Category Archives: Aviation

The new Civil Aviation Policy, which got the Cabinet’s clearance today, has made many provisions to boost regional connectivity in India. The policy has proposed increasing connectivity to the country’s smaller towns and cities by offering sops and incentives to airlines to fly on these routes. According to the new policy, a 2 per cent cess in domestic and international tickets for the regional connectivity fund will be set up. Air strips will be refurbished, depending on demand, as no-frills airports. This will be done at a cost not exceeding Rs 50 crore, mostly through AAI. There will be a window system for all aviation related transactions and complaints by aviation regulator DGCA.

The policy proposes a cap in fare of Rs. 2,500 for one-hour flights as the government plans an ecosystem that will lead to an increase in air travel by making it affordable. A cap of Rs 1300 is also put on 30 minute flights. According to the new policy, the centre will refund 80 per cent of the losses incurred by airlines due to the cap in fare on such routes. The policy has a slew of passenger friendly measures, offering respite to frequent flyers. The new policy comes after the tourism secretary had promised last month that the new policy will address issues of regional connectivity aggressively and in a fulfilling manner.

Air India has announced special fares for students on its domestic network. Under this offer, students after providing required documents would be able to avail tickets at Rs 3,500 (all inclusive) for distance up to 1000 km and at Rs 5,500 (all inclusive) for distance over 1000 km. The booking period for this offer started from June 1, 2016 and tickets can be booked till August 31, 2016 for travel between July 1, 2016 to August 31, 2016. Students travelling for various academic reasons like proceeding to join their school, college or to give entrance exam would be able to benefit from this special offer. To avail these special fares, students are required to provide photo copy of the following documents while booking: Admit card/ Examination hall ticket or admission slip/ Photo Id of the institution. The tickets can be booked at Air India city and airport booking offices. Air India offers the best flying experience with more legroom and value for money.

Jet Airways will operate new daily services from Hyderabad to Dammam and from Mangaluru to Sharjah from August 7, 2016. The addition of these new services will bolster Jet Airways’ offering to the Arabian Gulf region, further strengthening the airline’s growing network and significantly enhancing connectivity for passengers. Dammam will be the second city in the Gulf region to be connected with Hyderabad by Jet Airways after Abu Dhabi. With the addition of Sharjah, Jet Airways will operate to three cities in the Gulf region from Mangaluru. The airline currently operates daily flights to Abu Dhabi and Dubai from Mangaluru. The new flights will benefit the large number of Indians travelling from to the Gulf region to Hyderabad and Mangaluru, from where they also have a choice of domestic connections to other Indian destinations. Jet Airways flight 9W 206 will depart Hyderabad at 20:15 and arrive into Dammam at 22:30 (local time). The return flight Jet Airways 9W 205 will depart from Dammam at 23:30 (local time) and arrive into Hyderabad at 06:00. Jet Airways flight 9W 504 will depart Mangaluru at 09:30, and arrive into Sharjah at 11:45 (local time). The return flight Jet Airways 9W 503 will depart from Sharjah at 12:45 (local time) and arrive into Mangaluru at 17:55. Travel between India and the Gulf region is witnessing rapid growth, with over 32 lakh flyers travelling to the Gulf countries from India between January to March 2016 and a similar number returning to India during the same period. With the new flights, Jet Airways will operate around 640 weekly flights between India and 12 destinations in the Gulf, making it the largest operator connecting India to this …

The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) has introduced a number of passenger friendly initiatives to ease the process of flight cancellation and delays. Ashok Gajapathi Raju, Minister for Civil Aviation, said that his ministry was committed not only to the growth of the airline industry but also to ensure that flying for most Indians becomes a pleasant experience. In keeping with this commitment, he along with Dr. Mahesh Sharma, Minister of State, Civil Aviation, presided over a presentation made by DGCA with regard to Passenger Centric Initiatives. In the presentation, the first category of amendments have been made in CARs related to refund of air tickets. The Ministry has proposed that the refund process should be completed within 15 working days in case of domestic travel and 30 working days in case of international travel. It also proposed that in case of cancellation of tickets, statutory taxes and user development fee/airport development fee/passenger service fee shall be refunded. The Ministry has also proposed in this category that under no circumstances cancellation shall be more than the basic fair. In the second category of CARs related to denied boarding, flight cancellation and flight delays, the Ministry has proposed that an amount equal to 200 per cent of booked one way basic fair plus airline fuel charge subject to maximum of Rs 10,000 would be paid to passengers in case airline arranges alternate flight that is to depart after one hour but within 24 hours of the booked scheduled departure. In the third category of CARs relating to facilities to be provided to persons with reduced mobility, airlines shall develop a procedure for making advance request of stretcher and same should be …

Following a directive from the Ministry of Civil Aviation, airlines in India will be forced to reduce their excess baggage fees. It states that passengers should be charged with Rs 100 for each additional kilogram of baggage, as opposed to the average of Rs300 charged at present. The reduced fares will be applicable for maximum of 5kg extra luggage. At present, IndiGo, GoAir, AirAsia India and Air India all charge passengers Rs250 for every kilogram of extra baggage, while, SpiceJet charges Rs 300, Jet Airways Rs 350 and Vistara Rs 320.

Vistara has launched its inaugural flight to India’s cultural capital, Kolkata from IGI airport, Delhi at 07.20 am on June 10. Kolkata will now be directly connected to Delhi via double daily flights offering convenient same-day return options in both directions. The one-way fare on this route is Rs 6980, plus taxes. Kolkata travellers will also be able to experience Vistara’s Bengali food festival on-board its flights starting today till June 16, as well as relish the traditional sweet of Bengal, Kheer Kadam, on all its flights until June 14. Kolkata is Vistara’s fourth destination in the east and the fifth metro in the country. This new addition to Vistara’s expanding network will enable leisure, corporate and pilgrimage travellers who especially come to visit the famous religious places like Dakshineswar and Kalighat to enjoy Vistara’s ‘new feeling’ and its world class travel experience with direct connectivity to the capital.

ANA will introduce a new, specially-developed tablet device in June called the ANA Communication Board. With speech and pictogram functionality, this new tool will support smoother communication at the airport and in-flight with passengers of multiple nationalities, as well as with those who require special attention. As a global leading airline, the ANA Communication Board will be capable of supporting communication in Japanese, English, Chinese and Korean, with plans to add an additional 13 languages, including Hindi as well. The software will also include terms to facilitate initial medical response in the event a passenger suddenly becomes ill or injured in-flight. Furthermore, the ANA Communication Board will improve interactions with customers who are hearing or speech-impaired. Until now, ANA has been using paper and pens to communicate with these passengers. By switching to a tablet solution including pictograms, ANA staff will be able to communicate more readily in a larger number of situations and respond to a wider range of customer needs.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has reportedly told airlines that ticket cancellation fees cannot exceed base fares. Every other charge collected apart from the base fare should be refunded to the customer since airfares have components like service tax and other airport charges in them, a senior aviation ministry official said. Any booking site charges will also need to be included within the new limit. The DGCA has already held discussions with airlines on the new rules, which will be announced soon, he said. This move comes into action after air fares skyrocketed during the Chennai floods last year and the Jat agitation in Haryana in February for which the government stepped in to cap ticket prices.

Naresh Goyal, Chairman, Jet Airways, has been elected on the Board of Governors (BoG) of International Air Transport Association (IATA). The announcement was made at the IATA AGM held at Dublin from the June 1-3, 2016. While Willie Walsh, CEO, Aeromexico, has been elected as the Chairman of IATA Borad of Governors.