British Airways Increases Mumbai Capacity Amid Jet Airways Collapse

British Airways are increasing their capacity on their Heathrow to Mumbai service, saying that it is in response to ‘increased customer demand’. With Jet Airways grounded, there are around 21 flights a week fewer between India and London than there used to be
Overall, their service to Mumbai will increase from 14 flights per week to 18 per week as a result. Reservations for these flights are already open, with the additional capacity scheduled through to 26th October 2019.
Speaking to the Independent, a BA spokesperson said:

“We regularly review our extensive global network and make changes to the schedules where necessary. We’ll be increasing our Mumbai service from 14 to 18 flights a week due to increased customer demand”

Previously, Jet Airways flew to London Heathrow twice a day from Mumbai and once daily from New Delhi.
30/05/19 Joanna Bailey/Simple Flying

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Jet Airways fiasco: India’s forex kitty hit as Qatar, British Airways, Etihad take international slots

The Jet Airways crisis has not just left a void in the Indian aviation industry but is also costing India its forex, President of Engineering Union of Jet Airways told Financial Express Online. While the domestic slots of the airline have been given to rival SpiceJet and Air India and IndiGo, its international slots have been taken up by international airlines such as Qatar and British Airways, resulting in a considerable loss to India’s forex inflows.

Jet Airways has served the international skies for 14 years from 2005 to 2019. “We used to have daily flights to London, Manchester, Singapore, Hong Kong, Paris. Who is coming up now to take these slots? Emirates, Qatar, Cathay Pacific, British Airways etc. Indian airlines have got the domestic slots but what about international slots?” Ashish Mohati, President of JAMEWA (Jet Aircraft Maintenance Engineer’s Welfare Association) told Financial Express Online.

In India, Air India and Jet Airways had the major share of international routes. With Jet grounding, British Airways has jumped to make the most of it. “British Airways immediately stopped its flight to London and Johannesburg and now is flying more aircraft to India to cater to our passengers [Jet Airways]. Who is getting the forex money, we are losing forex money,” he added.
Also, in the Middle East, India’s 90 per cent of the expatriates are working there. “Jet Airways was the biggest flyer to the Middle East. These people are now taking Qatar and Emirates. Who is making the money then?” Ashish Mohati said. “The real financial loss is to the government of India,” he added.
29/04/19 Prachi Gupta/Financial Express

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Ness Wadia: Indian business heir arrested over cannabis possession at Japanese airport

The heir to one of India’s wealthiest business empires was arrested on a skiing trip to Japan and charged with cannabis possession, according to reports.
Ness Wadia, the eldest son of business mogul and Wadia group chair Nusli Wadia, co-owns the Kings XI Punjab cricket team and holds director roles in all the family’s major companies.
Wadia, 47, was stopped by police with sniffer dogs as he arrived at the New Chitose Airport in Hokkaido, where he was visiting the popular ski resort of Niseko.
A search found 25g of cannabis resin in his trouser pocket, according to Japanese state broadcaster NHK.
Wadia admitted possession and said the cannabis was for personal use, a court official in Sapporo told the Financial Times. He was sentenced to two years in prison, suspended for five years, and has since left Japan.
“Ness Wadia is in India,” a Wadia Group spokesperson told ANI. “The judgement is clear. It’s a suspended sentence. Hence it won’t impact Ness Wadia in the discharge of any of his responsibilities.”
30/04/19 Adam Withnall/Independent

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Indian pilgrim returning after Umrah suffers mid-air heart attack

An Indian national returning to Mumbai after completing Umrah died following a heart-attack on board a Saudi Arabian Airlines.

This caused the pilots to re-route to Muscat, where paramedics gave him the required medical care, but were unable to save him.

Ibrahim Abdul Rehman Virani, born on August 7, 1944, was travelling back to India with his wife after the two of them had completed their Umrah.

They had left for Saudi Arabia on 11 April, and were due to land in Mumbai on April 26 at 7:30pm local time.
29/04/19 Times of Oman

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Airlines say the grounding of the 737 Max will cost them hundreds of millions of dollars, and they're ready to pursue Boeing for the money

US and European airlines say the grounding of the 737 Max has already cost them hundreds of millions of dollars, and they're ready to take on Boeing to get compensation.

Southwest Airlines, which operates the world's largest fleet of 737 Max planes, said it has already lost $200 million in the first quarter from cancelled flights due to the grounding of the plane as well as the government shutdown.

American Airlines estimated that the grounding will cost it $350 million, the BBC reported, as it cancelled more than 15,000 flights until August. American has 24 Boeing 737 MAX 8s in its fleet, compared to Southwest's 34.
Norwegian estimated that the "uncertainty" over the plane and when it will return to the sky will cost it up to 500 million Norwegian kroner ($58 million.) Norwegian was operating 18 737 Max planes before they were grounded, and had ordered a total of 110.
Germany's TUI Airways told the Financial Times that the grounding of the plane would cost it around €3 million ($3.4 million) a week. The airline, which operates 15 737 Max planes, also said in March that it could also take a hit of €300 million ($335 million) if the planes are still grounded by September.
The 737 Max has been grounded all over the world since a fatal Ethiopian Airlines crash in March - just five months after a fatal Lion Air crash also involving in the plane in October 2018. Almost 350 people were killed in the crashes.
The plane will stay grounded until the US Federal Aviation Administration and its equivalent regulators around the world approve Boeing's updated software systems for the plane.
29/04/19 Sinead Baker/Business Insider

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Over 20,000 Indians, among them Punjabis, stuck abroad due to ‘air crisis’

Jalandhar: Thousands of Indians, including Punjabi passengers, have got ‘stranded’ in the US, Canada, Europe and Australia for India’s biggest ever ‘air crisis’ largely triggered by abrupt grounding of over 600 Jet Airways flights and partly for temporary suspension of dozens of United Airlines, Air Canada and Turkmeinstan Airlines out-bound flights.

More than 5,000 Punjab-based passengers and around 15,000 people from rest of the country have got run aground in the USA, Canada, the UK, France, Italy, Germany, Australia, Dubai and other parts of the Middle-East as an outcome of unforeseen ‘ship wrecking’ of Jet Airways fleet on April 17.

The temporary suspension of Toronto-bound Air Canada and US-based United Airlines’ flights from New Delhi caused by clamping of ban on flying over Pakistan air space in April has only worsened the situation—resulting in a big seat capacity loss.
The worst-ever Indian ‘air crisis’ had started unfolding for the Punjabi and Indian air passengers and the country’s ‘once flourishing’ travel and tour industry, the moment the European Union (EU) had banned Turkmeinstan Airlines flights from Amritsar to the UK and Germany in March on safety grounds.

The EU, the travel trade insiders revealed, has banned the Turkmeinstan Airlines with directions to its management to first upgrade their existing planes and only then it would be allowed to fly to any European destination.


The first and largest-ever Indian Air ‘jumble’ has led to an unparalleledand huge monthly seat capacity loss crossing the mark of 20,000.

Thousands of Indian passengers stranded abroad --- mainly those who had bought return tickets from Jet Airways and the Turkmeinstan Airlines --- and who were on family visits ranging between 15 days to four months are in a fix what to do next.

“At least, I have not seen such a staggering situation in my over 40 year-long career in the travel industry. I am getting dozens of daily queries from foreign-stuck passengers. They have no option left but to buy new tickets at jacked-up prices (ranging between 30 and 200 per cent) to return home from whatever destination they have got stranded in. No airlines is adjusting passengers of any other airlines,” said D.P. Sondhi, a leading Jalandhar-based travel agent and former president of the Punjab Travel Agents’ Association.

He said Jet Airways has not extended any word even on the air-fare refund to its passengers even as, the Air Canada and the United Airlines were striving had to somehow ‘adjust’ their load with other airlines.
30/04/19 Varinder Singh/Tribune

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Indian national jailed in Singapore for taking bribes at Changi airport

Singapore: A 37-year-old Indian national has been jailed for eight weeks and fined 800 Singapore dollars for accepting bribes to under-report the weight of passenger bags on a flight at the country’s Changi Airport, a media report said on Tuesday.

Hiteshkumar Chandubhai Patel, who worked as a customer service associate for logistics service provider UBTS between January 2015 and November 2016, was ordered to pay a penalty of 800 Singapore dollars for the offence he committed, the New Paper reported.

Patel’s responsibilities at the workplace included assisting passengers at boarding gates and check-in counters for Tigerair flights.
However, he took money from an Indian national named Gopal Krishna Raju, who ran a side business of buying gold in Singapore and sending it to Chennai to be sold.

“Instead of using a courier service, he would look for travellers to Chennai to help him carry the gold over in their luggage, and they would in turn get paid by his relatives there,” the tabloid website reported.
30/04/19 PTI/Tribune

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Biman to resume direct Delhi flight

Dhaka: Biman Bangladesh Airlines is set to re-launch its Dhaka-Delhi direct flight operations next month after five years eying to earn handsome revenues as India’s private Jet airways halted its flight operations between the two capitals.
‘We are resuming the Dhaka-Delhi flight on May 13 which was stopped in 2014,’ operations manager of the state-run airlines Mohammad Zahidul Islam told BSS in the Indian capital.
Islam said Biman was set to get landing permission in Delhi by the end of this week and would initially operate three
flights weekly in its Dhaka-Delhi route with its 162-seat Boeing 737-800 on Monday, Thursday and Saturday.
29/04/19 New Age

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IndiGo cancels B’luru-Phuket weekly flights for 2 months

Bengaluru: Citing ‘commercial non-viability’ as the reason, IndiGo has cancelled two of its non-stop weekly flights between Bengaluru and Phuket, Thailand, for May and June. Six weekly non-stop IndiGo direct flights between Delhi and Phuket, however, will continue to fly.

