Two Passengers Held for Groping Air-hostess

Hyderabad: A day after two passengers allegedly groped an Indigo air-hostess on board the aircraft, the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport police on Sunday arrested the duo and would produce them before the court on Monday.
The arrested are -- Pavan Kumar Agarwal, 38, and Mohammed Feroz, 32, dealers of Nuzvid Seeds firm. According to the police, as many as 20 dealers of the seed company were travelling in the flight and two of them had misbehaved with an air-hostess when she was supplying drinking water to them.
28/04/14 New Indian Express

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IndiGo's A-320 fleet to undergo major maintenance in Sri Lanka

New Delhi: No-frill carrier IndiGo's Airbus A-320 fleet would now on undergo major maintenance checks in the hangars of SriLankan Airlines in the island nation.
An agreement to this effect was signed between SriLankan and IndiGo's parent company, InterGlobe Aviation Limited, to enable the Indian carrier's fleet of 78 A-320s undergo 'C' checks by SriLankan's Engineering Division at the country's second international airport, Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport (MRIA) in Hambantota, a SriLankan release said.
A 'C' check is performed approximately every 20-24 months or a specific amount of actual flight hours or as defined by the manufacturer.
This extensive check requires a large majority of the components to be inspected in a hangar, thus putting the aircraft out of service for almost two weeks.
24/04/14 PTI/Economic Times

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SriLankan signs MRO deal with InterGlobe Aviation

SriLankan Airlines, the national carrier of Sri Lanka, has announced the signing of a long term Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) agreement with InterGlobe Aviation Limited (IndiGo), India’s fastest growing low-cost airlines with the largest market share, consisting of a fleet of 78 Airbus A320 aircraft flying 482 daily flights to 36 destinations.
The agreement came into effect from April 1, 2014 and will see SriLankan Airlines’ Engineering Division carry out ‘C’ checks on IndiGo’s entire Airbus fleet.
SriLankan, which has been providing such MRO services to IndiGo since February 2009 on an annual contract basis, reached the impressive milestone of completing the 100th IndiGo ‘C’ check in January this year.
SriLankan Airlines Head of Engineering, Priyantha Rose attributed SriLankan Engineering’s excellent maintenance track record and relationship with IndiGo over the last five years to the success of the new agreement, which was awarded on a competitive basis.
“We have developed an excellent relationship with the IndiGo management in the last five years and the selection of SriLankan to continue to provide maintenance services was aided in no small part by a meeting of the leadership of both airlines which took place late last year in Delhi, as part of initiatives to expand the scope of services and mutual cooperation in the areas of flight training, GSA networks and other areas in the Aviation field.”
24/04/14 Lanka Business Today

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SpiceJet pips IndiGo to win punctuality race

Mumbai: Low-cost airline IndiGo has successfully sold its airline on its much touted marketing plank of ‘IndiGo Standard Time’. But recent data show rivals challenging its numero uno position.
Data from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) show that in the months of December 2013 and January and February this year,  SpiceJet topped the on-time performance (OTP) ranking among all domestic airlines. The data for December and January was collected from the four metropolitan cities and Bangalore and Hyderabad.  In February, data from Chennai and Kolkata were not available.  IndiGo and Jet Airways took the second and third rank, alternatively, during this period. DGCA has not yet released the March data.
The data show SpiceJet fared better than the rest at Chennai and Kolkata airports with over 96 per cent on-time flights in December and January. DGCA did not provide the data of these two airports for February. IndiGo had a better OTP than rivals at Mumbai and Delhi during those two months.  OTP of airlines has been the lowest at Mumbai airport in recent months, as the  ongoing taxiway work is causing flight delays.
23/04/14 Business Standard

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SpiceJet, IndiGo mix fuel surcharge with base fare

Mumbai/New Delhi: No frills airlines SpiceJet and IndiGo today merged fuel surcharge with the base fares, saying it would simplify the prevailing fare structure.
Before this, an air ticket of domestic airlines used to have different components, separately showing base fare and fuel surcharge, apart from charges like user development fees and taxes which go to the airport operator and the government.
“Ticket pricing and fare displays have been made simpler and more transparent by removal of the fuel surcharge add-on from all of its pricing, and consolidating it as part of the base fare. Going forward, the fare displayed will be what you see is what you pay,” SpiceJet said in a statement.
The airline claimed it was the first Indian airline to implement such an initiative aimed at making air travel and pricing more consumer friendly and transparent.
However, the web site of IndiGo also showed the carrier combining the base fare with fuel surcharge, besides service tax, development fees, passenger service fees and user development fees.
15/04/14 PTI/Business Line

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IndiGo, Air India and GoAir join fare war

