29 Apr 2019

India Aviation Industry Newsletter 29 April

Air India to offer WiFi-based inflight entertainment Air India is planning to install WiFi-based in-flight entertainment (IFE) across its entire fleet, reducing its dependence on providing IFE through seatback screens. In the tender document seeking bids from original equipment manufacturers or proprietary solutions providers to provide streamable IFE through WiFi. The carrier said it would implement the same across all its aircraft types — Boeing 777, Boeing 787, Airbus A319, Airbus A320, Airbus A321. Air Serbia to take Jet Airways slots at Heathrow Etihad Airways will lease seven weekly slot pairs at London Heathrow Airport to Air Serbia. They were previously utilised by Jet Airways. Etihad has since taken over some of its slots at one of the world's most congested airports, in London, which it will lease as of tomorrow to Air Serbia for an undisclosed sum. The two partners have submitted a slot swap request form. GVK’s Mumbai International Airport Conducts Full Scale Simulated Emergency Response Drill GVK led Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) on Wednesday, April 24, 2019 conducted a simulated emergency response mock drill (Full Scale Aerodrome Emergency Exercise) at the Mumbai airport. The mock drill was conducted by simulating a situation of collision between a passenger aircraft and a landing cargo aircraft during the late evening hours. The full-scale emergency exercise witnessed an involvement of more than 1000 participants. IIT Madras to tweak repair technology to help planes fly longer Cold spray technology is expected to be hot property in the aviation industry for fixing damages in aircraft engines and gas turbines without distorting or oxidizing the base material. To bring the technology to the Indian market, IIT Madras (IITM) in collaboration with the Centre and General Electric (GE) has set up the equipment in its lab to research on its application to increase life expectancy of an aircraft and make flying safer. IndiGo temporarily halts non-stop services from Doha to Thiruvananthapuram, Ahmedabad IndiGo has decided to temporarily halt direct services from Doha to Thiruvananthapuram and Ahmedabad from 1^st May citing “commercial viability” reasons. More opportunities in Indian market after Jet suspension Thierry Antinori, executive vice president and chief commercial officer for Emirates Airlines, said the carrier “would love” to add more flights into India, but is currently already at the limit of the capacity allowed by Indian regulators. He added that there are “more opportunities left on the table” in the Indian aviation market now that Jet Airways has suspended all its fights. Tiruchi airport goes green, taps solar power The Tiruchi international airport has taken the green route by harnessing solar power to meet its electricity requirements to the extent possible and bring down its huge electricity bill. The move is also aimed at conserving power and protecting the environment. The Airports Authority of India has established a one mega watt ground-based solar power plant at the airport to harness green energy. The plant is expected to generate 15.4 lakh units per annum which is 25% of the airport's annual energy consumption. 64% flight diversions in 2018 were due to bad weather: Govt Around 64 per cent of the flights that were diverted from four metro cities -- Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru and Chennai last year were due to bad weather conditions, an official document stated. According to the document, while 37 flights were diverted last year from Bengaluru airport due to overhead congestion, such diversions were just seven in 2017. In 2016, this number stood at four only. Acumen Aviation © 29 April 2019 All Rights Reserved.