Ethiopian Airlines crash: 'Pitch up, pitch up!'

An anti-stalling system on the plane, a Boeing 737 Max, has been blamed for the disaster which killed all 157 people on board.

Soon after take-off - and just 450ft (137m) above the ground - the aircraft's nose began to pitch down.

One pilot, according to the Wall Street Journal, said to the other "pitch up, pitch up!" before their radio died.

The plane crashed only six minutes into its flight.
The Wall Street Journal - which says it has spoken to people close to the ongoing investigation - says the information it has "paints a picture of a catastrophic failure that quickly overwhelmed the flight crew".

Leaks this week from the crash investigation in Ethiopia and in the US suggest an automatic anti-stall system was activated at the time of the disaster.

The Manoeuvring Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS) flight-control feature was also implicated in a fatal crash involving a Lion Air flight in Indonesia last October.

The Boeing 737 Max went down shortly after take-off from Jakarta, killing all 189 people on board.

An investigation of the Lion Air flight suggested the anti-stall system malfunctioned, and forced the plane's nose down more than 20 times before it crashed into the sea.

The Ethiopian authorities have already said there are "clear similarities" between the Lion Air incident and the Ethiopian Airlines crash.

The airline and authorities have refused to comment on leaks from the investigation.

Concerns about the Boeing 737 Max have led to a worldwide grounding of the plane.
Boeing has redesigned the software so that it will disable MCAS if it receives conflicting data from its sensors.

As part of the upgrade, Boeing will install an extra warning system on all 737 Max aircraft, which was previously an optional safety feature.
30/03/19 BBC

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HAL Tejas Mesmerizes Audiences At Malaysia Air Show

Mumbai: LCA-Tejas enthralled the audience at Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition in Malaysia.  Tejas is a supersonic fourth generation fighter that was inducted in the Indian Air Force (IAF) fleet on February
Barely a month after being inducted into the Indian Air Force, India's fourth-generation light combat aircraft LCA-Tejas enthralled the audience at the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition in Malaysia. Amid loud cheers from the audience, the indigenously developed aircraft exhibited its immense capability of rapid rolls and max-rate turns.

Designed and developed by DRDO's Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) and built by the state-run defence aerospace major Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL), Tejas is a supersonic fourth-generation fighter that made a spectacular debut at the 84th Air Force Day celebrations in 2016. Speaking at the time of its induction, Air Chief B S Dhanoa said to the press that the aircraft performed air-to-ground attacks and air-to-air refuelling at IAF's Vayu Shakti air display at Pokhran in Rajasthan on February 16.

Royal Malaysia Air Force also thanked India for displaying its sleek and powerful aircraft and urged aviation fans to witness the power of Indian pilots.
31/03/19 Navashree Nandini/Republic World

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Widow of Lion Air's Indian pilot blasts Boeing

Washington/New Delhi, March 30 Garima Sethi, the widow of Indian pilot on Lion Air flight that plunged into the sea in October claiming 189 lives, has accused Boeing of "playing with lives" and said the second crash involving the same model could have been prevented if appeals to ground the 737 Max 8 fleet were given more weight by the airline and others.

Sethi, wife of 31-year-old Bhavye Suneja, told the Washington Post that January wasn't the first time when she pleaded with Lion Air and Indonesian authorities to ground the model which was later blamed for the Ethiopian Airlines crash that killed all 157 people on March 10.

She said that Lion Air officials told her in January -- two months before the Ethiopia crash -- that they needed more information on the Boeing model to take such a step. In addition, the officials told Garima Sethi that Boeing had reassured them that the aircraft was safe.

The October 29 crash near Jakarta opened global probes into potential problems with an anti-stall system on the popular Boeing plane.

Sethi, 31, said that a second crash of a Boeing Max jet in Ethiopia could have been prevented if the appeals by the victims' families were given more weight by Lion Air and others.

"We tried to do our part, but nobody heard us."

Talking about the Ethiopia crash, Sethi said: "It was altogether the same story. I don't have any words."

She said she was distressed to learn that the Ethiopian Airlines jet that crashed had been delivered by Boeing in mid-November, after the Lion Air disaster. "They were playing with lives."

A spokesman for Lion Air and Indonesia's National Transportation Safety Committee declined to comment on Sethi's views.
30/03/19 IANS/Outlook

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Jet Airways likely to resume two international flights in April-end

Pune: The two international flights of Jet Airways from the city to Abu Dhabi and Singapore are expected to resume operations by April-end, leaving Puneites to make do with just two overseas connections — one each of SpiceJet and Air India Express to Dubai — till then.
“We expect the two international flights of Jet Airways to resume services by April-end. Following the recent developments in the airline, we hope most of their flights (including domestic destinations) to resume operations within two-three months,” an airport official told TOI.

The spokespersons of the airline did not respond to queries on the revival of its cancelled international flights from Pune. But sources claimed that the airline was expected to revive its flights to international destinations first with things slowly getting back in line.

Of its 21 flights to different destinations from Pune, the airline is presently operating just four — two each to Delhi and Mumbai. The airline has cancelled its flights from Pune to Singapore and Abu Dhabi till March 30.
Bhooshan Pandit, who was set to travel to Singapore on April 2 on the Jet Airways flight, said he got a call from the airline’s customer care about its cancellation in mid-March. He wrote to Jet on March 24 that he had applied for a full refund but was yet to get it.
30/03/19 Joy Sengupta/Times of India

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Engine snag: IndiGo flight diverted to Kuwait

New Delhi: Budget passenger carrier IndiGo on Friday said its Delhi-Istanbul flight had to be diverted to Kuwait due to an engine snag. According to the airline, the snag hit its A320 NEO aircraft which was en-route from Delhi to Istanbul. "The root cause is yet to be determined. The Aircraft landed safely in Kuwait and IndiGo local representatives are currently taking care of the passengers and crew," the airline said in a statement. "Our endeavour is to use the next possible connecting flight out of Kuwait to Istanbul so that passengers reach their destination with minimum inconvenience. Customers in Istanbul who are booked on this flight back to Delhi will be accommodated with Turkish Airlines. We expect normal operations on Istanbul flights tomorrow."
30/03/19 IANS/Sify.com

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Investigators believe anti-stall system activated in Ethiopian crash

Washington: Investigators looking into a Boeing 737 MAX crash in Ethiopia that killed 157 people have reached a preliminary conclusion that an anti-stall system was activated before the plane hit the ground, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing people briefed on the matter.

US safety investigators have reviewed data from the "black boxes" that were aboard Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, four people briefed on the investigation told Reuters on Thursday. A preliminary report is expected as early as next week, the US officials said.

The plane crashed on March 10 shortly after taking off from Addis Ababa.

Investigators of a deadly 737 MAX crash in Indonesia in October have also focused on the new anti-stall system, called MCAS. Boeing on Wednesday said a planned software fix would prevent repeated operation of the system that is at the centre of safety concerns.

Boeing's fastest-selling 737 MAX jet, with orders worth more than $500 billion at list prices, has been grounded globally by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and other regulators, although airlines are still allowed to fly them without passengers to move planes to other airports.

The manufacturer said it had developed a training package that 737 MAX pilots are required to take before the worldwide ban can be lifted, proposing as it did before two deadly crashes that those pilots do not need time on flight simulators to safely operate the aircraft.

On Thursday, a lawsuit against Boeing was filed in Chicago federal court by the family of Jackson Musoni, a citizen of Rwanda, who died in the Ethiopian Airlines crash.

The lawsuit alleges that Boeing had defectively designed the automated flight control system. Boeing said it could not comment on the lawsuit.

The amount and quality of training that Boeing and airlines provided to 737 MAX pilots is one of the issues under scrutiny as investigators around the world try to determine the causes of two 737 MAX crashes within five months.
29/03/19 Reuters/Times of India

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Air India Express passengers to Mangaluru left waiting for pilots at airport for more than six hours

Dubai: An Air India Express flight to Mangaluru from Dubai was delayed by about six hours leaving passengers waiting for the flight to take off.

In a video sent to Vartha Bharati by an in-flight passenger, people can be seen taking the crew-members to task for the delay.

The passenger told Vartha Bharati that they were left waiting for the pilots who failed to turn up to the airport.

In the video, furious passengers took the staff of flight to task and threatened of protesting at the airport.
30/03/19 Vartha Bharathi/Bhatkallys.com

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Djibouti in talks with GMR to develop airport

Hyderabad: African nation Djibouti is looking at closer ties with India. To explore the opportunities between the nations, an India Djibouti Trade Forum has been organised in Hyderabad on Friday. As a part of this forum, Djibouti’s representatives have begun talks with GMR Group to build an airport in that nation.

An eight-member delegation from Djibouti comprising government and industry representatives have visited. In addition to GMR, Djibouti is exploring other collaborations. The delegation has signed a MoU for co-operation in agriculture with Indo African Ventures, development of a boutique hotel with Holiday Inn and development of skill development courses in the defence sector with Don Bosco Tech Society. The delegation is led by Bourhan Aref, representative from Djibouti for India-Djibouti trade ties.
India’s President Ramnath Kovind visited Djibouti last year and has pledged commitment of support between the two nations for a robust partnership.

Narender Bharti, president, India Djibouti Trade Forum, said, “My goal is to build bilateral relations between India and the Republic of Djibouti.”

The Forum’s VP Saba Fatima said, “Djibouti, being the only gateway to Africa with three ports, has a great potential and we would like to divert business interests from the Middle East to Djibouti and want Indian businesses to connect the two nations.”
30/03/19 Telangana Today

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Indian arrested with ‘ice’ concealed inside sarees

An Indian national has been arrested at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) in Katunayake for attempting to smuggle in crystal methamphetamine, also known as ‘ice’, estimated to be worth around Rs 2 million.

The suspect, a 45-year-old businessman from Tamil Nadu, had arrived in the country from Chennai at around 1.40 a.m. today on board a SpiceJet flight.

