Category Archives: Aviation

The Ministry of Civil Aviation would seek Cabinet approval for privatising half a dozen more airports by the first week of December. The six airports up for privatisation are Varanasi, Amritsar, Bhubaneswar, Trichy, Indore and Raipur. An official source said, “The Airports Authority of India (AAI) board has approved the plan. We will seek in-principle approval of the Cabinet now. Once it is approved, the bidding process would start.”

The AAI is planning to monetise 759 acres of land near eight major airports so that private companies are able to establish warehouses, hotels or restaurants, and the money generated is utilised to develop airport infrastructure, a senior official said. AAI has identified land parcels near airports of Kolkata, Amritsar, Bhubaneswar, Jaipur airport, Varanasi, Lucknow, Raipur and Tirupati. “The (aforementioned) land is likely to be leased to any company or organisation for a period of 25-30 years for a fixed annual rental income,” a senior official said. Source: PTI

Enhancing its connectivity in the Northeast, AirAsia India has launched flight services to Imphal, Guwahati, Kolkata and Delhi from Agartala, the capital of Tripura. Biplab Kumar Deb, Chief Minister, Tripura flagged off the first AirAsia India flight to Kolkata from the Maharaja Bir Bikram Airport. Sanjay Kumar, COO, AirAsia India informed that 14 flight per week would be operated from the Maharaj Bir Bikram Airport on the Agartala-Kolkata, Agartala-Delhi, Agartala-Guwahati and Agartala-Imphal routes. “We also have plans to extend our service for connecting Agartala with Bengaluru, Chennai and Mumbai. This is our 20th destination in the country,” he further said. On the occasion, he said that air connectivity is very important for the northeastern state. “When SpiceJet had withdrawn their service from the state early this year, we took up the matter with the Union Civil Aviation minister and requested him to take some initiative for more air connectivity with the state,” he said.

Israeli carrier Arkia Airlines has expanded its network in India with the launch of its flight service to Goa from Tel Aviv. The full-service carrier Arkia has deployed 220-seater Airbus 321 neo plane to service the new route, which will have one flight per week. Goa is the second Indian destination for the West Asian airline after Kochi. “We announce the commencement of one more international flight today from Goa international airport connecting Tel Aviv and Goa,” Airports Authority of India recently commented.

Etihad Aviation Group and Air Arabia, have joined hands to launch a new Low Cost Carrier (LCC), called Air Arabia Abu Dhabi. The new airline would be offering increased budget travel options to travellers going to and from the UAE. Currently Etihad and Air Arabia operate a combined fleet of 162 aircraft, including 109 by the former and 53 by the latter. Air Arabia flies to 170 destinations across 50 countries through its Sharjah, Morocco and Egypt hubs while Etihad flies to 80 destinations. Tony Douglas, group CEO of Etihad Aviation Group, said the carrier will offer passengers a new option for low-cost travel to and from Abu Dhabi. “We look forward to the launch of the new airline in due course,” he said.  Adel Al Ali, group CEO of Air Arabia, said the UAE has developed over the years to become a leading travel and tourism hub and this partnership will further serve the growing low-cost travel segment locally and regionally.”

PATA India Chapter has elected its Executive Committee in Delhi. Jatinder Taneja, Managing Director, Travel Spirit International has been elected as Vice Chairman, Vikram Madhok, Managing Director, Abercrombie & Kent India is now the Honorary Secretary and SanJeet, Director, DDP Publications has been elected as the Honorary Treasurer. Runeep Sangha remains the Executive Director of PATA India Chapter.

In a recent update, Air India will be flying non-stop from Amritsar to Patna starting 27 October. Two holy destinations will now be easily accessible for the pilgrims. Early this month, Air India also announced its direct flight to London’s Stansted Airport. Fliers can now fly to Amritsar from three Airports of UK.

SriLankan Airlines was adjudged the ‘Leading International Airline’ in South Asia for the third consecutive year at the South Asian Travel Awards 2019 (SATA) and also bagged the ‘Leading Airline Passenger Class – Business’ award for the third year running from among airlines in the region. Vipula Gunatilleka, Group Chief Executive Officer of SriLankan Airlines, said: “We are delighted to once again be recognized as the airline of choice in the South Asian region. SriLankan has positioned its services to provide rapid connectivity throughout the Indian Ocean region, serving destinations throughout South Asia, the Far East, Australia and the Middle East.” The 4th annual SATA Awards ceremony was held this year on 20th September at Amari Galle and featured airlines from India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and the Maldives. SATA (www.southaisantravelawards.com) is recognized by 15 national tourism bodies and travel trade organisations, and this year drew over 700 nominations for its awards in more than 50 categories ranging from airlines to many different types of hotels, destinations, airport lounges, convention centres, adventure services, destination promoters, dive centres, transport providers, houseboats, travel technology providers and tented camps. The SATA awards ceremonies have been held twice in Sri Lanka, and once each in India and the Maldives. The 2020 ceremony will once again be held in the Maldives. SriLankan has been consistently winning prestigious accolades, including two awards at the World Travel Awards 2018 and 2019 Asia and Australasia; a prestigious Four Star Rating from the Airline Passenger Experience Association (APEX); ‘Best Full Service Airline in Central & South Asia’ at the Future Travel Experience Asia Awards; and ‘Innovation in Commercial Airline Cabins’ at the In-flight Asia Pacific Awards. Its latest …

Pune Airport becomes one of the 1st AAI Airport to start the trials of body scanner for security check. Pune Airport has recently updated that this measure will ensure improved intelligence input for screeners which will enhance the security setup. It will also bring down the waiting time at the security point. The Centre has directed 84 airports across the country to install body scanners by March 2020, replacing existing door frame metal detectors and hand-held scanners besides pat-down searches of passengers to detect metallic objects, according to an official document.

India Government will commence bidding for UDAN under round four of the regional connectivity scheme. The next phase of UDAN is expected to include routes vacated by Jet Airways such as Allahabad-Lucknow, Allahabad-Patna, Delhi-Ozar, Allahabad-Indore, Nagpur-Allahabad among others. Bids are also likely to be invited for routes cancelled by airlines like Zoom Air, Air Odisha, Deccan Charter etc, those which did not get any bids in the last round of the regional connectivity scheme and a large number of routes of north-eastern region will also find place in the upcoming bidding round, sources said.