05.05.2022 - 00:16 UTC
India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) is investigating a May 1 incident involving a SpiceJet (SG, Delhi Int'l) B737-800 in which 17 people were hurt, senior government officials have told CNBC-TV18.
This followed a preliminary report by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) which is also inspecting the entire SpiceJet fleet as a precautionary measure, Indian newspapers reported.
VT-SLH (msn 33597) had encountered severe turbulence on descent from Mumbai Int'l to Durgapur resulting in 17 of the 195 people on board being injured, including 14 passengers and three cabin crew. Three people were hospitalised with head and spinal injuries, of whom two are in intensive care.
According to the DGCA report cited by India Today: "During descent, the aircraft experienced severe turbulence and the vertical load factor varied from +2.64G and - 1.36G. During this period the autopilot got disengaged for two minutes and the crew manually flew the aircraft”. Overhead panels in the cabin had opened, oxygen masks had fallen off, and galley items had been scattered.
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04.05.2022 - 03:56 UTC
flybig (S9, Indore) has wet-leased a DHC-8-Q400, ET-ANV (msn 4317), from Ethiopian Airlines (ET, Addis Ababa) for direct flights between Delhi Int'l and Shillong from May 2, a source close to the Ethiopian airline has confirmed to ch-aviation.
The aircraft will operate twice-weekly rotations on the route, with plans for another of the type to be added on dry-lease, Managing Director Sanjay Mandavia told The Times of India.
He said the Indian regional carrier plans to expand its fleet to ten undisclosed Avions de Transport Régional aircraft by March 2023.
In addition, Mandavia said, the airline has secured an investor in India’s RDB Group - one of the leading real estate companies in Eastern India – and has ordered ten DHC-6-400s for flights between tier-three and tier-four cities in the country.
flybig's current fleet totals one ATR72-500 leased from Avation and one ATR72-600 leased from DAE Capital, ch-aviation fleets advanced data shows.
As reported, in March 2022, a...
Editorial Comment: Updated with the registration details of the DHC-8-Q400. - 09.05.2022 - 09:22 UTC
04.05.2022 - 01:51 UTC
Jet Airways (JAI, Mumbai Int'l) has edged closer to its long-awaited restart, having added a B737-800 for proving flights expected in mid-May 2022. Live Mint reported that the airline expects to relaunch commercial operations between July and September 2022.
VT-SXE (msn 34802) is currently at Hyderabad Int'l in Jet Airways' livery, but has yet to begin proving flights. The 15.3-year-old Boeing narrowbody was operated by Jet Airways between 2007 and its collapse in 2019 as VT-JGU, the ch-aviation fleets history module indicates. It was subsequently transferred to SpiceJet (SG, Delhi Int'l), which operated it through December 16, 2021, Flightradar24 ADS-B data shows. Since then, the aircraft has been parked.
Sources said that while the dates had not yet been finalised, the proving flights with Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) officials on board are tentatively expected in the first half of May.
Jet Airways, under new ownership by the Murari Lal Jalan and Kalrock Capital consortium and with new management (led by CEO Sanjiv Kapoor), is planning to...
26.04.2022 - 01:55 UTC
The Indian government has stripped Air India (AI, Mumbai Int'l) of its preferential status insofar as the allocation of international traffic rights is concerned following the state-owned carrier's sale to Tata Sons earlier this year.
Airline executives told the Business Standard newspaper that following the move, the Indian Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has now dropped Clause 3.6 in its regulations - "due consideration shall be given to operational plans submitted by Air India before allocation of the traffic rights to other eligible applicants" - which had prioritised the former flag carrier's business plans over those of other airlines.
"The central government may, at its discretion, grant or deny [the] allocation of traffic rights to any air transport undertaking having regard to its preparedness to undertake such operations, viability of the operations on a particular route, overall interests of the civil aviation sector etc.," the revised version states.
As such, the playing field is now seen as being more level given Air India also no longer has access to the Indian government's seemingly...
