News Analysis India

Tag: DGCA

  • 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.

  • Clouds over aviation sector? Domestic air travel still way below pre-COVID level, says data

    Express News Service
    NEW DELHI: Domestic aviation traffic is yet to reach pre-Covid levels, after seven months of resumption of domestic flights.

    Data of airports disclose that the number of domestic passengers in December was 43 per cent less than the corresponding period in 2019.

    Similarly, aircraft movement in December was nearly 30 per cent less than 2019.

    Mumbai airport, one of the busiest in the world, saw 12,777 aircraft movements in December — a fall of 37.4 per cent from the previous year — according to data from the Airports Authority of India.

    This was 27.8 per cent less in Delhi and 39.4 per cent in Chennai. Domestic flights resumed with restrictions on May 25, 2020, after the lockdown of two months, with nearly 30,000 passengers. Numbers went up gradually along with the lifting of restrictions.

    Data from aviation regulator DGCA disclose that occupancy of airlines or the passenger load factor (PLF) of major commercial airlines was 66-78 per cent in December, around the same recorded previous month, but way below the 80-92 per cent in the same period in 2019. IndiGo’s PLF was 71.5, Air India’s 66.9 and GoAir’s 66.3.

    Jitender Bhargava, former Executive Director of Air India and author of ‘The Descent of Air India’ said, “Business meetings are not taking place like they did earlier. They are meeting mostly through video conferencing. Family and friends are not travelling because nobody is sure if you would get infected or not. Leisure travel is virtually absent because of the fear of travelling. A lot of people have faced lost jobs. There are many factors.”

    To attract passengers, IndiGo offered all-inclusive fares on domestic flights starting at Rs 877.

    Sanjay Kumar, Chief Strategy and Revenue Officer of IndiGo, said: “The advent of vaccination has improved the sentiment, with people looking at travelling within the country this year. This sale will help them plan domestic travel in advance and at affordable fares.”

  • 6.3 crore domestic air passengers in 2020, 56 percent lower than 2019: DGCA

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: A total of 6.3 crore domestic passengers traveled by air last year, 56.29 percent lower than 2019, Indian aviation regulator DGCA said on Friday.

    The impact of the coronavirus pandemic continues to be felt on the Indian aviation sector as the regulator said that only 73.27 lakh people traveled by air domestically in December last year, which was 43.72 percent lower than in the corresponding period of 2019.

    While IndiGo carried 3.25 crore passengers last year, a 51.7 percent share of the total domestic market, SpiceJet flew 93.9 lakh passengers, which is 14.9 percent share of the market, according to data shared by the DGCA.

    Air India, GoAir, AirAsia India, and Vistara carried 69.32 lakh, 54.38 lakh, 43.87 lakh, and 39.39 lakh passengers, respectively, in 2020, the data showed.

    The occupancy rate or load factor of six major Indian airlines was between 65.1 percent and 78 percent in December 2020, it stated.

    “The passenger load factor in the month of December 2020 has shown declining trend compared to the previous month primarily due to the end of tourist season,” the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said.

    The occupancy rate at SpiceJet was 78 per cent last month, highest among the six major Indian carriers.

    India resumed domestic passenger flights on May 25 after a gap of two months due to the coronavirus pandemic.

    Indian airlines are allowed to operate a maximum of 80 per cent of their pre-COVID-19 domestic flights.

    The DGCA data mentioned that in December, IndiGo had the best on-time performance of 94.9 percent at four metro airports – Bengaluru, Delhi, Hyderabad and Mumbai.

    AirAsia India and Vistara were at number two and three at these four airports in November with 89.9 percent and 88.4 percent on-time performance, respectively, the DGCA said.

    The aviation sector has been significantly impacted due to the travel restrictions imposed in India and other countries in view of the coronavirus pandemic.

    All airlines in India have taken cost-cutting measures such as pay cuts, leave without pay and firing of employees in order to tide over the crisis.

  • Flights dropped in the first week of the new year, passengers increased

    There has been a decrease in the number of flights to and from Raipur in the first week of the new year. However, there has been a slight increase in the number of passengers. According to the information, the flights to and from Swami Vivekananda Airport dropped by two per cent to 340 in the week from January 4 to 10. At the same time, the number of passengers coming and going increased by one percent to 34595. However, there is still no significant increase in air traffic to and fro. Corona’s influence is still being seen in the number of air travelers.

    The direct flight from Raipur to Indore to be launched by the Flybig Company is scheduled to begin on Wednesday 13 January. This flight will connect Raipur to Indore as well as Ahmedabad. This flight will reach Raipur from Indore at 7.30 am. After this, it will fly to Indore at eight in the morning. After the commencement of this flight, the possibility of starting the flight from Raipur to Jabalpur and Bhopal has also increased soon. It is being told that the same company has also sought permission from DGCA for Jabalpur. Flight will start as soon as permission is granted.

  • DGCA asks airlines to carry Covid vaccines in dry ice boxes

    By Express News Service
    NEW DELHI: With India preparing to roll out Covid-19 vaccines soon, the aviation regulator Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Friday issued guidelines to all aircraft operators who plan to transport vaccines packed in dry ice to various parts of the country.

    All scheduled operators, who have been currently authorised to carry dangerous goods, may carry Covid-19 vaccines packed in dry ice, meeting the regulatory requirements, the guidelines added. Dry ice transforms into carbon dioxide gas at temperatures higher than -78 degrees Celsius under normal atmospheric pressure and, therefore, it is classified as “dangerous goods” by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), it said.

    “It is needless to say that among the various modes of transport, air transport is the most efficient option. Hence, it is imperative that air logistics provide a well-defined procedure that meets the global safety standards and requirements based on local conditions,” the DGCA said. 

    Explaining the need to package the vaccines with dry ice, the DGCA said the temperature maintenance requirement for vaccines is reported to be varying from -8° C to -70° C and hence, the use of refrigerant material during the transportation becomes essential.