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The Indian Air Force is celebrating its 88th anniversary today when it will showcase it prowess and put its mainstream fighter jets on display. A key highlight this year is the newly-inducted Rafale fighter aircraft that will be featured. A grand parade-cum-investiture ceremony is being held at the Air Force Station at Hindon near Delhi. Prime Minister Narendra Modi extended greetings to the ”brave warriors” of the Indian Air Force (IAF). “Many congratulations to all the brave warriors of the Indian Air Force on Air Force Day. You not only keep the skies of the country safe but also play a leading role in the service of humanity in times of disaster. Your courage, valour and dedication to protect Maa Bharti inspire everyone,” PM Modi tweeted in Hindi. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said the country is “proud of its men and women in blue and salutes the prowess of the IAF as it stands ready to face challenges and deter adversaries”.

India has been successfully fighting coronavirus with the help of COVID Warriors. IAF has been contributing towards the national effort to contain corona by supporting mobility of men and material both at International and Domestic level. More than 600 tons of medical supplies and large number of people have been airlifted including doctors, para-medics and equipment for setting up COVID testing labs. IAF personnel will continue to contribute towards fight against corona. As a gratitude to all the Corona Warriors in India, IAF along with sister services saluted these brave warriors of India in its own unique way. The planned fly past of the aircraft of the Indian Air Force was to salute the brave COVID warriors who have been tirelessly and selflessly working during these unprecedented times of corona virus pandemic. In May, while the whole nation was under lockdown, a number of aircraft of Indian Air Force did a fly past over Delhi and NCR region. Fighter aircraft formations, comprisin

The country’s aviation industry declined 66 per cent in September, according to investment information agency ICRA. However, on a sequential basis (compared to the previous month), it grew 37 per cent to 39 lakh passengers in September, indicating a recovery. Capacity deployment in September was 46 per cent compared to the corresponding period last year, a significant increase compared to 33 per cent in August, according to ICRA. ICRA said it has a negative credit outlook on the country’s aviation industry. It expects profitability of the industry to be adversely impacted in financial year 2020-21 due to lower revenues and high fixed costs. “While some airlines have sufficient liquidity and financial support from a strong parentage, which will help them sustain over the near term, those already in financial stress are now facing existential crisis.” However, ICRA vice president Kinjal Shah said the number of flights departing gradually increased from 416 on Day 1 to 1,488 on Day 128 (S

India successfully flight-tested the Supersonic Missile Assisted Release of Torpedo (SMART) from Wheeler Island off the coast of Odisha on Monday. All mission objectives, including missile flight upto the range and altitude, separation of the nose cone, the release of Torpedo and deployment of Velocity Reduction Mechanism (VRM), were met perfectly in the flight test. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh congratulated the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) for the success. “The DRDO has successfully flight tested the Supersonic Missile assisted release of Torpedo, SMART. This will be a major technology breakthrough for stand-off capability in anti-submarine warfare. I congratulate DRDO and other stakeholders for this significant achievement,” Rajnath Singh’s tweet. SMART is a missile assisted release of lightweight Anti-Submarine Torpedo System for anti-submarine warfare (ASW) operations for far beyond torpedo range. This launch and demonstration are significant in establish

Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri Saturday said domestic passenger traffic could reach the pre-COVID level by the end of current year. He said the daily domestic traffic has reached 1.76 lakh passengers from 30,000 passengers when the civil aviation operations resumed on May 25 following a two-month gap due to the pandemic. “On May 25, we resumed civil aviation operations and at that time, there were around 30,000 passengers. Today, I received data as per which there were 1.76 lakh passengers yesterday. We are going to achieve almost the pre-COVID level during the period between Diwali and the end of this year,” said Mr Puri. He also said that a meeting of airlines, Airport Authority of India and other stakeholders would be called and to discuss how more flights can be introduced from Chandigarh city.

Following the Unlock 5.0 guidelines issued by the Home Ministry, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has extended the ban on scheduled international commercial flights till October 31. However, there are a number of countries to which flights are being operated and Indian citizens can take flights. Why has the DGCA extended the ban on international flights? The Unlock 5.0 guidelines have not allowed international flights to resume as yet and DGCA’s decision is in line with the Home Ministry’s norms. The government has also said on past occasions that the relaxation on International flights will depend on how the virus behaves, and how caseloads are being recorded within India as well as in the destination countries. Keeping that in mind, international scheduled flights have been suspended further. India has established air bubble arrangements with 15 countries. These are the US, the UK, Canada, the UAE, Qatar, Nigeria, Maldives, Kenya, Japan, Iraq, Germany, France, Bhuta

Nepal’s Civil Aviation Ministry has sent a proposal to resume flights to and from India from October 17, confirmed an official from Nepal’s COVID-19 Crisis Management Centre (CCMC). Nepal had earlier blocked all flights to and from India from March after the imposition of a nationwide lockdown in the Himalayan nation, following the COVID-19 pandemic. Nepal’s Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation has proposed to open its air connection with India again after a period of seven months, with adherence to a health protocol, senior tourism official Kamal Prasad Bhattarai with ANI. “We have proposed resumption of flights from October 17, the proposal has been sent to the CCMC for consideration but we are yet to receive any response. Once they decide over the date we can further sort out the number of flights and permits to be issued,” Mr Bhattarai said in a telephonic conversation. Once the proposal is approved by the CCMC, it will be sent to the cabinet meeting for the final decisi

