28 Mar 2022

India Aviation Industry Newsletter 28 March

DGCA Approves Airlines Summer Schedule With 3.7% more Flights Than Pre-Pandemic Level The DGCA approved the airline’s domestic summer schedule 2022, with 3.7% more flights than the pre-pandemic level. This year’s summer schedule will also have 10.1% per cent more flights than the corresponding period of last year. IndiGo has the highest number of flights approved under the schedule with 11,130 flights approved followed by SpiceJet at 4,192, GoFirst at 2,557 and Air India at 2,456. HAL starts construction of helicopter repair facility at Honda Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) and Safran kick-started helicopter repair and overhaul facility project  at Honda in Satta with a ground-breaking ceremony after which the two firms signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to extend cooperation and explore opportunities for new helicopter engines in civil and military markets. India's flybig to Acquire up to Ten De Havilland Canada Twin Otter Series 400 Aircraft De Havilland Aircraft of Canada announced that Big Charter Private Limited has signed a Letter of Intent to purchase up to ten new Twin Otter Series 400 aircraft for operation by its promoted airline, flybig. The companies will work towards a definitive purchase agreement that would include five firm-ordered aircraft and options for another five. Chairman and Managing Director, flybig Sanjay Mandavia stated “In conjunction with the UDAN initiative, the Indian Government's recently released policy to assist in serving small and remote communities, flybig's goal is to provide connectivity to communities that were not previously accessible by air. "De Havilland Canada's Twin Otter Series 400 is the right aircraft for our operations because of its proven record for safe, reliable operations and its versatility -- including the capability to land on land or water." Kolhapur airport rating rises in customer satisfaction survey Kolhapur airport has improved its rating in the second round of the customer satisfaction index (CSI) survey conducted by the Airport Authority of India (AAI) between December 2021 and February 2022. Kolhapur airport Director said “The AAI, through a third-party organisation, conducts a survey routinely on the customer satisfaction index. The survey conducting authority directly interacts with the passengers to get their feedback about their satisfaction with check-in time, luggage checking counter, toilet facilities, car parking, cleanliness, the help provided by the airport officials, food quality at the food counter, etc. The first-time flyers play a vital role in this survey.” SpiceJet to launch 60 new domestic flights this summer SpiceJet announced it will launch 60 new domestic flights this summer. The IATA summer schedule starts from 27th March  and ends on 29th October. The DGCA stated Indian airlines have increased their domestic services by 10.1 per cent to 25,309 weekly flights in the upcoming summer schedule as compared to 22,980 weekly flights last season. SpiceJet Chief Commercial Officer Shilpa Bhatia stated "We are excited to launch new flights and further strengthen our domestic network. We believe the time is ripe to expand as travel demand is picking up and the aviation sector is ready to embrace new opportunities to make a stronger comeback." Acumen Aviation © 28 March 2022 All Rights Reserved.