Category Archives: Aviation

SpiceJet on  Thursday said it will begin trial of IATA (International Air Transport Association) Travel Pass mobile app for digital health verification. The trial will be conducted on flights out of Mumbai to Male effective August 23, 2021, as a step towards building passenger confidence as international travel picks up. Ajay Singh, Chairman and Managing Director, SpiceJet, said, “SpiceJet is proud to collaborate with IATA to trial IATA’s Travel Pass initiative. Passenger safety and comfort has always been our top priority and the introduction of the Travel Pass will make the verification process absolutely simple and hassle-free, boost both passenger and government confidence and make international travel more efficient and secure.” “I am happy that IATA has confirmed SpiceHealth labs for the Travel Pass trial enabling it to securely share certified test and vaccination certificates with passengers that will be recognized by governments abroad.” “Adding SpiceJet to the growing list of airlines trialling IATA Travel Pass is another step towards demonstrating to governments how digital solutions can effectively manage both COVID-19 vaccine and test certificates for travel. IATA Travel Pass will simplify and enhance compliance with health requirements for SpiceJet’s passengers, facilitating a more seamless experience,” said Nick Careen, IATA’s Senior Vice President for Operations, Safety,and Security. The IATA Travel Pass is a mobile application that helps travellers to store and manage their verified certifications for COVID-19 tests or vaccinations. The Travel Pass will manage and verify the traveller’s COVID-19 status in line with governments’ health and border requirements. In another significant development, SpiceHealth has been on-boarded by IATA as a lab partner for the Travel Pass trial. SpiceHealth is a healthcare company founded by the promoters of SpiceJet. SpiceHealth has …

In a Twitter post, Air India has informed that the passengers travelling to the UAE from India are requested to report at the airport at least 6 hours prior to the departure. As per the entry requirement of the UAE, a rapid PCR test will be conducted for every passenger at the respective Indian departure airport. The test counters will start 4 hours before the departure time and would close 2 hours prior to departure.

The ministry of civil aviation issued an order allowing domestic airlines to increase flight capacity to 72.5% from 65% with immediate effect. This was done after review of the current status of Scheduled Domestic Operations viz-a-viz passenger demand for air travel in terms of purpose specified in the initial order. This will remain in place until further orders. In July, MoCA hiked the capacity of domestic flights to 65% from the earlier 50%.

Jyotiraditya Scindia has written to Ashwini Vaishnaw, Union Minister of Railways, to start a Delhi-Agra-Gwalior train service under the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s initiative to start 75 Vande Mataram trains within a year to commemorate 75th year of Indian Independence. Scindia shared this in a tweet and shared the letter he has written to Vaishnaw.

SpiceJet has introduced a new service for its passengers—mid-air cab bookings, which allows passengers to book cabs for airport transfer during their flight, using the airline’s in-flight entertainment platform SpiceScreen. “With our latest offering, passengers will no longer have to carry their luggage to the cab departure area besides enjoying zero waiting time as cabs will now be available for them right outside the arrival gate,” said Ajay Singh, Chairman and Managing Director, SpiceJet. In the first phase, the new service will be available to passengers arriving at the Delhi airport. The airline will further extend the service to all major airports, including Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Goa, Chennai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad and Pune in a phased-manner.

Jyotiraditya M. Scindia, Union Minister of Civil Aviation, has announced that four new Indigo Flights will start operating in Madhya Pradesh from September 1, 2021 with everyday frequency. In his tweets, he said, “Four new flights of Indigo are going to start from Madhya Pradesh from 1st September: Delhi-Gwalior-Delhi; Gwalior-Indore-Gwalior; Indore-Gwalior-Indore; Gwalior-Delhi-Gwalior. Under the guidance of our visionary Prime Minister the Ministry of Civil Aviation is committed to facilitate the movement of citizens across the country and give wings to their development.”

VK Singh, Minister of State for Civil Aviation, has brought to light the many initiatives taken by his Ministry in the recent past. He says that these initiatives have not only helped overcome operating costs of the sector, but also facilitated both expansion of airports and skill development for which several centres have been set up, including those in Chandigarh, Mumbai and Bengaluru.

To provide regional connectivity and boost trade & tourism in the remotest parts of the country, Pawan Hans will now fly on the Chandigarh-Kullu-Chandigarh route from August 15 at reduced fares under the UDAN scheme. The flight will be operated thrice weekly, on Monday, Friday and Sunday. Bookings are open and can be made on the Pawan Hans website. The fare has been set at Rs6,500 (one way).

Using microblogging service as a platform, the DGCA has issued an advisory to passengers travelling to international destinations. It said that these passengers are requested to check the airfare preferably from the website of the concerned airline directly because the meta search engines at times do not reflect the actual point to point fare and do make combinations of multiple airlines and end up with an exaggerated figure.

AAI has taken up development programme to spend around Rs. 25,000 crores in next 4-5 years for expansion and modification of existing terminals, new terminals, expansion or strengthening of existing runways, aprons, Airport Navigation Services (ANS), control towers, technical blocks etc. to meet the expected growth in aviation sector. It was revealed by General (Retd.) Dr. VK Singh, Minister of State, Civil Aviation, in Rajya Sabha.