbandar on Thursday, the India Meteorological Department said.

Airlines such as Vistara and GoAir published travel advisories for the passengers, stating that the bad weather in centres like Mumbai, Goa, Ahmedabad and Pune could impact the departure and arrival timings of flights. At least one Vistara flight, which was to go to Delhi from Pune, was diverted to Amritsar because of the bad weather condition in the national capital.

“Due to bad weather at Delhi, UK 998 Pune to Delhi and UK 722 Guwahati to Delhi have been diverted to Amritsar,” the airline wrote on its Twitter handle. The flight UK998 was scheduled to take off at 1:10pm, but was delayed by close to 4 hours.

IndiGo also issued two advisories— one related to the dust storm in Delhi and the other was about the bad weather conditions in Mumbai.

Two Air India flights coming to Pune from Bhopal and Goa got delayed be 2 hours and 4.30 hours, respectively, in the slot between 12pm and 3pm. In the slot between 3pm to 6pm, five flights to different destinations of various airlines saw nominal delays. An equal number of arriving flights was delayed during the same slot, sources in the airport said.
13/06/19 Times of India

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Indian Aerospace Firm Delivers 1000th Electrical Panel for Boeing Apache, 2000th Harness for Osprey

An Indian aviation firm has achieved dual-milestone with Boeing by delivering the 2000th harness for the Osprey and the 1000th electrical panel for the Apache of the global aerospace major, the company said Monday. Boeing India in a statement said, it "remains committed to investing in India's supplier capability and a local workforce across manufacturing engineering services, training and skills development, to create a world-class aerospace ecosystem in India".
Rossell Techsys has been a long-standing Boeing supplier in India, since 2013, the global aviation bellwether said. "Rossell Techsys celebrated dual milestones with Boeing for the V-22 Osprey and AH-64 Apache programs. Rossell Techsys delivered the 2000th harness for the V-22 Osprey and the 1000th electrical panel for the AH-64 Apache to Boeing," the statement said. Boeing and Rossell Techsys partnership is an example of the success of the 'Make in India' program for the AH-64 Apache, Boeing India said.
The contract for AH-64 Apache components was awarded to the Indian firm in March 2017, and the V-22 Osprey components in August 2017. In January 2019, Rossell delivered the 15,000th wire harness to Boeing for the AH-64 Apache, it added. "We are proud to partner with Rossell Techsys to deliver high-quality components for some of Boeing's most advanced platforms like the Osprey and Apache," said Salil Gupte, president, Boeing India.
Rossell Techsys, the aerospace and defence division of Rossell India Limited, is a partner to the global aerospace and defence companies, with expertise in electronic systems, test solutions, interconnect and electrical systems, and in aftermarket services. "Rossell Techsys is committed to strengthening aerospace manufacturing in India. Partnering with Boeing has enabled us to further develop and position ourselves as a globally competitive aerospace supplier," said Prabhat Kumar Bhagvandas, Chief Executive Officer, Rossell Techsys.
13/06/19 PTI/News18.com

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