Category Archives: Aviation

VK Singh, Minister of State for Civil Aviation, has brought to light the many initiatives taken by his Ministry in the recent past. He says that these initiatives have not only helped overcome operating costs of the sector, but also facilitated both expansion of airports and skill development for which several centres have been set up, including those in Chandigarh, Mumbai and Bengaluru.

To provide regional connectivity and boost trade & tourism in the remotest parts of the country, Pawan Hans will now fly on the Chandigarh-Kullu-Chandigarh route from August 15 at reduced fares under the UDAN scheme. The flight will be operated thrice weekly, on Monday, Friday and Sunday. Bookings are open and can be made on the Pawan Hans website. The fare has been set at Rs6,500 (one way).

Using microblogging service as a platform, the DGCA has issued an advisory to passengers travelling to international destinations. It said that these passengers are requested to check the airfare preferably from the website of the concerned airline directly because the meta search engines at times do not reflect the actual point to point fare and do make combinations of multiple airlines and end up with an exaggerated figure.

AAI has taken up development programme to spend around Rs. 25,000 crores in next 4-5 years for expansion and modification of existing terminals, new terminals, expansion or strengthening of existing runways, aprons, Airport Navigation Services (ANS), control towers, technical blocks etc. to meet the expected growth in aviation sector. It was revealed by General (Retd.) Dr. VK Singh, Minister of State, Civil Aviation, in Rajya Sabha.

With industry-wide air travel demand (in RPKs) having dropped by 65.9% year-on-year, Willie Walsh, IATA’s Director General, says, “2020 was a year that we’d all like to forget. But analysing the performance statistics for the year reveals an amazing story of perseverance. It was the rapid action by airlines and the commitment of our people that saw the airline industry through the most difficult year in its history.”

Indian carrier IndiGo has partnered with IATA to launch a pilot project for the IATA Travel Pass. The Pass (a mobile App) will enable travellers to create a digital passport where they can share their test and vaccination certificates, to meet the SOPs of the destination they are travelling to. The pilot project will begin in the country from August 20. The IATA Travel Pass will also enable authorised labs and test centres to securely send test results or vaccination certificates to passengers.

The United Arab Emirates has lifted the ban on transit flights from India. Travellers will have to still submit a negative RT-PCR report of a test taken 72 hours prior to departure. Final destination approval would also have to be provided, the authority said, adding that UAE departure airports would arrange separate lounges for transiting passengers. The ban has been lifted for 10 other countries as well, including Nepal and Sri Lanka.

In its effort to chart recovery for international travel, IndiGo, India’s leading carrier, has partnered with International Air Transport Association (IATA) to become first Indian airline to launch a pilot for IATA Travel Pass to help passengers easily and securely manage their travel in line with any government requirements for COVID-19 testing or vaccine information. IATA Travel Pass is a mobile app that helps travellers to store and manage their verified certifications for COVID-19 tests or vaccines. It is more secure and efficient than current paper processes used to manage health requirements. This is important given the potentially enormous scale of testing or vaccine verifications that will need to be securely managed. The pass will enable IndiGo passengers to create a ‘digital passport’ to verify their pre-travel test or vaccination status to meet the SOPs of the destination. The passengers will be able to share the test and vaccination certificates with authorities as well as airlines to facilitate travel. The app will also enable passengers to manage and save all their travel documentation digitally and seamlessly throughout the travel experience. Ronojoy Dutta, Chief Executive Officer, IndiGo said, “We are proud to partner with IATA to become the country’s first airline to take this step towards enabling customers with a travel pass mobile app. This initiative is a significant step to prepare for a new normal, especially with regards to international travel. Today, most countries have implemented protocols for travellers across the globe and this IATA Travel Pass will simplify and digitize the requisite passenger information for respective countries. We are certain that our collaboration with IATA on this innovation will prove to be a stepping-stone towards international air travel recovery.” …

Indian LCC SpiceJet has introduced daily non-stop flights from Rajkot to Goa and Hyderabad. Flights will depart Rajkot at 14:00 hrs for Goa and at 19:45 hrs for Hyderabad. The return flight from Goa will depart at 17:05 hrs and that from Hyderabad will depart at 06:05 hrs. The carrier has also added to its Rajkot-Mumbai frequency, departing at 07:30 hrs and 05:40 hrs, respectively.

The Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India (Amendment) Bill, 2021, passed by the Lok Sabha, seeks to amend the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India Act, 2008. The bill proposes to amend the definition of ‘major airport’ so as to extend its scope to determine the tariff for a ‘group of airports’ also, which will encourage development of smaller airports.