The passenger was detained in the Green Channel of the airport while around 200 grams of crystal meth was found cleverly concealed within a stock of wedding sarees in his luggage, by the customs officers at the airport.
30/03/19 Adaderana.lk

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SBI Reaches Out To Tata Group, TPG Capital To Invest In Jet Airways

Lenders to Jet Airways (India) Ltd., led by State Bank of India, have reached out to two potential investors, just days after they became majority equity holders in the airline.
According to two people familiar with the matter, lenders have reached out to U.S.-based private equity investor TPG Capital and the Tata Group for a potential investment in Jet Airways. The two people spoke on condition of anonymity as the talks are confidential.
According to the two people quoted above, lenders reached out to the two bidders since they had previously showed interest in Jet Airways but talks had fallen through. Even now, the conversations are at preliminary stages and no formal bid has been prepared by either parties, the people quoted above said.
According to the first person quoted above, TPG Capital would likely come in with a strategic partner if they choose to invest. The Tata Group already has a tie up with Singapore Airlines since 2013, through which it manages Vistara Airlines. As such, any investment in Jet Airways would have to be in keeping with the group’s broader strategy for the aviation sector.
A spokesperson for the Tata Group said the group does not comment on market speculation. A TPG Capital spokesperson declined to comment. Jet Airways and SBI are yet to respond to queries mailed on Thursday.
28/03/19 Viswanath Nair/Bloomberg Quint

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TPG, Etihad Airways show interest in bidding for Jet Airways

Abu-Dhabi based Etihad Airways has shown interest in bidding for Jet Airways, sources aware of the development told CNBC-TV18 on Thursday, adding that the UAE's second largest airline has already approached the SBI-led consortium regarding the same.

Etihad may look at acquiring an additional 37 percent stake in the airline to take its stake to 49 percent, said the sources, who did not want to be named.

Etihad currently owns 24 percent in Jet Airways, however, once lenders take up a majority stake in the airline, Etihad’s stake will fall to around 12 percent.

Jet Airways chairman Naresh Goyal and his wife Anita Goyal stepped down from the board of the airline on March 25, giving in to pressure from lenders amid the growing debt crisis and the airlines' inability to pay its staff and lessors.

Apart from Etihad, American investment firm TPG has also shown interest in the debt-laden airline, said the sources. The company may bid with a partner fund or strategic player. It had last year shown interest in acquiring a stake in Jet Privilege.

NIIF or National Infrastructure Investment Fund, which was expected to pick up about 20 percent stake in the airline as per the initial resolution plan, may still be interested and could consider picking up a substantial stake in the airline along with a strategic player, the sources pointed.

The Tata Group, which had also expressed interest in the beleaguered airline earlier, has not yet approached lenders directly, the banking sources confirmed.
28/03/19 Ritu Singh/CNBC TV18

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Jet Airways’ desperate search for a new investor takes it to the US, Singapore and UAE

Ahead of a potential exit by Etihad Airways at the end of this month, Jet Airways’ main creditor, the State Bank of India, and its founder Naresh Goyal, who recently resigned, have reportedly ramped up the search for a new investor.

In fact, the hunt has taken SBI and Goyal, who owns a minority stake, to the US, according to media reports. SBI is said to be in preliminary talks with TPG Capital, a private equity major, while Goyal is pursuing an investment from Delta Airlines, which has an operational alliance with Jet in India.
Interestingly, private equity firm TPG Capital was said to be eyeing a stake in Jet’s loyalty programme Jet Privilege in August last year, although a deal never materialised.

A new investor is “critical” to Jet’s future, the airline’s CFO, Amit Agarwal, told ET earlier this week. Jet desperately needs a cash infusion. An official at the company told Moneycontrol that a buyer would have to pump ₹45 billion as part of the airline’s turnaround plan.

In addition to TPG and Delta, Singapore’s private equity fund Temasek and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) are also said to be in talks to purchase a stake in the airline.
29/03/19 Dilsher Dhillon/Business Insider

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Etihad in talks with partner to bid for Jet

Mumbai: Etihad Airways is in talks with a partner to jointly bid for Jet Airways which has been put up for sale by banks which have taken control of the financially-troubled airline.

Government sources said Etihad has not given up on Jet in which it held 24% stake. After banks acquired 50.1% stake in Jet, shareholding of all existing investors fell by half with Etihad left holding 12% stake.

“Etihad will not bid alone. They are in talks with an investor for jointly bidding for Jet Airways,” said the sources. Aviation rules allow a foreign investor to pick up a maximum of 49% stake in an airline.

People familiar with the development said that Etihad Airways, though now financially-constrained on account of its years of losses, is keen on increasing its holding in Jet to protect its investment as well as to ensure traffic flow into its network from India.
So far, Etihad had invested or arranged more than $1 billion in/for Jet Airways and since 2014, Jet had been sending passengers from across India to the Abu Dhabi hub of Etihad.

With its two main demands namely the removal of promoter Naresh Goyal and his spouse Anita Goyal from the board and bringing down their stake to below 10% having been met through the new bank-led provisional resolution plan, Etihad Airways is believed to be considering increasing its stake to a maximum of 49% and rope in a partner to operate the airline.

As per foreign direct investment rules, the effective control of Indian carriers has to remain with Indians.

So, even if Etihad increases its holding to 49% it cannot control Jet Airways and would need a reliable Indian partner to do so, according to analysts.

The partner is believed to be National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) in which Abu Dhabi Investment Authority has a stake.

NIIF is majority owned by Indian government and some Indian financial institutions.
28/03/19 Lalatendu Mishra/The Hindu

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Pak. airspace closure costs Air India dearly

New Delhi: The closure of Pakistan airspace, which has been in place for more than a month, has cost Air India “ ₹5- 7 crore per day” as flights to the U.S. and Europe are forced to take a detour through the Middle East, said a senior official of the airline.

Air India serves five destinations in the U.S. and ten in Europe, which together account for nearly half of the airline’s 37 international destinations. The losses on these routes are a major setback for an airline for which international operations bring a fifth of the total profit.

The increase in costs is due to additional fuel use because of an increase in flight duration by two hours, along with a technical halt for U.S.-bound flights at Sharjah or Vienna.

Since the ban on the use of its airspace on February 27, Pakistan has allowed connectivity to all destinations barring India, Malaysia and Thailand. Meanwhile, Air India has cancelled flights to Vienna and Birmingham.
IndiGo, which had announced the launch of twice daily flights to Istanbul, has only started a daily flight as the long detour has impacted profitability and demand from passengers on the route.
29/03/19 The Hindu

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Airlines apologize for removing Indian-American teens from plane

Delta Air Lines and Korean Air have apologized to the family of two unaccompanied Indian-American minors who were kicked off a flight on their way to visit family in the Philippines.
The 15 and 16 year old sons of Prajakta and Rakesh Patel were removed from the Korean Air flight after they told the airline about a peanut allergy and asked that peanuts not be served around them on the Seoul – Manila leg of the flight. Korean Air is Delta’s partner for that segment.
According to news reports in Good Morning America and USA Today, both Delta and Korean Air apologized for deplaning the kids at Seoul. The unaccompanied minors had to wait many hours to catch a flight back to their parents in Atlanta, Georgia.
Korean Air spokesperson InSun Lee is quoted saying in a statement sent to USA Today and Good Morning America, “Korean Air sincerely apologizes to Mr. and Mrs. Patel and their sons. … Customer service is a mainstay of the Delta and Korean Air partnership and we regret that the Patels’ experience did not reflect our common values.  We are examining this incident and will work out to create a better customer experience.”
According to news reports, the kids repeatedly tried to explain the dangers of the peanut allergy but Korean Air officials did not accommodate them and told them peanuts would be served and it was up to them to board or get off. But InSun Lee told USA Today the airline was aware of peanut allergies, saying, “Korean Air is aware that peanut and food allergies are an industry issue and no airline can guarantee a food allergy-free environment. But we are reviewing ways to deal with this issue in a safe and feasible way. We totally understand the risks faced by passengers with nut and food allergies and will certainly try to accommodate them better in the future.”
29/03/19 News India Times

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Air Canada chooses IBS as tech partner

Thiruvananthapuram: Air Canada has chosen IBS Software as its technology partner to power the airline’s new loyalty programme, to be launched in 2020.
Under a multi-year agreement, Air Canada will use IBS’s iFly Loyalty Suite as the core technology solution for its new programme. iFly Loyalty is a cloud-based loyalty management platform, which uses an advanced data set to design and operate customer engagement propositions.
Marcus Puffer, VP and head of Loyalty Management solutions at IBS, said the partnership was a testimony to the growing acceptance of iFly as a key enabler to provide members with more value-added options.
28/03/19 Times of India

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Pak Airspace Opens After 28 Days, Flights to Delhi Not Operational

Pakistan re-opened its airspace on Wednesday, 27 March, for all domestic and international operations of flights, Dawn reported. The re-opening of Pakistan’s airspace for domestic and international operation comes 28 days after the cross-border tension escalated between India and Pakistan in the wake of air strikes on terror camps of Jaish-e-Mohammed conducted by India in PoK’s Balakot on 26 February.

Pakistan had shut down its airspace, ceasing flight operations from their country, a day later on 27 February, citing security situation.

According to the report, Pakistan has resumed domestic and international flight operations from all airports as per schedule, but transit flights will remain suspended.
Flights to Delhi From Pak Not Operational
However, flights to New Delhi, Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur from Pakistan will not operate due to security reasons.
Pakistan announced earlier this month that it would be partially opening up its airspace, but the only flights allowed were the ones coming into its own cities.
Previously, flight operations at Lahore, Multan, Karachi, Faisalabad, Sialkot and Islamabad airports were suspended. Peshawar's Bacha Khan International Airport was also temporarily closed for commercial flights, according to airport officials.
28/03/19 Quint

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Technical snag - Air India Express passengers in Dubai wait for hours

Mangaluru: The passengers of an Air India Express flight from Dubai to the city, which was to arrive here last night, had to wait for several hours at Dubai airport. The problem is said to be technical.

The flight in question was to leave Dubai at 11.40 pm on Wednesday. The passengers boarded the plane on time. As some technical glitch was encountered at the last minute, the flight did not take off on time, it is said.

