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IndiGo to decide which all domestic flights to shift at Delhi airport within 10 days

New Delhi: Ending the over year-long imbroglio, low cost carrier IndiGo, on 24 Jan 2018 Saturday said it will move some of its domestic flights from Delhi Airport’s terminal 1 to T2. The Supreme Court had on Friday refused to grant relief to IndiGo in Delhi Airport’s decision on shifting flights.

“IndiGo deferentially accepts the decision of the apex court and shall implement the order in the coming weeks, in close coordination with Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL),” IndiGo said in a statement. An airport official said IndiGo will submit a proposal by March 3 and then DIAL will respond to the same by March 13. As per the SC Friday order, shifting of flights should happen within 24 days.

IGI Airport’s T1 has to be decongested so that its expansion work can begin. GoAir (which has only domestic operations) had already shifted all its Delhi flights to T2 last October. DIAL wanted to shift IndiGo and SpiceJet flights between Delhi and Mumbai, Kolkata and Bengaluru from T2 only. Now which all flights are shifted remains to be seen.

T1 has a capacity of handling 2 crore passengers annually but is expected to handle 2.6 crore flyers the financial year ending March 31, 2018, explaining the serious overcrowding here in peak hours. DIAL plans to expand its capacity to 4 crore passengers per annum by 2020-21 but the work, it says, can begin only after one-third flights move out of T1. The expanded T1 will have 22 aerobridges apart from 15 boarding gates from where flyers will take buses to planes.
Now with airlines agreeing to shift, the much-delayed expansion work of IGIA may finally begin.

The IndiGo statement issued Saturday said: “By its order dated February 23, 2018, the Supreme Court of India has declined to interfere with the judgment of the Division Bench of the Delhi High Court, which upheld the decision of DIAL to shift one-third of IndiGo’s operations from Terminal 1 to Terminal 2 of IGI Airport, New Delhi.”

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Jet cockpit fight: DGCA suspends flying licence of both pilots for five years

New Delhi:  The two pilots who fought in the cockpit of a Jet Airways London-Mumbai flight of January 1 will no longer be able to operate as pilots for any airline for five years. In an unprecedented action, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has suspended their flying licences for five years for endangering safety. The cockpit was left unmanned more than once during the fight when the co-pilot went out to bring back the lady commander who was sobbing in the galley and possibly afraid of going back to fly with him.

“DGCA has investigated the occurrence. Keeping in view serious safety lapses endangering the safety of aircraft operations, DGCA has suspended the privileges of license of the both the involved pilots for a period of five years,” DGCA chief B S Bhullar told.

The aircraft on which the fight was witnessed had 324 passenegers and 14 crew members.The regulatory action comes a fortnight after Jet sacked these two pilots. Now with the DGCA suspending their Commercial Pilot Licence (CPL) for five years, they cannot even get a job as pilots in any other airline.

Flight 9W 119 of January 1 was operated by two commanders. Jet’s senior most Boeing 777 commander was flying as co-pilot and his deputy was the commander of this flight. The “co-pilot” had allegedly slapped the lady commander and then the cockpit was left unmanned on two occasions when he went out to bring her back in. Soon after the incident was reported, the DGCA had suspended the co-pilot’s flying licence. Later Jet had sacked the pilots.

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For in-flight Wi-Fi, airlines likely to charge 30{f32dc76102757d19df9131cdc28115d9989856b4a44e5e08e1d600a023141750} of fare

  • Officials said the charges for net connection might range from Rs 500 to Rs 1,000 for thirty minutes to an hour as per international standards
  • Airlines have to pay service providers like Inmarsat and others a hefty sum to activate in-flight net connectivity

CHENNAI: Travellers could soon be able to post a selfie on social media while on board a plane, but may have to shell out at least 20-30{f32dc76102757d19df9131cdc28115d9989856b4a44e5e08e1d600a023141750} of the fare to avail of in-flight data connectivity.

Airlines are considering options to introduce the facility following a Trai order permitting in-flight voice and data connectivity+ . The move may help airlines add value to services for business class travellers on domestic and international routes. It may not be an option for low-cost carriers.

Officials said the charges for in-flight net connectivity would range from Rs 500 to Rs 1,000 for thirty minutes to an hour, according to international standards and taking into account the charges levied by service providers for slots on satellites. Airlines have to pay service providers like Inmarsat and others a hefty sum to activate inflight net connectivity.