“Phuket is a key market for IndiGo and we see great potential in the growth of tourism between India and Phuket. We will explore various alternative routes which will enable us to optimally utilize our fleet,” a spokesperson told TOI. The two weekly direct services had commenced operations in November, 2018.
28/04/19 Times of India

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Indo-Pak airspace tussle spices up

New Delhi: A Sharjah-Kabul SpiceJet cargo flight is the latest trigger for an India-Pakistan airspace tussle that started after Islamabad closed its airspace to Indian aircraft in late February.
Pakistan closed its airspace after an aerial dogfight between its F-16s and Indian fighter jets that followed Indian Air Force’s February 26 strike on a terrorist training camp of the Jaish-e-Mohammad in Balakot. India, apart from a few hours on February 27 and that too only for its northern airports, did not close its airspace to Pakistani civilian aircraft.
Even a ban would have made little difference to Pakistan’s few international commercial flights because they don’t use Indian airspace. But Pakistan-registered aircraft operating non-scheduled flights were allowed to use Indian airspace before the SpiceJet incident.
That’s now changed.
Airspace over Pakistan’s western border is used mainly by flights originating in the Middle East. On April 3, a Sharjah-Kabul SpiceJet cargo flight (VT-SFB) was turned back by Pakistani air traffic controllers despite the Indian carrier having obtained prior permission from Pakistan’s Civil Aviation Authority.
SpiceJet sent a complaint to India’s civil aviation ministry — ET has reviewed the plaint — and the ministry forwarded it to the ministry of external affairs. And India decided to retaliate.
No permission is being granted any more by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) for non-scheduled flights by Pak-registered aircraft.
Non-scheduled flights include those by aircraft owned by individuals or companies or chartered planes or even aircraft carrying government or personnel from multilateral agencies.
“There is no written order but we are not allowing any Pakistan-registered aircraft to use the Indian airspace since the day (April 3) Islamabad did not allow an India-registered aircraft despite clearances,” said a senior DGCA official, who did not want to be identified.
27/04/19 Mihir Mishra/Economic Times

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Rs 300 cr hole in Air India pocket as Pak airspace closes

New Delhi: Air India has suffered losses of around Rs 300 crore since late February as its long haul flights from New Delhi are taking longer to reach destinations in Europe, the Gulf and the US because of the closure of Pakistan’s airspace.

The Pakistani airspace has remained shut for traffic to and from India ever since hostilities broke out between the two countries after the Pulwama suicide bombing in Jammu and Kashmir on February 14.

With its aircraft operating from New Delhi spending longer time in air, Air India is incurring daily loss of Rs 6 crore on extra fuel burn, cabin staff expenses and reduced flights.

The national carrier has approached the Civil Aviation Ministry to ensure it is compensated for the loss given that the airline cannot pull out these flights due to various obligations.

“Air India has communicated to us about this. It is being taken up with all concerned,” a Ministry official said.
The Air India flights to the US from Delhi now take 2-3 hours extra one way due to the restrictions over Pakistani airspace. Flights to Europe are taking almost two hours more, resulting in financial loss.

The airspace closure following an air strike by the Indian Air Force on the Jaish-e-Mohamnad (JeM) terror camp in Pakistan’s Balakot on February 27 has affected most airlines from Europe and the US that operate flights to and from New Delhi.
28/04/19 Tribune

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Air Serbia to take Jet Airways slots at Heathrow

Etihad Airways will lease seven weekly slot pairs at London Heathrow Airport to Air Serbia. They were previously utilised by the now grounded Indian carrier Jet Airways. The Indian airline, which was until recently the country's second-largest, suspended flights last week under the weight of high debt and a severe cash crunch. Etihad has since taken over some of its slots at one of the world's most congested airports, in London, which it will lease as of tomorrow to Air Serbia for an undisclosed sum. The two partners have submitted a slot swap request form. As a result, Air Serbia is expected to soon add an extra seven weekly services between Belgrade and London Heathrow.

The swap request was submitted yesterday to Airport Coordination Limited, a slot coordination company, and will be in effect until the end of the 2019 summer season on October 26. They include a daily 17.20 arrival into Heathrow and a 19.45 departure. The airline already owns a daily 10.25 arrival and 13.30 departure slot, as well as a two weekly (weekend) 18.10 arrival slot and 18.55 departure. The newly leased slots will be operated under new flight numbers JU388/JU389. A 136-seat Etihad Airways Airbus A320 is expected to be deployed on the service on behalf of Air Serbia.
27/04/19 Ex-Yu Aviation News

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Boeing whistleblowers report 737 Max problems to FAA

Washington: The day after Ethiopia released a preliminary crash report on Ethiopian Airlines flight 302, four Boeing employees called a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) whistleblower hotline that allows employees and the public to report aviation safety issues, the media reported on Saturday.

An informed source said on Friday that the hotline submissions involved current and former Boeing employees describing issues related to the angle of attack sensor -- a vane that measures the plane's angle in the air -- and the anti-stall system called MCAS, which is unique to the Boeing 737 MAX plane, CNN reported.

All of the 737 Max planes worldwide have been grounded after the two crashes that occurred within a span of five months that killed a total of 346 people.

The FAA told CNN on Friday that it received the four hotline submissions on April 5, and it may be opening up an entirely new investigative angle into what went wrong in the crashes of two Boeing 737 Max commercial airliners -- Lion Air flight 620 in October 2018 and Ethiopian Air flight 302 on March 10.

Among the complaints is a previously unreported issue involving damage to the wiring of the angle of attack sensor by a foreign object, according to the source.

Other reports by the whistleblowers involved concerns about the MCAS control cut-out switches, which disengage the MCAS software, according to the source.
27/04/19 IANS/Outlook

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India issues advisory for citizens travelling to Sri Lanka

New Delhi: As more violence erupted in Sri Lanka during raids by security forces in the wake of the Easter bombings, the government has advised Indian citizens to avoid all non-essential travel to Sri Lanka.

“In view of the prevailing security situation in Sri Lanka in the aftermath of terror attacks on 21 April 2019, Indian nationals intending to travel to Sri Lanka are advised not to undertake non-essential travel,” the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement on April 27, adding that the nationwide emergency and night-time curfews in place will make travelling within Sri Lanka more difficult.

Several countries including the U.S., the U.K, Canada and Australia, who had issued travel advisories after the Easter bombing, have upgraded their advisories after reports that more attacks could be planned by the same group.
On Friday, the Australian government said in its advisory that terrorists were “likely to carry out further attacks in Sri Lanka. Attacks could be indiscriminate, including in places visited by foreigners”, while the U.S. raised its advisory to a “Level 3”, telling American nationals to “reconsider travel to Sri Lanka” and ordering the departure of all schoolgoing children of U.S. government employees and others.
27/04/19 The Hindu

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'Bonanza time': Foreign carriers savor rising India demand as Jet Airways crumbles

New Delhi/Mumbai: The grounding of India’s Jet Airways is turning into a quick windfall and long-term opportunity for international airlines keen to scoop up nearly a million outbound passengers from what was once the nation’s biggest airline.
Jet, which previously had a fleet of around 120 largely Boeing Co planes, was forced to indefinitely halt all flight operations on April 17 after its banks rejected the carrier’s plea for emergency funds.

The carrier’s descent into crisis has benefited international airlines in the form of rising fares and demand, data showed.

Fares from India to cities such as Dubai, London, New York, Singapore and Bali in the first quarter of 2019 rose between 4 percent and 32 percent from a year ago, according to Indian travel portal MakeMyTrip Ltd.

In the peak travel months of May and June, fares to London have spiked as much as 36 percent and tickets to San Francisco are up nearly 20 percent from a year ago, according to data from travel portal Yatra.com.
26/04/19 Aditi Shah/Abhirup Roy/Reuters

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Pak airspace closure, Jet Air turbulence hit flight schedules

New Delhi: Even as international flight schedules to and from India are under pressure on account of the disruption of Jet Airways services and the closure of the Pakistani airspace, domestic fliers are likely to have an easier time as carriers are adding close to 20 aircraft in the next two weeks to fill the void created by the Jet disruption.
IndiGo is expected to induct about 10 aircraft, SpiceJet five and AirAsia and GoAir two aircraft each. Most of the Jet Air fleet of 40 aircraft have been withdrawn by the leasing companies. Officials said the Jet Air going down meant that close to 80,000 to 1,00,000 seats a day were out of the system in the domestic skies. But since the decline in capacity has been spread over several weeks between February and April this year, there has been augmentation to some extent.
Officials, however, did not give a figure of the number of seats that have been compensated for by the Indian carriers.
Meanwhile, the closure of the Pakistani airspace which has been in force for over two months now after India carried out air strikes in Balakot on March 26 is still impacting international operations.
“Pakistan airspace closure has added about 90 minutes of flying time to India. This has made it non-viable for many airlines to operate to India,” an official said.
In the last few days, there has been a partial re-opening of the Pakistani airspace as one entry and exit point has been opened, giving limited relief to airlines.
25/04/19 Ashwini Phadnis/Business Line

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IndiGo temporarily halts non-stop services from Doha to Thiruvananthapuram, Ahmedabad

India’s leading private airline IndiGo has decided to temporarily halt direct services from Doha to Thiruvananthapuram and Ahmedabad from May 1, citing “commercial viability” reasons.

However, the airline’s online bookings to Thiruvananthapuram and Ahmedabad non-stop are open, again from August 1.

The airline has already notified passengers who have booked to Thiruvananthapuram and Ahmedabad between May 1 and July 31 about the temporary suspension of services to the two Indian cities.

A passenger said he was “offered either a full refund or rebooking via another IndiGo destination in India that caters to Doha.”

When contacted C Leekha, director (Corporate Communications) at IndiGo Airlines said, “With high demand due to holiday season approaching and commercial viability reasons, IndiGo flights operating on Ahmedabad and Trivandrum to Doha routes will now fly out of Mumbai and Delhi respectively. This said, we will continue to explore various alternate routes which will enable us to optimally utilise our fleet. We are committed to serve the air-transportation needs of the Indian public with on-time, courteous and hassle-free and low fares proposition.”

She, however, did not say whether the decision to halt services to Thiruvananthapuram and Ahmedabad was temporary or not.