It is said that after attending to the problem, the flight took off at around 5.30 am on Thursday.
28/03/19 Daijiworld

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Jet Airways expected to reduce Mumbai-London Heathrow

As readers will know, India’s Jet Airways faces financial problems and is having to drop a number of routes and flights.

Last week we reported that Jet Airways was dropping its Mumbai-Manchester route with little notice.

And now we can report that the cash-strapped Indian airline is poised to reduce its Mumbai to London Heathrow service from a thrice- to a twice-daily service.
Airlineroute reports that the changes take effect from March 31.

The affected flights are 9W115 and 9W116.

Current schedules are:

9W115 London Heathrow-Mumbai 1555-0615 (following day)

9W116 Mumbai-London Heathrow 0930-1355

When Business Traveller checked jetairways.com we found that both above flights (for travel after March 31) had been removed from the flight display.

Although Airlineroute notes these two flights will be suspended for the summer season, there is no guarantee they will be reinstated.

Some people believe that Jet Airways owns all its valuable slots at London Heathrow.

But in reality some are owned by other carriers. It is the latter who provide Jet Airways with some of its Heathrow slots.
27/03/19 Alex McWhirter/Business Traveller

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Indo-Bangla Flights: Indian carriers to get armed sky marshals

India wants to deploy “armed sky marshals” on flights of Indian carriers between India and Bangladesh.

In a letter to the foreign ministry on March 10, the Indian High Commission in Dhaka expressed this wish. It also sent a copy of the letter to the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh seeking approval.

Plainclothes sky marshals are mainly deployed in civilian aircraft to counter hijack attempts and prevent hostage situations.

Talking to this newspaper yesterday, CAAB Chairman Air Vice-Marshal M Naim Hassan said, “We are taking necessary measures to this effect.”

Group Capt Abdullah Al Farooq, director of Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport where 29 foreign carriers operate, said currently only Saudi Arabian Airlines uses security personnel [armed sky marshals] on its flights to and from Dhaka.
“Deploying armed sky marshals inside aircraft is the decision of the carriers,” he said, adding that the operators deploy the marshals to ensure security of its passengers.

The Indian High Commission in the letter proposed a delegation of National Security Guard (NSG) visits Bangladesh to discuss the deployment of the marshals.

It asked the foreign ministry “to indicate a convenient date for the meeting at the earliest”.
27/03/19 Partha Pratim Bhattacharjee/Daily Star

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Flight to Ahmedabad from Dubai lands without 72 bags

Ahmedabad: Travelling from Dubai to Ahmedabad on Sunday night, via SpiceJet flight SG-16, was a tiring affair for Niraj Kelkar (name changed) and his family.
 “Our flight was delayed by close to five hours and by the time we landed at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International (SVPI) Airport in Ahmedabad, it was around 4am. My parents and kids were tired and all we wanted was to take our luggage and get home to get rested. But the wait at the baggage belt was endless,” he said.
Niraj was not alone. There were several other passengers, tired and drowsy, waiting for their luggage to arrive. Over half an hour later, when they enquired with the airline, they learnt that their baggage had not been loaded from Dubai. When asked, SpiceJet officials confirmed that some 72 baggage pieces did not arrive at the city airport due to payload restrictions.
“Till we enquired, we were completely caught unawares of the fact that our bags haven’t arrived. The airline’s representatives at the Ahmedabad airport made us fill in a form and we left for home. We were told our bags would be delivered at home,” said Kelkar.
 “Flight SG-16 operating on March 24 from Dubai to Ahmedabad had to fly without 72 pieces of baggage due to restricted takeoff weight. This is a normal industry practice followed when there is a payload restriction,” said a statement issued by the airline.
 27/03/19 Niyati Parikh/Times of India

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Airline fares from Kerala to West Asia hits all-time high

Thiruvananthapuram: Airlines have jacked up fares from the airports to the destinations in the West Asia to an all-time high to cash in on the demand for seats from the relatives of Non-Resident Keralites with the educational institutions closing for the two-month summer vacation in the State.

One-way fares from Thiruvananthapuram, Cochin and Kozhikode international airports to the various destinations in West Asia, that was in the range of ₹6,000 to ₹12,000 earlier this month, have gone up by 200 to 400% and seats are unavailable in the economy class in the airlines.

This hike in fares from the gateways of the State is unprecedented, industry analysts say. Airlines cash in on the demand for seats by increasing fares to the West Asia destinations every summer but they had been limiting it to 50 to 100%.
For a one-way economy class ticket from the three international airports to the destinations in West Asia on April 1, the day after educational institutions close after the academic year, the fare is in the range of ₹21,998 to ₹ 88,705. An economy class ticket in Emirates from the State capital to Dubai is available for ₹69,438 and ₹88,705 to Doha in Qatar Airways.
27/03/19 S. Anil Radhakrishnan/The Hindu

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Singapore Airlines to fly A350-900 from Bengaluru

Bengaluru: Following a hectic winter schedule, the Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru (KIAB or BLR Airport) is now bracing for an exciting summer.

The BLR Airport will begin its Summer schedule 2019 from March 31, featuring four new domestic routes, a new airline and additional two cargo flights to international destinations. The schedule will be in force until October 26, 2019. Agra, Nashik (Indigo), Gwalior (Spice Jet) and Jamnagar (Star Air) are the new routes, giving passengers the opportunity for non-stop flights.

Flynas will be the new airline as the Saudi Arabia-based budget carrier has proposed to operate three weekly flights between BLR Airport and Jeddah. Meanwhile, leading international carrier Singapore Airlines is set to operate with a luxurious Airbus A350-900 between Bengaluru and Singapore with 10 flights each week from May 17. It will be the first airline to start A350 services from the BLR Airport.
Cargo movement from Bengaluru will get a boost as Spice Jet has proposed to operate additional flights to Singapore and Abu Dhabi from May 1.

“Our new services will further bolster the economy of the City and enhance the reputation of BLR Airport as the Gateway to a New India," Hari Marar, MD & CEO, Bangalore International Airport Ltd, said. “We will continue to explore attractive routes that connect Bengaluru to some of the most exotic destinations in India and abroad,” Marar added.
27/03/19 Anil Urs/Business Line

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Bangla man flying to Dubai on Indian passport caught

Immigration oicials at the Kempegowda International Airport caught a Bangladeshi national trying to fly to Dubai on an Indian passport on March 24. Tapas Chandra Das was arrested during the immigration check as oicials found discrepancies in his travel record. He later confessed that he hails from Chittagong, Bangladesh, and had come to India along with his mother through the porous border in 2001.
He was booked under the Passport Act and the Foreigners’ Act. Das initially lived in Tripura, waiting tables at a restaurant. He managed to get Aadhaar and election cards and even a birth certificate. He later got a passport from the Regional Passport Oice, Kolkata, and tried to travel to the UAE in 2017 on a work visa. But immigration oicials at Dubai deported him to Lucknow from where he had boarded the flight. He then went to Bangladesh but came back to India and got a visit visa to Dubai in Kolkata.
 27/03/19 Bellie Thomas/Deccan Herald

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Man booked for making bomb threat at Mumbai airport

Australia based NRI has been booked by the Sahar police for allegedly making a bomb threat call at Mumbai international airport during the wee hours of Tuesday.

The accused identified as Sanjay Korad stays in Australia with his mother Vasanti Korad (56) and his 5 year-old child. The duo were scheduled to fly with Singapore Airlines (SIA) SQ423 from Mumbai to Singapore on Monday late evening.

The plane, a Boeing 777-300ER, had departed Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport at 11.36pm, but on the same night, Vasanti had some issues with their Visa and after speaking to one of staff at the  Airport, she was questioned by the officials and later she called Sanjay in Australia and connected him to the airport officer who spoke  to him on the phone and  asked him to send required documents on whatsapp, which he sent it to him after discussion and they boarded the flight which departed on time.

An officer from Sahar police station said " The accused thought that the airport staff unnecessary harassing his mother and child, so they might miss the flight. He then made a bomb threat call at the airport to delay the flight  and also sent an sms on the whats app number of airport officer whom he had discussed about the documents. He was unaware that flight already took off on time."

"The case under section 505,506 and 507 of IPC has been registered against him and the further investigation in the matter is underway,” the officer added.
27/03/19 Dhananjay Khatri/DNA

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Pakistan opens its airspace; national carrier PIA resumes flight operations

Karachi: The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) on Tuesday announced the complete opening of Pakistan's airspace, with the national carrier resuming its flights across the country.

Pakistan closed its airspace on February 27 following escalating tensions with India.

On Tuesday, two-way flights from Lahore to Islamabad and flights from Karachi to Multan departed according to the schedule, said a statement issued by the national carrier - Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) - on Tuesday.
Flights have also been resumed for Bahawalpur, Raheem Yar Khan and Dera Ghazi Khan. Flights from Sialkot will resume from March 28, after necessary repairs are carried out on the Sialkot airport runway, it said.
Earlier in February, the CAA partially opened the country's airspace after keeping it closed for several hours following a rare aerial dogfight between Indian and Pakistani jets.
26/03/19 PTI/Business Standard

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F-16s escort Mumbai-Singapore flight after bomb threat

Singapore/New Delhi: A Singapore Airlines flight from Mumbai to Singapore with 263 passengers on board Tuesday received a bomb threat, prompting Singapore Air Force to send two F-16s to escort the aircraft.

The flight landed safely at Singapore's Changi International Airport on Tuesday around 8 am (local time), the airline added.

"Singapore Airlines confirms there was a bomb threat concerning SQ423 operating from Mumbai to Singapore. The aircraft arrived in Singapore on March 26, 2019, at about 0800hrs (local time).

"There were 263 passengers on board. We are assisting the authorities with their investigations and regret that we are unable to provide further details," a statement issued by the airline said.

The Republic of Singapore Air Force said two F16C/Ds escorted the SIA aeroplane.

The RSAF said in a Facebook post that two F-16C/Ds were scrambled to intercept the SIA flight.

"Our fighters escorted the airliner till it landed safely at Changi Airport," it said.

All passengers, except for a woman and a child, disembarked safely and had to undergo screening.

The woman and the child were held back for questioning by the police, who are investigating the incident.