The Dubai Civil Aviation Authority has suspended Air India Express flights till October 2 for allegedly bringing passengers with Covid-positive certificates twice during the last couple of weeks, senior government officials said on Friday. As per the UAE government rules, each passenger travelling from India needs to bring an original Covid-negative certificate from RT-PCR test done 96 hours prior to the journey. “A passenger, who had a Covid-positive certificate dated September 2, travelled on Air India Express’ Jaipur-Dubai flight on September 4. A similar incident had happened with a passenger on one of the airline’s other Dubai flights previously,” said one of the officials. Therefore, the Dubai Civil Aviation Authority has suspended Air India Express flights from September 18 to October 2, the officials stated. Both the incidents of passengers flying with Covid-positive certificates to Dubai from India on Air India Express flights happened during the last couple of weeks, the offi

Parliament on Tuesday passed a bill that seeks to improve India's aviation safety ratings and provide statutory status to regulatory institutions, including the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). The Aircraft (Amendment) Bill, 2020, which provides for statutory backing to the DGCA, the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) and the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), was passed by a voice vote in Rajya Sabha. The bill that was passed in Lok Sabha on March 17 also entails to increase the fine for violations from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 1 crore. Introducing the bill, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said,”The operating thrust of the bill is to provide statutory basis to these important agencies… This is necessary as we move forward with an exponential growth in civil aviation.” The amendments were necessary as tremendous growth in civil aviation has thrown many challenges such as saturated airport capacity, lack of trained manpower, limited manpower cap

India is proposing to drop a condition that the winning bidder for Air India will have to take on $3.3 billion of aircraft debt, people with knowledge of the matter said, as the government struggles to sell the loss-making carrier kept afloat by taxpayer-funded bailouts. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's administration is being advised to drop the rule on concern it will deter buyers, the people said, asking not to be identified as the proposal isn't public. A group of bureaucrats has vetted the plan, and under the new proposition, potential buyers will be allowed to bid on the enterprise value and not on the entity value, the people said. A renewed attempt to sell Air India, which hasn't made money since 2007, has been hurt by the pandemic, forcing the government to keep extending a deadline to bid. The offer, announced in January, was sweetened to pass on only the debt related to plane purchases to the new owner. The airline had $8.4 billion in total debt at the end of March

Chinese carriers are in a sweet spot, relative to their Covid-battered peers at least. The country's 1.4-billion-strong population is eager to travel, the yuan is rallying and oil is getting cheaper. A Bloomberg gauge of the sector shows nine of the world's top 10 airline stocks over the past three months are Chinese, with all but Air China Ltd. shares posting double-digit gains. The odd one out is InterGlobe Aviation Ltd., which operates India's biggest carrier, IndiGo. That's sixth on the list with a 13 per cent advance. The top performer is low-cost carrier Spring Airlines Co., which has climbed 22 per cent. The global airline industry has been walloped by the coronavirus pandemic, as governments imposed unprecedented border restrictions and people became more reluctant to travel. The International Air Transport Association, which represents some 290 airlines, doesn't expect passenger traffic to recover to pre-pandemic levels before 2024. Chinese carriers haven&#

Flag carrier Air India is set to resume its services to Mumbai from here with three flights per week, starting September 15, an official has said. The flights between the two cities were suspended in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. The airline's operations from Aurangabad airport to New Delhi and Hyderabad have already been restored earlier. Air India is starting Mumbai-Aurangabad-Mumbai flights from September 15, an Aurangabad Airport official said. The services on the route will be operated on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, and will remain operational up to October 24, according to the official.

International passengers who have to take connecting domestic flights after landing in India will have the option of getting themselves tested for COVID-19 at the entry airports, the Civil Aviation Ministry said on Wednesday. If the RT-PCR test result is negative, the international passenger will be allowed to catch his or her connecting domestic flight and he or she will not need to undergo any institutional quarantine at the destination city, the ministry's order said. The test result will come in a maximum of seven hours. Till the results come, the passenger will have to remain in the waiting lounge of the entry airport, the order noted. An international passenger who does not have a negative COVID-negative result certificate from a test done not more than 96 hours prior to the journey, and who does not opt for on-arrival testing facility at the entry airport, will have to compulsorily undergo seven-day institutional quarantine followed by seven-day home quarantine. Such on-

Vistara and Japan Airlines have inked a partnership that allows members of their frequent flyer programmes to earn and spend points on each other. A frequent flyer program (FFP) is a loyalty programme wherein a passenger earns points for travelling on an airline's flights, which can then be used to get rewards on the same airline or partner companies. “The partnership enables Club Vistara members to earn and redeem CV points on flights operated and marketed by Japan Airlines,” Vistara said on Wednesday in a press release. Vistara's FFP is called Club Vistara and Japan Airlines' FFP is called JAL Mileage Bank. Members of JAL Mileage Bank will be able to earn and spend their miles on flights operated and marketed by Vistara, the release noted, adding the partnership came into effect from Monday. Now, Club Vistara members can earn and redeem points when travelling on partner airlines such as Singapore Airlines, Silk Air, United Airlines and Japan Airlines. The aforemention

