Category Archives: Aviation

The Aviation Ministry has been allocated Rs 4,500 crore in the Budget for the current financial year, which is 115 per cent less than Rs 9,700 crore that was given to it during 2018-19 fiscal. According to Budget documents released on Friday, the Centre has allocated Rs 480 crore for regional connectivity scheme UDAN, under which the “proposal is for revival of 50 airports and Viability Gap funding for North East Connectivity”. In 2018-19, the UDAN scheme was given Rs 441 crore. The Centre has allocated just Rs 1 lakh in 2019-20 for the “turnaround plan for Air India”, as compared to Rs 3,975 crore that was given to the national carrier in the last financial year, as per the documents. Source: PTI

In a recent update, Air India has suspended its operations from Delhi to Osaka, Kansai International Airport via Hong Kong. At present, there are three weekly flights from New Delhi to Osaka via Hong Kong- Friday, Monday and Wednesday and Boeing 787 Dreamliner is deployed on this route. Despite this move by Air India, Japanese airlines like ANA and JAL are planning to expand their Indian operations. ANA is planning direct daily on Tokyo-Chennai route from this October and JAL will start its daily to Bengaluru from Tokyo from 2020.

The recently released global passenger traffic results for May by The International Air Transport Association (IATA), revealed that after a fall in domestic RPKs in April (down 2.0 per cent YoY), following the demise of Jet Airways, growth in the India market rebounded sharply in May, with RPKs now an even 6.0 per cent higher than a year ago. While it will take some time for the market to adjust to the recent shock, the longer-term outlook for domestic India traffic remains positive.

The Netherlands and Canada has announced the launch of a pilot project for paperless travel between the two countries. Identity data that is usually stored on a chip on a passenger’s passport will instead be securely stored and encrypted on their mobile device. Passengers flying from Montreal to Amsterdam will be able to manage their encrypted identity data, consenting to share it with border authorities, airlines and others. It would be checked against biometrics at security checkpoints and airplane boarding gates “without the need for a physical passport,” said a statement by the World Economic Forum, which is leading the initiative. The Traveller Digital Identity project is to be tested internally throughout 2019, with the first end-to-end paperless journey expected to take place in early 2020, it said. “By 2030, international air travel is expected to rise to 1.8 billion passengers, up 50 per cent from 2016. With current systems, airports cannot keep up,” the World Economic Forum’s mobility chief Christoph Wolff said. This project offers a solution. By using interoperable digital identities, passengers benefit from a holistic system for secure and seamless travel. It will shape the future of aviation and security.” Air Canada and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, as well as airports in Montreal, Toronto and Amsterdam are taking part in the pilot, backed by technology companies Accenture, Vision Box and Idemia

Civil Aviation Minister, Hardeep Singh Puri said,”Out of the 705 routes awarded under RCS-UDAN version 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0, 174 routes are operational till date.” As per the data presented by Puri, IndiGo has been awarded total 32 networks under UDAN scheme. Ministry of Civil Aviation had launched Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS)-UDAN scheme on October 21, 2016, to facilitate and stimulate regional air connectivity and making air travel affordable to the masses. The data said that SpiceJet has been awarded total 50 networks, and the budget carrier has started flight operations on just the half of them. Out of total 705 routes which have been awarded by the Centre under the regional connectivity scheme UDAN, 174 routes have become operational till date, Rajya Sabha was told on Wednesday. Based on their assessment of demand on particular routes, the airlines submit proposals at the time of bidding under UDAN scheme from time to time.

Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) launches its first direct flight linking India and Azerbaijan, from Baku to New Delhi. The chartered flights will be carried out every Tuesday and Friday. Regular flights will soon be added to further support the growth of tourism interest between the countries. Azerbaijan continues to expand its network with flights now to 40 destinations in 30 countries, including seasonal flights. The Caucasus country is currently on the cusp of a tourism boom as it welcomed a record number of in-bound visitors spending more than USD 2 billion in 2018, making it one of the fastest growing tourist destinations in the world. The new route will depart from the Indira Gandhi International Airport (DEL) and arrive in Baku via Terminal 1 of the Heydar Aliyev International Airport. Air tickets can be booked online at www.azal.az and purchased through the offices of Azal’s official agents.

Srilankan Airlines will now operate 18 flights a week between New Delhi and Colombo. Vipula Gunatilleka, CEO, Srilankan Airlines said, “The additional flight is the result of consistent growth in traffic flow between North India and Sri Lanka. I am sure this step will further enhance our reach into the Indian market.” Currently SriLankan Airlines operates a double daily flight from Delhi to Colombo. After the new addition, it will fly 4 times a week on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday between the two capitals. This would make a total 8 flights a week flying on Delhi-Colombo route. In total , SriLankan Airlines has 127 departures in a week from across India to Colombo.

Indian tourists don’t have to convert the Indian rupee while shopping at Dubai duty free outlets as the currency will be be accepted at all three terminals of Dubai International Airport and at Al Maktoum Airport. While travelling abroad, residents of India are allowed to carry Rs 25,000. Earlier, Indian travellers had to convert the Rupee into Dollar, Dirham or Euro. However, the change will still be given in Dirham. The Indian rupee has become the 17th currency to be accepted for transaction at Dubai Duty-Free since its opening in December 1983.

Ministry of Defence has exempted the landing and parking charges for civil aircraft operating from IAF airfields under Regional Connectivity Scheme for 32 airfields and 5 Advanced Landing Grounds. In Joint user airfields, civil apron maintenance is done by Airport Authority of India and remaining airfield area (Runway and taxi tracks) maintenance is done by Indian Air Force. The details of exemption given with respect to the airfields/ALG is given below: 1. Adampur 2. Jammu 3. Agra 4. Jorhat 5. Ambala 6. Kalaikunda 7. Awantipur 8. Kargil 9. Allahabad 10. Kanpur (Chakeri) 11. Bagdogra 12. Pathankot 13. Bareilly 14. Pune 15. Bidar 16. Sarsawa 17. Bikaner (Nal) 18. Silchar 19. Bhatinda 20. Srinagar 21. Car Nicobar 22. Tezpur 23. Chandigarh 24. Thanjavur 25. Gorakhpur 26. Uttarlai 27. Darbhanga 28. Along (ALG) 29. Gwalior 30. Passighat (ALG) 31. Hashimara 32. Tuting (ALG) 33. Hindon 34. Walong (ALG) 35. Jamnagar 36. Ziro (ALG) 37. Jaisalmer

Flynas, headquartered in Riyadh, has launched a new direct flight between Riyadh and Delhi. The flight will operate five times a week- . Stefan Magiera, Senior Vice President- Commercial, Flynas, said, “Flynas has started flying five times a week from Delhi to Riyadh. In October, we will upgrade this flight to daily. Also, in July, we will increase flights between Hyderabad and Riyadh, currently twice a week to four times a week. This represents almost 300 per cent growth between India and Saudi Arabia, the finest network. This growth is only possible with partners and the support of our friends in India and I would like to say a big thank you to all our agents in this market who have supported us tremendously in the past. We are always trying to become better and improve ourselves by listening to our trade partners and I am very happy and proud to announce that we have joined the BSP in India, something that has been designed for the market and we are in BSP India.”