The Indian skies may soon see a new airline taking off as "Fly91"

The Indian skies may soon see a new airline taking off. Fly91 will be promoted by aviation veteran Manoj Chacko and cofounded by Harsha Raghavan, former India head of Prem Watsa’s Fairfax Financial Holdings.

Chacko was the executive vice president of Kingfisher Airlines and chief operating officer and CEO of business travel, SOTC. Harsha was the founding managing director and former CEO of Fairbridge Capital, a wholly-owned India investment subsidiary of Fairfax Financial Holdings.

“We have to remember two critical aspects. The first is that we are fundamentally in the transportation industry and our key focus is to ensure that we transport people from point A to B safely, comfortably and in the most economical way. The second one is to keep things brutally simple and stick to the basics and do them extremely well and not try to reinvent the wheel where not necessary.”

Manoj Chacko, Co-Founder, Fly91

Just UDO, the owner of Fly91 (91 for India’s country code), has been set up by Chacko, along with a co-founding team, according to a report by the Economic Times.

Raghavan will co-found the airline through his investment firm Convergent Finance to anchor Fly91’s initial investment of INR 200 crore, as per the report. The promoter company, Just UDO, had last week applied for the initial no-objection certificate (NOC) with the civil aviation ministry.

Fly91 will operate a fleet of leased 70-seater ATR 72-600 turboprop jets.

The airline would be based in Goa. Fly91 will operate a fleet of leased 70-seater ATR 72-600 turboprop jets. The company is in the advanced stages of discussions with plane leasing companies. The airline aims to start operations in September with two aircraft, scale it up to six in the first year of operations and 32 planes in five years.

Fly91 will operate in the short-haul segment – flights of 45 to 90 minutes duration. The airline will be based in its Goa hub and aim to connect underserved airports (from where 30% of India’s domestic traffic originates) as per the Centre’s Regional Connectivity scheme.

(With Inputs from The Economic Times)

All passes issued to employees and visitors of airports across the country have been withdrawn by the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) after it was found that a "distorted" map of India was printed on them, officials said.

Map images of Jammu and Kashmir, the Northeastern region, Rajasthan and Gujarat were wrongly depicted in the passes issued at all Airports Authority of India operated airports and six Adani group-run airports -- Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Lucknow, Thiruvananthapuram, Guwahati and Mangaluru. After it was found that the images were "distorted", the BCAS has withdrawn the passes, an official privy to the development said.

In a communication to the chairman of the Airports Authority of India (AAI), the BCAS said the embedded hologram roll being used is not according to the sample hologram approved by the BCAS.

"Keeping in view the seriousness of the issue, it is hereby directed that all Aerodrome Entry Permits (AEPs) issued with holograms shall be withdrawn and further printing with these hologram rolls shall be stopped with immediate effect," the letter said.

The BCAS also conveyed that the AAI will conduct an inquiry into the matter, find out at which level the lapses occurred, who is responsible for procuring these hologram rolls and take appropriate action against the responsible officers. The AAI has been directed to submit an action-taken report on the issue to the BCAS at the earliest, it said.

A person, who is not a passenger with a valid ticket, requires an AEP that is issued by the airport. The AEP application form, which is issued by the BCAS, mentions 13 zones that a person can enter. The permitted areas include the arrival halls, the departure halls, the terminal building, the apron area, the security hold area, cargo terminal among others.

BJP leader Subramanian Swamy withdrew from the Supreme Court his 2013 plea seeking the quashing of an alliance between Jet Airways and the Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways.

"I wish to withdraw this, it is the Jet-Etihad matter. Now there is no Jet, no Etihad," Swamy told a bench of Justices M R Shah and C T Ravikumar. The court then remarked in a lighter vein, "We do not know who is responsible for that."

Taking note of his submissions, the top court allowed Swamy to withdraw his plea. "The petitioner seeks permission to withdraw given subsequent developments. The petitioner stands dismissed as withdrawn," the bench said while granting him liberty to file a fresh application if there is any new cause of action.

Subramanian Swamy withdrew a 2013 plea seeking the quashing of the Jet Airways - Etihad alliance

The apex court had issued notices to the Centre, the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of External Affairs, the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB), the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation and others in the case.

Swamy had submitted that the deal was against public interest as there has been squandering of natural resources i.e. the sky and air space. He claimed that the deal was cleared against the advice of the Parliament Select Committee and other advisory bodies. Swamy had also submitted that even the CAG has found that there has been a reckless allocation of air space to foreign airlines.

Jet Airways had on April 24, 2013, announced plans to sell 24% equity to Etihad Airways for about INR 2,058 crore as part of a strategic alliance that would lead to a significant expansion in their global network.

Jet Airways had on April 24, 2013, announced plans to sell 24% equity to Etihad Airways for about INR 2,058 crore

Swamy had in his PIL sought "a direction to set aside and revoke any action or decision or grant of any further approvals/permissions/permits, etc. by the respondent(govt) authorities, based upon, relying upon or in furtherance of the impugned bilateral dated April 24. The petitioner challenges such arbitrary, irrational and malafide act of grant of largesse in the form of bilateral/MoU dated April 24 and by way of the present petition seeks an investigation under the supervision of this Court into the matters of national and public interest," he had said in his petition.

