Following the recently announced decision to the lockdown in India, the Ministry of Civil Aviation has officially extended cancellation of domestic passenger flights in India till 17 May 2020. On 23 March, airlines were ordered to temporarily stop their operations till the end of March. However, that period was extended with the announcement of the original lockdown. The grounding was …
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India suspends all domestic passenger flights
The Indian government has ordered a shut down of all passenger flights into and within India. On the heels of suspending international flights, all domestic scheduled commercial flights are to cease operations effective 23:59 hours IST (UTC+5.5) March 24, 2020. Flights have to land at their destination before this deadline. There is no re-start date announced at this time, but …
Read More »Boeing estimates 737 MAX return to service only by mid-2020
Boeing has confirmed that it does not expect the grounded 737 MAX to return to service before “mid-2020”. In a statement released on January 21, the company cautioned that this time-line is an estimate, and entry in to service will be finally determined by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and other regulators across the world like Europe’s EASA and …
Read More »10 tips to make your winter fog travel easier
Early morning fog is the bane of the Indian air passenger, especially at Bangalore and New Delhi airports. It disrupts schedules and leads to aggravation, quarrels, shouting, and general ill-will not just for passengers but also airlines, airports, and all their staff and stakeholders. Here are some tips that should help you avoid the disruption and hopefully keep your blood …
Read More »SpiceJet to lease 16 additional 737-800’s
SpiceJet has announced that it will dry lease 16 additional Boeing 737-800s. The airline has applied to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation for a No Objection Certificate to import the aircraft. The airline has not identified the source of the lease. SpiceJet currently has 13 737 MAX 8s grounded and has indicated that the recent troubles of Jet Airways …
Read More »Singapore tenth to ground the Boeing 737-8 MAX. India flights unaffected.
The island nation of Singapore has become the tenth in the list to ground the Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft, following the crash of Ethiopian Airlines flight ET302 on March 10, 2019. Countries or airlines across the globe are grounding the aircraft as a precautionary measure till a determination can be made. The MAX is the new re-engined version of …
Read More »Opportunity and Parity- Pilot鈥檚 licenses in India
by Poonam Verma and Apoorva Saxena Foreign pilots have enjoyed the privilege to fly steel birds in India for a long time. This, to a great extent, hampered opportunities available to Indian trained pilots. This treatment of foreign pilots in India is not being reciprocated to Indian pilots by foreign jurisdictions. This article throws some light on the opportunities and …
Read More »IndiGo, AirAsia India, Spicejet top on-time for 2018. Chennai airport tops.
Three of India’s low-cost carriers, IndiGo, AirAsia India, and Spicejet feature in the OAG’s Punctuality League 2018 as India’s most punctual airlines. Chennai, Hyderabad, and New Delhi airports also feature in the annual report of airlines and airports with the best on-time performance (OTP) in the world. The best of the best As per the Punctuality League 2018, the most …
Read More »OAG report exposes gaps in DGCA on-time performance (OTP) reports
Data from the world’s leading provider of digital flight information OAG Aviation Worldwide Ltd, appears to contradict the On-Time Performance (OTP) as reported by the country’s regulator the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). OAG which used to be the Official Airline Guide and handles more than 35 million dynamic flight status updates per day shows national leader IndiGo ranked …
Read More »DGCAs new regressive policy on callsigns
The DGCA has put out a circular with guidelines on avoiding confusing call-signs by operators. Presumably this comes about after a handful of incidents where callsigns were confused. However, this move by the regulator that fails to address the real issue. Full document may be accessed at: http://dgca.nic.in/aic/AIC02_2017.pdf Thoroughly confusing and impractical guildelines The guidelines have a bullet list of provisions. Who is …
Read More »DGCA brief details issues with the PW1100 GTF engine on the A320neo
A brief submitted to aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) confirms Bangalore Aviation’s earlier analysis on the ongoing challenges with the Pratt & Whitney PW1100 G-JM Geared Turbo Fan (GTF) engines which power the Airbus A320NEOs of Lufthansa, IndiGo and Go Airlines. Problems with PW1000G GTF engine The brief, which was reviewed by Bangalore Aviation, traces problems to …
Read More »DGCA report finds Air India operated 787 with only 4 of 47 screws installed
On October 12, 2013, a little over two years ago, an Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner registration VT-ANK performing flight AI803 from New Delhi to Bangalore with 147 passengers and seven crew, had its right hand side (RHS) heat exchanger access panel 196KR detach from the aircraft as it was landing at Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru around 09:40 (0410Z) 04:10 …
Read More »Jet Airways and Air India to benefit as US FAA restores India to category 1
The United States Federal Aviation Administration has restored Indian civil aviation back to Category 1 status in its IASA (international aviation safety assessment) program. This information was conveyed to Director General Ms. M. Sathiyavathy by Associate Administrator Ms. Margaret Gillian in a letter earlier today. India was relegated to category 2, implying unsafe, on January 31, 2014. Since then the …
Read More »Air India faces a jumbo fleet problem
National carrier Air India finds itself in a jumbo-sized problem. It has a huge excess of wide-body ‘jumbo’ and ‘mini-jumbo’ aircraft used for international flights, while facing a severe shortage of narrow body aircraft leaving it unable to capitalise on the increased winter demand and the additional demand shying away from SpiceJet due to the latter’s financial troubles. The current …
Read More »Vistara receives it’s Air Operator Permit
Vistara (Tata-SIA) received it’s Air Operator Permit (AOP) from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), allowing the airline to begin commercial operations in the country. The AOP is the final step in a highly technical and complex compliance process to allow the airline to operate commercial flights. Headquartered in New Delhi, Vistara will begin operations with its fleet of …
Read More »Spicejet statements clarifies its position and refutes media frenzy. Our analysis.
The last week has seen a flurry of reports on the troubles of Spicejet. Some accurate, some totally wrong, and many with a mixture of half truths that create more confusion, rather than inform the reader. Amid the media frenzy, the airline has issued three statements to clarify the situation from its point of view. Spicejet statement issued December 5, …
Read More »Opinion: India needs long-term systemic changes to boost aviation sector
For the better part of this year, India has suffered the ignominy of being one of only 11 countries relegated to Category 2 status by the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) as its safety oversight regime did not meet international standards. The relegation dealt a serious dent in the operations of India鈥檚 airlines by a freeze on their US …
Read More »Lufthansa receives approval to operate A380 to New Delhi
German flag carrier Deutsche Lufthansa AG whose plan to operate the Airbus A380 super-jumbo on the New Delhi Frankfurt route was delayed due to non-approval of their winter schedule by various authorities under India’s ministry of civil aviation (read related story), has finally obtained approval of the schedule. A spokesperson for the airline informed Bangalore Aviation that the airline now …
Read More »Bureaucratic snafus stop Lufthansa A380 Frankfurt New Delhi flights – Update 1
Original story published Oct. 30, 20:00 IST (14:30 UTC) German flag carrier Deutsche Lufthansa AG seems to be having a torrid time becoming the first European airline to commence Airbus A380 super-jumbo services to India. Its A380 service on the Frankfurt New Delhi route which was to commence last Sunday is seemingly stuck in some bureaucratic wrangle, and the ‘appropriate …
Read More »Graphics: As other Indian airlines slow down, Spicejet bucks trend and grows
-Click on any of the graphs for a larger view Even as India’s overall domestic passenger traffic in July fell to 5.25 million passengers down about 8% from 5.69 million in June, data released by the civil aviation regulator, the DGCA, shows budget carrier Spicejet Ltd. was the only large airline which grew its traffic while the rest of its …
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