Category Archives: Aviation

Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) has proposed 392 routes under UDAN 4.1 bidding process, and is focused on connecting smaller airports, along with special helicopter and seaplane routes. Usha Padhee, Joint Secretary, MoCA, says, “This round invites bids for priority routes which have not been covered under UDAN so far.”

IndiGo Airlines will start direct Mumbai-Agra-Mumbai flight starting 29th March, 2021. The thrice-a-week flight will operate on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. It will depart from Mumbai at 10:50am and will arrive in Agra at 12:55pm, and will again depart Agra at 13:25pm and arrive in Mumbai at 15:35 on the same day.

SpiceHealth has launched the country’s cheapest Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) testing facility for the general public at just INR 499/-. Also, SpiceHealth has tied up with SpiceJet to offer a special price of INR 299/-, which is one-third of the prevailing market rate, for its passengers who wish to get the crucial Covid test done and thus contributing to making flying even more safe and convenient. Avani Singh, CEO, SpiceHealth said, “After testing over a million people in Delhi, Maharashtra, Haryana and Haridwar and working closely with the respective local governments, SpiceHealth has now come forth to offer the cheapest and fastest RT-PCR testing directly to the people taking forward our goal to maximise testing. We are proud to extend our quick, seamless and smooth testing facility to the public at large in Mumbai and Delhi, to start with, and we strongly believe that testing remains as important as ever in our fight against this pandemic as that’s the only way to quickly identify, isolate and treat those infected.”

Air Seychelles is all set to resume commercial passenger flights between Mumbai and Seychelles, starting from Thursday, 8 April 2021, in line with the air bubble agreement between India and the Seychelles. The flights from Mumbai will operate on Thursdays and Sundays, whilst the returning flights from will operate on Wednesdays and Saturdays. All travellers to the Seychelles, regardless of vaccination status, must present a negative PCR test certificate taken 72 hours and complete the mandatory Health Travel Authorization at seychelles.govtas.com prior to departure from Mumbai. Travellers will not undergo quarantine on arrival but will need to wear a face mask in public places and social distance. Travellers to Mumbai in addition to the negative COVID-19 PCR test will need to self-report on the airsuvidha portal and undergo 14 days home quarantine upon arrival.

The Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) will resume its T1 for domestic flight operations with effect from midnight, March 10. Catering to 5 domestic carriers, the terminal will witness 102 flight movements across 27 destinations on day one of its opening. The terminal was closed in March 2020. The terminal will cater to all domestic flight operations of Go Air, Star Air, Air Asia and Trujet, plus select flights of IndiGo. The airport will have 38 check-in counters operational across the 5 domestic carriers to avoid crowding.

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.