Many Qatar-based passengers were dismayed by the Indian carrier’s decision as it was “affecting their travel plans during the peak season.”
25/04/19 Gulf Times

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Blasts make Air India defer Mumbai-Colombo flight launch

New Delhi: Air India has deferred the launch of its Mumbai-Colombo flight following the Easter Sunday serial blasts in the Sri Lankan capital.
The five-times weekly was to start from May 1 but may now start a month later. AI, IndiGo, SpiceJet and Sri Lankan are continuing their existing flights between India and the island nation.
However, several travellers are postponing or cancelling their trips to the island. IndiGo on Thursday tweeted, “The full fee waiver on rescheduling / cancellation for all flights to / from Colombo has been extended till May 15, 2019.” Air India has done the same till April 30 and may extend the date further.
Passengers flying out of Colombo have been asked to reach the airport at least four hours before flight departure time due to heightened security measures.
26/04/19 Times of India

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Boeing Junks Order For 210 Planes After Jet Airways Stops Flying

Boeing Co removed 210 aircraft from its order backlog and took an impairment charge over customer financing losses on Wednesday following the near-collapse of India's Jet Airways.
The adjustment pushed the world's largest planemaker behind European rival Airbus in the race for business this year as both companies grappled with cancellations that outweighed new orders in the first quarter.
Under recent changes in accounting rules, Boeing hives off orders that no longer meet its criteria for recognising revenue into a separate category, while defending contractual claims.
As a result, Boeing net orders for the first quarter slid into negative territory, with a total of minus 119 net orders after cancellations, despite a slew of new wide-body sales.
Airbus posted a negative total of 58 net orders over the same period.
Boeing finance director Greg Smith confirmed the adjustment was related to financial problems at Jet Airways, which halted all flight operations indefinitely on April 17 after its lenders rejected a plea for emergency funds.
24/04/19 NDTV

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Remains of Ethiopian Airlines Victims Still Scattered Around Crash Site

According to Ethiopian Airlines, contact with the Boeing 737 Max 8 was lost at 8:44 a.m. on March 10, just a few minutes after it took off. The plane crashed shortly afterwards, killing all 157 people from 35 nations onboard.
Families of the victims and a spokesperson for ZAKA, an emergency response organization in Israel, recently told the Times of Israel that the victims' human remains and personal belongings have been left exposed at the crash site.
"What I personally found on the crash site left me shocked. Among many things, I collected legible business cards, a vaccine booklet, and an agenda. Each of these had vividly readable names and surnames, and were just left on the surface, completely unattended," a family member of one of the victims, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told the Times of Israel. She decided to visit the crash site after becoming frustrated with responses from Ethiopian authorities to her inquiries about the accident and recovery.
"To my dismay, we also found what looked like remains of human bones, which were then handed over to the guardians in the military tent, just outside the site of the crash," she told the Times of Israel, also adding that the remains were "wrapped using some mere plastic found on the ground."
The plane crashed outside the Ethiopian town of Bishoftu, southeast of Addis Ababa, causing a 80-meter by 80-meter crater upon impact. Photographs of the crash site provided to the Times of Israel show the victims' belongings and plane fragments still scattered around the site, almost two months after the crash.
According to ZAKA chief Meshi Zahav, his organization even offered to purchase the crash site from Ethiopian authorities to speed up the recovery efforts. However, Ethiopian authorities turned down ZAKA's request. Zahav also speculated that Ethiopian authorities may be overwhelmed by the cost and effort required to carry out such a large operation. They may also not understand the importance of obtaining the victims' physical remains, which are required to hold proper religious funerals in Islam and Judaism, he added.
Furthermore, victims whose bodies are not recovered in Israel are listed in government files as "disappeared" instead of "dead," which can result in complications when it comes to administering inheritances or remarrying.
22/04/19 Sputnik

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Air India puts off launch of Mumbai-Colombo flight

Air India has deferred the launch of its Mumbai-Colombo-Mumbai flight after the serial bomb blasts in the Sri Lankan capital on Sunday. The five-times a week non-stop flight was to be launched on May 1 using an Airbus aircraft.
In a communication to travel agents sent out on Wednesday, the state-owned airline said that in view of disruptions at Colombo, AI 275/276 Mumbai-Colombo Mumbai flight “stands cancelled” between May 1 and May 31. Over 350 people of various nationalities, including Indians, were killed in the blasts.
The airline’s daily connection between Delhi and Colombo continues to operate and on Thursday it was about 90 minutes late in leaving Delhi.
Sources in SpiceJet said that they will continue to operate their flights from Madurai and Chennai to Colombo adding that passenger load on these flights was doing okay. They declined to say how many passengers were travelling to Colombo.
Meanwhile, Indian carriers flying to Colombo have advised their passengers to report four hours early for check in. They have also advised passengers that all vehicles entering the airport in Colombo will be checked in front of the cargo terminal and that all passenger vehicles will be stopped at the outer lane.
24/04/19 Ashwini Phadnis/Business Line

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SpiceJet, Emirates sign MoU for codeshare partnership

SpiceJet and Emirates have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to enter into a reciprocal codeshare agreement, which is set to open new routes and destinations for passengers travelling between India and popular destinations across America, Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

SpiceJet passengers travelling from Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Kochi, Amritsar, Jaipur, Pune, Mangalore, Madurai, Kozhikode and 41 other domestic destinations that the airline operates to, will be able to access Emirates’ expansive network across the globe.

Ajay Singh, Chairman and Managing Director, SpiceJet, said: “I am delighted to announce that as part of SpiceJet’s international expansion strategy, we have signed a MoU for a codeshare agreement with Emirates. This new partnership should immensely benefit passengers travelling on both airlines. While SpiceJet passengers from across India will be able to enjoy seamless connectivity leveraging Emirates vast network across Europe, Africa, America and the Middle East those travelling to India on Emirates will be able to travel to 51 destinations across our domestic network.”

SpiceJet passengers travelling from India will have more choice to travel seamlessly with minimum connection times, when flying to destinations in Emirates’ Europe network such as London, Paris, Frankfurt, Manchester and Amsterdam. Subject to regulatory approvals, the codeshare agreement will also open up flights for Indian travellers to North and South American destinations such as New York, Washington, Toronto, and Sao Paulo as well as Middle Eastern destinations such as Jeddah, Kuwait and Amman, operated by Emirates.
24/04/19 Indian Awaz

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Etihad concludes due diligence process for Jet Airways bid

Abu Dhabi based Etihad Airways has concluded the due-diligence process before it places its financial bid for acquiring Jet Airways. The other two potential bidders- TPG Capital and the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) have also started their respective processes and are expected to bid jointly with Etihad.

SBI Caps last week had opened the window for potential bidders to examine the books of Jet Airways. The lenders now have set May 10 deadline for submitting the binding financial bids, the Hindu Business Line reported.
"Jet Airways has provided a data room where all the necessary documents, information and data related to the airline's assets, debt, costs, governance information and information on employee strength among other things have been opened up for the bidders," a source told the news daily. The bidding process according to the source is going ahead and none of the shortlisted companies (Etihad, TPG Capital and NIIF) as yet have said that they are withdrawing from it.
This comes at a time when the Civil Aviation Ministry is trying to calm the frayed nerves of potential bidders by saying that the vacated slots would be allocated to other airlines on an interim basis for three months and would be turned about once Jet Airways resumes operations.
24/04/19 Business Today

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Long wait to land force Air India flight to declare May Day in Hong Kong

New Delhi: An Air India flight approaching to land in Hong Kong recently had to declare May Day after hovering for a long time and unavailability of diversion airports — where it would have gone after waiting to land at the destination — due to bad weather. Then in the interest of flight safety, the crew of this Boeing 787 Dreamliner issued the stress call to finally get clearance to land in Hong Kong.

The scare happened on March 20 when AI 315 was operating from Osaka to Hong Kong with over 170 people on board, before flying back to India. “The aircraft had to hold for very long time before landing and hence due (to) critical fuel, the pilot declared May Day. It was no fault of AI,” said an airline spokesman.

Airline officials say the flight had been hovering, waiting for its turn to land at Hong Kong airport. “During this long wait, the aircraft hit diversion fuel. Hong Kong ATC told the flight that the diversion airports were unavailable due to bad weather. At that point in the interest of flight safety the crew declared May Day,” said an AI official.

Fuel uplift for a flight is decided by adding these factors: fuel required for going from origin to destination; hovering fuel at destination; fuel to go to a diversion airport in case the destination is not available for some reason like some aircraft getting stuck on its single runway and finally hovering fuel at alternate/diversion airport.
24/04/19 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

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Scoot flight from Bengaluru to Singapore delayed due false security threat, 173 passengers affected

Singapore – A Singapore-bound Scoot flight from Bengaluru, India, was delayed for almost 14 hours after a false security report was released.
Flight TR573 was supposed to depart from the south Indian city of Bengaluru at 1:20 am local time on April 23 (Tuesday), but due to a verbal security threat, the flight was tentatively rescheduled for take-off 14 hours later.
“Due to a verbal security threat, a passenger had to be removed from the flight by airport security,” said a Scoot spokesperson.
“All passengers were required to undergo security screening and immigration clearance again, and no suspicious items were found. As a result of the additional security procedures, flight time limits of the operating crew were exceeded,” added the spokesperson.
Netizen Haresh Kumar posted a video showing passengers arguing with an airport staff member. He expressed his concern for the lack of communication on the part of the airlines as his parents and niece were among the affected passengers. They were stranded for hours with little information on the cause of delay.
24/04/19 Hana Otsuka/Independent

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Seamless passenger transfer as Emirates, SpiceJet enters code sharing deal

Mumbai: The passenger transfers at Dubai airport and service differentiation will not be an issue, said Dubai-based airline Emirates as it entered into a code share agreement with SpiceJet on Monday.

Emirates is the largest foreign airline operating to India and its home base, Dubai, is the largest overseas hub for Indian travellers.

Emirates and SpiceJet signed a memorandum of understanding for code shares which will allow passengers from India more travel options.

At present, Emirates operates from Terminal 3 while Spice Jet works from Terminal 1 in Dubai. Also, Emirates is a full service airline with first class and business cabins and full fledged loyalty programme while SpiceJet offers no frills and charges passengers for meals.

An Emirates spokesperson, however, said these issues will not impact passengers.

"There will be no change to the current transfer process between terminals at Dubai international airport. Passengers are transported via an inter terminal shuttle bus which operates between terminals every 20 minutes," Emirates said in a statement.

"It is not uncommon in codeshare partnerships to have mixed cabin itineraries and customers are not averse with this as a seamless connectivity and quicker overall journey takes priority. The codeshare partnership will enable Spicejet customers to experience Emirates’ renowned product and service," the airline added.
23/04/19 Aneesh Phadnis/Business Standard

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Emirates - SpiceJet codeshare agreement to help flyers from Mangaluru

Dubai / New Delhi: Emirates Airlines has announced the signing of an initial pact of codeshare with India's budget airlines SpiceJet. This new arrangement could help Indian passengers from various airports and Indian airports to Europe, Africa, America, Middle East and other destinations. The announcement could bring some relief to fliers to and from Indian airports who are disappointed after the closure of Jet Airways.

