Category Archives: Aviation

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.

Rupsi airport in Assam has been redeveloped at an estimated cost of Rs69 crore, and is ready to commence flight operations under UDAN, said AAI, providing direct connectivity to cities like Guwahati in Assam and Kolkata in West Bengal. Its runway is suitable for landing ATR72 type aircraft. The terminal building has 10 check-in counters.

IndiGo has become the first Low-Cost Carrier (LCC) to have started IATA -Billing and Settlement Plan acceptance in Overseas Point of sales using  IATA Financial Gateway (IFG) Currently, this facility is being offered in point of Sales at the United Arab Emirates, Qatar & United Kingdom and soon will be opened in 8 more overseas markets.

Sharing the results of their latest survey, Vinod Kannan, CCO, Vistara, revealed that 2 out of 3 (almost 67%) of customers have said that flying is the safest way to travel from one city to another. Only 13% have disagree. The survey titled, ‘Flyer behaviour and trends in the times of COVID-19’ also revealed that customers’ confidence to fly is increasing, with lesser fear of exposure during the journey or fellow Pax not following protocols.

Alitalia has announced that they will restart the flights from Rome (FCO)-Delhi (DEL)-Rome (ROM) on 2nd March, 2021. The non-stop flights between Rome (FCO) and Delhi (DEL) will resumed and will operate 3 times a week ex Delhi on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday and ex-Rome on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.  Starting March 27, Alitalia will resume with daily operations.

On 2nd Nov’20 at midnight, Airport Authority of India’s (AAI’s) senior officials exchanged Memorandum of Understanding & handed over Lucknow Airport to Adani Group. A.K Sharma, APD, Lucknow exchanged symbolic key in accordance with concession agreement & future development of the airport.

Only 60% of the pre-COVID traffic is allowed to enter the country from a border control perspective, revealed a recent CAPA India report. The report states, “Although foreign business travellers and OCI holders are once again permitted to enter the country, India remains closed to leisure visitors, VFR travellers (unless they are NRIs or hold OCIs) and medical tourists. Only 60% of the pre-COVID traffic is allowed to enter the country from a border control perspective. Of which the majority is expected to defer travel given the risks and inconvenience associated with international travel at present.”

IATA has enhanced its Travel Industry Designator Service (TIDS) and will also no longer charge travel agencies to use the service. TIDS is an IATA programme which provides a unique identification code for travel agents and sales intermediaries who are not IATA-Accredited agents and are located outside of the USA.

Alliance Air, the wholly-owned subsidiary of Air India, has appointed Harpreet Singh as Chief Executive Officer. Among her many feats, Singh was appointed as the first woman commercial pilot of Indian Airlines in 1988. With the new appointment she has become the first woman to head an Indian carrier.