Category Archives: Aviation

Air India has announced that it is all set to launch flights between Hyderabad and London from May 9, 2021 to September 6, 2021. The non-stop flights will be operated every Monday in the said period, and the carrier has allowed bookings through its website, booking offices, call centre, as well as through authorised travel agents.

Indian LCC IndiGo claims that the airline has already processed close to Rs1030 crore of refunds, which amounts to about 99.95% of the total amount owed to its customers. The pending credit shells are mostly cash transactions wherein IndiGo is awaiting bank transfer details from the customers.

In its commitment to get travellers safely where they need to be, Qatar Airways has announced that it will no longer require passengers to present a negative RT-PCR test report when departing India, where this requirement was implemented previously. However, any government regulation imposed or required by the destination or transit country will continue to apply. The airline has included a total of 13 countries in its list of exempt nations, including the Philippines and Nepal.

Jeh Wadia has stepped down as the Managing Director of GoAir and Ben Baldanza, the former CEO of Spirit Airlines, has been appointed as the Vice Chairman of the airline. Baldanza has been advising the board and management for GoAir, and will now work directly with CEO Kaushik Khona and Pankaj Chaturvedi, the Chief Financial Officer.

With the continuous rise in Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) prices, flight tickets are expected to cost more. HS Puri, Minister of Civil Aviation, says, “There has been a continuous rise in price of ATF, so it has been decided to increase the lower fare band by 5 per cent, keeping the upper fare band unchanged.” 

Reacting to a social media post by Air India on March 18, Pradip Lulla, Acting President, TAFI, said that the association has written to the national carrier, asking for clarification. The post said, ‘Passengers traveling on AI flights to Rome, Toronto and Vancouver from India may kindly note that booking for these flights will not be available through travel agencies based in India.’

In its bid to strengthen regional connectivity, IndiGo has announced Rajkot as its newest destination. The airline will operate direct flights from Rajkot to Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai, and Hyderabad as part of its summer 2021 schedule, w.e.f 28th March.  

Rating agency ICRA in a note said that the domestic airport sector is expected to incur a net loss of Rs 5,400 crore, and cash loss of Rs 3,500 crore in FY21, impacted by a 66% year-on-year slip in passenger traffic amid COVID-19 induced travel restrictions. It also said the domestic passenger traffic may drop by 61% in 2020-21.

Sharing plans for fleet numbers, Vinod Kannan, CCO, Vistara says, “We have not cancelled any deliveries. We are still taking aircraft. In fact, over the last couple of years, we’ve taken about seven or eight of them. Very importantly, we took deliveries of the 787s and the 321s. We have two, each of them, in our fleet right now. We remain committed to the order book of about 70-plus aircraft in the next couple of years.”

Bird Travels, the airline management service arm of Bird Group, has been appointed as the General Sales Agent in Mumbai for Maldivian – the national carrier of Republic of Maldives. The appointment is part of Maldivian’s expansion in India, which aims to strengthen the airline’s sales team and provide support to the Indian travel trade.