Category Archives: Aviation

Amber Dubey, Partner and Head- Aerospace and Defence, KPMG, has been appointed as the Joint Secretary at Ministry of Civil Aviation, Government of India, under the lateral entry scheme. An IIT and IIM alumnus, Dubey has been an aviation expert for years and is a known name in the industry. He is among the nine professionals to be appointed as Joint Secretaries in various ministries. The appointment will be on contract basis and has been done in Level 14 of the Pay Matrix as per the 7th Central Pay Commission for a period of three years.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan recently informed that 30 additional daily flights would be introduced from the four airports in the state in the next three months. Five more flights would be introduced from Thiruvananthapuram to Delhi. The additional flights would be introduced during the next winter schedule of airlines companies, a release quoting the Chief Minister’s office (CMO) said. The assurance in this regard was made by the Union Civil Aviation Secretary Pradeep Singh Kharola at a meeting of CEOs of various airline companies called by the chief minister here in the backdrop of airline companies reducing flights from the Thiruvananthapuram airport. Vijayan pointed out that Kerala had reduced excise duty on ATF from 25 per cent to five per cent in 3 airports —  Kozhikode, Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram, while in Kannur airport it was brought down to 1 per cent.

In a bid to ease the increasing passenger traffic at Indian airports, 10-15 aircraft are being added every month. Union Civil Aviation Minister, Hardeep Singh Puri, said, “Today we have in air 690 aircraft. We are adding 10-15 aircraft per month. We are looking forward to a scenario when we will have 2,000 registered aircraft flying.” Puri further informed that Delhi Airport alone deals with 70 million passengers per annum and both Delhi and Mumbai Airport put together roughly deal with 34 per cent of passengers in the country. “When Jet Airways ceased operation we had 540 aircraft in the sky but a false narrative was floated that Indian skies will be adversely affected. We are adding new aircraft to maintain fleet as per the traffic requirement,” he concluded.

The overall cancellation rate of scheduled domestic airlines for the month of July 2019 has been 1.74%, according to Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). Air Asia recorded least cancellations at 0.25 per cent, followed by GoAir at 0.46 per cent. Vistara was at the third spot recording 1.27 per cent of cancellations, while IndiGo was fourth at 1.33 per cent. SpiceJet recorded 1.59 per cent cancellations, while Air India was at 4.14 per cent.

Ashwani Lohani, CMD, Air India, revealed that Air India Group operates 159 aircraft and commenced new/increased frequencies at 83 domestic and 51 international destinations, and established 35 UDAN routes in the last 5 years. The revenues have grown from Rs.16,000 crore during 2012-13 to Rs.23,900 crore in 2017-18 while the passenger load factor has increased from 72% to 79.6%. Air India has record number of women pilots i.e. 11% of total strength of pilots compared to average 2-3% even in advanced countries.

The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) has said that it will make body scanners mandatory at all major airports in next one year. It has also said that all airport across the country will have body scanners in the next two years. The BCAS is an attached office of the Ministry of Civil Aviation and the regulatory authority for civil aviation security. A full-body scanner is a device used to scan an individual’s body for security screening without making any physical contact. A full-body scanner is a device used to scan an individual’s body for security screening without making any physical contact. However, passing through the body scanner for the passengers will be purely voluntarily and those with implants, medical conditions, pregnant women will be frisked manually and through metal detectors. “Since the nature of threat is changing a lot of technological upgrade is happening in terms of aviation security. We have ordered installations of body scanners as normal scanners cannot detect trace of plastic explosives and other threat material,” said Jyoti Narayan, Joint Director General, BCAS. He added that radiation detection systems have already been launched to check cargo for CBR and plastic explosives. The official said that the BCAS is taking several other steps to ensure smooth movement of passengers at the airports without risking security. For instance, new CTX machines are being installed at airports to prevent passengers from taking out laptops and liquid from hand baggage during security scan.

Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of State (I/C) for Civil Aviation, Housing & Urban Affairs and Minister of State for Commerce & Industry,  launched an aviation job portal for people looking for jobs in this sector. Puri revealed that the portal aims to provide a common platform for job seekers to register their job interests across various civil aviation sub-sectors. “Aviation Jobs portal is a unique initiative to harness the growth potential of the aviation sector to contribute to employment and re-employment in skilled aviation jobs in India. Both candidates and employers would be able to access a wider choice. Candidates will be able to seek job opportunities matching their profiles. Employers will be able to shortlist those suitable to serve their HR requirements as per their company policy through an online medium,” he added. Prospective Employers, who have completed their KYC under the Ministry of Corporate Affairs MCA-21 database would be eligible to register themselves on the portal. The portal can be accessed at the following link: http://aviationjobs.co.in/available on the website of the Ministry. Aviation Jobs makes no recommendations regarding employers. Job seekers and employers are encouraged to perform their verifications when applying for or accepting employment offers.

Going with the PM’s vision to encourage environment-friendly products, national carrier, Air India, has announced ban on usage of single-use plastic on the flights of its subsidiaries, Air India Express and Alliance Air, from October 2. “Air India is going to ban single-use plastic from October 2. In first phase it will implement in all flights of Air India Express and Alliance Air flights. In 2nd phase, it will be implemented in Air India flights,” an Air India spokesperson said. For special meals that are ordered and paid for by passengers in advance, the crew of Alliance Air and Air India Express will only use eco-friendly birch wood cutlery from October 2, the spokesperson added. Source: PTI

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation, has advised passengers not to carry models of 15-inch MacBook Pro laptops that Apple deemed a safety risk due to overheating batteries. Affected units were sold primarily between September 2015 and February 2017 and product eligibility is determined by the product serial number. Apple has determined that, in a limited number of older generation 15-inch MacBook Pro units, the battery may overheat and pose a fire safety risk.

In a bid to cater to the demand of Indian diaspora and foreign tourists to visit various destinations, Air India has introduced ‘Discover India’ scheme valid for sale and travel up to March 31, 2020. Under the scheme, Non-Resident Indians (NRIs), Persons of Indian Origin (PIO) and Foreign nationals will now be able to buy five domestic Air India economy class tickets for Rs. 40,000 which will be valid for travel within 15 days of the first leg of travel. According to a statement, “Ten domestic economy class tickets are also on offer for Rs 75,000 with a validity period of 30 days both on firm basis. The passenger will be allowed to travel to any destination of their choice within India and are also permitted to reroute their journey as per their requirement.” The scheme allows re-booking, which is permitted without penalty till 4 hours prior to scheduled departure. The passenger can also change the date of the journey without any charge. “Air India offers unique benefits to passengers like 25 Kilograms free baggage allowance to all adult and child passengers and also 10 kgs free baggage allowance to infants. Besides, comfortable seats, range of inflight cuisine in plush new aircraft,” revealed the statement by Air India.