Category Archives: Aviation

Johan Lundgren, the CEO of easyJet, does not believe the Delta variant of the novel coronavirus to be particularly damaging to Europe’s summer travel season for the year. While the UK continues to impose travel restrictions for most destinations that are said to have had cases of the Delta variant, some other European countries are also following suit. Lundgren has added that the industry’s survival could be at risk if it had to endure a second summer of restricted travel.

The government has further enlarged the scope of the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ELGS) by including the aviation sector. The government also removed the loan outstanding ceiling of Rs 500 crore on sectors like hospitality, travel and tourism, leisure and sporting, and civil aviation, which means that even bigger entities with even higher outstanding loans in these sectors can avail of the ECLGS scheme.

The Bureau of Immigration is all set to install automated e-gates, which will scan passenger information without any human intervention, at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport starting July. The facility, called the Trusted Travellers Program (TTP), will reduce the clearance time by almost half. Initially, eight e-gates (four each in departure and arrival immigration areas) will be installed.

As per a recent order of the Ministry of Civil Aviation, the minimum airfare on domestic routes will get costlier from tomorrow, June 1. The Ministry has raised the base airfare between 13-15% across all sectors basis approximate duration of flight. The upper limit for airfare continues to remain the same as per the earlier order.

Emirates has extended the temporary suspension of carriage of passengers from India till June 30. Furthermore, passengers who have transited through India in the last 14 days are not permitted to board from any other point to the UAE. However, UAE nationals, holders of UAE Golden Visas and members of diplomatic missions who comply with COVID-19 protocols will be exempt. Passenger carriage from Dubai to India will continue as per available flight schedule.

The crisis in the Indian aviation sector owing to the second COVID-19 wave has reached a ‘point of no return’ said aviation consultancy firm CAPA India. If the Ministry of Civil Aviation fails to adopt immediate measures to contain the crisis, the sector would end up suffering an irreparable loss, it said. The situation can ‘no longer be ignored’ by the government, CAPA India tweeted.

Emirates has extended its suspension of passenger flights from India up to June 14, 2021. Furthermore, passengers who have transited through India in the last 14 days will not be accepted to travel from any other point to the UAE. However, UAE nationals, holders of UAE Golden Visas and members of diplomatic missions who comply with COVID-19 protocols will be exempt.

SpiceJet recorded a Passenger Load Factor (PLF) of 70.8% in April, which was highest amongst all domestic scheduled operators, revealed Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). GoAir was second in line with 65.7% PLF, while Air Asia recorded 64%. IndiGo’s PLF in the month was 58.7% and Star Air registered its PLF at 55.5%. Vistara and Air India recorded 54.6% and 52% PLF respectively.

A 150-bed oxygenated COVID-19 treatment centre – COV-AID@BLR – has opened at Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru. Patients will be treated free of cost at the facility, however, the cost for medicines and tests would have to be borne by them apart from self-arranged ambulance service. COV-AID@BLR is open for the public and employees from the BLR Airport ecosystem.

In its recently-updated guidelines, Ministry of Civil Aviation has advised airline operators to accept only those passengers who are carrying a negative RT-PCR test report with QR code for boarding international flights departing from lndia May 22 onwards. This will ensure minimum physical contact and smooth movement of passengers.