News Analysis India

Tag: Civil Aviation Ministry

  • Indian airlines’ CO2 emissions increased by 63.5 per cent between 2012 and 2019: MoS Civil Aviation

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The Indian airlines carbon dioxide emissions increased by 63.5 per cent from 11,560 thousand tons in 2012 to 18,900 thousand tons in 2019, Minister of State for Civil Aviation VK Singh said on Wednesday.

    “The data shows an increasing trend in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions (by the Indian carriers) over the years,” Singh stated in his written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha. He gave the details of CO2 emissions by the Indian carriers between 2012 and 2019.

    Singh stated the Indian carriers had 18,900 thousand tons of CO2 emissions in 2019, which was 11,560 thousand tons in 2012. “The DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation) compiles CO2 emissions data based on the information received from the Indian scheduled carriers,” he said.

    In 2019, domestic flights by the Indian airlines led to 11,843 thousand tons of CO2 emissions, while their international flights led to 7,057 thousand tons of CO2 emissions, he mentioned. In 2012, the Indian carriers’ domestic flights had 6,135 thousand tons of CO2 emissions and their international flights had 5,425 thousand tons of CO2 emissions, the minister noted.

    Singh said the measures taken by the Centre to reduce the Indian carriers’ carbon footprint are optimised airspace utilisation, reduction of unwanted weight, avoiding moisture or dirt accumulation in aircraft, proper speed and flap management.

  • Two consultants of Aviation Ministry, two officials of DGCA die due to COVID

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Two consultants of the Civil Aviation Ministry and two officials of aviation regulator DGCA have died due to COVID-19 till date, government officials stated on Sunday. The two consultants — who were retired government servants and were engaged by the ministry on contract basis — died during the first wave of COVID-19 during 2020, the officials mentioned.

    The two officials of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) died during the second wave of COVID-19 in 2021, they told PTI. The two deceased officials of DGCA held the position of Director and Assistant Director respectively, the officials mentioned.

    India was badly hit by the second wave of the coronavirus infection during April and May this year. The government officials said a total of 44 employees of the Civil Aviation Ministry tested positive for COVID-19 between January and May this year.

    In comparison, only 26 employees of the ministry had tested positive for COVID-19 during the entire 2020, they mentioned. Officials said the medical expenses of all such employees were reimbursed as per the Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS) and Central Services (Medical Attendance) rules.

    As per the Union Health Ministry’s data on Sunday, India’s total tally of COVID-19 cases rose to 3,08,37,222, while the active cases declined to 4,54,118.

  • Airlines can operate maximum of 65 per cent pre-COVID domestic flights: Government

    The carriers have been operating only 50% of their pre-COVID domestic flights since June 1 in accordance with a May 28 order of the ministry.

  • Government issues guidelines for expeditious COVID-19 vaccination of aviation personnel

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The Centre on Thursday issued guidelines to facilitate expeditious COVID-19 vaccination of aviation personnel working in government as well as private entities.

    A dedicated vaccination facility will be established by the airport operators in their respective airports to facilitate expeditious vaccination of staff, the guidelines issued by the the Civil Aviation Ministry stated.

    Priority during vaccination should be given to the air traffic controllers (ATCs), cockpit and cabin crews of the airlines as well as mission-critical and passenger-facing staff, it said.

    India has been badly hit by the second wave of coronavirus infections even as hospitals in several states are reeling under a severe shortage of vaccines, oxygen, drugs, equipment and beds.

    The guidelines stated that the operator should immediately contact the state governments or private service providers (hospitals), which are willing to set up COVID-19 vaccination centres at the airports.

    There can be more than one service providers at any airport depending on number of personnel working in the aviation ecosystem,” it stated.

    The airport operators must establish facilities like drinking water, help desk, ventilation, fans, wash rooms, vaccination counters and segregated waiting area, it said.

    The cost per vaccination dose can be decided by the airport operator with the service provider and it will be same for aviation personnel, it mentioned.

    The focus of major airports could be on tying up with private service providers, it noted.

    “For the smaller airports, where the numbers to get vaccinated are less and private players do not find it viable, the airport operators can approach the district or local administration for extending the vaccination programme,” it added.

    The facilities created by airport operator would be available for all aviation personnel in the first phase and can be extended to the family members subsequently, it mentioned.

    “All airport operators are advised to designate a nodal officer — and alternative nodal officer may also be kept in readiness — for coordinating the efforts,” the guidelines noted.

    “Chairman of Airports Authority of India (AAI) will hold regular meetings to review the progress and coordinate with the Civil Aviation Ministry, and Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) will address issues or challenges” it said.

    The AAI owns and manages more than 100 airports across the country.

    “This is the broad framework to facilitate expeditious vaccination of the civil aviation community in the country,” the guidelines said.

    New coronavirus cases and deaths in India hit a record daily high with 4,12,262 new infections and 3,980 fatalities being reported, taking the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 2,10,77,410 and the death toll to 2,30,168, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Thursday.

    Registering a steady increase, the active cases have increased to 35,66,398 comprising 16.92 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has dropped to 81.99 per cent, the data updated at 8 am showed.

  • Caps on domestic capacity and airfares to remain till May 30: Aviation ministry

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The limits imposed on airfares and on number of domestic flights that can be operated in the Indian market will extend till May 31, said the Civil Aviation Ministry on Monday.

    Currently, the airlines are permitted to operate not more than 80 per cent of their pre-COVID domestic flights.

    Moreover, they are allowed to charge domestic airfares only within lower and upper limits, which were set by the ministry in May last year.