Preliminary checks showed that the airline received a call after the plane left Mumbai's airport on Monday at about 11.35pm local time. The caller claimed that there was a bomb on the plane.

The plane, a Boeing 777-300ER, had departed Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport at 11.36pm local time on Monday, according to website FlightAware.
26/03/19 Gurdip Singh/Outlook

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‘Did Not Deny Overflight to Malaysian PM Going to Pakistan’: MEA

After Pakistani media site The News reported on Tuesday, 26 March, that the Modi government denied Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad overflight from India to Pakistan, the Indian Ministry of External Affairs categorically denied these claims.

MEA sources told The Quint, “The truth is that Pakistan has blocked its own airspace from flights which are overflying India.”

Mohamad was visiting Pakistan on an official three-day visit that began on 21 March, reported ANI. He was to be a guest for Pakistan’s National Day.

“Therefore, even though DGCA had given overflight clearance to Malaysian PM flight, it had to take a longer route because Pakistan denied permission. It is strange that even for their national day guest from Malaysia, Pakistan could not make an exception thereby resulting in a longer flight by Malaysia PM.”
MEA told The Quint

Government sources also called the reports of Indian denial “false and motivated.”

“It may also be noted that all flights, including international flights, flying westward from/over Pakistan are not being allowed to fly over India by Pakistan even though India hasn’t put any restriction,” the MEA added.
According to a report in The Economic Times, Malaysian PM Mohamad refused to choose in the India-Pakistan conflict, saying Malaysia will maintain good relations with both countries. In a blow to the Imran Khan government, who had invited Mohamad to show solidarity with Pakistan after the Pulwama attack and Balakot airstrikes.
26/03/19 Quint

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Mattala airport to be developed with India

Sri Lanka's Mattala airport is to be developed with India's Aviation Authority, the prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe said today.

“Sri Lankan and Indian Aviation Authorities will launch the joint venture and make the Mattala International Airport profitable within three months," Ranil told those gathered at an event in a cement factory in Hambantota this morning.

"The airport will not be used to store paddy anymore,” he added.

India's involvement with the development of the airport has faced criticism from several Sinhala sources, who have condemned the government's decision to 'sell' part of the island.

The JVP previously said that India's involvement would undermine national security.
25/03/19 Tamil Guardian

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Lufthansa inspires India to travel with its new brand campaign #LifeChangingPlaces

Building on the global success of its latest brand claim 'Say Yes to the World', Lufthansa today launched a new cross-media brand campaign in India, namely #LifeChangingPlaces. Following the brand's legacy of promoting open-mindedness, this campaign celebrates five real-life explorers who were rewarded with enriching experiences on their travels.

Through strong visual storytelling, #LifeChangingPlaces invites global travelers to explore the limits of who they are and find out who they can be. First launched globally in 2017, the campaign has now come alive in India with the story of Somnath Haldar. An IT consultant based in India, Somnath turned to music after he stumbled upon New York's vibrant Jazz scene on a trip to the city. The journey transformed his life, leading him to leave his job and pursue his passion as a music teacher back home in India.

Commenting on the strategic thought behind the campaign, Michael Knapp, Director B2C Marketing Asia Pacific, Lufthansa said: "Places can change people. They can inspire and motivate them to become more of who they are by opening them up to new experiences. At Lufthansa, we want to enable such experiences for everyone. That is the main goal of our brand campaign. As a premium international airline and a proud driver of globalization, Lufthansa remains committed to being a preferred travel partner to the global Indian who values quality, reliability and a sense of adventure."

With the India story launched, the thought behind #LifeChangingPlaces now resonates with five incredible travel stories set in New York, Mexico, Lofoten, France, and Cape Town. The video highlights of these powerful journeys can be viewed at www.lifechangingplaces.com/in-en/.

Speaking on the launch of the latest phase in India, George Ettiyil, Senior Director Sales, South Asia, Lufthansa Group Airlines said: "As a travel market, India is constantly evolving and expanding at a tremendous pace. A growing number of travelers, from different industries, demographic groups and parts of the country, are now choosing international destinations in search of enriching experiences. Our latest marketing campaign lends support to our sales activities in India by reaching out to a new generation of would-be explorers to go on inspirational journeys with Lufthansa. We wish to serve as an enabler for a travel savvy Indian nation to pursue newer adventures and horizons in their quest for self-discovery."
25/03/19 afaqs!

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Flying to Mumbai, Delhi? You may end up paying more than a Sharjah ticket

Nagpur: Withdrawal of flights by crisis-ridden Jet Airways has affected Nagpur the most among all centres. With Jet’s flights to major cities like Mumbai and Delhi cancelled, airfares of other airlines have touched the sky.
 Airlines like Air India, Go Air and Indigo are the only domestic carriers operating from Nagpur these days, and operating flights to major centres like Mumbai and Delhi. Jet Airways now only flies from Nagpur to Allahabad and Indore. The route has been allotted to it under the regional connectivity scheme of the central government.
 It began with Jet cancelling one flight each to Mumbai and Delhi in February, and by March all flights had been withdrawn.
 A quick search on booking portals and the airlines’ own website shows that the rates have gone up by at least 50% compared to the usual levels, and even 200% in some cases. Spot fares to Mumbai are more than a one-way ticket from Nagpur to Sharjah for this weekend. A ticket to Mumbai for Monday costs anywhere between Rs12,000 to 17,000. This is more than double the rates expected for last minute booking in normal times.
As against this, a ticket to Sharjah for the weekend costs a little over Rs11,000 per head. Tickets for Delhi are cheaper comparatively, but still above the normal level. Air tickets to the national capital for Monday are in the range of Rs7,200 to 8,000 for the economy class. Tickets to Delhi for March 27 are in the range of Rs6,200 to 7,600. There is a little change in the fare for flights in the first week of April too.
 25/03/19 Shishir Arya/Times of India

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Mangaluru-Dubai Air India Express flights to land in Sharjah from Apr 16-May 29

Dubai: Due to maintainence work at Dubai International Airport terminal 2, the schedule of Air India Express operations between Mangaluru and Dubai will change from middle of next month.

Reliable sources informed daijiworld from April 16, 2019 night flight onwards, there will be new timings and the destination airport has also been changed to Sharjah.

The new timings will remain in place till May 29.
24/03/19 daijiworld.com

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Fix to 737 MAX anti-stall software is ready, say industry sources

A fix to the anti-stall system suspected in the crash of a Boeing 737 MAX 8 jet that killed 189 people in Indonesia is ready, industry sources said on Saturday, as the company tries to avoid a lengthy grounding of its planes.

Boeing was due to present the patch to officials and pilots of US airlines -- American, Southwest and United -- in Renton, Washington state, where the plane is assembled, other sources said.

"Boeing has already finalised the necessary corrective measures for the MAX," an aviation sector source told AFP on condition of anonymity.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will receive the patch "early next week," a government source added.

Asked how long the certification process could take after the patch is in the hands of the authorities, this source said that nothing has been decided yet.

The FAA declined to comment.

The Lion Air crash in Indonesia last October and another accident this month involving an Ethiopian Airlines jet, which killed 346 people between them, have raised major concerns about the safety certification of the 737 MAX 8 model.

The Ethiopian Airlines crash on March 10 led to the global grounding of 737 MAX planes.

Although it will take months to determine the exact cause of both crashes, investigators in the Lion case have honed in on the MCAS automated anti-stalling system designed to point the nose of the plane downward if it is in danger of stalling, or losing lift.

American Airlines and Southwest pilots were set to test simulators with the updates on Saturday, according to the sources.

Boeing neither confirmed nor denied the information.
24/03/19 CNBC TV18

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Kerala government writes to Air India for direct flight between Thiruvananthapuram and Japan

Thiruvananthapuram: In a move that could bring cheers to the business diaspora in Japan, the state government has written to the Air India Managing Director requesting to start direct flight service between Japan and Thiruvananthapuram with a stopover at either Bangkok or Singapore.
According to senior government officers, the state government has shot off a letter to the Air India MD seeking direct flight service in the backdrop of multinational companies from the Far East making investments in Kerala.
According to a senior bureaucrat, Nissan Motors of Japan, which has set up a digital innovation hub in Thiruvananthapuram, and global brands like Fujitsu and Hitachi are aiming to make investments in key sectors in Kerala. Hence, it is vital to ensure air connectivity between various destinations beyond the traditional routes like the Gulf, the officer said.
24/03/19 Dhinesh Kallungal/New Indian Express

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Mangaluru-Dubai Air India Express flights to land in Sharjah from Apr 16-May 29

Dubai: Due to maintainence work at Dubai International Airport terminal 2, the schedule of Air India Express operations between Mangaluru and Dubai will change from middle of next month.

Reliable sources informed daijiworld from April 16, 2019 night flight onwards, there will be new timings and the destination airport has also been changed to Sharjah.

The new timings will remain in place till May 29.
24/03/19 Daijiworld

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India's indigenous supersonic fighter jet Tejas to take part in Malaysia's LIMA

New Delhi: India's indigenous supersonic fighter jet Tejas will for the first time participate in aerial displays during the five-day Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition (LIMA) in Malaysia.

India has been projecting the Tejas aircraft in a big way as it has been manufactured indigenously at the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and designed by the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) for the Indian Air Force and the Indian Navy.
The Indian Air Force will participate in the Maritime Aero Expo for the first time, during which it will showcase its indigenously-developed light combat aircraft Tejas.

The IAFs' team departed from Air Force Station Kalaikunda for Langkawi on March 22 via Myanmar, Yangon.

"India's indigenous supersonic Light Combat Aircraft(LCA)-Tejas & the world's lightest supersonic fighter which has already joined IAF, is for the 1st time taking part in aerial displays during 05 day Langkawi International Maritime & Aerospace Exhibition," the IAF said on its official Twitter handle.

"Today was the final practise session before the opening display for LIMA 2019, commencing 26th March 2019. IAF's Tejas (LCA) during the practise session today at Langkawi International Airport, Malaysia," the IAF tweeted.
24/03/19 PTI/Business Standard

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Kyrgyszstani national with Indian passport held

Bengaluru: A 34-year-old Kyrgyszstani national, who was deported from India for violating her visa conditions last year, managed to come back to the country and obtain Indian passport and documentations of a Indian citizen.

