Tag Archives: Ministry of Civil Aviation

India’s first Aero Expo organised by the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Ministry of Civil Aviation in association with Litmus Communications, will be held in New Delhi this November. The expo aims to deliberate on remote and regional connectivity, development of technology and infrastructure, along with the new opportunities embodied in the industry in terms of enhancing connectivity, technology integration and performance optimisation. The two-day event will take place near New ATC Tower, IGI Airport, New Delhi, in the presence of Ashok Gajpathi Raju, Civil Aviation Minister and officials from the aviation industry across the globe. The Aero Expo 2016 will also showcase aircraft, aircraft machinery and equipment, aircraft interiors, airlines, airline services and air cargo and airport infrastructure developers. Commenting on the event K. N. Rao, Chairman, Civil Aviation Committee, PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry said, “In a major boost to regional air connectivity, the recently announced plans and policies in India are noteworthy. India is already the fastest growing aviation market in the world and the move to improve regional air connectivity is expected to further boost the industry by providing a new set of growth opportunities to both domestic and international airlines alike along with a new lease to the allied aviation services and skilling industries.” “I would like to encourage professionals from the different industries to participate including national and international companies, professional associations and universities to have a memorable and rewarding event, and I am confident that we will all benefit from our mutual interaction at the event,” said Dr Mahesh Gupta, President, PHD Chamber of Commerce & Industry.

The Ministry of Civil Aviation, Puducherry Government and Airports Authority of India have signed a tri-partite Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the Regional Connectivity Scheme thereby initiating the collaborative partnership. The MOU was signed at New Delhi in the presence of Jayant Sinha, Minister of Civil Aviation for State; V. Narayanasamy, Chief Minister of Puducherry, and Malladi Krishna Rao, Minister of Tourism and Civil Aviation of Puducherry,. Under the MoU, the State Government of Puducherry has formally agreed to provide the concessions required from the State Governments in the Regional Connectivity Scheme. The MoU is signed by Manoj Parida, Chief Secretary, Puducherry; Usha Padhee, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation and A.K. Dutta, Member, Airports Authority of India. Speaking on the occasion, Sinha said that he hoped the subsidies would attract airlines which also needed to find the appropriate aircrafts and pilots to service the regional sector. Narayanaswamy said that he was happy to cooperate in promoting the Regional Connectivity Scheme as it would improve the connectivity to Puducherry. The Ministry of Civil Aviation had earlier released the draft Regional Air Connectivity Scheme (RCS) for stakeholder consultation, with the twin objectives of promoting balanced regional growth and making flying affordable for masses. The RCS is the key component of the National Civil Aviation Policy which was released by the Ministry on 15th June 2016. The scheme, which would be in operation for a period of 10 years, envisages providing connectivity to un-served and under-served airports of the country through revival of existing air-strips and airports. This would be achieved through a financial stimulus in the form of Central and State government concessions, as well as Viability Gap Funding to the …

The Union Ministry of Civil Aviation, Maharashtra Government, and Airports Authority of India have signed a tri-partite Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), kicking off the collaborative process for the successful launch of the Regional Connectivity Scheme. The MoU was signed in Mumbai in the presence of Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju, and Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. With this MoU, the State Government of Maharashtra has formally agreed to provide the concessions required from the State Governments in the Regional Connectivity Scheme, thereby becoming the first state in the country to do so. The agreement was signed by Chairman, Airports Authority of India, Principal Secretary Civil Aviation (Maharashtra) and Joint Secretary (Ministry of Civil Aviation). Earlier during the day, Raju and Fadnavis discussed various other aviation related issues in the State of Maharashtra at length. The meeting was attended by R. N. Choubey, Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation, Swadheen Kshatriya, Chief Secretary of the State and other officials. Amongst others, the subject of rehabilitation of slums (that have come up right next to the Mumbai International Airport) was deliberated upon in details.  Early operationlisation of several available airports and airstrips in the State (like Shirdi, Kolhapur, Nasik, Sholapur etc) also figured prominently in the discussions. Later, Raju undertook an aerial survey of the proposed airport site for Navi Mumbai and took a status briefing from the officers concerned. He laid emphasis on timely completion of the project and conveyed that this can be achieved only if timelines for all sub-activities are adhered to. Raju conveyed that he will be undertaking similar visits to several other states across the country to promote the Regional Connectivity Scheme and discuss other related issues …

