Category Archives: Aviation

Founded by Jerrin Jos and Satheesh Satchit, Verteil Technologies is a travel technology company that is transforming the 40-year old legacy airline distribution space with its retailing and distribution platform using the new distribution capability (NDC) standards promulgated by IATA. Kochouseph Chittilappilly, Chairman Emeritus of V-Guard Industries, has made an investment in this Kerala-based travel technology start-up Verteil Technologies as part of its Pre-Series A funding round. Verteil has on-boarded more than 26 airlines from around the globe, including Emirates, Etihad Airways, Lufthansa Group, British Airways, and Singapore Airlines. Verteil operates from Kochi, Kerala and has an operating unit in Tokyo, Japan. A beneficiary of the vibrant start-up ecosystem in Kerala, Verteil has been backed by Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC). The amount of the Pre-Series A Round was undisclosed. Verteil will use the money raised for onboarding more airlines into the platform and will invest further in technology to augment additional features to the current product.

Noida International Airport (NIA) and the Government of UP have signed a state support agreement in Lucknow. The  agreement lays down the State Government’s support to establish and continuously improve surface access to the airport, establish and expand utilities required to run the airport (water, electricity, waste water), maintain law and order, including monitoring at the airport and grant the necessary clearances to build and operate the airport.

IndiGo will operate flight numbers with subset series 6E 5500 – 6E 5900 to and from Terminal 1 at Mumbai International Airport from March 10, 2021, as directed by Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL). All other flights, including 5000 series, will continue to operate from Terminal 2.

First direct Bengaluru-Rajkot flight, operated by SpiceJet, was welcomed in the city with a water salute on 24th February, 2021. Hyderabad will also be connected with Rajkot from 1st March via SpiceJet. Flights between Goa and Rajkot will also start in March.

Usha Padhee, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation, has said that tourism and civil aviation have been complementing each other for a long time. “By working together these sectors can achieve all objectives. We have the coordination committee at the level of Secretary, which MOT is also part of and under UDAN, we have regular meetings, where they communicate their requests, based on their stakeholders’ inputs,” she said.

The Kushinagar Airport in Uttar Pradesh has received all the necessary clearances from the DGCA to become the state’s third licensed international airport and the latest operational airport in the country. The DGCA issued the airport the aerodrome license for public use. This will boost tourism in the region and facilitate travel on Buddhist circuit by providing direct aviation connectivity to the city where Lord Buddha attained Mahaparinirvana. Spread over 590 acres, AAI’s Kushinagar International Airport is ready to welcome commercial flights after receiving a 4C VFR license for day operations from DGCA. The airport is licensed for operating B737-900 type or equivalent aircraft.      

Both north and south runways at Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) are expected to be operational from March 25 this year. The former had been closed for rehabilitation purposes. KIA is the only Indian airport to have two parallel runways that can be operated simultaneously.

The Indian Air Force (IAF) has proposed the closure of the Jammu airport for civilian traffic for 15 days from March 6 to March 20 for runway resurfacing work. On the daily basis, Jammu airport has about 20 operational flights with over 3000 travellers.  All the airlines operating their flights in the sector have stopped booking for the period.  

Etihad Airways and Gulf Air have signed a Strategic Commercial Cooperation Agreement (SCCA) including expansion of existing codeshare agreement to deepen their partnership between Abu Dhabi and Bahrain, strengthen both airlines’ network beyond the respective hubs. Also Schedule optimisation and connectivity improvements on Abu Dhabi – Bahrain route.

Virgin Atlantic has introduced unlimited free date and flight changes for new bookings as part of a series of enhancements to give further flexibility to customers and support their future travel plans. Alongside the improved changes policy, the rebooking horizon has been extended for all customers all the way until 30 April 2023, giving a broader window of time to reschedule plans if needed. The updated commercial policy enables Virgin Atlantic customers making a new booking for travel up to 30 April 2022, or those with a cancelled flight up until 31 August 2021, to make as many free-of-charge changes as necessary to their travel dates, origin or destination all the way until 30 April 2023, as well as one free name change. The changes also apply to customers who already have an open ticket with credit due to flight disruption. The cost of fare difference for all customers will be completely waived if the new travel date takes place on or before 31 May 2021 – a two-month extension on the previous policy. Juha Jarvinen, Chief Commercial Officer, Virgin Atlantic, said, “We understand the difficulties that Covid-19 and ongoing travel restrictions may pose to our customers, so in order to support them we have revised and simplified our policies. By further increasing flexibility, customers making new travel plans will enjoy unlimited opportunities to make free changes, all the way until 30 April 2023, offering greater peace of mind and enabling them to book future travel with confidence. “We look forward to welcoming our customers back on board and when the time is right, flying them safely to their favourite destinations.” All Virgin Atlantic customers with a pre-existing booking made …