Narina Dokturbekova was arrested at the Kempegowda International Airport on Thursday when she attempted to take a flight to Nepal from the city. At the immigration counter, she presented an Indian passport, which raised officials’ eyebrows.

Officials told the BIAL police in their complaint that Narina had come to the city on a business visa in 2017, and was illegally working in the marketing division at an adhesives manufacturing company. In November 2018, the Foreigners Regional Registration Office got wind of this, and deported her. While she was supposed to go from Delhi to her home country, Narina instead made her way to Nepal in December and managed to cross the border, and came back to Bengaluru.
During this time, she managed to illegally obtain an Indian passport, Aadhar card, and PAN, despite being a Kyrgyszstan citizen, said the police. BIAL police have filed cases under Foreigners Act, 1946 and the Passport Act, 1967 against her and are investigating how she got the documents.
24/03/19 The Hindu

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Jet Airways suspends 12 international services

New Delhi/Mumbai: India's debt-laden Jet Airways has grounded seven more planes after failing to pay for its aircraft leases, heaping pressure on its founder as a ballooning crisis threatens its survival.

The beleaguered airline, gasping under debts of more than $1 billion, had grounded six planes earlier this week, and is also facing the threat of strike action over salary payments.

In a statement late on Friday announcing the latest groundings, the airline said it was "making all efforts to minimise disruption to its network... and is proactively informing and re-accommodating its affected guests". The Mumbai-based airline has now been left with just a quarter of its fleet of 119 aircraft in operation.

Jet has suspended 12 international flights, a separate report says, even as it grapples with a reduced fleet strength, industry insiders said.

Sources said the airline has suspended operations to Hong Kong, Abu Dhabi, Riyadh, Dammam, Singapore, Manchester and Dhaka, among others, until April 30.

"Apart from suspensions, the airline has also reduced frequencies on some of the international routes. These suspensions and reduction in frequencies can be attributed to the fact that its fleet size has been trnucated," sources said.

Jet, which employs more than 20,000 people, has also been facing pressure from pilots who have not been paid on time, with unions threatening they will walk off the job if salaries do not arrive soon.

Jet's crisis deepened due to a stalemate in talks between Jet founder Naresh Goyal and the airline's other major stakeholder, Etihad Airline. Local media said on Saturday hope was fading that Goyal would be able to raise the funds needed to save the airline he launched 26 years ago.

Meanwhile, Jet's pilots said they are suffering from massive financial stress caused by non-payment of salaries for the last three months, which has even forced some to mortgage jewellery and take short-term loans. The pilots said even EMI payments on car and home loans might become difficult in the present circumstance.

Pilots said that they, along with engineers and other highly-critical segments of employees, have not been paid three-month salaries from January 1 and that only 12.5 per cent of December pay was given.

"Nearly all of us have financial responsibilities. We fear that a sudden collapse of the airline might be imminent. We need our dues to paid by March 31 and a clear road map for our company," National Aviator's Guild vice-president Captain Asim Valiani told IANS in Mumbai.

"We have decided that either the management lets us know about the progress of the resolution plan and the future of the company by March 31 or we will refrain from flying duties."
23/03/19 AFP/IANS/Khaleej Times

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Sri Lankan woman with Indian passport arrested

Trichy: A 57-year-old Sri Lankan woman was arrested while attempting to fly to the island nation through the Trichy international airport on an Indian passport.
 H Meherbanu, who is married to an Indian and residing in in Morsingpettai in Beema Nagar was caught by immigration officials on Thursday evening while she was boarding a flight to Sri Lanka as they found that she had obtained an Indian passport by submitting fake documents.
 Police said the woman and her parents had migrated to Trichy in 1981 and since then she has been living here. She also got married to Mohammed Hanifa, an Indian.
The woman lost her Sri Lankan passport. Instead of taking steps to get a new passport, she obtained an Indian passport. Using the passport, she had travelled to Sri Lanka multiple times but managed to escape without raising any suspicion.
 On Thursday, the immigration officer checked her passport and asked about her place of birth. The woman spilled the beans that she was born in SriLanka.
 23/03/19 Times of India

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After crashes, Boeing rolls out safety feature

New York: Boeing’s 737 MAX aircraft will be outfitted with a warning light for malfunctions in the anti-stall system suspected in October’s fatal crash in Indonesia, an industry source said on Thursday, standardising a feature previously sold as an optional extra.

The development comes as the manufacturer struggles to cope with the fallout from both the Indonesia crash and another in Ethiopia this month, which have cast a spotlight on the safety certification process and shaken confidence in a plane that is crucial to its future plans.

Known as a “disagree light”, this safety feature will become standard and is among the modifications the company will present to US authorities and clients in the coming days, the source said on condition of anonymity.
Neither the Lion Air aircraft which crashed in Indonesia, nor the Ethiopian Airlines jet, had the feature, the source said.  Modifications are in the final stages but Boeing wants to be certain this meets the expectations of regulators and customers, the industry source said. Neither Boeing nor the Federal Aviation Agency offered any comment. But an industry expert said the system should have already been included.
22/03/19 AFP/Tribune

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UAE travellers hit by Jet Airways woes, make backup plans

Dubai: Indian travellers from the UAE are hit hard as the Jet Airways woes mount up, resulting in many of the cash-strapped airline's flights getting cancelled.

The 25-year-old Jet, reeling under mounting debts of more than $1 billion, has been forced to ground a total of 78 of its 119 aircraft after failing to pay lenders and aircraft lessors. To add to it, the April 1 deadline given by the carrier's pilots - who had been unpaid for more than three months - is approaching and passengers are facing more inconvenience.

The airline had been operating 11 flights daily from Dubai and 4 flights from Abu Dhabi to various Indian cities. Currently the Dubai flight is reduced to one daily till March 30 and the operations from Abu Dhabi are completely suspended.

The airfares on other airlines have now moved up considerably.

Those who already booked tickets are left with no option but to check on other airlines even at the cost of cancellation and re-booking at premium air fares.

"I want to fly with my family for a vacation and even if it means paying a little more to other airlines, it is fine. The holiday plans cannot be altered and uncertainty on travel plans is better to be avoided. We have now shifted to Emirates and SpiceJet," Bijay Rajnikantt Shah, national director, BNI UAE, told Khaleej Times.

Himanshu Sampat, business head UAE, Cox & Kings Tours, said: "Travellers who have booked their tickets with Jet are left with two choices; either claim for the refund or opt for alternative flights provided by the airline. Travellers who are planning their journey are opting for alternative airlines by not taking any chances. Travel towards India would become more expensive as supply will be impacted with the cancellation as Jet Airways had great frequency of daily flights to different parts of India. Currently, business travellers are opting for full cost national carriers and travellers looking for personal segment are opting for airlines offering best deals like Air Arabia, flydubai, Indigo, Air India and others."
21/03/19 Sandhya D'Mello/Khaleej Times

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Years Before Crash, Ethiopian Pilots Had Raised Concerns Over Training

Two pilots filed complaints with the Federal Aviation Administration about allegedly flawed training programs and poor safety procedures at Ethiopian Airlines years before a Boeing 737 MAX commercial jet crashed in Ethiopia with 157 people on-board last week, according to a Federal Aviation Administration database.
The 2015 complaints, filed before the Max 8 was in use, are critical of training and pilot documentation on the 737 in use at the time, as well as two larger Boeing planes. They could also lead to renewed scrutiny of Ethiopian Airlines, a fast-growing international airline that has enjoyed a generally positive safety reputation in international aviation circles.

One pilot said the airline didn't "have the infrastructure" to support the fleet of Boeing and Airbus jets it ordered, and alleged the airline had a "fear-based" management culture in which "safety is being sacrificed for expansion and profit margin." The pilot also accused the airline of failing to update pilot manuals and leaving out certain checklists designed to help pilots respond to "non-normal" situations. And another pilot criticized Ethiopian regulators for maintaining lax standards with respect to crew flight and rest time. The FAA's data does not identify the pilots by name.

Anmut Lemma, a spokesman for Ethiopia's Civil Aviation Authority, said because the complaints were lodged years ago the agency would need "further investigation" before commenting additionally. A spokesman for Ethiopian Airlines could not be reached for comment Thursday.
The FAA closed the complaints less than a month later and it's unclear whether the agency shared them with Ethiopia's Civil Aviation Authority.

An FAA spokesman emphasized that the agency has a "long-standing and robust" program that evaluates airlines overseas in conjunction with the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a United Nations organization responsible for standardizing international airline regulations.

"The FAA regularly evaluates foreign civil aviation authorities to ensure they continue to adhere to ICAO standards," FAA communications manager Ian Gregor said in a statement.

Mike Boyd, a Colorado-based aviation analyst with Boyd Group International, said the two complaints are "not a smoking gun," but actually more like "an artillery barrage" that call for additional scrutiny on airlines' roles in the two deadly crashes. Boyd referred to multiple published reports that the pilot of the doomed plane had 8,000 flying hours while the copilot had just 200 hours.

"There is no way [Ethiopian Airlines] can claim they had a qualified crew on that flight," Boyd wrote in an email Wednesday. In the U.S. copilots on commercial flights are required to have at least 1,500 flight hours.

The first 2015 pilot complaint "is totally consistent with an airline whose standards would put a 200-hour pilot in a sophisticated 737-MAX," Boyd said. "That is not inconsequential and it's a scandal that, instead of investigating the fact that we have an airline such as [Ethiopian Airlines] flying into the U.S., we have Congress running off into the weeds chasing Boeing/FAA issues."

The complaints have surfaced at a time when Boeing, the FAA and Ethiopian Airlines are under intense scrutiny.
22/03/19 Aaron Gregg/Washington Post/NDTV

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Pilot says after fatal incident at Malaysia airport: I was not told about vehicle on runway

A pilot, whose jet ran into a car on the tarmac of Subang Airport in Selangor this week, killing a worker, claimed to have been cleared to land by the air traffic controller and that no notice was issued for maintenance work, as required.

