Category Archives: Aviation

Prasanna Ranatunga, Minister of Tourism, Sri Lanka, has said that he expects the country’s international airports to officially reopen by January 21. “We are currently preparing for this after identifying some basic issues,” he added. The airports will open after 10 long months with health protocols in place.

With a Rs438 crore project underway to upgrade it, Maharaja Bir Bikram Airport in Agartala, Tripura, is all set to become the third international airport in the Northeast region of India. Government of Tripura aims to connect the state with Bangladesh and neighbouring countries. The upgrade is pegged to be completed by March end this year.

The Ministry of Ports, Shipping, and Waterways has announced that it has commenced the process of operating seaplanes on select routes from the hubs cities of Delhi, Mumbai and Surat to various tourist sport of the North and West India. To run such services, the authorities are keen to associate with interested scheduled/non-scheduled airline operators.

Marking the commencement of its first commercial flight from Indore to Ahmedabad on January 3, India’s newest airline, Flybig has announced connecting Raipur from Indore from January 13 and a flight from Ahmedabad to Bhopal from February 1.

Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik has written to the Prime Minister proposing establishment of an international airport in Puri city. He says that the proposed ‘Sri Jagannath International Airport’ will boost the tourism, economy and cultural outreach of the eastern state. The Rath Yatra of Puri is a world-famous event that is celebrated across 192 countries.

With the government having announced the resumption of passenger flights between India and the United Kingdom, Air India has opened bookings for travellers and even added to the frequency. The additional flights between January 6 and 8 will connect both Delhi and Mumbai with London Heathrow.

After establishing air bubbles with USA, UK, France, Germany, UAE, Qatar and Maldives, the government is in the process of establishing arrangements with 13 more countries. Union Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said negotiations are underway with Australia, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Nigeria, Bahrain, Israel, Kenya, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South Korea and Thailand to allow bilateral flight operations.

FlyBig plans to commence three times weekly Ahmedabad-Indore service from Jan 3, 2021. From its Indore hub, FlyBig started flights to Bhopal and Ahmedabad with Jabalpur to follow later on. FlyBig started booking for Raipur-Indore from Jan 13, 2021. Its second phase will focus on North East India market for which it will set up a base in Guwahati. Apart from the Delhi-Shillong route, it will serve Imphal and Aizawl. It is yet to debut operations using its own aircraft ATR72-500.

The Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) has launched the round-the-clock COVID-19 testing facility using the RT-PCR method at the airport where flyers will be able to get the result in as early as 13 minutes. The cost of this rapid test would be Rs 2,400. Online pre-booking of the test is also available.

Regional commuter airline Flybig started its first flight from Shillong direct to Delhi on December 21, 2020. However, it used a SpiceJet aircraft for the same. Part of Big Charter, Flybig was awarded the contract for this route through a tender floated by Meghalaya Transport Corporation at the beginning of 2020. It will initially operate this route twice a week.