29 May 2017

India Aviation industry newsletter 29 May

Aviation watchdog DGCA to get powers to impose penalties The government plans to provide the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) with powers to impose penalties for violations.  The proposal, which has been in the works for some time, would give more leeway for the regulator in taking enforcement actions against erring entities. Domestic air passenger grew little over 15 per cent in April as carriers flew 91.34 lakh passengers. In the same period a year ago, the airlines carried 79.32 lakh people. Government mulls exiting Air India: Arun Jaitley Finance minister Arun Jaitley on Saturday said the government was considering exiting Air India operations. "There are many private airlines like Jet Airways, IndiGo, GoAir. If 86 percent of the market share”. Indian airlines continue to oppose 100% FDI. Fear of Qatar Airways’ India plans? Almost a year after the Indian government allowed 100% foreign investment into its aviation sector, local airlines continue to oppose the policy. The Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA) has cited security hassles in its latest letter to the government, to warn against fully-foreign owned airlines entering India. FIA has IndiGo, SpiceJet, Jet Airways and GoAir as its members, with 75% share of domestic air travel. Jet Airways Adds Third Non-Stop Daily Flight Between Mumbai and London Heathrow Jet Airways announced the introduction of its third, non-stop, daily service between Mumbai and London Heathrow from October 29, 2017, and as part of the airline’s forthcoming Winter schedule, the new daytime service – 9W 116 will depart from Mumbai at 0905 hrs.to arrive at London Heathrow at 1335 hrs. On its return, the planned departure for 9W 115 from London Heathrow is at 1530 hrs., arriving in Mumbai at 0555 hrs. The third frequency enhances onward connectivity over London Heathrow to North America with partners Delta Air Lines and Virgin Atlantic. Air travel between India and the United Kingdom has shown a steady annual growth of nearly 10 percent over the last few years. Passengers at the Bengaluru airport in India can now board with a simple wave of the hand The system uses the passenger's unique Aadhaar identification number to biometrically authenticate passengers in real time, from arrival at the airport through boarding. Each checkpoint features MorphoWave high-speed and touchless biometric technology to facilitate the passenger processing. In less than a second, this device captures four fingerprints and matches them against the Aadhaar database.  An automated process generates considerable time savings for an airport like Bengaluru, which experienced a 22% increase in passengers in 2016, rising to 22 million. Passengers will be able to pass these checkpoints much quicker, and no longer have to constantly show their ID documents & boarding pass/e-ticket. Phase 2 Of UDAN: New Routes To Be Announced On August 9 The civil aviation ministry plans to roll out the second phase of its regional connectivity scheme UDAN in June, with bids closing on July 9, said Aviation Secretary RN Choubey last week. The UDAN (Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik) scheme guarantees tickets capped at Rs 2,500 per hour of flight time to and from the mentioned un-served or under-served airports. Vistara receives its first A320neo Airbus has delivered the first A320neo to Vistara, a Delhi-based full service airline and joint venture between Tata Sons Ltd. and Singapore Airlines (SIA). The delivery is the first of seven aircraft to be leased from BOC Aviation. The aircraft sports a unique A320neo Vistara star symbol livery on its underbelly. The Vistara aircraft is configured in a three-class layout with 158 seats (8 business class, 24 premium and 126 economy class). Vistara has taken inputs from its growing number of frequent fliers and redesigned the cabin with even more comfort and relaxing features such as mood lighting and increased seat pitch. Acumen Aviation © 29 May All Rights Reserved.