The Ministry of Tourism (MOT) has formed a task force with the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) to address and simplify regional connectivity scheme. Vinod Zutshi, Secretary, MOT, Government of India, said, “By working together, we aim to make travelling for tourists much simpler especially for those who opt for the different theme based circuits.” A meeting was held last week between the two ministries to discuss the particulars and address complications that may arise. This would also simplify travel for the transnational Buddhist Circuit which is in the pipeline and has recently been approved.

Pawan Hans is all set to develop the first heliport in the country in Rohini, Delhi, and it will be done within a month, reveals B. P. Sharma, Chairman & Managing Director. Speaking at an event today, he said, “Under the Ministry of Civil Aviation, governance has taken a lead and we are bringing up the first heliport of the country in Rohini, Delhi. It will be ready in a month’s time for the use of people of the people in Delhi and its neighbouring states. And the policy also promotes to bring similar hubs.”

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 …

Following a directive from the Ministry of Civil Aviation, airlines in India will be forced to reduce their excess baggage fees. It states that passengers should be charged with Rs 100 for each additional kilogram of baggage, as opposed to the average of Rs300 charged at present. The reduced fares will be applicable for maximum of 5kg extra luggage. At present, IndiGo, GoAir, AirAsia India and Air India all charge passengers Rs250 for every kilogram of extra baggage, while, SpiceJet charges Rs 300, Jet Airways Rs 350 and Vistara Rs 320.

SpiceJet achieved the highest passenger load factor (PLF) of 92.1 per cent followed by IndiGo at 88.5 per cent and Air Costa at 87.1 per cent for the month of December 2015, according to data provided by Ministry of Civil Aviation. The domestic airlines carried 20.34 per cent more passengers during December. The number of passengers carried by domestic airlines during Jan-Dec 2015 were 810.91 lakhs as against 673.83 lakhs during the corresponding period of previous year thereby registering the growth of 20.34 per cent. The On-Time Performance (OTP) of scheduled domestic airlines, computed for four metro airports viz. Bangalore, Delhi, Hyderabad and Mumbai showed Vistara topping the chart with 90.6 per cent followed by GoAir at 79.3 per cent (excluding Hyderabad) and Jet Airways at 78.5 per cent.

The Union Cabinet has approved a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between India and Singapore in order to improve cooperation in the field of civil aviation. A recent statement released by the cabinet, said, “The Union Cabinet, headed by the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, has given its ex-post facto approval for signing a (MoU), which was signed in November 2015 between Airports Authority of India (AAI) and Singapore Cooperation Enterprise in Civil Aviation during Modi’s visit to Singapore. The objective of this MoU is to establish mutual cooperation in the field of civil aviation, which will cover, to begin with, the airports of Jaipur and Ahmedabad. This cooperation will be extended to other airports with mutual consent.” The salient features of the MoU include collaboration in Civil Aviation Sector in the areas of Master-planning and design, traffic development, commercial development, service quality improvement, training and development, cargo handling and management, maintenance, repair and overhaul, operation and management and any other areas with mutual consent. To ensure high standards of service at Ahmedabad and Jaipur airports, AAI may enter into operation and maintenance (O&M) contracts, either with or without the responsibility of maximisation of non-aeronautical revenue in the terminal building (excluding land on city side and air side). The city side and airside will continue to be managed directly by AAI. Globally, limited O&M contract models are prevalent for the entire airport operations. AAI has no previous experience in awarding O&M contract model of terminal buildings to other entities. In order to implement the decision, it was necessary to ensure that a suitable entity be engaged for undertaking the O&M contract at Ahmedabad and Jaipur airports.