Captain Muhammad Fauwaz Zamzam, who had piloted the Bombardier Challenger 300, said he did not see any other light on the tarmac, except for the airport guiding lights and boundary markers.

He said they decided to proceed to the bay after checking the aircraft instruments and confirming that there was no fire.
Captain Muhammad Fauwaz, who has 7,000 hours of flying experience, claimed to have been surprised when he "heard on the airport radio that the plane had rammed into a car and someone was injured" after he had taxied.

During the 3.15am incident on Monday (March 18), the jet collided with a Malaysian Airport Holdings Bhd (MAHB) vehicle, seriously injuring Mr Mohd Ruzaimi Iskandar Ahmad Razali, 39. The vehicle was used to supervise the painting and electrical repair work on the runway.

Mr Mohd Ruzaimi died on Wednesday.

The case is now being investigated by the police and the Transport Ministry's Air Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB).

Mr Muhammad Fauwaz also alleged that he was given clearance to land some four minutes before he approached the airport.

"I did not see any other light on the tarmac, except for the airport guiding lights, as the plane approached the runway. If there has been work being carried out or any vehicle on the runway, normally there would be beacon lights," he said.

He also claimed that the airport did not issue Notice to Airman (Notam) to indicate that work was being carried out, and that he radioed the control tower twice.

The private jet, belonging to Berjaya Air, was on a chartered flight from Jaipur, India, with eight passengers on board.
22/03/19 Starits Times

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Kerala family awaiting son’s body receives body of Lankan woman

Thiruvananthapuram: The body of a man from Kerala who died in Saudi Arabia was wrongly sent to Sri Lanka, while the body of a Sri Lankan woman was ferried to Kerala due to a mix-up in transit.

The mix-up added to the woes of the grieving family of Ittimoottil Rafeeque, 27, who died at Abha in Saudi Arabia on February 27 due to cardiac arrest. Rafeeque hailed from Konni in central Kerala’s Pathanamthitta district.

The body arrived at Kochi airport on Wednesday. When the casket was opened on Thursday morning before burial, the family realised it was of a woman. Inside the casket, there was a tag with the name of the woman.

Konni Police Inspector Ashad M pointed to the cargo firm that had ferried the body to Kerala.

“After completing all forensic and legal formalities, a cargo firm was assigned the task of sending the body of Rafeeque to Kerala. At the same time, the body of a woman from Sri Lanka was to be ferried to that country by the same cargo firm. Both caskets were given identification numbers. While loading the caskets to Kochi and Colombo, the cargo firm employees messed up the identification numbers. Thus, the body that should have reached Kochi airport went to Colombo, and the body of the Lankan woman reached Kochi,” he said.

The officer said steps have been taken to get the body of the youth released from Colombo. The body of the woman, now moved to a morgue, would be released to the cargo firm on Friday.

“The firm Saudia Cargo has agreed to rush the body of the woman to Lanka and bring back the body of the Kerala youth to Kochi via direct flight from Colombo. Lankan authorities have informed that the body would be embalmed again and emigration process would be cleared soon to ferry the body to Kerala,’’ said the police officer.
22/03/19 Shaju Philip/Indian Express

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IndiGo airlines continues to recruit expat and 'out-of-job' pilots

Istanbul: At a time when Jet Airways is facing financial difficulties, India's budget carrier IndiGo has said that it continues to engage in recruiting expat as well as "out of job" pilots in India. William Boulter, Chief Commercial Officer of IndiGo, said on Wednesday here, "We continue to engage in recruitment efforts both for expats (pilots) and for the pilots who might be out of job in India to join us."

IndiGo on Wednesday launched its flight on the Delhi-Istanbul sector and announced to use its expanding fleet of A320neo and A321neo aircraft to connect more Indian cities to countries such as China, Vietnam, England, Myanmar and Saudi Arabia.

IndiGo is facing acute shortage of commanders amid aggressive expansion of its fleet. The carrier has more than 210 planes in its fleet. It is offering jobs to pilots of Jet Airways along with compensation for overdue salaries from the cash-strapped full-service airline, IndiGo said on March 12. Shortage of trained and experienced pilots has been an issue for domestic airlines amid capacity expansion to meet rising passenger traffic.
IndiGo, India's largest airline by market share, decided in mid-February that it will operate about 30 fewer flights each day till March-end as it has been battling a shortage of pilots. Boulter said that those 30 flights will not make a comeback post-March either. "The 30 flights have been taken out from the summer schedule that will go on till October," he said.
Talking about airfare hike, Boulter said, "It is no secret that the prices have generally gone up in India over the last month or so because there have been flight cancellations and Mumbai runway issues and there has been Bengaluru NOTAM (notice to airmen) as well."
21/03/19 New Indian Express

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Etihad in talks to help debt-ridden Jet Airways

Dubai: Etihad Airways is in discussion with banks and various stakeholders of the debt-ridden Jet Airways to find a solution, the UAE national airline said on Wednesday amid reports about the possible sale of its entire stake in the Indian carrier.

Responding to Khaleej Times' query on its widely reported talks with State Bank of India on selling the entire 24 per cent stakes in Jet Airways, an Etihad spokesperson stated: "As a minority shareholder, Etihad is working closely with Indian lenders, the company and key stakeholders to facilitate a solution for Jet Airways."

According to reports in Indian media, Etihad has formally asked SBI, India's largest lender, to purchase its stake in Jet at Rs150 per share, or for a total consideration of Rs4 billion, as the embattled airline continued to ward off multiple crises including an impending strike by pilots over delayed salary and a looming bankruptcy.

Rajnish Kumar, SBI chairman, said on Wednesday that lenders are making every effort to keep afloat Jet Airways, and putting the airline into bankruptcy is the last option for all stakeholders.

"We believe that it is in everybody's interest that Jet Airways continues to fly," Kumar said, adding that placing Jet into bankruptcy would mean grounding the airline.
The SBI chief said talks with Etihad, Jet's largest shareholder, to secure a rescue deal are in progress while there is the possibility of bringing in a new investor. He said that any decision taken to rescue Jet is a commercial one and is not at the direction of the Indian government.

The Indian government, keen to avert a King Fisher like disaster ahead of next month's Lok Sabah polls, has asked state-run banks and other lenders to come to the rescue of India's second full service airline.
21/03/19 Issac John/Khaleej Times

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IndiGo launches Delhi-Istanbul flight; plans for wider global expansion

Istanbul: India's budget carrier IndiGo has launched its flight on the Delhi-Istanbul sector and announced to use its expanding fleet of A320neo and A321neo aircraft to connect more Indian cities to countries such as China, Vietnam, England, Myanmar and Saudi Arabia. William Boulter, Chief Commercial Officer of IndiGo said Wednesday here, "We are looking very seriously into other points in South East Asia, notably the obvious ones of Vietnam and Myanmar. We also want to operate shortly to Saudi Arabia on the west side".
"We are seriously interested in getting in China as soon as we can. We are still selecting precise destinations," he said.

"India operates only five flights from here to China per week, whereas China operates 42 flights to India per week. It's basically time that we start readdressing that balance. I am convinced that there is a huge amount of traffic in India-China axis. We have not yet tapped that," Boulter said. The airline plans to add 125 A321neo aircraft in its fleet over number of years. In 2019, it will receive 20-25 of these aircraft from Airbus, he said.

India's largest airline IndiGo has around 40 per cent domestic passenger market share. Boulter said, "Once we get more A321s, we will do more longer routes." A321neo aircraft has the capacity to carry around 230 passengers while A320 neo carries around 180 passengers. While Delhi-Istanbul flight is being operated in A321neo aircraft having 222 seats, Boulter clarified that the flights to China would be based on A320neos.

Talking about IndiGo's plan to connect Delhi to London, he said, "We are still hoping to operating to London this year. We haven't chosen yet what the mid point is going to be whether Baku or Tsblisi or Istanbul."
"We had some slots in Gatwick airport last winter but they have lapsed. So, we are again looking at which airport we can operate to in the UK. It's not yet confirmed. We are very keen to get into the UK market this year.

"We also have a plan to put A321 aircraft domestically because in slot limited airports in Delhi and Mumbai and increasingly, other airports too, A321 gives you that additional capacity," Boulter said. The Delhi-Istanbul flight plans to connect 20 forward destinations using the codeshare pact that was signed between India's largest airline and Turkish Airlines on December 21 last year. Codeshare pact allows passengers to travel on a single ticket on flights operated by the partner carrier.
21/03/19 ETNowNews.com

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Ethiopian Airlines Had a Max 8 Simulator, but Pilot on Doomed Flight Didn’t Receive Training

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: Ethiopian Airlines surpassed many carriers by becoming one of the first to install a simulator to teach pilots how to fly the new Boeing 737 Max 8, but the captain of the doomed Flight 302 never trained on the simulator, according to people close to the airline’s operations.

The people, who spoke on condition of anonymity because Ethiopian Airlines had not authorized disclosure of the information, said the carrier had the Max 8 simulator up and running in January, two months before Flight 302 crashed.

Boeing has said that experienced 737 pilots needed little training for the new Max 8, an assertion that has now come under close scrutiny by regulatory officials and pilots at other airlines. Two of the planes have fatally crashed in the past five months, and regulators around the world grounded all Max 8s last week.

The pilot of Flight 302, Yared Getachew, who had 8,000 hours of flying experience including on the 737, took a refresher course on a different simulator in late September and early October, according to one person familiar with the airline, and was not due for another round of simulator training until after the crash on March 10.

It was unclear if the second pilot on Flight 302, the co-pilot, had trained on the Max 8 simulator. Nor was it clear if the airline had used the simulator for refresher courses it requires pilots to take every six months, or only to train new pilots.

Still, use of the simulator by Ethiopian Airlines means the carrier was among the few in the world that not only had a working simulator for Boeing Max jets but was using it a few months after the first Max 8 crash, Lion Air Flight 610.

The Ethiopian and Lion Air flights crashed minutes after takeoff and showed similar up-and-down oscillations before fatal nose-dives. A central focus of the Indonesian investigation is the possibility that the automated system pushed the nose down into a fatal dive because of inaccurate input from a sensor.