Passengers traveling from and to Mangaluru airport had Jet airways that connected to USA, Canada, Europe and other popular destinations. But new codeshare agreement between Emirates and SpiceJet will bring huge relief to passengers as SpiceJet will issue boarding pass from Mangaluru to any destinations in the world where Emirates airlines connect. Travelers from Mangaluru can now take SpiceJet flight to Bengaluru, Mumbai or Dubai to take-up onward journey to world's popular destinations via Emirates airlines, under single PNR or reservation. The inconvenience of shifting luggage from one point to other is also solved.
According to Khaleej Times, UAE English daily, the partnership will enable Emirates' passengers to enjoy seamless connectivity on flights to India, leveraging SpiceJet's strong domestic presence and adding six new destinations: Amritsar, Jaipur, Pune, Mangaluru, Madurai and Kozhikode - to the nine existing cities in India served by Emirates.

This will bolster Emirates' already-extensive network adding a total of 67 weekly connections between Emirates' hub in Dubai to these six fast-growing destinations in India.
23/04/19 daijoworld

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AAI set to sue Dutch airline after Indian team misses Archery WC

The Archery Association of India (AAI) has said that it is considering legal action against Dutch airlines KLM, whose “failure to transport the Indian archery team to Colombia” for the World Cup Stage I in Medellin prevented the archers from competing in the major event.

After the selection trials in Bhubaneswar on March 18, the AAI said that it got the sanction of financial assistance from the Sports Ministry and the Sports Authority of India (SAI) for the tour and got the visa for all 23 members of the Indian side.
AAI said the travel agent, Balmer Lawrie and Co., booked ‘confirmed’ tickets on KLM airlines, which told the archers that they could not get the connecting flight from Amsterdam to Medellin due to the delay in an incoming flight and expressed its helplessness in making alternative arrangement.

“The AAI officials, senior SAI officers and the travel agents worked very hard during the weekend to book the team through some other route but could not succeed as the flights were full for Easter weekend…Hence the trip was abandoned informing World Archery and local organisers of World Cup in Columbia,” said AAI in a statement.
23/04/19 YB Sarangi/Sportstar

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Jaipur airport: Australian arrested for carrying satellite phone; 2nd foreigner this month

Jaipur: The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) arrested a foreign resident identified as Paul for carrying a satellite phone at Jaipur International airport on Monday.

Paul is a resident of Australia and was travelling to Delhi from Jaipur airport in an Indigo flight.

According to the CISF officials, the accused was caught when the scanning machine during Indigo airlines check-in baggage gave an odd signal. The scanner belt was stopped and the officials found a satellite phone in one of baggage that belonged to Paul. The accused was immediately taken into the custody.
The CISF officials handed over the accused to the police for further investigation after the necessary paperwork.

The accused did not inform anyone that he was carrying a satellite phone. Only during the security check, the matter came to light, added officials.
23/04/19 Rimjhim Jethani/PinkCityPost

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Indian woman gives birth at Dubai Airport

Dubai: An Indian woman gave birth at Dubai Airport with the help of a female inspector.

According to a Khaleej Times report on Saturday, the unidentified Indian woman went into labour at Terminal 2 of the airport but people around were reduced to mute spectators as they didn't know what to do.

Soon, Hanan Hussein Mohammed, an inspector at the airport, appeared as a saviour on the scene and swung into action to handle the emergency situation.

She rushed the pregnant woman to the inspection room of the airport and helped her give birth to the baby there. But the baby was not breathing which led Mohammed to perform cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on the new-born.

The mother and her baby were then taken to hospital.
20/04/19 Outlook

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Norwich family stranded in India could lose another £1,500 if they get seats on first available flight

A family stranded in Goa face a nervous wait to see if they get seats on a plane to England this evening - but they could lose another £1,500 in cancellation fees.
The holiday nightmare is continuing for Gary Howard and his family, who have been told it will cost £380 per person to cancel seats on a Monday flight from Mumbai to Heathrow.

That Air India flight is costing the Norwich family £5,500 as prices steeple in the wake of the cancellation on Wednesday of all Jet Airways flights to and from India.

The move has left thousands of people scrambling to find another flight home.

Mr Howard was supposed to be flying home on Saturday with his partner Freny Fernandes, her daughter Naina and his, Naiara, both 12.
But their Jet Airways flights were grounded, and they were at first offered seats on another plane for £4,000 each.

After many hours of frantic phone calls and online searches, they found the Monday slot through Southall Travel, flying Air India from Goa to Heathrow, with a six-hour wait at Mumbai.

They have since been told by Thomas Cook that they are on standby for an Air India flight direct from Goa to Manchester at 1.15am Saturday local time (8.45pm Friday UK time).
19/04/19 Eastern Daily Press

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Launch of Buddha Air’s Kolkata-Kathmandu flight delayed over LS polls

The ongoing Lok Sabha elections has delayed the launch of Nepal’s private airline Buddha Air’s proposed flight between Kolkata and Kathmandu by over a month.
The airline will now begin its operation from May 27 instead of its earlier plan to start from April 16, Buddha Air’s Marketing Director Rupesh Joshi said.
“We will operate three weekly flights between Kathmandu and Kolkata on Monday, Wednesday and Friday from May 27,” he said.
“Both the India government and all agencies involved with aviation business suggested to begin the service post election. So we decided to defer it,” he said.
Buddha Air would be the second Nepali Airline to connect Kolkata with Kathmandu after the Royal Nepal Airlines’ withdrawal from Kolkata two decades back, Joshi said.
The Royal Nepal Airlines now operates flights from Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore to Kathmandu, he said.
Joshi said grounding of Jet Airways will affect tourism in Nepal and a large number of booking for hotels and tour operators have been cancelled.
19/04/19 Prime Time

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Etihad rebooks passengers as Jet Airways halts operations

Dubai: India's Jet Airways on Wednesday suspended all flights after it failed to reach a deal with lenders while its UAE-based minority stakeholder Etihad Airways confirmed that it continued to re-accommodate and support affected guests.

"With immediate effect, we are compelled to cancel all our international and domestic flights," the debt-stricken carrier said on Wednesday evening.

Abu Dhabi-based Etihad said in a statement to Khaleej Times that their teams are assisting guests with their travel arrangements and rebooking those affected onto the next available flights.

"We continue to work with Jet management, lenders and key stakeholders in the context of the lender-managed effort to restructure the company," it said.

The debt-stricken carrier decided to suspend flights after its chief executive Vinay Dube made a final appeal to lenders to release Rs4 billion in emergency funding. But the consortium, led by State Bank of India, refused to entertain its request for interim funding. The cash-strapped airline owes more than Rs80 billion to the consortium.

"Since no emergency funding from the lenders or any other source is forthcoming, the airline will not be able to pay for fuel or other critical services to keep the operations going. Consequently, with immediate effect, Jet Airways is compelled to cancel all its international and domestic flights. The last flight will operate today (Wednesday evening)," Jet said in a statement.
18/04/19 Waheed Abbas/Khaleej Times

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Air France KLM Stop Selling Jet Airways Codeshare Tickets

Another domino has fallen in the rapid decline of Jet Airways. Air France / KLM, one of the first European airlines to partner up with Jet Airways has decided to stop selling codeshare tickets to the carrier.
Whilst it might seem a little savage, it is fair as Jet Airways has since stopped running its half of the international services leaving Air France / KLM up in the air (pun not intended).
Jet Airways first began a partnership with KLM in 1995. What began as marketing support blossomed into a codeshare agreement in 2014 allowing passengers to travel on both networks and thus across two continents.
Even when the financial problems of Jet Airways began, KLM and Air France (they are merged as one entity, but operate separately) have continued to back the struggling airline.
However, Jet Airways has had to take some drastic action in the form of dropping routes, including those that fly outside of India, as well as giving up their valuable landing slots at Heathrow. As such it has left the partnership between the two airlines in unknown territory as Jet Airways is unable to fulfill its side of the bargain.
It would be hard for them to do so, as currently they are only flying a handful of ATR 72-500’s and one 737-800 (tail number VT-SJI for those enthusiasts). These aircraft have a low range and would never be considered to fly to Europe (Unless you are Lufthansa and fly one every week to India). Considering just over a year ago they operated a fleet of 120 aircraft with 200 on order, this is quite a fall.
17/04/19 Nicholas/Simpleflying

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Madurai airport records 16% growth in foreign passengers, 3% domestic

Madurai: The Madurai airport has clocked an increased passenger traffic for the financial year 2018-19, when compared to its previous financial year. While the increase is from the foreign passenger segment, a similar jump was not witnessed in the domestic segment.

The airport has handled 15,32,071 passengers in 2018-19, a healthy increase of 6.1% from the previous year. Of that, 11,78,738 were domestic passengers and 3,53,333 international. Percentage wise, international passenger segment grew by 16.29% whereas domestic segment grew by just 3.33%.

In 2017-18, there was a steep increase in the domestic passenger segment as the growth was 63.17% compared to its previous year. The increase in international passenger segment witnessed a growth of 13.13% during that financial year.

There are multiple reasons behind lesser growth in the domestic passengers sector in 2018-19 including grounding of flights by Jet Airways, increased flight ticket rates and absence of round-the-clock operations. Although the airport has grown busier over the years, 24-hours operation is still eluding it. Aviation enthusiasts say that for an airport that has already crossed the 15 lakh passengers a year mark, round-the-clock operation is pertinent for further growth.
17/04/19 Times of India

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Calls for direct flights between Ireland and India

Members of an Indian diaspora group are lamenting the lack of a direct flight between Ireland and India.

Over 45,000 Indians live in Ireland today with the number expected to continually grow over the coming years due to demand for skilled workers.

The organisation held a peaceful demonstration outside Leinster House last week to call for change.

Currently, no flight directly links the two countries with many Indian residents travelling to London to catch a flight back to their home country.

Making the case for a direct flight, Shashank Chakerwarti (who is an Irish peace commissioner) said that a direct flight between the two countries would not only improve cultural relations between them but would also benefit both countries economically post Brexit.

