Follow coronavirus prevention rules or face action, DGCA tells airlines

Two Iranian carriers were earlier suspended; regulator’s ire directed at airlines that aren’t making self-declaration forms available

Directorate General of Civil Aviation has cautioned remote carriers of severe activity including conceivable suspension of calendar in the event that they neglect to hold fast to government guidelines on coronavirus counteraction. General screening of all showing up travelers was presented from last Thursday. Aircrafts have been approached to disperse self-presentation structures to travelers and make on board declarations right now.

“We have discovered that a few worldwide aircrafts are not holding fast to the standards. Inability to hold fast to rules will involve severe activity,” said Director General of Civil Aviation Arun Kumar. He didn’t unveil name of carriers. Air terminals have been entrusted to print the structures and give them in adequate amount to the aircrafts, Kumar included. “It has come to information that a few aircrafts are not guaranteeing accessibility of self-statement structures prompting long lines at appearance focuses. This has been seen intensely by this office,” delegate chief general Sunil Kumar said in a roundabout to all aircrafts.

Earlier, DGCA temporarily suspended two Iranian carriers, Iran Air and Mahan Air, from operating to India in view of the coronavirus outbreak. Around 200 Iranians stranded in India following route suspension have returned to their country on a relief flight and Indian Air Force has flown 58 Indians from Iran.

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Modi govt stops funding of Rajiv Gandhi’s dream pilot training institute

The Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Uran Academy hasn’t received any grants from the government since 2015-16, reveal documents

The Narendra Modi-led government has not released any money to Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Uran Akademi (IGRUA), India’s only central government-owned pilot training institute, since 2015-16. The institute was established in 1985 by former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi at Fursatganj in the Amethi district of Uttar Pradesh.

Currently held by the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) Smriti Irani, the Amethi constituency was represented in Parliament by Rajiv Gandhi from 1981 until his death in 1991. Congress Interim President Sonia Gandhi represented it from 1999 to 2004, and former Congress President Rahul Gandhi from 2004 to 2019. Rahul Gandhi has also served as a member of the IGRUA governing council in the past.

IGRUA’s financial statements show that the last grant (Rs 5 crore) it received from the government was in 2014-15. According to Budget documents, the government made token provisions for the institutions but never released the money. For instance, in 2017-18, it made a nominal allocation of Rs 10 lakh for “creation of capital assets”. The money was never released. A similar provision was made in the previous Budget, too…

‘Golden age’ for aviation sector; huge opportunities ahead: IndiGo chief

Bringing ATF under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) has been a long pending demand of the airline industry

With strong fundamentals, India’s civil aviation sector is in its “golden age” and there is also healthy competition among domestic carriers, IndiGo CEO Ronojoy Dutta has said. Interestingly, the country’s civil aviation sector has been experiencing lower growth in traffic compared to previous years and there has also been softness in fares in October, according to industry experts.

The traffic grew just 1.18 per cent in September, as per the latest available official data.IndiGo, owned by InterGlobe Aviation, is the country’s largest airline with a market share of 48.2 per cent in September. While acknowledging that there are problems, including high taxes on jet fuel, Dutta said there are huge opportunities going forward.

“We are in the golden age of Indian aviation and there are huge opportunities going forward… There are always problems, there are always issues and economic cycles. (But) The fundamentals are strong,” he told PTI in an interview. According to him, tax on aviation turbine fuel (ATF) is 30 per cent higher than rest of the world. Bringing ATF under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) has been a long pending demand of the airline industry. “Then there are throughput charges for which we should be getting credit for taxes paid,” he added.

IndiGo has been aggressively expanding its operations and has started 11 overseas routes in the last one year. Recently, it placed an order for 300 more planes from Airbus and is also considering wide-body aircraft for long haul routes. On whether there is healthy competition among local carriers, Dutta replied in the affirmative…