India's air passenger traffic grows 3.6 pc in Oct; pace slower than seen in '18: IATA

New Delhi: India's domestic air passenger traffic grew 3.6 per cent in October but the expansion was slower than last year, reflecting "general economic slowdown" and disruptive impact of Jet Airways' collapse, according to IATA.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA), a grouping of more than 280 airlines worldwide, on Thursday said growth in India lags the robust 2018 outcomes.


Globally, Revenue Passenger Kilometre (RPK) rose to 3.4 per cent in October compared to the year-ago period. RPK is a measure of demand.

"This was a modest slowdown from 3.9 per cent growth recorded in September, owing to softer traffic performance in domestic markets. October capacity (Available Seat Kilometers or ASKs) increased by 2.2 per cent and load factor climbed 0.9 percentage point to 82 per cent, which was a record for October," IATA said in a report.

Regarding the Indian market, the grouping said RPK growth picked up by almost two percentage points to 3.6 per cent year-on-year, supported by the start of the main tourist season. In September, the same stood at 1.9 per cent.

"Nonetheless, passenger volumes continue to expand at a much slower pace than seen in 2018, reflecting the general economic slowdown and disruptive impact of the collapse of Jet Airways earlier in the year," it noted.

Jet Airways, which was also an IATA member, shuttered operations in April this year after the full-service carrier ran out of funds for day-to-day operations.
05/12/19 PTI/Times of India

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Airport Authority of India Identifies Land for Tawang Airport

Itanagar: Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu on Thursday said a new airport for Tawang district is on the card as the Airport Authority of India (AAI) has identified a land for the airstrip.
Attending the Losar festival of the Monpa community at his home district bordering China, Khandu assured to push for immediate construction of the airport, which could be jointly used for civilian and defence purposes.

Khandu said Tawang being a tourism hotspot, the government has taken several development initiatives.
He informed that a walking area through the market is being developed in the town which would be more beautiful than the popular MG Marg of Gangtok.

“For development of the market area of the town, an amount of Rs 25 crore has been sanctioned for construction of a cement concrete road,” the Chief Minister said.
15/02/19 Sentinel Assam

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SpiceJet’s maiden flight from Dehradun reaches holy city

Amritsar: The daily Amritsar-Dehradun flight by SpiceJet arrived at Sri Guru Ramdas Jee International Airport here on Sunday. 

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat and only Sikh MLA in his government, Harbhajan Singh Cheema, were among the prominent persons arrived in the flight.

Later, they paid obeisance at the Golden Temple. While talking to mediapersons Rawat said to reacquire the land of Gurdwara Gian Godhdi at Haridwar, there was a need to develop unanimity.
The flight will leave Dehradun at 11.55 am and will arrive in Amritsar at 12.35 pm. A return flight will leave Amritsar at 12.55 pm and arrive in Dehradun at 1.35 pm. The total duration of flight will be 40 minutes. The aircraft has a capacity of 78 passengers. 
20/01/19 Neeraj Bagga/Tribune

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ADS-B Out Deadline Looms for Some PBN Routes in India

Beginning next month, ADS-B Out will be required for aircraft flying certain performance-based navigation (PBN) routes in Indian airspace above FL290, according to newly released Airports Authority of India AIP supplement 148/2018. The PBN routes in Indian airspace include those with designators L, M, N, P, Q, and T, as well as routes A201, A347, A465. A474, A791, B211, B466. G450, R457, R460, R461, W15, W19, W20, W29, W41, W43, W45, W47, W56S/N, W67, W111, W112, W114, W115, W118, and W153.

Aircraft not equipped with ADS-B Out will still be able to fly these routes below FL290, the authority said.

ADS-B equipment must meet equipage certification requirements and aircraft operational approval in accordance with EASA, U.S. FAA, Civil Aviation Safety Authority of Australia, or India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation. Aircraft operators must indicate the appropriate ADS-B designator in item 10 of the ICAO Flight Plan form to be able to fly these routes above FL290.
04/12/18 Chad Trautvetter/AINonline

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Three flights to resume operations from February 1