“A direct flight signifies the cultural, historical and economic ties between the two fast-growing economies, especially post-Brexit,” he told TheJournal.ie.
17/04/19 The Journal

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Nepal citizen caught at KIA with Indian voter card

The Bureau of Immigration (BoI) officials have arrested a 44-year-old woman from Nepal for having an Indian voter card.
During the immigration clearance, the woman reportedly gave the voter ID card as the identity proof for the immigration clearance and was caught. Despite having the Nepalese passport, the woman is alleged to have obtained the Indian voter card by submitting forged documents.
A case against her has been registered at the BIAL police station. The police have identified the woman as Sapkota Tulasi Devi, from Chitwan in Nepal. She has been staying at Mudukku Street in Melapuliyur in Tamil Nadu. The immigration officials intercepted Devi as she presented her travel documents for clearance.
One of the travel documents included her voter identity card issued in India. The immigration officials found out that she had a valid Nepalese passport and was the citizen of Nepal.
 “During a detailed questioning, she is said to have confessed that she came to India in 1995 and married Devi Prasad Sharma alias Sapkota Govinda Prasad, a Nepalese working as an operator at a private firm in Tiruchendur of Tamil Nadu,” said an officer. The woman was caught a few days back at the Kempe Gowda International Airport from where she was travelling to Nepal. She is said to have studied up to eighth standard in Nepal and later come to India. The police officers are trying to find out how she managed to get the Indian voter identity card.
 17/04/19 Praveen Kumar/Bangalore Mirror

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Etihad Group Faces Another Failure As India's Jet Airways Collapses

India’s Jet Airways is undergoing a spectacular collapse and even last-minute financing might not be enough to get the airline back in the air. It's looking like another failure for Etihad Group, which has tried to buy its way into closed markets by taking stakes in a number of struggling airlines.
The growth of low-cost competition in India, a rise in fuel prices and an unfavorable exchange rate contributed to the $1.2 billion debt that the airline faces today.

The crisis at Jet Airways has been allowed to go on too long, says aviation industry analyst Thomas Jaeger, CEO of ch-aviation GmbH.

“It is quite unusual that airlines are allowed to carry on operating for such a long time despite not paying salaries, loans, and dues with public bodies,” he says. “The Indian market has been very competitive for many years with a much higher than worldwide average market share of low-cost carriers, and the Gulf carriers’ capacity and more competitive hubs in Dubai and Doha, for example, making the competitive landscape a tough one to operate in for a full service carrier like Jet Airways.”
Through his flight distribution business, Jetair, Naresh Goyal, founder of Jet Airways, is reportedly working with Future Trend Capital, Delaware and London-based Adi Partners to save the airline.
Etihad Aviation Group, which currently holds 24% of Jet Airways, has hesitated to increase its stake and failed to reach terms for additional financial support. Etihad had wanted Goyal to cede control of the airline, which Goyal agreed to in March of this year. However, the situation has only worsened and Jet Airways is still waiting for a rescue package.
“There have been board conflicts between Etihad and Naresh Goyal, with arguments over who runs Jet Airways and makes which decision, which is also similar to what happened at other carriers,” Jaeger says.
Etihad's influence on these partners, Jaeger says, has not always been positive in part because the objective of the investment has been to strengthen Etihad and its base in Abu Dhabi. “[Etihad] did invest in Jet Airways with the intent of buying feed for its global air hub ambitions in Abu Dhabi, and feeding that hub was not necessarily in Jet’s best interest,” Jaeger says.
15/04/19 Marisa Garcia/Forbes

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CDB Aviation moves to take back A330s from Jet Airways

CDB Aviation has filed applications to deregister two Airbus A330-300s operated by Jet Airways, while Castlelake and Orix Aviation have also filed similar motions to take back Boeing 737-800s.

Records from India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) show that the A330s bear MSNs 1370 and 1361 and are usually stationed in Mumbai. They are powered by General Electric CF6 engines.

They are the first widebody aircraft that a lessor has applied to have deregistered, with most filings to date seeking deregistration of 737s and ATR 72s.
The latest update from the DGCA also shows that Castlelake has filed to deregister two 737-800s (MSNs 33555 and 33556), which are owned by the CLAST 2016-1 porfolio, and Orix MSN 42800.
Ten 737NGs have now been deregistered in accordance with requests form the lessors that manage them, while there are 19 requests that are still pending.
The DGCA has five working days to deregister an aircraft after receiving the request. After that is completed, the owners then have to gain clearances from airports and government agencies if they choose to export the aircraft from India, which in some cases may take weeks.
15/04/19 Ellis Taylor/FlightGlobal

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SpiceJet to start direct flights from Mumbai to Colombo, 4 other destinations

New Delhi: SpiceJet on Monday announced the launch of non-stop flights from Mumbai to Colombo, Dhaka, Riyadh, Hong Kong and Kathmandu. The no-frills airline would start the services from the end of May.
In a release, the carrier said it would be the first Indian budget carrier to launch daily direct flights on the Mumbai-Colombo, Mumbai-Dhaka, Mumbai-Riyadh, Mumbai-Hong Kong and Mumbai-Kathmandu sectors. Boeing 737 NG aircraft would be deployed in the new routes.

“We are delighted to connect a large number of popular international destinations from Mumbai, a city that has always been a key and integral part of our network,” SpiceJet Chairman and Managing Director Ajay Singh said. Riyadh and Kathmandu are two upcoming international destinations for the airline.
15/04/19 PTI/Business Line

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Here is how you will be impacted by the suspension of Jet Airways' international operations

The early signs of distress in Jet Airways were visible in the July to September quarter of 2018. While the airline was gloating over the induction of Boeing 737 MAX8 aircraft – its first new induction after ages — there was little to cheer on the financial side.

One of the principal casualties of the financial duress was the international network. It was a chicken-and-egg situation for Jet — international routes were critical for the airline to stay aloft as they accounted for more than 50 percent of revenues in the preceding quarter, but the debt-laden airline did not have the cash or the planes to persist with these routes.

As of last weekend, the airline closed reservations of its long-haul wide-body operations to Amsterdam from Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru, to London from Mumbai and Delhi and to Paris from Mumbai and Chennai, leading scores of passengers stranded. From what was restricted to airports in India, the Jet Airways crisis was going global. This was followed up by the news of Etihad Airways taking away the three pair of slots it had leased to Jet at London Heathrow – one of the handful of airports in the world that allow slot trading.

Over the years, Jet had built a formidable international network. This included the flights to the Middle East from multiple points in India, its long-haul network to North America – first via its hub at Brussels and later from Amsterdam and its four daily flights to London.

The withdrawal of international services also marks an almost end to its wide-body operations led by the B77W aircraft, the first of which was inducted in mid-2007. Unfortunately, the aircraft arrival coincided with the downturn of 2008-09 and the airline, for the most part, had the planes being leased to Etihad, Turkish, Gulf Air and Thai Airways. When the entire fleet was back at the beginning of winter schedule in 2017, the airline re-started its aggressive expansion only to hit a roadblock within a year.
15/04/19 CNBC TV18

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Hundreds of Indian expats from the southern state of Kerala fly home on special rates to vote

Indian expatriates living in the UAE and belonging to the southern state of Kerala are spending as much as Dh900 (Rs17,100) to go home and vote and return thereafter.
According to Kerala Muslim Cultural Centre (KMCC), at least 5,000 people from here are flying home to campaign for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections to be held on April 23.
The expats, who are all members of the voluntary organisation based in the UAE, will be leaving in stages from tomorrow (Tuesday) until April 22 ahead of the voting scheduled next week.
Parliamentary elections will be held in a single phase in Kerala. Out of the total 20 constituencies in Kerala, Congress will be contesting from 16, IUML from two, while Kerala Congress (M) and RSP will be contesting from one constituency each.
Speaking to Gulf News, the Centre’s President, Ibrahim Elettil said 500 members and expats are flying tomorrow on an Air India flight to Calicut. The Indian election fever is on full swing in the UAE.
He said the Centre has been able to secure discounted flight rates for its members who are all travelling on the same flight.
15/04/19 Anjana Kumar/Gulf News

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Spicejet to operate new Dubai, Riyadh flights from Mumbai

Indian airline SpiceJet has announced new direct flights to Dubai, Riyadh and Jeddah from Mumbai, the commercial capital of India.

The flights from Mumbai to the Gulf destinations will start operations from the end of May this year, the airline said.

SpiceJet already operates a direct flight to Dubai from Mumbai, and the airline said it aims to enhance its operations between Mumbai and Dubai with two additional frequencies, it said.
SpiceJet will be first and only Indian budget carrier to launch daily direct flights between Mumbai and Riyadh.
The airline said it would deploy its Boeing 737 Next Generation aircraft on the new routes.
15/04/19  James Mathew/Arabian Business

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Excited NRI Flaunts Air Tickets To India On Social Media, Online Pranksters Cancel It!

From check-ins to status updates and live-tweets, social media is a place where you can find both – the weirdest and the most intellect feed. People flaunt their lifestyle, voice their opinions and keep their friends and followers updated with anything and everything that’s happening in life. Moreover, airport check-ins on social media have become a mandatory part of travel shenanigans. As if the airlines won’t let you board a flight if you don’t post it on Facebook!

But the internet in a funny place. Though a boon, it often shows its side effects that are as hilarious as bizarre. Recently, an NRI from Oman booked his flight tickets to India with Air India. He was planning to return to the country to cast his vote in the Lok Sabha 2019 elections.
Enthused about voting, Joystan Lobo shared a video on social media where he flaunted his ticket to India and shared views about his favorite candidate in the elections. Little did he expect that this video would lead things to go wrong, landing him in a loss!
A spammer noted down the details and PNR number of his flight tickets and secretly canceled them. Lobo found out about his canceled tickets on April 1.
“One of his friends settled at Puttur streamed this video through WhatsApp, Facebook and other social media. Within two hours from then, the ticket was canceled without the knowledge of Joystan,” reported Indian Express.