Even if both pilots on Flight 302 had trained on the simulator, it is unclear if such preparation would have included maneuvers to deal with the kinds of problems they may have faced.

After the Lion Air crash, Ethiopian Airlines also shared with its pilots Boeing’s instructions on how to deal with the kind of problems Lion Air pilots appeared to have encountered, the people close to Ethiopian Airlines operations said.

In a bulletin issued in November, Boeing said that emergency procedures that applied to earlier 737 models would have corrected the problems that may have contributed to the Max 8 crash in Indonesia.

Pilots for Ethiopian Airlines, who declined to speak on the record, said they paid close attention to bulletins issued by aircraft manufacturers, especially following an accident. One pilot said failing to read the bulletins would be tantamount to “walking out of your house naked.”

The Ethiopian crash has brought new scrutiny to the system Boeing put in its new Max planes to prevent stalls, called MCAS. The system was designed to compensate for changes to the aerodynamics that arose from alterations to the size and position of the engines on the wings.

The pilots on the doomed Lion Air flight did not appear to understand why the jet was tipping downward and how to correct that problem. One flipped through a technical manual, and the other began to pray, according to the cockpit voice recording.
20/03/19  Selam Gebrekidan/New York Times

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Allahu Akbar: Report reveals Lion Air pilot's last words before plane crash

Jakarta/Singapore/Paris: The pilots of a doomed Lion Air Boeing 737 MAX scoured a handbook as they struggled to understand why the jet was lurching downwards, but ran out of time before it hit the water, three people with knowledge of the cockpit voice recorder contents said.

The investigation into the crash, which killed all 189 people on board in October, has taken on new relevance as the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and other regulators grounded the model last week after a second deadly accident in Ethiopia.

Investigators examining the Indonesian crash are considering how a computer ordered the plane to dive in response to data from a faulty sensor and whether the pilots had enough training to respond appropriately to the emergency, among other factors.

It is the first time the voice recorder contents from the Lion Air flight have been made public. The three sources discussed them on condition of anonymity.

Reuters did not have access to the recording or transcript.

A Lion Air spokesman said all data and information had been given to investigators and declined to comment further.

The captain was at the controls of Lion Air flight JT610 when the nearly new jet took off from Jakarta, and the first officer was handling the radio, according to a preliminary report issued in November.
20/03/19 Reuters/India Today

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US-Bangla Airlines offers Dhaka-Chennai direct flight

US-Bangla Airlines is set to spread its wings to Chennai as the first ever Bangladeshi carrier from March 31 for increasing connectivity with the southern part of India.

The airlines will operate three weekly flights from Dhaka to Chennai via Chattogram route on every Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday through its 164-seater Boeing 737-800 aircraft, Imran Asif, chief executive officer of US-Bangla Airlines, said at a press briefing at Dhaka.

The minimum round-trip fare of Dhaka-Chennai-Dhaka has been fixed at Tk 22,223 while it is Tk 22,225 for Chattogram-Chennai-Chattogram route.

The private airliner also offers special medical packages collaborating with Indian hospital chain Apollo along with other packages for tourists.

Currently, the airlines is operating international flights to Muscat, Doha, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok and Kolkata with its seven aircraft fleet that is comprised of four Boeing 737-800 and three Dash 8-Q400.
20/03/19 Daily Star

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Philippine Airlines defers launch of India flights

Manila: Flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) is deferring the scheduled launch of its flight to India due to growing passenger concerns over the India-Pakistan border tension.

In an advisory, PAL said it is temporarily suspending the launch of its Manila-New Delhi-Manila service until further notice.

“We are constrained to take this step as news of India-Pakistan border tensions has prompted many travelers to cancel bookings and defer their travel plans,” the airline said.
PAL announced last year that it is reviving its flights to India within the first quarter of 2019, nearly six years since it decided to stop flying in the Asian destination.
PAL was originally eyeing to operate four times weekly nonstop flights between Manila and New Delhi beginning March 31, 2019.
21/03/19 Richmond Mercurio/The Philippine Star

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Mum thanks Air Arabia for saving son’s life

Dubai: The mother of a six-month old baby who fell seriously ill on an Air Arabia flight from Nagpur to Sharjah, forcing it to make an emergency landing in Muscat, has thanked the airline for their compassion and urged other mothers to seek a second opinion before flying with a sick child.

Sarah Bombaywalla, 24, was travelling to the UAE with her son Adam and her in-laws on March 4 when her son had a coughing fit on board that left him fighting for breath.

“We live in Paris where my son was born and were visiting my in-laws’ in Yavatmal, a city close to Nagpur,” Bombaywalla told Gulf News, from her parents residence in Sharjah. “Somehow, my son was not able to acclimatise to the weather [in India] and kept suffering from bouts of cold, allergy and cough so much so that he was hospitalised in February.”

Before booking a flight to Sharjah, the mother consulted a paediatrician, who gave the child clearance to fly.
“However, half way through the flight Adam started coughing incessantly. When this went on for an hour, I was worried and sought help. I was fortunate that there were three doctors on board who immediately volunteered to help and oxygen was provided to stabilise my child,” said the mother.

Despite help from the doctors however, the baby continued to cough and went pale as his condition worsened.

Dr Abhay Kumar Pandey, interventional cardiologist from Prime Hospital in Dubai, who happened to be on board, said: “It appeared that the child was either choking on a foreign body or had a very severe chest infection.

“There was another anaesthetologist and doctor on board and together we tried to clear his airways by dislodging any foreign body manually. Then we started oxygen and also gave him nebulisation with two kinds of bronchodilators.
21/03/19 Suchitra Bajpai Chaudhary/Gulf News

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Goyal meets Qatar Airways CEO, other potential investors in Dubai

Jet Airways chairman Naresh Goyal has recently met Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker, sources told CNBC-TV18, adding that the former is currently in Dubai and meeting other potential investors.

Goyal is not expected to be back in India before April, added the sources.

Rajnish Kumar, chairman, State Bank of India, on Wednesday said the lenders will make every effort to keep Jet Airways flying and all stakeholders are in the unanimous view that the airline is a good aviation property.

Kumar met finance minister Arun Jaitley along with aviation secretary Pradip Singh Kharola and Nripendra Misra, principal secretary to Prime Minister.

"An effort has been made by lenders to keep the airline running in the interest of all stakeholders and resolution plan for Jet Airways was almost ready but there is some delay," said Rajnish Kumar, chairman, State Bank of India.

On Etihad, he said the lenders are interested in Jet Airways and dialogue with the UAE-based airline is still on.

On insolvency and bankruptcy code (IBC), the SBI chairman said it is the last option for Jet Airways and the bankruptcy law is nearly impossible for an industry like this.
20/03/19 Anu Sharma/CNBC TV18

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Is Jet Airways poised to axe Manchester-Mumbai?

Jet Airways’ Manchester-Mumbai route, launched only a few months ago, was the only direct link between the English city and India.

And last August Jet Airways was so confident of its success it decided to up the flight frequency.

Jet Airways has financial problems, and has been not been operating many domestic and regional routes recently. But its wide-body aircraft operations to Europe and beyond have remained unchanged.

Now it would appear that the Manchester-Mumbai route (operated by a wide-body A330-200) is about to be cancelled.

Earlier today Airlineroute said that bookings for this service were not possible “on/after March 23”.

When Business Traveller checked the Jet Airways website this afternoon, the final direct flight was shown for travel on March 22.
19/03/19 Alex McWhirter/Business Traveller

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Embraer’s E190-E2 displays capabilities in India

New Delhi: As part of its tour around the region, Embraer’s E190-E2 commercial jet will be making a stop in New Delhi. Sporting a shark livery to represent the aircraft’s ‘profit hunter’ status, the aircraft will offer Embraer’s guests a closer look at the world’s quietest, cleanest and most efficient new-generation single-aisle aircraft.
 “We are proud to bring this aircraft to the region for the second time to show the amazing capabilities of the E190-E2,” said Cesar Pereira, Asia Pacific Vice President, Embraer Commercial Aviation. “The E190-E2 offers airlines the benefit of lower operating costs and is capable of achieving similar costs per seat of larger re-engined narrowbody aircraft, with significantly lower costs per trip. We have also received a lot of positive feedback about the aircraft performance, low fuel consumption, sleek and modern interior and low cabin noise and we are excited to show it to a wider audience.”
Delivered to its launch customer in April last year, and now operated by two airlines Norway’s Widerøe and Kazakhstan’s Air Astana, the E190-E2 has gained a reputation in the industry for having met all its milestones ahead of schedule, and with final specifications better than the originally expected.

The E-Jets E2’s value proposition in the Asia Pacific region is its ability to enable airlines to sustainably develop more routes secondary or tertiary cities. These are routes that can potentially bypass the major metro airports such as Manila, Jakarta, Bangkok, New Delhi and Mumbai which are heavily congested.  This enables airlines to achieve sustainable growth without being constrained by infrastructure bottlenecks, while offering passengers improved services with more non-stop flights.
Embraer forecasts a demand for 10,550 new aircraft with up to 150 seats worldwide, worth USD 600 billion, over the next 20 years, more than 3,000 of which will origin from the Asia Pacific region, including China.
Embraer is the world’s leading manufacturer of commercial jets with up to 150 seats. The Company has 100 customers from all over the world operating the ERJ and the E-Jet families of aircraft. For the E-Jets program alone, Embraer has logged more than 1,800 orders and 1,400 deliveries, redefining the traditional concept of regional aircraft by operating across a range of business applications. The first-generation E-Jets are operated by 70 airlines in 50 countries. This includes all the mainline US carriers, KLM, Air France, Lufthansa, British Airways, Tianjin Airlines, China Southern Airlines, Japan Airlines and Mandarin Airlines.