Patna: Three flights are to resume operations from Jayaprakash Narayan International Airport (JPNI) at Patna from February 1 following improvement in visibility conditions. Out of the three GoAir flights, two are scheduled on Delhi-Patna-Delhi route while the third will fly on Mumbai-Patna route.
JPNI airport officials said as many as 9 flights are likely to resume operations by February 16. Besides the three from February 1, SpiceJet will resume its Mumbai-bound flight from February 11 and IndiGo will operate five flights from February 16 to Kolkata, Delhi, Lucknow and Bengaluru.
Total 27 flights are operating from the city airport at present against the scheduled strength of 36. As flights are mostly not allowed to land at the city airport before 10am due to foggy conditions normally from November first week, most airlines had cancelled or rescheduled their morning flights and added in the afternoon under their winter schedule from December. Changes in timings were also made for the evening flights.
"Visibility conditions have improved in the past few days. The minimum 1200 metres visibility requirement for flight operations is being met at around 11:30am lately, which used to be not before 1pm during peak winter days. Accordingly, different airlines have communicated us their request to resume the flights they had suspended during peak winter season," a Patna airport official said.
30/01/18 Piyush Tripathi/Times of India

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Aviation watchdog issues alert to CISF, security heightened at airports ahead of Republic Da

Evaluating the security risk to airports ahead of India’s 69th Republic Day, the Bureau for Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) has issued an alert to the Central Industrial Security Service (CISF).

In its alert, the BCAS has urged the CISF, the agency in charge of security at the country’s airports, to check for explosives (IEDs) concealed in computer printer ink, toner cartridges or perfume bottles reported The Hindustan Times.

 In addition, CISF personnel have also been advised to frisk passengers thoroughly before they board an aircraft and closely monitor catering service vehicles. Air Marshalls, who are trained and equipped to obstruct any attempts at hijacking, have also been deployed on sensitive flight routes.

The alert issued by BCAS says, “In the run-up to the Republic Day celebrations, security arrangements at all airports in the country need to be beefed up, as intelligence inputs received in the current year are indicative of a heightened threat perception to the civil aviation sector.”
23/01/18 Mirror Now

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Tata Can't Carry Air India's Excess Baggage

The Tata Group should quell speculation it wants a debt-laden national carrier to land in its lap.
The $103 billion conglomerate has shown preliminary interest in Air India Ltd., according to multiple reports in local media. Other Indian businessmen, such as Sunil Mittal of Bharti Airtel Ltd., have suggested that Bombay House, Tata's headquarters, would be the ideal rehab for the ailing, state-run carrier. The Indian government will soon make a call on privatizing the airline.
A firm "no" from the Tata Group would be helpful. The salt-to-software empire is still trying to live down one dangerously overpriced acquisition made a decade ago: the $12.9 billion purchase of Corus Group Plc's steel assets.
Air India was forcibly taken away from the group and nationalized more than 60 years ago, but that should make no difference now. This isn't the time to think emotionally about opportunities. Nor is there any point in revisiting the botched privatization attempt 16 years ago when the group -- together with Singapore Airlines Ltd. -- came close to acquiring control.
In theory, it's possible Chairman Emeritus Ratan Tata, an aviation aficionado, could salvage Air India and merge it with his joint venture with Singapore Airlines, giving the latter a firm foothold in what was the world's fastest-growing major aviation market last year. Airbus SE projects India's air traffic will expand more than fivefold between 2015 and 2035.
26/06/17 Andy Mukherjee/Bloomberg

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InterGlobe General Aviation announces Dornier Seastar CD2 begins production

The world’s most advanced seaplane, the Dornier Seastar CD 2 has now gone into production, announced InterGlobe General Aviation Pvt. Limited, the representative for Dornier Seaplane Company in SAARC (including Mauritius).
The new fully certified all composite twin engine seaplane provides the fastest cruise speeds, the most comfortable cabin and the greatest reliability of any other amphibious aircraft available, making it the most apt seaplane for the vast coastlines of Sri Lanka, India, Maldives and Mauritius.
The seaplane is being assembled at the new facility in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu in the southern suburb of Montreal, Canada. On this development CEO and President of InterGlobe General Aviation Nigel Harwood said, “We are very excited about the launch of this new manufacturing facility; there is not only a great deal of interest in this product but also a strong requirement in the region which we can now go about fulfilling.”
Dornier chose Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu due to its proximity to Lake Champlain for demonstration and production of flight test activities and also the importance of Montreal as a transportation hub with skilled aerospace labor pool in the area.
31/05/10 India Infoline

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