Tag Archives: Civil Aviation Ministry

Late last week, a report published in the Business Standard suggested that India’s erstwhile Ministry of Civil Aviation may finally loosen its rules governing Air Service Agreements (ASAs – or bilateral) by removing the aircraft type clauses from such agreements and restricting only seats,  frequencies, and route pairs allowed. What this means in effect, is that there would no longer …

At the Directors General of Civil Aviation conference being held in New Delhi, India’s civil aviation minister, Mr. Ajit Singh said that his ministry would once again seek the help of German carrier Deutsche Lufthansa for Air India to enter (may be re-entry) the Star Alliance. In August, the world’s largest grouping of airlines had rejected the national carrier’s application …

Employees of Kingfisher Airlines have finally reached a breaking point. The airline, blaming the employees has declared a lockout Kingfisher Airlines Limited today announced that following a series of protracted and unabated incidents of violence, criminal intimidation, assault, wrongful restraint and other illegal acts including refraining from attending work, by a small section of recalcitrant employees which were all unnecessary …

Less than a week ago the Union Minister of Civil Aviation Mr. Ajit Singh asked Air India to submit a plan to enhance its share in the domestic passenger market, with the ultimate goal of being number one. This desire, against a continuing decline in domestic air passenger numbers. In August only 4.369 million passengers travelled, down 4% from the 4.537 million of …

This has been an interesting week for civil aviation in India. Last Saturday saw the much delayed arrival of Air India’s first Boeing 787 Dreamliner at New Delhi. The national carrier had taken delivery of VT-ANH just two days earlier. See a video of the 787 being assembled. Very early, yesterday morning, September 13, saw the arrival of the new …

In a report titled “Implementation of Public Private Partnership, Indira Gandhi International Airport, Delhi” the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has found faults in almost every step of implementation of the Public Private Partnership (PPP) model in the brownfield privatisation of New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA). While acknowledging the PPP was the correct method to follow …

A note from the Press Information Bureau of India about Lucknow airport, which is incidentally named after the father of present civil aviation minister Ajit Singh. The airport is owned and operated by the Airports Authority of India. Taking a serious note of the complaints of irregularities in the construction of the New Terminal Building of the Chaudhary Charan Singh …

Earlier today, a report from liveMint.com (India’s version of the Wall Street journal), stated that Mumbai based full service carrier Jet Airways has formally asked the Indian government for approval to join the Star Alliance global partnership of carriers. Readers of Bangalore Aviation will remember that beleaguered national carrier Air India was put on hold indefinitely by Star Alliance in August of …

A few days ago, Mr. Rahul Bhatia, co-promoter of Indian low cost carrier IndiGo, stated in public, grievances, that many in the Indian airline industry believe in private. That the government is not behaving in a fair manner and keeping alive national carrier Air India on life support with massive bailouts of public money, preferential treatment in route allocation, etc. …

The abrupt removal of India’s chief civil aviation regulator, the Director General of Civil Aviation, Mr. E.K. Bharat Bhushan, earlier this month, once again brings forth the cross-workings within the ministry of civil aviation, caused by contradictory roles, many of which are driven by political agendas, and the urgent need to re-structure this mammoth ministry to correct the malaise. Indian …

The newly travelling youngsters may not have the pathos, but the Maharaja of national carrier Air India is a brand cherished by most persons of my age, with ties to India. We remember, with pride, the fact that Air India was the first all jet airline in the world; one of the earliest adopters of the Boeing 747 jumbo jet …

For the last week members of the Indian Pilots Guild are causing huge losses to the national carrier Air India, by going on strike. On CNN IBN noted journalist Karan Thapar interviewed the civil aviation minister Mr. Ajit Singh. Mr. Singh was candid, agreeing to the failures of the carrier, even admitting that government had no business running any service …

In parliament, the Indian civil aviation minister Mr. Ajit Singh released the historical information on the passenger load factors and the on-time performance for domestic operations of Indian carriers for the last three years i.e. from January 2009 to December 2011. The annual average for each airline is given, as is the average for all airlines for a given year, …

The following speech was given by the CEO of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), Tony Tyler, at the India Aviation 2012 Air Show in Hyderabad. Our comments are included in the quote and are italicized and colored red. Good morning and thank you for the invitation to address the opening session of this important event. Congratulations to the Ministry …

When new Indian civil aviation Minister Ajit Singh announced that the national government would soon begin the process of allowing 49% foreign direct investment (FDI) by international carriers into India’s airlines Tuesday, India’s flailing airline industry breathed a heavy sigh of relief. Following a 75 minute meeting with finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, Singh stated, “the question was to allow foreign …

In contrast to the positive note I ended my US airline review for 2011 on, the Indian industry most certainly had a bad year in 2011. The shine is certainly off the fast growing Indian market, and the cautious optimism noted at the end of 2010 has turned back into fear. Airlines and airports have continued to invest in their …

This is the official take of the Indian Ministry of Civil Aviation on highlights of 2011. Bilateral Aviation Safety Agreement (BASA) signed with USAIndia has signed Bilateral Aviation Safety Agreement (BASA) with United States on 18th July, 2011. This agreement provides for mutual certification of aeronautical products. It recognizes the mutual benefit of improved procedures for the reciprocal acceptance of …

The Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) party with its five members of parliament (MP) has joined the ruled United Progressive Alliance (UPA). RLD supremo Ajit Singh has given a letter requesting to join the UPA to its chairperson Ms. Sonia Gandhi. Mr. Ajit Singh will be inducted as the new minister of civil aviation on December 18th. Ajit Singh has a …

According to a report from the Press Trust of India (PTI), Indian civil aviation minister Vyalar Ravi revealed before the Rajya Sabha today that Air India’s estimated loss for FY 2010-2011 was Rs. 6,994 Crore, down sharply from the Rs. 5552.55 Crore loss posted in FY 2009-2010. Ravi also said that, “Based on April-September, 2011 route wise profitability, two routes …

India has the world’s fastest growing airline sector – yes faster than even the Gulf, much of whose traffic is again driven by India. Year on year growth is 17%. Despite this, in its 100th year, the civil aviation sector in India is in near total financial chaos. Air India is a political plaything that has no business being a …