He had also sought a CBI probe against government officials who had cleared the deal. Swamy had questioned the Centre's decision to execute the agreement in favour of Abu Dhabi under the existing air service agreement between the governments of India and the United Arab Emirates.

"The actions of authorities from the execution of the bilateral to the unprecedented haste to assist the realisation of wrongful gains by the facilitator are writ large with acts of collusion and abuse of position," the petition had contended.

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IndiGo on Friday announced that its fleet now consists of 300 aircraft. Currently, IndiGo operates the Airbus A320 CEO and NEO, the A321 NEO, and the ATR 72-600 aircraft. Speaking on the occasion, Pieter Elbers, Chief Executive Officer, IndiGo said: "We are excited to announce that our fleet size now stands at 300 aircraft, giving wings to our ambitions. We have recently expanded operations across west, east, and north-east India as well as the middle east. "The strong fleet will help us cater to emerging travel demands with the addition of capacity across domestic and international destination shores. We will strive to stay true to our promise of affordable fares, on-time performance, courteous and hassle-free service across a wide network." The 300 aircraft strong fleet will help in catering to the growing passenger volume, as Indian aviation marks recovery and growth in 2023. The seating capacity on the A320 CEO fleet is 180, A320 NEO fleet is 180 /186, the A321 fleet is 222/232 and ATR Fleet is 78. IndiGo is amongst the fastest-growing low-cost carriers in the world. With its fleet of 300 aircraft, the airline is operating over 1,600 plus daily flights and connecting 76 domestic destinations and 26 international destinations. Indigo on Thursday had said that the airline will operate 168 weekly flights between Mopa and 8 domestic destinations like Hyderabad, Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Pune, Jaipur, and Ahmedabad right from the start on the first day of operations. The new network will cater to the increasing demand owing to the popularity of Goa as a preferred leisure travel destination and will provide more options to the customers, making travel more affordable and enhancing direct connectivity to North Goa.

Amid (still-simmering) furore over the mid-air argument last month between a flight attendant and passenger, IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers on Thursday told news agency ANI '... if people are not behaving we (must be) able to take adequate measures'. "Our crew is trained... we help and support them to the maximum... but it is a two-way street," he said. "We will work with the authorities to make sure we get the proper procedures (in place).. have always put emphasis on that in training our crews... want to provide courteous and hassle-free service."

"….(but) treat our crew in the way you want to be treated. That would be my message," the IndiGo boss added.

Elbers' comments come not only after the December video showing staff on an Istanbul-Delhi flight arguing with a passenger over food choices.

In the video an IndiGo cabin crew member says to the passenger: "You are pointing (your) finger... yelling at me. My crew is crying because of you. Please try to understand, there is a cart and counted meals are uplifted (on the plane). We can only serve what your boarding (pass shows)...," she can be heard saying.

Towards the end of the video the (male) passenger tells the flight attendant to 'shut up', to which she fires back 'you shut up'.

The confrontation went viral on social media and led to widespread support for airline cabin crew members, as well as a measure of criticism.

IndiGo said the crew lead had to intervene as the passenger in question had shown 'bad behaviour' and 'insulted' one of the airline's flight attendants.

IndiGo also found itself in hot water after a video seemed to show one of its staff 'throwing' a musical instrument belonging to Sufi singer Bismil.

Days after the fight between the IndiGo crew and passenger, a similar clash was reported from a Thai Airways Bangkok-Kolkata flight.

Two male passengers - their nationalities are unclear - got into a heated argument that turned into a fight while a flight attendant looks on helplessly.

The incident prompted concerns about mid-air safety.

And, this week, it emerged that a passenger in the business class section of an Air India New York-Delhi flight was drunk and urinated on a woman co-passenger. The man has been identified as Shankar Mishra, a vice president for Wells Fargo, a US-based corporation.

Air India has come under fire amid reports the crew did not offer help.

A Director General of Civil Aviation official said the regulator had not been notified, and that a report had been sought citing 'failures at multiple levels'.

A private trainer aircraft crashed after it collided with the dome of a temple in Madhya Pradesh's Rewa district, killing the pilot, police said on Friday, January 6. The aircraft belonged to the Falcon aviation academy.

The crash that occurred at about 11.30 PM on Thursday, January 5 night also left a trainee pilot injured, who has been admitted to Sanjay Gandhi Hospital in Rewa, located about 400 km from the state capital Bhopal.

https://twitter.com/ANI/status/1611212856195960832

The aircraft crashed 3 km away from the Chorahta airstrip after hitting the dome of a temple and a tree while on a training sortie, the police said.

The Cessna trainer plane flew in circles several times before attempting to land in dense fog. No locals were hurt in the crash while the trainee pilot was out of danger.

A private trainer aircraft crashed in Madhya Pradesh's Rewa district, killing the pilot

Captain Vimal Kumar (50), a resident of Patna, was killed in the crash while trainee pilot Sonu Yadav (23), a resident of Jaipur, suffered injuries and was admitted to the government-run Sanjay Gandhi Medical College Hospital, said Rewa collector Manoj Pushp. Earlier, a local police officer had given different names of the two crash victims.

"The plane collided with the temple during training, one pilot has died, and the other is injured and is being treated at Sanjay Gandhi Medical College," Navneet Bhasin, SP, Rewa said.

Rewa District Collector Manoj Pushp said a probe is underway into the crash.