“I was unaware about the cancellation of ticket. Ticket was cancelled on March 30 at around 11:15 am (Oman time). I came to know about the cancellation of the ticket on April 1. I rebooked the ticket on the same day for April 4 and reached India,” Lobo said.
Lobo also said that he had paid Rs 21,045 for the tickets but got only Rs 9000 as a refund. This, however, did not stop him from casting his vote in the elections and he immediately booked another ticket on the same flight to reach India on time.
15/04/19 Swati Dubey/Storypick

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Boeing India arm picks up office space in Bengaluru

Mumabi/Bengaluru: Global aerospace major Boeing’s India arm has picked up over 1.50 lakh sq ft of office space in Bengaluru’s Hebbal locality on a long-term lease spanning over 9 years, said two persons with direct knowledge of the development.
The company has leased the space in realty developer RMZ Corp’s commercial project RMZ Azure in Hebbal locality of Bengaluru. Of the total tenure, lease rental for the initial three years is set at Rs 74 per sq ft a month, taking the total rentals to over Rs 13 crore per annum. The agreement includes a rental escalation clause of 15% increase every 3 years.
“The deal has been inked and concluded recently. Boeing India has leased the said office space for its research and development operations,” said one of the persons mentioned above.
The company is currently undertaking fit-outs at the newly leased office and is expected to start operations from this premise from July.
Boeing is looking to undertake work related mainly to data analytics and advanced environmental-friendly coating for next generation airplane health management tools and other software tools for airlines and airports to improve operations and reduce costs, said the persons mentioned above.
The company is currently undertaking fit-outs at the newly leased office and is expected to start operations from this premise from July.
Boeing is looking to undertake work related mainly to data analytics and advanced environmental-friendly coating for next generation airplane health management tools and other software tools for airlines and airports to improve operations and reduce costs, said the persons mentioned above.
15/04/19 By Kailash Babar,Sobia Khan/Economic Times

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Kalyan doctor-couple saves Australian’s life mid-air

Kalyan: A doctor is never off-duty even when on a holiday. A doctor couple from Kalyan realised this recently while flying from Perth to Singapore. When a 63-year-old Australian co-passenger suddenly fell unconscious mid-air, they had to use their combined skills to revive her even though they had little resources at that time to know what was exactly wrong with her.
The couple, Dr Nitin and Dr Neeta Zabak, who run the City Multicare hospital in Kalyan (W), had gone on a vacation to Australia on March 31. On their way back, they boarded a Singapore Airlines flight at 9.10pm on Thursday. During their journey, a co-passenger, identified only as Annie, who was en route to Phuket, started sweating profusely and lost consciousness. The Zabaks volunteered to help when the flight attendants made an announcement seeking a doctor’s help.

They started with chest compressions as part of the cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and Annie regained consciousness. But her pulse was still feeble, prompting the doctors to provide her with oxygen that helped increase her blood pressure a bit. As the doctors feared she had some heart-related complications, they gave her sublingual sorbitrate, asprin as well as sprayed a glyceryl trinitrate (GTN) spray under her tongue to ensure that her blood vessels widen to allow easy blood flow. They continued to monitor her for the next three hours using some medical equipment available inflight.

“The patient’s pulse was initially very feeble and inserting a special IV line with only the torchlight of a mobile phone was difficult. But my wife, Neeta, who is a child specialist has the experience of inserting IV line for children, managed it in the first attempt,” said Nitin.
In the meantime, the aircraft captain asked the couple if he should seek permission for emergency landing in Uluru or continue till Singapore. “The cabin crew informed us that making an emergency landing would be hectic as 300 passengers would have to be kept in a hotel and put on alternative flight,” the doctor added.
15/04/19 Pradeep Gupta/Times of India

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Air Canada is dark horse in race for Jet Airways

Air Canada has emerged as the dark horse in the race to acquire Jet Airways. The Canadian airline, along with Etihad, is among the top contenders for the debt-laden Indian airline.

Heartened by the interest from these foreign carriers, State Bank of India, the lead lender to Jet Airways, on Wednesday extended the deadline for Expression of Interest to April 12.

“The earlier deadline was set for April 10 but some of the international airlines that are interested asked for more time. There are more than two investors who are interested in putting in a bid,” said a top source.

According to another source, Air Canada has sent a written application to the state-run bank seeking an extension.

According to one of the persons cited above, “Since Air Canada is an overseas airline and there is a time difference with India, the airline needs time for due diligence. The lenders have agreed to give an extension.”

Malaysian carrier Air Asia and Tata Sons joint venture Vistara are also understood to be among those who have sought a clarification from lenders. Jet Airways’ current joint venture investor Etihad Airways had also confirmed its interest in bidding for the beleaguered airline.

After April 12, lenders will examine the eligibility of all those who have expressed interest.
11/04/19 Forum Gandhi/K Ram Kumar/Business Line

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Fate Of Jet Airways’ International Operations Lies In DGCA Report

The government is likely to review Jet Airways (India) Ltd.’s eligibility to continue its international operations after it gets a report from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation on the issue, a top ministry official said. On the verge of going belly up amid acute cash crunch, the airline has reduced its fleet to just 14 planes as of Thursday—down from 123 planes in operation at its peak.
"We have sought for all the details from Jet. The DGCA has asked for the details. After we get those details, we will see to it," Aviation Secretary Pradeep Singh Kharola said, when asked whether the ministry is planning to review Jet's eligibility to continue its international operations in view of the almost negligible fleet.
Jet Airways, which is currently under the management control of the State Bank of India-led consortium of lenders, has been struggling to carry out operations as most of its aircraft are grounded due to payment issues.
The government rules stipulate an airline must have at least 20 planes for operating international operations.
11/04/19 Bloomberg Quint

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India’s Jet Airways suspends flights to and from Singapore, amid financial troubles

Singapore: Jet Airways, the second largest airline in India, has suspended flights to and from Singapore until further notice, Changi Airport said in a Facebook post on Thursday (April 11).
“Passengers are advised to contact their booking agent or the airline directly (info@jetairways.com) for available options,” Changi Airport added.
Jet Airways has run into financial trouble, with its debt totalling more than US$1.2 billion (S$1.6 billion). Its revenue is also dwindling, in the face of low-cost Indian competitors offering base fares as low as US$0.02 (S$0.027).
The airline had reported losses in nine of the past 11 years, and more than US$600 million (S$811 million) or about 60 per cent of the airline’s market value has been wiped off over the past year alone.
Earlier in March, Jet Airways suspended its operations on as many as 13 international routes till end-April — including a route between Bangalore and Singapore, where it flew twice daily.
11/04/19 Today

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Flyers stuck as Jet plane seized in Amsterdam before take-off for Mumbai

Jet Airways' troubles seem to have caught up with its passengers at Schiphol airport, 6,374 km away. Passengers travelling on Jet flight 9W321 from Amsterdam to Mumbai were in for a shock when their flight was cancelled just as boarding was about to begin.
“My sister is stuck in Amsterdam at @Schiphol due to Jet Airways flight 9W231 (being) seized. Please help figure out how to get her to reach Mumbai!” tweeted San Francisco based Shraddha from her handle @Shraddh20720407.
A European cargo services provider seized one of Jet's planes at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport for non-payment of dues, leaving hundreds of passengers stranded.
"The cargo agent seized Boeing 777-300 ER (VT-JEW) of Jet Airways at the Amsterdam airport as the airline could not clear his dues," the airline source said.
Back home, Indian Oil stopped fuel supply to Jet for the third time this week across India for several hours. The twin moves left passengers stranded both at Amsterdam and airports across India.
However, there is hope for the embattled airline yet as five companies are said to have submitted expressions of interest (Eo-Is) in picking up stakes in Jet, said two people aware of the matter. However, the lenders have extended the Wednesday deadline by two days, in the hope that Etihad Airways, which hasn’t submitted an EoI, will show interest.
11/04/19 Economic Times

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Indian top court says ‘leaked’ Rafale documents admissible

The Supreme Court of India Wednesday dismissed the Narendra Modi-led government’s preliminary objections to review of an earlier judgment that had exonerated the government in the Rafale fighter jet deal, Asian News International reported.

In a move seen as detrimental to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead of general elections starting on April 11, the top court also allowed the admission of three ‘leaked’ documents in the Rafale case. They will be used as evidence in re-examining the review petitions filed against the Supreme Court’s December 14 judgment, which refused to order a probe of the procurement of 36 Rafale fighter jets from France. The petition was filed by former Union ministers Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie and lawyer-activist Prashant Bhushan.

The Rafale deal has become a major controversy with the opposition alleging corruption on the part of the current government.

Reacting to the Supreme Court’s judgment, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi told the media, “The Prime minister has been claiming that the Supreme Court had given him a clean chit on the Rafale deal. The Supreme Court has clarified and has begun an investigation into the Rafale deal.”

Earlier, the BJP-led government had told the Court that the plea for review of the Rafale verdict was not maintainable as it was based on documents that were protected under the British-era Official Secrets Act of 1923. It claimed that the documents were unauthorized photocopies of the originals kept in the Ministry of Defense and leaked into the public domain by the media.
11/04/19 Asia Times

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Expats slam Air India Express for Rs 6,000 wheelchair service

Mangaluru: A 65-year-old woman, flying from Bahrain to Mangaluru on an Air India Express flight, was shocked after the airline quoted Rs 6,500 (36 Bahraini Dinar) for wheelchair services at Bahrain airport last Friday. The woman was being shifted to Mangaluru for stomach cancer treatment.

Her son-in-law Mario told TOI: “Though other airlines offer free wheelchair assistance, Air India’s international budget arm charges Rs 920 when wheelchair assistance is pre-booked and Rs 6,500 for on-the-spot services.”

“The Air India Express crew told me that wheelchairs are provided at Bahrain Airport and the airline charges only for the services. However, since the airline was charging exorbitant rates, I declined their service. I approached other airlines for assistance and they agreed to help me for free,” the woman’s son-in-law added.

Not just Mario, many expats returning home from Gulf countries in AI Express flights have similar complaints. “Air India Express charges 36 Bahraini Dinars for wheelchair assistance and the services are provided for boarding and landing. Other airlines help senior citizens for free, but AI Express charges are exorbitant,” another expat said.
11/04/19 Kevin Mendonsa/Times of India

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Chinese man caught by Customs at Delhi airport for smuggling gold

New Delhi: A Chinese national was arrested Wednesday by Customs officials for allegedly trying to smuggle into the country gold valuing about Rs 23 lakh at the Delhi airport.

The accused was intercepted upon his arrival from Hong Kong.

