Aviation World 360

Thursday, March 15, 2018

Air India's Twitter Account Hacked; "All Flights Cancelled," A Post Read

MUMBAI: Air India's official Twitter account was hacked early in the morning for many hours before being restored, the airline said today.

Messages in Turkish language were posted on the official Twitter handle @airindiain, an Air India spokesperson said.

All the malicious content posted on the handle has been removed and the official handle has now been restored, he said.

One of the posts by the hackers read, "Last minute important announcement. All our flights have been cancelled. From now on, we will fly with Turkish Airlines."

https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/air-indias-twitter-account-hacked-all-flights-cancelled-a-post-read-1824049

Image Credit: Kentaro Iemoto via wiki commons

Jet Airways adds 144 new weekly flights this summer

MUMBAI: Private carrier Jet Airways today announced expansion of its domestic network, adding 144 new weekly flights comprising both non-stop and one-stop services as part of its summer schedule, which begins later this month.

The new services include flights to north-eastern cities of Imphal and Jorhat as well as Tiruchanapalli in the south from New Delhi and Mumbai, Jet Airways said on Wednesday.

As part of the new schedule, Jet Airways will strengthen connectivity to the north eastern region from the national capital with non-stop services including thrice-a-week flights to Aizawl and Jorhat and four times-a-week flights to Silchar from New Delhi, it said.

The airline will also commence four times-a-week non-stop service to Imphal from Delhi, and will launch new non-stop services to Patna, Raipur and Chandigarh.

Additionally, Jet Airways will begin a daily, non-stop service for the very first time between Mumbai and Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu's temple city and a religious centre, besides a new direct service between Tiruchirappalli and Delhi.

Wednesday, March 14, 2018

Government wants to extend 'Make in India' plan to planes, drones: Prabhu

"We do not want 1,300 planes to be bought from abroad. We will make them in India,"

NEW DELHI: The government wants to extend the 'Make in India' initiative to planes and drones and not just import the entire requirement in the coming years, Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu said today.

India will need more than 1,300 planes in the next few years, he said.

"We do not want 1,300 planes to be bought from abroad. We will make them in India," he told .

He said the ministry will work together with its defence counterparts to look at civilian and defence aircraft requirements.

The second priority, he said, is going to be drones as this sector holds huge potential.

"It is a big market and India has a huge potential for that. So we will work on drones," he added.

Aviation ministry eyes 5-fold rise in passenger trips to 1 billion in 15-20 years: Jayant Sinha

NEW DELHI:The aviation ministry is targeting a five-fold increase in passenger trips to one billion per annum in 15-20 years in view of the huge growth opportunities the sector holds, Union Minister Jayant Sinha said today.

The Minister of State for Civil Aviation said that the government is working on steps such as developing new greenfield airports and skilling manpower to achieve this target.

"A target of billion passenger trips in the next 15 to 20 yrs is very realisable and is in fact a realistic target that we should be looking for," he said here at the AIMA event.

He also said that the billion passenger trips would not come from aircraft alone but also from helicopters, sea planes and passenger drones.

Many of these have still to be manufactured in the country and it provides tremendous business opportunities to start and develop these new technologies, he said.

Elaborating on passenger drones, Sinha said this is a big industry and in the coming years, it is likely to touch a trillion dollar mark.
Image credit: AIMA

Tuesday, March 13, 2018

AirAsia India adds 17th jet; to launch services to Imphal

Mumbai I PTI : Budget carrier #AirAsia India on Tuesday added one more A320 aircraft in the fleet, raising its size to 17 and announced the launch of its services to Imphal from New Delhi as well to Delhi and Pune from Bengaluru from early next month.

With the latest induction, AirAsia India has added three new aircraft and as many destinations along with eight new routes in the first quarter of the current calendar year, the airline said in a statement. The Tata Sons and Malaysian airliner’s group AirAsia-invested AirAsia India is still short of three planes to qualify for launching international operations.

Under the existing rules, domestic airlines can fly overseas provided they deploy 20 aircraft or 20% of their capacity in the domestic market, whichever is higher. AirAsia India has inducted one more Airbus A320 plane, which has taken its total fleet size to 17 aircraft, the airline said, adding that it will launch its flight services to Imphal in the north-east from 7 April.

Read more at http://www.livemint.com/Companies/JNWzFKXhuHCJXhvVLTQphO/AirAsia-India-adds-17th-jet-to-launch-services-to-Imphal.html

Prime Minister, President To Get Their Own Planes By Early 2020

Air India will prepare a pool of 44 pilots for VVIP operations

NEW DELHI: Two Boeing 777-300 ERs, bought by Air India recently, will be retrofitted to have VIP enclosures, a press conference room and a patient transport unit for medical emergencies.

NEW DELHI: India's first set of brand new planes for the prime minister, president and vice-president will be customised and be ready for use by early 2020, senior government officials said.

Two Boeing 777-300 ERs, bought by Air India recently, will be retrofitted to have VIP enclosures, a press conference room and a patient transport unit for medical emergencies.

The aircraft will also be equipped with Wi-Fi on board and have anti-missile protection, a senior official said.

A Boeing 777 unlike the older Boeing 747, which were borrowed from Air India as and when a VVIP visited overseas, can fly non-stop to the US, thereby dispensing with the need to halt for refuelling.

In February and March, Air India inducted three Boeing 777 aircraft, completing an order of 68 planes placed with the aerospace major in 2006. Two of these three planes will be set aside exclusively for VVIP use.

GoAir plane makes emergency landing at Delhi airport

(Representational image)

PTI|

Updated: Mar 13, 2018, 09.31 AM IST

New Delhi: A Mumbai-bound GoAir flight carrying 176 passengers on Monday made an emergency landing at the airport here following a technical glitch, according to the airline.

An airport official said the aircraft made the emergency landing at around 2200 hours. The plane was an A320 sharklet.

"G8 446 (Del- Mum) with 176 passengers had a technical glitch right after becoming airborne. The flight crew chose to return back to Delhi," GoAir said in a statement.

The aircraft is on ground and being inspected. All passengers have been accommodated in an alternate aircraft, it added.

This is at least the second incident of emergency landing reported today in the country. Earlier in the day, engine failure forced an IndiGo plane to make an emergency landing at Ahmedabad airport.