The Centre has allowed airlines to operate flights to Kolkata from Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Pune and Nagpur September 1 onwards on a limited basis. Flights from these six airports to Kolkata have remained suspended since July 6 after the state government requested so, citing high Covid-19 case-loads in these cities. For the first two weeks of September, flights from these cities have been allowed to fly on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays, while for the third and fourth weeks, flights will be allowed to operate on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Airlines are yet to announce their flights schedules to Kolkata from these places. Other flights to Kolkata will continue to operate as per schedule. However, an exception will be on September 7, 11 and 12, when the state government has announced complete lockdown, due to which no flights will be operated to Kolkata and Bagdogra airports. With the Union government asking states to relax curbs on inter-state travel, governments have st

The government has permitted the airlines to serve pre-packed snacks, meals and beverages on domestic flights and hot meals on international flights, according to an official order. Moreover, any passenger who refuses to wear a face mask in a flight can be put on the no-fly list by the airline, said a senior official of the aviation regulator DGCA. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, in-flight meal service was not permitted on domestic flights since their resumption on May 25. On international flights, only pre-packed cold meals and snacks were being served depending on the flight duration since May this year. In an order issued on Thursday, the Civil Aviation Ministry said, “Airlines may serve pre-packed snacks/meals/pre-packed beverages on domestic flights depending on the duration of flight.” Airlines and charter flight operators can “serve hot meals and limited beverages” on international flights “as per the standard practices”, it added. The ministry said only single-use disposab

Israeli flag carrier, El Al has reported a $244 million loss in the first half of this year in the wake of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.According to its second quarter financial report, the company's loss in April-June reached about $105 million, compared to the $100 million profit in the second quarter of 2019, reports Xinhua news agency. The report issued on Wednesday also showed that the company's revenues fell in the second quarter by 74 per cent to about $151 million, compared to about $584 million in the same period last year.El Al's revenue in the first half of 2020 fell to $472 million, compared to about 1 billion in the first half of 2019, down 53 per cent. Due to the coronavirus crisis, El Al planes were grounded in March, and over 6,000 workers were put on unpaid leaves.Accordingly, the company ended the first quarter of 2020 with a $140 million loss.Earlier this month, El Al announced that it has extended flight suspension until September 30 due to the conti

Australian flag carrier Qantas on Tuesday announced another 2,500 job cuts as it plans to outsource ground handling services at major airports.Qantas said it is proposing to outsource various ground operations roles, including baggage handlers, aircraft cleaners and bus drivers, impacting nearly 2,500 roles in total, reports Xinhua news agency.The airline has already flagged 6,000 job losses in June in a bid to cut costs amid the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. It said the latest announcement followed a statutory loss of A$2.7 billion ($1.94 billion) for the Group in FY20, and a revenue drop of A$4 billion in the second half due to the health crisis and border restrictions. “We've already taken drastic action, with more than 220 aircraft grounded, the vast majority of our workforce stood down and assets mortgaged to raise cash,” Qantas Domestic CEO Andrew David said. “Right now, our domestic capacity is at 20 per cent of pre-coronavirus levels and international travel is expected to tak

Budget carrier SpiceJet has operated its maiden long-haul cargo flight with a widebody Airbus A340 freighter aircraft to the city from the Dutch capital Amsterdam, making it the first and only Indian carrier to operate non-stop cargo services from Europe on a dedicated freighter. The Gurugram-based airline, in a release on Saturday, also said that the same A340 cargo plan will perform its next flight to Sudan from Mumbai on Sunday. SpiceJet has a dedicated fleet of nine freighter aircraft consisting of five Boeing 737s, three Bombardier Q-400s and one Airbus A340. “SpiceJet operated its first-ever long-haul cargo flight from Amsterdam to Mumbai using its wide-body Airbus A340 aircraft on Saturday. The flight, operated by a widebody A340 freighter, departed from the Dutch capital at 10.50 PM (local time) on August 21, and reached Mumbai at 10.54 AM (local time) on Sunday, carrying over 14 tonnes of cargo to the city,” the release said. The aircraft will now operate from Mumbai to Kh

Captain Amol Yadav had started the project 19 years ago and now the six-seater passenger aircraft which he built on the terrace of his house has completed the first phase of its test flight. The aircraft would now have to prove flight at a height of 2000 feet in the next phase, Captain Amol Yadav, said. Yadav designed and developed the aircraft on the rooftop of his house in the western suburb of Kandivali in Maharashtra. “I along with a technician performed the first phase of the test flight of our aircraft and the plane made a balance flight. And it was a fantastic one,” he said. In the first phase of the flight, the aircraft’s movement was tested on the ground at a slow and fast speed, and its capability to make turns on the ground for taxiways and bays, and proper application of brakes were checked. “It was also checked whether the aircraft can maintain a balance flight after taking off the ground,” Yadav told PTI. Aviation regulator DGCA had granted permission for the first ph