Category Archives: Aviation

SpiceJet has become the first Indian airline to operate a non-stop flight between Kolkata and Chittagong. It has launched eight new flights to Bangladesh under the air bubble agreement between the two countries, adding Chittagong as its eleventh international destination. It will deploy a mix of its Boeing 737 and Bombardier Q400 aircraft on all these routes. All flights will commence from November 5, 2020.

Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DCGA) has approved 60 per cent of the capacity for Indian scheduled operators as directed by MoCA. As many as 12,983 departures per week have been finalised covering 95 airports for the domestic winter schedule effective from 25 October 2020 to 27 March 2021, down by 44.3 per cent from 23,307 departures per week in winter 2019-20.

The Adani Group is all set to take over airport operations, management and development at Mangaluru by October 31, Lucknow by November 2 and Ahmedabad by November 11. MoCA has signed MoU with 3 entities of Adani Group for customs, immigration and security.

During ITB Asia, Alexandre de Juniac, DG& CEO, IATA, said, “Quarantine measures are killing the industry’s recovery. In August, international travel was still 88% below previous years’ levels. That aligns with 83% of travellers indicating that they will not travel if there is a chance of being quarantined at their destinations.”

New Indian regional airline, FlyBig is all set to commence operations from 15th November as it decided to make Indore make the base city of operations. DGCA has given its clearance for maintenance setup. FlyBig’s first aircraft has already been imported from Australia. It plans to launch direct flights to Bhopal, Jabalpur and also to northeast under UDAN.  

A study conducted by United Airlines and Department of Defense, US says the risk of COVID-19 exposure onboard its aircraft is “virtually non-existent”. It was found that when masks are worn there is only a 0.003% chance particles from a passenger can enter the passenger’s breathing space who is sitting beside them. It indicates that being on board an aircraft is the safest indoor public space, because of the unique configuration inside an aircraft that includes aggressive ventilation, lots of airflow. They ran 300 tests in a little over six months with a mannequin on a United plane. The mannequin was equipped with an aerosol generator that allowed technicians to reproduce breathing and coughing. Each test released 180 million particles – equivalent to the number of particles that would be produced by thousands of coughs. They studied the way the mannequin’s particles moved inside the cabin with a mask on and off. The tests assumed the flight was completely full with technicians placing sensors in seats, galleys, and the jet bridge to represent other passengers on the plane. Last week, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) released new research, saying the risk of contracting the virus on a plane appears to be “in the same category as being struck by lightning.”  

All arriving international passengers, including residents of Delhi-NCR or passengers intending to undertake onward domestic connection, can now avail the COVID-RT PCR testing facility at Delhi Airport and get an exemption from institution quarantine. Quick bookings and rapid results are aimed at making travel experience seamless.

Sharing details about the India-Germany flights under the two-month air bubble arrangement, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri tweeted ‘Lufthansa will operate four days a week from Delhi, three days a week from Mumbai and three days from Bengaluru. Air India will operate five weekly flights from Delhi and two every week from Bengaluru to Frankfurt’.

It was an important day for the Goa International Airport with Air India starting its direct flight LHR-GOI-LHR on its Boeing 787. It will initially be once a week, and then twice a week from November under the new India-UK air bubble. Goa will now be connected to London directly.

AirAsia India inducts a new aircraft to its fleet as it expects sustained pax growth in the coming quarter. The airline will go ahead with its planned induction of five fully-owned A320 Neo aircraft with CFM engines in the next few months. It had firmed up these orders before the pandemic. This will bring down the average fleet age to around three years. The airline has opened new direct routes such as Mumbai-Ranchi, Mumbai-Bhubaneswar, Mumbai-Guwahati.