Category Archives: Aviation

IATA has announced that Alexandre de Juniac, its Director General and CEO, will step down from his role at the association effective March 31, 2021. He made known his intention to step down several months ago. The IATA Board of Governors will recommend the appointment of Willie Walsh, former CEO of International Airlines Group to become IATA’s eighth Director General from April 1, 2021.

The first direct flight operations from Kalaburagi, Karnataka to Hindon Airport, Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh was recently flagged off under the RCS-UDAN (Regional Connectivity Scheme – Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik). The officials of Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) and Airport Authority of India (AAI) were present at the launch.

Access to technology that reduces human contact, queues and physical touchpoints is the ultimate factor that would need to be fulfilled for Indian respondents to feel comfortable travelling (40%), according to a recent study by Amadeus titled ‘Rethink Travel Global Survey India insights 2020’.

Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said that air travel in India will reach pre-COVID level by the end of current year or early January. He also urged people to continue to maintain safety protocol with self-discipline.

Lufthansa Group (LHG) airlines, Lufthansa, and SWISS will be the first to use the new Star Alliance Biometrics for elected flights in Frankfurt and Munich from mid-November. The new system is available via the app and Lufthansa Miles & More members will be able to pass through boarding and security without contact and have a touchless experience at airport.

Air India will operate additional flights between India and the UK from December 11, 2020 until March 27, 2021. Also, the national carrier will operate additional flights between India & France from 3rd January to 22nd March, 2021 under the air bubble agreement. The UK flight will be Delhi-Amritsar-Birmingham every Friday and Birmingham-Amritsar-Delhi every Saturday. Bookings are now open. These flights are in addition to the existing flights operating between India and the UK.  The new Delhi-Paris flights will be operating four days a week in the new year – from Delhi to Paris on Thursdays and Sundays, and from Paris to Delhi on Mondays and Fridays

According to data received from Cleartrip, flight booking volumes have doubled since July-August due to significant amount of pent-up demand and have reached around 50% levels of the last year.

Aloke Singh has taken charge as the new CEO of Air India Express with tenure of three years. The former Senior Advisor- Airline Consulting, CAPA South Asia who has also worked with Oman Air as Chief Officer Network Planning takes over from K Shyam Sundar, who was leading the airline since March 2014. The profitable low-cost arm of Air India reported its highest-ever net profit of Rs 412.77 cr in financial year ending March.

In India, regional aviation has always been a great business proposition on paper, says Varun Kumar, Team Leader – Consulting & Research at CAPA India. “In reality, it is extremely difficult to create a long-term sustainable business model for regional aviation in our country. Carriers such as Air Mantra, Air Pegasus, Air Costa and Air Carnival ceased operations within a span of few years, with some not lasting beyond a year,” he adds.

Air China has been rated 4.1 out of 5 on the Safe Travel Score for the Asia Pacific region by Safe Travel Barometer. Air China, among Asia Pacific’s largest airlines, emerged as the leading airline in the region with a Safe Travel Score of 4.1 out of 5, having carried out various traveller health and safety initiatives. Air China was among the first carriers globally to resume domestic services after the COVID-19 outbreak grounded its fleet earlier in 2020. While the airline had basics covered such as mandatory face masks and sanitizers for passengers, it also initiated fogging of aircraft before or after every flight.