    In two separate orders on Monday, the ministry said the caps on capacity as well as airfares will “remain in force till 2359 hrs on May 31, 2021, or until further orders”.

      When India had resumed its domestic flight services on May 25 last year, it had told the airlines to operate not more than 33 per cent of their pre-COVID domestic flights.

    This was gradually increased to up to 80 per cent by December 3, 2020.

    On May 21 last year, the ministry had placed lower and upper limits on airfares through seven bands, classified on the basis of flight duration.

    For example, the first band consists of all flights that are of under 40 minutes’ duration.

    The lower limit on such flights is Rs 2,300 and the upper limit is Rs 7,500.

  • COVID-19: Airlines asked not to serve meals on-board in flights with duration under 2 hours 

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Airlines are not permitted to serve meals in flights that have a duration of less than two hours, the Civil Aviation Ministry said on Monday, as coronavirus cases continue to soar in the country.

    The ban will come into effect from Thursday, the ministry said in its order.

    When scheduled domestic flights were resumed on May 25 after coronavirus lockdown last year, the ministry had allowed the airlines to serve in-flight meals under certain conditions.

    Modifying the previous order, the ministry’s fresh directive said: “The airlines, operating flights on domestic sectors, may provide meals services on board, where the in-flight duration is two hours or more.

    ” The ministry stated it has decided to review the on-board meal services in domestic flights considering “the increasing threat of COVID-19 and its variants”.

  • India has finalised air bubble pact with Sri Lanka: Civil Aviation Ministry

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: India has established a bilateral air bubble arrangement with Sri Lanka for operation of special international passenger flights between the two countries, the Civil Aviation Ministry said on Saturday.

    With this, India now has such pacts with 28 countries, including Afghanistan, Bahrain, Canada, France, Germany, Iraq, Japan, the Maldives, Nigeria, Qatar, the UAE, the UK and the USA. Under an air bubble pact between two countries, special international passenger flights can be operated by their airlines into each other’s territories under restrictive conditions.

    Attention travellers!India has finalized an air bubble agreement with Sri Lanka, making it the 6th such arrangement in SAARC region & the 28th in total. All the eligible passengers will be able to travel between the 2 countries in the near future. Travel safe!
    — MoCA_GoI (@MoCA_GoI) April 10, 2021

    “India has finalized an air bubble agreement with Sri Lanka, making it the 6th such arrangement in SAARC region and the 28th in total. All the eligible passengers will be able to travel between the 2 countries in the near future,” the Civil Aviation Ministry said on Twitter.

    Scheduled international flights have been suspended in India since March 23, 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. However, special international passenger flights have been operating under the Vande Bharat Mission since May last year and under bilateral air bubble arrangements since July.

  • DGCA to do ‘all sorts of scrutiny’ before clearing Boeing 737 MAX planes: Civil Aviation Ministry

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is examining the issue of giving approval for Boeing Max 737 planes to fly in India and a decision will be taken after running all sorts of scrutiny, a senior official said on Thursday.

    Aviation regulators of the United States and Europe have already approved the aircraft for flying. To a query about approving MAX planes for flying again, Civil Aviation Secretary Pradeep Singh Kharola said the DGCA is examining the matter. “They will be running all sorts of scrutiny that is possible. It is a very major decision DGCA wants to be sure that,” he told reporters here.

    “The FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) has approved, the EASA (European Union Aviation Safety Agency) has approved…our regulator wants to be more than convinced that the aircraft is safe,” he said. Further, Kharola said the DGCA will be doing their tests, examination, scrutiny and “whatever they want to do”.

    Pointing out that the DGCA is an independent statutory authority, he said that once the regulator is satisfied, then approval will be given. When asked if there is any time period for the approval, Kharola said, “on safety matters, we don’t fix time limits”.

    Following two fatal crashes involving MAX planes, these aircraft were grounded worldwide in 2019. The DGCA grounded MAX aircraft in March 2019. In March 2019, a MAX plane operated by Ethiopian Airlines crashed near Addis Ababa, killing 157 people, including four Indians.

    In October 2018, a Lion Air-operated 737 Max crashed, leaving 180 people dead in Indonesia. Only two Indian carriers — SpiceJet and now-shuttered Jet Airways — were operating MAX aircraft before they were grounded on safety concerns.

  • Government may allow private air traffic controllers to manage drones in lower airspace

    By PTI
    BENGALURU: The government is considering allowing air traffic controllers, operated by private entities, to manage drone operations in the Indian airspace below 1,000 feet, said a senior Civil Aviation Ministry official on Wednesday.

    “The drone ATC (air traffic controller) will be called UTM (unmanned traffic management) and it will collaborate with the manned traffic management, which is being handled currently as a sovereign function by the Airports Authority of India (AAI),” said Joint Secretary (Civil Aviation) Amber Dubey.

    The AAI, which works under the ministry, manages all manned aircraft operations in the Indian airspace. A passenger aircraft generally flies at a height of around 30,000 feet. “The airspace below 1,000 feet is lower airspace and it would be the main playground of drones. For that, we may have a system of private ATCs, which would be managed by private operators,” Dubey said at a session organised by industry body FICCI at Aero India 2021.

    “It could be a government agency or a private agency, it is something that would evolve,” he added. The AAI cannot handle drones because they would be flying at 5 feet to take care of crops to about 1,000 feet in the airspace, Dubey mentioned.

    He said that drone technology is moving way faster than the regulations so we have decided that we need to start a parallel activity.