The E-Jets E2 is the most efficient family of aircraft in the single-aisle market burning up to 10% less fuel than its direct competitor. The E190-E2 brings also more flexibility with maximum range of up to 5,300 km or about 1,000 km longer than the first-generation E190.
In January 2018, as the aircraft neared the end of its flight test campaign, final results showed that the aircraft is better than its original specification and even more efficient than other single aisle aircraft. In fuel consumption, the E190-E2 proved to be 1.3% better than originally expected, which represents a 17.3% improvement when compared to the first-generation E190. In terms of pilot transition, pilots of the first-generation E-Jets will need only 2.5 days of training and no full flight simulator to fly an E2.
Flight test results also confirmed the E190-E2 to be better than its original specification in takeoff performance in hot-and-high conditions as well as short field takeoff.
 E190-E2 also becomes the aircraft with the longest maintenance intervals in the single aisle market with 10,000 flight hours for basic checks and no calendar limit in typical E-Jets utilization. This means additional 15 days of aircraft utilization in a period of ten years compared to the first-generation E-Jets.
20/03/19 Embraer/PRESS RELEASE

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How much money is Air India losing due to closure of Pakistan airspace?

The closure of airspace by Pakistan for all international flights has hurt Air India the most. The national carrier is reportedly losing Rs 3 crore every day due to re-routing or cancellation of its flights to the UK and the US. The losses roughly sum up to more than Rs 60 crore for Air India ever since Pakistan closed its airspace post the IAF attack on February 26.

India and Pakistan had ordered for closure of their respective airspaces, shutting down various domestic airports after the hostilities between the neighbours over the Pulwama attack that led to the killing of 40 CRPF personnel. However, India opened its airspace within hours post the IAF strike while Pakistan is still hesitant and has only partially opened its airspace.
The decision by the Pakistani government, according to Flightradar24.com, has hit almost 400 flights that use its airspace on a daily basis.

Air India has cancelled or diverted a majority of flights that it operates to the US and the UK using Pakistan airspace over the last 20 days, DNA reported. The national carrier operates 66 such flights every week to Europe and 33 to North America, according to CNN Traveller.

Air India has also suspended its flights to Birmingham due to the Pakistani government's decision describing it as "extraordinary circumstances." There are six such flights from New Delhi and Amritsar in a week.
The flight duration, as a result of re-routing, has also gone up by at least three hours. This has put an additional revenue burden due to additional fuel usage and more work for the airline crew. India's national carrier has consequently ordered its inactive staff to report to overcome the crisis.
A majority of the flights whose routes have been diverted due to Pakistan's airspace closure have been directed to Mumbai which has resulted in air traffic congestion. In fact, it was recently reported that the congestion almost led to a mid-air crash. A timely collision warning saved the airlines from crashing.
19/03/19 Bismah Malik/IBTimes

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35 airlines confirmed for inaugural CONNECT Middle East, India & Africa forum

More than 30 airlines have confirmed their participation at the inaugural CONNECT Middle East, India & Africa – co-located with Arabian Travel Market 2019 and taking place at Dubai World Trade Centre on Tuesday 30th April and Wednesday 1st May.

Senior network planning teams from a wide range of legacy and low-cost carriers including Emirates, Etihad, China Southern Airlines, Jordan Aviation, Air Asia, flydubai, Gulf Air, Oman Air and Azerbaijan Airlines as well as SpiceJet and Air India are among those already registered.

In India, which has one of the world’s largest aviation industries, more than 678,000 flights departed from its top five airports in 2018 – with these airports possessing the capacity to manage 118.07 million passengers, an additional 12.32 million passengers when compared with figures from 2017, according to data published in the latest ANKER report.

Nick Pilbeam, divisional director, Reed Travel Exhibitions, said: “Despite rising fuel costs and unstable Rupee exchange rates, which has led to the Rupee losing around 14% of its value against the US dollar over the last 12 months, 2018 has been an exciting year for India’s aviation market.

“The country has recorded the world’s fastest growing domestic aviation market for the past three years, according to IATA, with domestic air passenger traffic registering a healthy 18.6% growth in 2018 underscoring the country’s vast market potential.”
20/03/19 Arabian Aerospace

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Man caught at Indian airport 'with live human embryo in suitcase'

A man has been arrested after he was allegedly caught attempting to smuggle a live human embryo into India.

Authorities in the country say they discovered the man, a Malaysian national, carrying the embryo in a special container hidden in his suitcase at Mumbai‘s airport last Friday.

The man reportedly admitted he had previously made several similar smuggling runs.

He then led officials to an IVF clinic in Mumbai which is now being investigated as part of a possible smuggling ring.
The clinic has denied any allegations it is involved in smuggling.

Rebecca Gonsalves, representing the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), the agency investigating the alleged smuggling operation, told Mumbai’s high court on Monday that several text messages were found on the man’s phone suggesting the clinic was the intended place of delivery, according to The Times of India.

However, Dr Coral Gandhi, an embryologist who runs the clinic, denied the allegation.

Her lawyer, Sujoy Kantwalla, said she “does not import embryos as part of her business”, the Indian Express reported, and he blamed “a conspiracy hatched by persons which may include competitors”.
19/03/19 Samuel Osborne/Independent

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Air India worst-hit by closure of Pakistan airspace, loses over Rs 60 crore

New Delhi: Closure of Pakistan's airspace has not only affected hundreds of passengers across the globe but also several airlines around the globe.

Reports suggest that Air India has been affected more than any other airline due to the closure of Pakistan airspace, with a loss of more than Rs 60 crore as of March 16.

Pakistan announced general closure of its airspace on February 27, the next day after Indian Air Force (IAF) carried out an airstrike targeting a Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terror camp in Balakot.

Flights of several airlines around the world have been either re-routed or cancelled, with as many as 400 flights being affected on a daily basis. Out of all the airlines, Air India is one of the worst-hit airlines.

Air India flies 66 weekly services to Europe and 33 to the US, reports said. Since the routes mostly fly through Pakistani airspace, majority of these flights had to be either cancelled or diverted.

Air India flights travelling west can no longer fly over Pakistan's airspace and need to swing south across Gujarat and then cut across the Arabian sea to reach their destinations in Europe and North America.

The most problematic flights for Air India are flights between India and the US east coast - Washington, New York, Newark and Chicago.

This has resulted in Air India, an airline which was already surviving on government bailouts, to incur heavy revenue losses, a spokesperson said.

Other airlines such as private carriers SpiceJet and Jet Airways have also been affected as they to cancel their flight between Delhi and Kabul.
19/03/19 India Today

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Pakistan keeps airspace closed over fears of India attack

Pakistan has restricted its airspace indefinitely over fears India will launch another attack, forcing international airlines to take costly and time-consuming detours.

“This is a matter of national security. There can be no compromise,” a senior Pakistan government official told the Financial Times. “I realise this is a problem [for airlines] but Pakistan’s security must come first.”

Another senior government official said an air strike by the Indian military in northern Pakistan last month had “definitely” prompted the move to close the airspace. A day after the Indian strike, Pakistan’s air force fired at two Indian fighters.

“We are still concerned that the Indians may go for another adventure as Prime Minister [Narendra] Modi tries to get votes to win the election,” the official said, referring to India’s national poll, to be held over seven weeks from April 11. “Our reading is that the Indians are still thinking of attacking Pakistan in the name of targeting terrorist locations.”

Imran Khan, Pakistan’s prime minister, has also voiced fears of an imminent attack. On Friday he told a gathering near Peshawar that “there is a need for Pakistanis to remain vigilant”.

He added: “We are repeatedly asking India to have bilateral trade and resolve the issue of Kashmir through talks but, unfortunately, a political party in India wants to win the election by spreading hatred.”
The airspace closure is affecting about 800 commercial and cargo flights a day, said Mark Martin, founder of aviation company Martin Consulting, who estimated that the shutdown has already cost airlines and airports more than $1bn.
19/03/19 Financial Times

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New baggage service for Indian airlines from UAE airport

Abu Dhabi: Abu Dhabi airport has announced a special service for passengers in Indian airlines travelling from UAE.

Indigo travellers can now remotely check-in their luggage via the 'City Terminal Check-in' service - allowing them to avoid the hassle at the airport and check-in quickly.

The service, which started on March 10, needs to be availed 24 hours before the time of the flight.

Other India-based airlines on the list include Air India, Air India Express and Jet Airways.

Maarten de Groof, Chief Commercial Officer of Abu Dhabi airport, said that the airport welcomes all travellers of Indigo Airline, inviting them to visit the City Terminal Check-In to facilitate their travels.
19/03/19 Wam/Khaleej Times

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Airline to pay Rs 45,000 compensation to passenger

New Delhi: A consumer disputes redressal forum here has directed Air India to pay Rs. 45,000 as compensation to a passenger who missed his connecting flight to Phoenix allegedly due to a delay in a New Delhi-Los Angeles flight.
Directing the airline to compensate the complainant, the consumer forum said, “The undisputed facts remain that the flight at Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport was delayed and consequently the connecting flight could not be boarded by the complainant. It is also not disputed that (UA) authorities did not allow the complainant to board the flight and [Air India] reissued a ticket.”
Further, it was alleged that the luggage was sent via a different flight, without the complainant on board the particular flight.
Holding the airline guilty, the consumer panel said, “Holding the opposite party [Air India] to be guilty of deficiency in service, we award a sum of ₹40,000 in lump sum for mental and physical agony faced by the complainant beside litigation cost of ₹5,000.”
19/03/19 The Hindu

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US airlines asked to pay CA $600 for flight delay

Vadodara: The USA-based United Airlines has been asked to pay $600 to a city-based chartered accountant, who alleged that he had suffered huge losses due to delay in its flight to Newark.
 The chartered accountant (CA) Sanjeev Shah had moved the district consumer forum claiming that he suffered losses of Rs 17 lakh as his flight to Newark from Mumbai was delayed by more than 24 hours on October 14, 2016.
 Shah is a frequent traveller to the US for business purposes. As the flight could not take off twice, Shah was accommodated on an alternate flight the next day.
 “The passengers were made to sit in the aircraft at 11 pm and they were informed at 4.30 am that the flight would not take off. Next day, the passengers again boarded the flight, but at 3.30 am they were told that the aircraft crew’s shift is over and a new set of crew was awaited,” said Shah’s lawyer Jaideep Verma.
 19/03/19 Jay Pachchigar/Times of India

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