New Delhi/Mumbai: Two days after the aviation regulator pulled up low-cost carrier SpiceJet for its R1 supersale offer, calling it “predatory pricing”, India's largest airline by market share IndiGo, state-owned Air India and GoAir have joined the fare war.
With limited seats available, IndiGo is offering one-way tickets starting at R1,389 (taxes extra) till April 5, which are valid for travel between July 1 and September 30 this year. Tickets, however, have to be booked at least 90 days prior to travel.
Under this scheme, Delhi-Mumbai return flights are available at a 37% discount (R5,096), as compared to rates before the sale. GoAir is also offering 30-40% discount on tickets booked 90 days in advance.
Meanwhile, Air India launched a 'Monsoon Bonanza' scheme, under which one-way tickets are on offer for as low as R1,499 (excluding taxes). Under the scheme, which is largely for the domestic leg of most international flights, bookings have to be made by April 5 for travel till September 30.
Sharat Dhall, president at Yatra.com, said, “As anticipated, IndiGo has dropped prices post SpiceJet’s sale announcement for July to September. With India being a price elastic market for air passengers, these discounts are being used by airlines to create a market for themselves and attract travellers”.
04/04/14 Financial Express

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Carriers’ bonanza for air travellers

New Delhi: National carrier Air India and leading aviation market player IndiGo on Thursday unveiled cheaper fare promotional schemes of their own, soon after SpiceJet announced its ‘Rs 1 offer’ that evoked a tremendous response from passengers. However, SpiceJet later had top abide by DGCA’s instructions after it was seen violating aviation norms over the sale of tickets on the Rs 1 offer.
“Air India has launched a Short Term Monsoon Bonanza from April 3, 2014 to April 5, 2014. The travel period for the tickets under this scheme will be (upto) September 30, 2014. The sale is on select domestic legs of international flights and select domestic flights. The scheme covers 40 sectors on 108 flights. The tickets under the scheme are priced at a flat rate of Rs 1,499 plus applicable taxes,” Air India said, in a statement.
While a functionary representing Indigo was unavailable for comment on IndiGo’s own offer, travel website Yatra.com said “Indigo has also announced a sale for limited sectors”.
04/04/14 Deccan Chronicle

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Visitors in cockpit, four pilots lose licence

New Delhi:  The directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA) has suspended the flying licence of the four pilots who allowed their or their colleagues children inside the cockpit mid-air on two flights. And the pilot of the third flight who allowed passengers inside the cockpit of a plane on ground being prepared to take off has been derostered, or taken off flying duties.
A senior DGCA official said that on Wednesday the captain of Air India's AI 660 (Goa-Mumbai) flight took his son inside the cockpit while the plane was flying over the azure blue waters of the Arabian Sea.
In the second case, the pilots of AI's Delhi-Bagdogra flight last Wednesday (AI 879) took the daughter of their airline's engineer (who was a passenger) inside the cockpit to show how the plane flies. "The flying licence of the captains and co-pilots of these flights have been suspended for a month," the DGCA official said.
And in the last case, an IndiGo commander on April 1 allowed 12 passengers, including some children, inside the cockpit as his flight 6E-338 (Goa-Delhi) was being prepared for take-off. "The airline has taken this captain off flying duties," the DGCA official said.
04/04/14 Times of India

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IndiGo slashes airfares; SpiceJet's Re 1 offer continues despite DGCA warning

Chennai: Close on the heels of SpiceJet's Re 1 offer, IndiGo airlines has slashed fares on domestic routes triggering another round of fare war among carriers.
IndiGo started special fare on Thursday for travel between July and September. It has not specified a deadline to book tickets.
Fares range from Rs 3,000 to Rs 2,000. A Chennai-Delhi ticket costs Rs 3,000 while Chennai-Bangalore and Chennai- Coimbatore tickets are priced at around Rs 2,000.
"This slashing of fares has come when SpiceJet sale is continuing in spite of warning from DGCA," said Prema Radhakrishnan of Emerald Airways.
SpiceJet is continuing to sell its low price tickets though Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has asked it to stop it. The airline has sent mails to its customers alerting them that the three-day sale will close at midnight on Thursday.
03/04/14 V Ayyappan/Times of India

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IndiGo announces special fares starting Rs 1,389 inclusive of base fare & fuel surcharge

Two days after SpiceJet raked up a customer storm and the regulator's ire by announcing Re 1 fares, IndiGo, India's biggest carrier announced its own set of discounts for summers.
IndiGo on Thursday introduced 90-day out fares starting Rs 1389 inclusive of base fare and fuel surcharge.
Under this scheme, tickets to a busy route like Delhi-Mumbai can be bought for a little over Rs 2400.
The fares are on select flights and routes.
Air passengers have seldom had it so good in recent times. On Tuesday, SpiceJet announced base fares of Re 1 and no fuel surcharge on several flights from its new summer schedule.
The fares, valid for travel between July and next March, were reminiscent of a decade back when G.R Gopinath' Air Deccan and brought forth an aviation boom with its own set of similar rock bottom prices. Air Deccan made losses, was merged with premium carrier Kingfisher Airlines, renamed and subsequently shut down.
03/04/14 Anirban Chowdhury/Economic Times

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