A detailed personal and baggage search of the passenger resulted in the recovery of one gold chain, gold bar and a gold bracelet, collectively weighing 734 grams, a statement issued by the Customs Department said.
10/04/19 PTI/Outlook

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Jet Airways plane seized in Amsterdam over non-payment of dues

New Delhi: A European cargo firm has seized one Jet Airways aircraft in Amsterdam for non-payment of dues. Earlier on Wednesday, the pilots of the airline sent a notice to the airways threatening legal action over unpaid salaries.

The premier airline is facing its worst financial crisis in 25 years. Jet Airways has massively reduced its operations from its main hub Mumbai to just about 32 flights, according to reports.

This is the first time an aircraft has been seized from the airline for non-payment of dues.

Flight (9W321) was to operate a flight from Amsterdam on Thursday, according to an airline source.

"The cargo agent seized Boeing 777-300 ER (VT-JEW) of Jet Airways at the Amsterdam airport as the airline could not clear his dues," the airline source told news agency PTI.

The airline, which was rescued by banks just a month ago after principal promoter Naresh Goyal quit the airline's board, has grounded more than three-fourths of its fleet due to non-payment of lessors' rentals'; it is operating roughly 32 planes out of its 119-plane strong fleet.

Adding to the woes, the airline has failed to pay salaries to its existing employees, forcing them to send a legal notice to the management, which is currently headed by the lenders led by State Bank of India (SBI).
10/04/19 India Today

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Air Canada, Vistara circle Jet Airways, lenders extend bid deadline

State Bank of India (SBI) and executives of Jet Airways met late on Wednesday to approve the appointment of A K Purwar, former SBI chief, to take over as chairman of Jet Airways as an interim arrangement.

The meeting also discussed a long-term strategy to save the debt-laden carrier which is yet to shortlist a suitor to take over its management. Meanwhile, bankers have extended the timeline to submit the Expression of Interest (EOIs) to April 12 for the third time to give more players adequate time to participate. Binding bids have to be submitted by April 30.

SBI Caps, the merchant banker appointed to find a new owner, said in a release late on Wednesday, "As part of the process, we are in receipt of some EOIs and some more persons have expressed desire to participate if additional time is provided. In order to allow for better participation, lenders have agreed to extension of timeline."
Air Canada, AirAsia and Vistara are some of the airlines which have made enquiries on the bidding process for taking over Jet Airways. Lenders are offering to offload up to 75% stake in the airline.

The binding bids have to be submitted by April 30, 2019.

"There are a lot of inquiries from different investors. Air Canada, Air Asia and Vistara made some preliminary inquiries. Some of the bidders wanted to come as a consortium to share the cost of taking over the airline," said a banker.
On Wednesday, Jet Airways's shares fell 1.59% to Rs 263.40 apiece on BSE.

To be certain that genuine parties are bidding, SBI Caps, the merchant banker undertaking the task, said all members of the consortium have to provide their details, which then have to be certified by their managing director or chief executive director.
10/04/19 Manju AB/Shahkar Abidi/DNA

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Dubai International Airport runway closed for 45 days: Air India, FlyDubai, Emirates fliers affected

Fliers alert! Dubai International Airport's (DXB) runway will be closed for repair work from April 16 to May 30. So, if you have booked a ticket to or from the airport, then your flight may get affected. The passengers have been advised to keep an eye for the changes in their departure/arrival terminals as airlines will be shifting its operations to Al Maktoum International Airport at Dubai World Central. DWC is about 58 kilometres from the Dubai airport.

Budget airline flydubai has already announced that it will be moving departure gates for flights to 42 destinations, including India and Nepal to the Al Maktoum International (DWC) airport for the said period. Gulf News reported that out of the 42 routes, eight will be operating from both DXB and DWC airport. These flights will be connecting Dubai to Jeddah, Kabul, Kathmandu, Alexandria, Bahrain, Kuwait, Dammam, and Muscat.

Khaleej Times reported that eight Air India and Air India Express flights will operate to and from the Sharjah International Airport during the runway maintenance period. It said that Air India flights to Mumbai, Chennai, Visakhapatnam, Hyderabad and Bangalore, Goa will be affected. It said that Air India Express flights to Mangalore, Delhi and Kochi will also be shifted to the Sharjah airport.
Emirates Airline passengers are also advised to keep a track of their flights as many of the flights will be cancelled, re-schedules or may have the aircraft changed as Emirates will not be operating from the DWC airport. As per reports, up to 48 Emirates' aircraft will be grounded for 45 days. Emirates had said that the runway closure will result in a 25 per cent reduction in its flight strength.
10/04/19 ZeeBiz

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Indian Media Falsely Reports on Dubai Airport ‘Gold Bar Challenge’

A viral video of a ‘20 kg gold bar challenge’ reportedly being held at the Dubai international airport has been doing the rounds on social media.

This challenge has been covered by several Indian news portals, including NDTV India, Times Travel and Amar Ujala, among others.
The ‘gold bar challenge’ involves lifting a heavy (20 kg) gold bar out of a glass box with a small hole, just big enough to fit one hand inside it. The task becomes exceedingly difficult given the strength required to lift the heavy bar and sliding it out of the circular hole.

Several videos of different versions of the challenge have been doing the rounds.

One such post shows a man unsuccessfully attempting the challenge. It was first posted by Facebook page Spokesman, and had acquired 51 thousand shares till the time of writing this piece.

The same page had subsequently shared another video in which a boy successfully retrieves the gold bar, with the caption: “Finally, this boy won the 20 kg gold bar kept in the Dubai International Airport.”

These videos also went viral on Twitter, with two such tweets being widely quoted in the news articles mentioned above.
Dubai airport authorities, however, denied the existence of any such challenge being held at the airport, Gulf News reported.

A Dubai Airport spokesperson quoted by the report said, “Dubai Airports can confirm that this installation is not currently, nor has been in the past, positioned at either of our airports (Dubai International and Dubai World Central).”

On doing a reverse image search of a key frame from the viral video, The Quint confirmed that it was not from the Dubai airport.

The first video, that shows the failed attempts, is of a challenge conducted by the Istanbul Gold Refinery – to promote their trademark gold bar called ‘Gramgold.’

A document published by the Turkish company revealed that this product was created as a new concept to promote “small investment bars” in the Turkish market.
The second viral video, that shows a young man successfully completing a challenge, is also not from the Dubai airport.

On examining the video – using reverse image search – The Quint found that it was from the Sado Gold Mine Museum in Niigata Prefecture, Japan.
19/04/19 Arpan Cheema/Quint

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India’s Vistara to fly Colombo from September

Vistara, the joint venture between Tata Sons India and Singapore Airlines Ltd, would fly to Colombo from New Delhi from September. Colombo would be the airline’s first international destination.

The airline will have a daily frequency to Colombo and would deploy an Airbus A320 neo aircraft. It would offer 8 business, 24 premium and 126 economy class seats.

Last year, Vistara had initially hoped to launch international flights after meeting a requirement for 20 aircraft in its fleet. Last month the airline received the Modi government’s approval to launch international flights.
North South Lines Pvt. Ltd of Hayleys would be the GSA for the airline.
The airline which commenced its commercial operations on January 2015, currently has a fleet of over 20 aircraft from A320 neo family, plans to add another 50 such planes. Vistara currently serves 22 destinations with over 800 flights a week.
10/04/19 DailyNews

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Flying with Air India? Better read this

Dubai: Air India has announced some of its routes will fly out of Sharjah Airport while renovation works go on at DXB. Air India Express, the flagship airline’s low-budget option, has also announced changes in some flights.

Work on DXB’s southern runway is expected to begin on 16th April and run until 30th April. The brief closure will affect air travel in and out of the emirate while approximately 60,000 tonnes of asphalt and 8,000 square metres of concrete are used to strengthen and resurface the runway and adjacent taxiways.

Air India flights that will operate out of Sharjah:

Daily flights from Mumbai (AI 983) and Chennai (AI 906)
Daily flights in the route Visakhapatnam/Hyderabad/Dubai/Hyderabad/Visakhapatnam (AI 951/952)
Bengaluru/Goa/Dubai/Goa/Bengaluru flights on Thursday and Sunday (AI 993/994)
Air India Express flights moving to Sharjah
Daily flights from and to Mangalore (IX 813/814 and IX 383/384)
Sunday flights IX 141/142 to Delhi
Flight IX 435/434 to Kochi on Sunday

Most passenger flights on the following airlines are being rerouted through Dubai World Central (DWC) airport near Jebel Ali  – Flydubai; Wizz Air; Aeroflot; Condor; Air India; Air India Express; Indigo; SpiceJet; Gulf Air; Royal Jordanian; Himalaya Airlines; Ukraine International Airlines; Nepal Airlines; Kuwait Airways; Salam Air; Mahan Air; Flynas and Azur Air.
10/04/19 DubaiWeek.ae

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AirAsia launches direct Ahmedabad-Bangkok flight

Ahmedabad: Low-cost carrier, AirAsia, has announced the launch of a direct flight from Ahmedabad to Bangkok beginning May 31 under AirAsia Thailand. The introductory fare is quoted at Rs 4,999 one-way (including taxes) till February 2020.
"We would operate four flights per week initially. This is the ninth route between Thailand and India, after eight routes have been made operational from other places in India," said Rajkumar Paranthanam, Head - Marketing, AirAsia India Ltd. The airline reported 87 per cent passenger load factors last year.
The flight from Ahmedabad will also provide connectivity beyond Bangkok, including to international destinations in Australia and the US.
Cholada Siddhivarn, Director, Tourism Authority of Thailand, said of the about 1.5 million Indians who visited Thailand last year, about 10 per cent were from Gujarat. The number of travellers was increasing at 12 per cent annually.
10/04/19 Business Line

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Passengers from Maharashtra prefer booking international flight from Surat

Surat: Surat airport has become a preferred destination for people from Maharashtra for travelling to Sharjah because of its cheap airfare compared to Mumbai.
Sources said recently a group of 10 people from Mumbai booked their tickets from Surat to Sharjah considering low airfare offered by Air India Express. While round-trip from Mumbai to Sharjah costs anything between Rs30,000 and Rs35,000, the same is available for about Rs16,500 from Surat.

An airport officer said, “International flights from Surat will always have cheaper airfare compared to Mumbai. Not only this, many travellers from Vadodara and Ahmedabad also prefer travelling to Hyderabad and Varanasi from Surat.”

