Tag Archives: Civil Aviation

India has signed open skies agreement with six countries namely Jamaica, Guyana, Czech Republic, Finland, Spain and Sri Lanka, at the International Civil Aviation Negotiations (ICAN) 2016. The open skies agreement as per NCAP 2016 allows unlimited number of flights to six metro airports namely Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Bengaluru and Chennai. R.N. Choubey, Secretary, Civil Aviation revealed that the conference saw in attendance 106 countries out of ICAO membership of 191 countries. India held negotiations with 17 countries and ‘Memorandum of Understanding’ was signed with 12 countries. India resolved major issues at these negotiations as per the directions in National Civil Aviation Policy (NCAP 2016). Firstly, India renegotiated traffic rights with Oman increasing the entitlements with 6,258 seats effective from Summer 2017 as the existing entitlements were nearly exhausted. The points of call remained unchanged. India agreed with Saudi Arabia to increase the capacity by 8000 seats per week from IATA season when Indian carrier’s utilisation reaches 80 per cent. This was in response to the needs of increasing traffic between the two countries where Indian carriers have been utilising open sky in Damman to mount more flights than the Saudi Arabian side. Indian also agreed with Ghana to increase the present allocation of 2 frequencies to 7 frequencies per week to encourage connectivity between the two countries. ICAN was held recently in Nassau from December 5-9, 2016 The new arrangement will encourage connectivity and passenger travel between India and these countries. There were new Air Service Agreements signed with Jamaica and Guyana. In the present scenario code shares provide seamless connectivity to the travelling passengers and make possible connectivity between far off destinations not served by direct flights.  As …

Minister of Civil Aviation, Ashok Gajapathi Raju Pusapati, Minister of State, Ministry of Civil Aviation, Jayant Sinha and Secretary, Civil Aviation, Rajiv Nayan Choubey inaugurating the two-day Aero Expo India-2016 organised by the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry under the patronage of Ministry of Civil Aviation here today. The Minister remarked that with new civil aviation policy in place and other associated reforms accompanying it, the civil aviation sector would emerge to serve the un-served at affordable pace. Raju reassured the Indian civil aviation industry, emphasising that the government of the day is exploring all possibilities for capacity expansion of leading airports in the country as well doing its best to make sure that the regional air connectivity is accomplished as per its UDAAN initiative. The Minister also stressed that though the domestic civil aviation industry has been growing at a rate of more than 20% in the last few years, admitting that higher passenger growth in civil aviation sector is still a challenge for the government which could be won with addition of capacities in India’s leading airports. Speaking on the occasion, Sinha asked civil aviation industry to grow in such a manner so that its passenger traffic, currently estimated at about 150 million for domestic and overseas sector multiplies manifold and catches on pace with the air traffic of China which presently is calculated at 500 million per annum. In order to achieve this objective, the ministry has been adopting three pronged strategy under its UDAAN commitment which includes expansion of airports capacities, ensure regional connectivity and equip the air passenger with better level of satisfaction and experience under its Air Sewa initiative, emphasized the minister adding …

The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) has introduced a number of passenger friendly initiatives to ease the process of flight cancellation and delays. Ashok Gajapathi Raju, Minister for Civil Aviation, said that his ministry was committed not only to the growth of the airline industry but also to ensure that flying for most Indians becomes a pleasant experience. In keeping with this commitment, he along with Dr. Mahesh Sharma, Minister of State, Civil Aviation, presided over a presentation made by DGCA with regard to Passenger Centric Initiatives. In the presentation, the first category of amendments have been made in CARs related to refund of air tickets. The Ministry has proposed that the refund process should be completed within 15 working days in case of domestic travel and 30 working days in case of international travel. It also proposed that in case of cancellation of tickets, statutory taxes and user development fee/airport development fee/passenger service fee shall be refunded. The Ministry has also proposed in this category that under no circumstances cancellation shall be more than the basic fair. In the second category of CARs related to denied boarding, flight cancellation and flight delays, the Ministry has proposed that an amount equal to 200 per cent of booked one way basic fair plus airline fuel charge subject to maximum of Rs 10,000 would be paid to passengers in case airline arranges alternate flight that is to depart after one hour but within 24 hours of the booked scheduled departure. In the third category of CARs relating to facilities to be provided to persons with reduced mobility, airlines shall develop a procedure for making advance request of stretcher and same should be …