With advance booking fares starting from Rs 1,200 to Rs 2,500 on short domestic routes, in-flight internet connectivity may be too expensive for passengers and airlines in the domestic sector.
An airline official said that Trai’s order permitting in-flight net connection would be an advantage for flights that traverse the peninsula on intercontinental routes. These flights do not have to switch off the Wi-Fi when in Indian airspace, he added.

“We are discussing the feasibility of having the facility on domestic flights. The cost and demand may have to be factored in before taking a decision,” said an official of a private airline. Airlines will have to install antennae on planes based on how they decide to receive and send the signals, either over mobile towers on the ground or over satellites.

Frequent travellers say that except for a handful of business travellers, there are no takers for in-flight internet even on international routes.

Air Passengers Association of India national president D Sudhakara Reddy said, “The in-flight data connectivity may be useful on longhaul flights. But I have hardly seen anyone use it or ask for it on international routes. It may be good during an emergency. Going by the international experience of passengers, it may not be viable for low-cost carriers.”

Some airlines allow passengers to use Wi-Fi free of charge for WhatsApp and other messenger services which may not need much bandwidth. Lufthansa, Emirates, British Airways and Delta are among the airlines that offer the service on international routes.

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Air Safety is Priority, Says Amber Dubay India Head of Aerospace and Defense, KPMG in his interview

Amber Dubey, partner and India head of aerospace and defence at global consultancy KPMG, tells us that with spread of aviation across the country through the government’s ambitious Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS), the challenge of enhancing safety structures and procedures has increased manifold

India is on a modernisation spree of its aviation sector. What are the challenges regarding safety issues?

Safety challenges will remain the same despite growth in aviation. Some of the main factors include ensuring airworthiness of aircrafts in operation and maintenance of other equipment (ground equipment, navigation equipment, etc.), keeping cognizance of human performance limitation, ensuring maintenance of security processes and ensuring adequate communication amongst all aviation stakeholders.

The real issue that India is experiencing, thanks to the high growth phase in traffic, is that adequate structures and procedures are yet to be build to deal with the scale of errors and violations that would occur. Oversight of the aforementioned activities would have to become more robust in order to ensure safe operating levels.

Ensuring safety assurance at the level of all operators along with requisite oversight by regulatory authorities (Directorate General of Civil Aviation [DGCA] and Bureau of Civil Aviation Security [BCAS]) is the challenge. This challenge is enhanced manifold with the spread of aviation across the country through the government’s ambitious RCS initiative.

How is the challenge being addressed by different stakeholders in India?

The challenge of dealing with this kind of growth is not intrinsic or restricted only to India. There are adequate procedures and guidance available globally to act as reference points for India.

The stakeholders (Ministry of Civil Aviation [MoCA], regulators, Air Navigation Service [ANS] providers, airline operators, and Maintenance, Repair and Operations [MRO] operators) have taken up the task of addressing the safety issue within their own spheres of operation.

An example of this is the effort being undertaken by stakeholders towards implementation of GPS Aided Geo Augmented Navigation (GAGAN). Developed by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in conjunction with Airports Authority of India (AAI), GAGAN provides highly accurate satellite-based guidance to aircrafts and obviates the requirement to have ground-based navigation equipment. This coupled with Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast ADS-B (Out) will push the safety envelope across not only India but also across most parts of Africa and Asia.

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) conducted a 10-day audit of India’s aviation regulator in November. It placed India in its list of 13 worst-performing nations in terms of air safety in 2012. Will India fare any better this time? We believe MoCA and DGCA are taking adequate steps to address the adverse findings of previous ICAO reviews. Things may get better with time. Once 90 percent of DGCA processes become automated and online, it will free their bandwidth for more extensive field inspections, without going overboard. That may lead to a better oversight of adherence to safety norms.

How is the rapid modernisation straining safety issues?

More than rapid modernisation, the increased utilisation of aircrafts, airport infrastructure, non-availability of skilled manpower, etc., are straining safety structures.

Even though such growth is highly welcome, its quantum was not foreseen. As a result, the internal safety control and safety assurance structures of the operators along with regulatory oversight structures are over-stretched. It needs to be addressed on priority. Any unfortunate incident involving loss of lives can set Indian aviation back by five to ten years.

How far is the institutional and regulatory framework geared up to implement a robust safety system in Indian aviation?

The DGCA is undertaking a comprehensive review of the regulations to ensure relevance and practical implementation.

BCAS has also taken steps to ensure a seamless travel experience while maintaining security standards. The removal of hand baggage tags is welcome. We may soon shift to biometric checks and paperless travel. Even immigration checks may go digital.