Sanjay Patel, owner of a tours and travel company, said, “We get inquiries from travellers from across the state and Maharashtra about airfares from Surat. Since the launch of Surat-Sharjah operations, we have booked more than 50 tickets of outstation passengers. Commencement of more international flights from here could take away some business from Mumbai. Surat is fast emerging as the preferred destination for air travellers in western India.”
09/04/19 Times of India

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Rafale: Modi govt. gave unprecedented waivers in offset agreements

The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave exceptional and unprecedented waivers to M/s Dassault Aviation and M/s MBDA in the offset contracts they signed with the Indian government on September 23, 2016 as part of the €7.87 billion Rafale deal.
Read how >>

09/04/19 N Ram/The Hindu

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M’luru-Dubai Air India Express flight re-routed from Apr 16

Bajpe: The Air India Express Mangaluru-Dubai-Mangaluru flights will operate as Mangaluru-Sharjah-Mangaluru flight from April 16 to May 30 due to runway closure at Dubai Airport.

Air India daily flight IX 813 from Mangaluru to Sharjah will leave Mangaluru International Airport (MIA) at 5:30 pm and reach Sharjah at 7:30 pm local time there. Flight IX 814 will depart from Sharjah at 8:30 pm local time there and reach at 1:45 am at MIA

Flight IX 813 from Mangaluru to Sharjah will depart MIA at 8am and reach Sharjah at 10.10am local time there on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Flight IX 813 384 from Sharjah will depart at 11.10 am local time there and reach MIA at 4.25 pm.

Flight IX 813 from Mangaluru to Sharjah will leave MIA at 10.20 am and reach Sharjah at 12.30 pm local time there on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. IX 384 will depart Sharjah at 1.30 pm and reach MIA at 6.45 pm.
09/04/19 Bhatkallys.com

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Air India celebrates one year of Tel Aviv-Delhi operations! Pavan Kapoor says connectivity important for boosting India-Israel relationship

The connectivity between India and Israel will influence the bilateral relationship and help in increasing the tourist flow on both the sides, India’s Ambassador to Israel has said. Pavan Kapoor’s remarks came as Indian national carrier Air India celebrated its one year of operations on the Tel Aviv-Delhi sector. The sector is considered a major diplomatic breakthrough given that the flights use Saudi and Omani airspace, registering an impressive growth with average seat occupancy around eighty per cent making it one of the most lucrative sector.

Air India’s staff and the crew celebrated the completion of one year of operations on the route with passengers travelling to Delhi on Monday night at an event organised here at the airport just before the flight took off at 10:35 PM. “It was a long journey with lots of ups and downs. Lots of interesting history which shall be written at some point but it was a sort of fascinating effort when we had the first flight arrive here on March 22nd last year,” Kapoor said.
“It was really a special event and we were glad to be a part of civil aviation history for Israel, I think the first civilian aircraft to arrive at Tel Aviv airport flying over Saudi airspace”, he said at the ceremony. Israel does not have diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia and Oman. The permission given to Air India by the two Gulf countries to use their airspace to fly into Tel Aviv has often been presented by Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a big success story of his leadership.
09/04/19 PTI/Financial Express

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Airvan gets surprise visit from Nelly the Elephant. Anand Mahindra's reply is priceless

New Delhi: Chairman of Mahindra Group, Anand Mahindra, is at it again and his tweet of the day will leave you in splits.

Recently, Mahindra Aerospace posted a picture on Twitter of Nelly the Elephant standing in front of their airvans in Southern Africa.

They posted the picture with the caption, "#Airvans operating in Southern Africa fly guests in and out of remote airstrips and sometimes get up close and personal with VIPs like #Nellytheelephant. #weflyallover #bushpilots #Africa #Mahindra #Aviation #Aerospace #Aerostructure #Aircraft."
After the handle posted the picture, Anand Mahindra took to the social-networking site and posted a hilarious comment on it. And the internet is loving it.

He wrote, "Prakash, Arvind, Nelly looks very gentle but I hope our customer for the aircraft has insurance for Pachyderm Problems?" proving once again that his comic quotient is incomparable.
After Mahindra commented on the picture, many of his followers praised him for his hilarious reaction to the picture.
09/04/19 India Today

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Pak Airspace Shut Down Hits Mumbai ATC, Guiding System Crashes Twice

New Delhi: For around two minutes on April 5, dozens of passenger aircraft flew blind over Mumbai, as a workstation of the air traffic system that coordinates flights crashed twice. Air traffic controllers said the system, one of four machines part of the guiding system called Lower Area Control (LAC), crashed because the Mumbai airport is managing a 60% rise in air traffic following Pakistan's closure of its airspace in February. Pakistan shut its airspace after India's retaliation to the Pulwama attack, and has not fully opened it. Hundreds of more flights from the east are flying over Mumbai every day.

If a systems crash is not alarming enough, consider this. The Mumbai air traffic control (ATC) is using a decade-old system with no backup if it fails to restart. For four months, the system has been running without maintenance, as the contract with the firm that developed it ended in December 2018. Airports Authority of India is yet to appoint a new maintenance contract. When systems were down on April 5, the ATC simply waited for it to restart. If that didn't happen in 10 minutes, ATC would have switched to the manual Procedural Control system, less efficient as it does not display floght movements. Controllers said they faced a crash for the first time on March 30, and were worried about the overloaded system crashing again.

"Once the system crashes, we are not sure if we can handle the traffic manually. It could lead to a total shutdown of the Mumbai airspace," said an AAI official, not wishing to be named. On Saturday, a day after the crash, the Air Traffic Controllers Guild (western region), wrote to their general secretary in Delhi. HT has a copy of the letter, which points out that the maintenance contract ended in December and that the system in its current form is a threat to aircraft safety.
09/04/19 Neha LM Tripathi/Hindustan Times/AviationPros

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7 Bangladeshis held with US dollars worth over Rs 5-cr at Kolkata airport

Kolkata: Seven Bangladeshi nationals were apprehended at the Kolkata airport on Tuesday for carrying over USD 7 lakh in cash allegedly without any document, officials said.

All the seven had reached the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport to take the same flight to Dhaka and had allegedly concealed the foreign currency in false bottoms of their bags, officials said.

The passengers, all Bangladeshis, were handed over to Customs authorities with a total of USD 7,43,300 seized from them. This is equivalent to Rs 5.03 crore, they said.
09/04/19 Outlook

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Four Indians arrested in Nepal for smuggling gold

 Kathmandu: Four Indian nationals were arrested on Sunday from the national capital's Tribhuvan International Airport for allegedly trying to smuggle nearly 6 kgs of gold, police said.
The four were arrested as soon as they landed from a Thai International Airlines aircraft from Bangkok at the airport here.
"Police have confiscated from them 5.8 kgs of gold," a bulletin issued by the police said.
07/04/19  Shirish B. Pradhan/Outlook

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Airlines save time, fuel as Pakistan partially opens airspace

New Delhi: With Pakistan opening its airspace partially from Thursday (April 4), national passenger carrier Air India has started saving on time and fuel for its US and Europe-bound flights, said an airline official on Saturday.

The national carrier re-routed some of its flights which had to take a longer flight path over Mumbai to reach the US and Europe.

"We are saving 15 minutes on our US and Europe-bound flights since Pakistan opened some of its airspace from last Thursday," a senior Air India official told IANS.

Pakistan had closed its airspace since the Indian Air Force (IAF) strikes in Balakot on February 26. The move has adversely affected international flights to and from India, with Air India being a major victim.

Flights from across the world have either been cancelled or re-routed since the closure was announced on February 27. Pakistan partially opened its airspace, only for the flights bound for the country.

Air India, which operates 33 weekly services to the US and 66 to Europe, has curtailed operations due to the airspace closure. It has clubbed together several US and Europe-bound flights.

Flights to the US and Europe are now diverted over Mumbai and then northwards over the Arabian Sea.
07/04/19 IANS/Khaleej Times

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UAE upset as India drags feet on air services deal

New Delhi: assengers are suffering as India airlines blocking increase in flights from Gulf countries, says Ambassador Ahmed Al-Banna.
Despite good ties in several other spheres, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is disappointed that the government has completed its term without renegotiating a bilateral “air services agreement” that would allow more Gulf airlines into India.

In an interview to The Hindu, UAE Ambassador Ahmed Al-Banna said it was “unlikely” that the negotiations, which have been pending for more than five years, would be held until after the elections now, meaning a further delay of several months.

“We are not satisfied at all,” Mr. Al-Banna said. “This is a major issue. Our carriers and so many passengers are suffering due to this delay. I have been trying to hold a meeting on this, [but without success].”

The issue had been raised most recently at the Global Aviation Summit in Mumbai in mid-January, and was brought up by the UAE government during External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj’s visit to Abu Dhabi for the joint commission meeting in December 2018.

This is not the first time that the UAE Ambassador has made his concerns public.
06/04/19 Suhasini Haidar/Jagriti Chandra/The Hindu

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PM Modi’s Foreign Trips: More Countries Covered, Cheaper Bills

Air India’s bill for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s foreign trips has so far amounted to Rs 443.4 crore. The bill for five more trips by the PM is yet to be made by the airline, reported Hindustan Times.

Air India is the official airline for PM Modi’s trips overseas and has flown him 44 times since he took over the position in May 2014. This is more than any of his predecessors, data from the Prime Minister’s Office showed, according to Hindustan Times.

These travel costs include fuel, cost of hiring the entire aircraft, and cost related to crew. Other costs such as those incurred at the destination are not counted in this.
Despite having travelled to more countries, Modi has incurred a lower bill than his predecessor Manmohan Singh, who made 38 trips overseas in his second term, at an expenditure of Rs 493.22 crore.
One reason for this could be that Modi targets multiple destinations in one trip. In his first interview to Hindustan Times after taking over his PM, Modi had said he believes in “single ticket, double journey”.

Modi reportedly travelled to six countries on a single trip, visiting Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan in 2015. Sixteen of his trips have been to multiple countries. In comparison, Singh travelled mostly to two or three countries.
Another reason could be that Modi took six trips on the business jet of the Indian Air Force (IAF) , incurring no additional expense.
Modi’s trips are likely to end up costing more once the five other trips are billed by Air India. There is also one more trip pending to the UAE, where Modi will be given the UAE’s highest civilian award for the role he has played in strengthening bilateral strategic ties. However, the average is still likely to remain lower.
07/06/19 Quint

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