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Tag: Indian airlines

  • Terror In The Air Continues: 60 More Flights Get Bomb Threats | Mobility News

    60 More Flights Get Bomb Threats: Over 60 flights of Indian carriers received bomb threats on Monday, sources said. In the last 15 days, more than 410 domestic and international flights operated by Indian carriers have faced hoax bomb threats, mostly issued through social media.

    According to sources in the know, around 21 flights each from Air India and IndiGo, and about 20 Vistara flights received threats on Monday alone. An Air India spokesperson confirmed that multiple flights had faced security threats through social media on Monday.

    “Following the laid down protocols, relevant authorities were immediately alerted, and all security procedures strictly adhered to, as per guidance from the regulatory authorities,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

    Meanwhile, against the backdrop of a spate of hoax bomb threats to airlines, the IT Ministry has asked social media platforms to observe due diligence obligations and promptly remove or disable access to misinformation within the strict timelines prescribed under IT rules.

    Also, the civil aviation ministry is looking to take legislative actions to tackle the menace of the hoax bomb threats to airlines.

    On Sunday, Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu said the Centre is mulling steps to ban perpetrators, who resort to hoax bomb threats, from flying.

    7 Flights To And From Kolkata Receive Bomb Threats

    At least seven flights of India-based carriers to and fro Kolkata received bomb threat messages through social media posts on Monday, officials at Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International (NSCBI) Airport here said. The threats, however, turned out to be a hoax and flights were operated.

  • US orders Air India to pay $121.5 million as passenger refunds and $1.4 million as fines

    America has ordered Tata-group-owned Air India to pay a whopping $121.5 million as refunds and $1.4 million as consequences for excessive delays in offering refunds to passengers because of the cancellation or alternate in flights, most commonly right through the pandemic, officers stated.

    Air India is without doubt one of the six airways that experience agreed to cough up a complete of over $600 million as refunds, the United States Division of Transportation stated on Monday.

    Air India’s coverage of “refund on request” is opposite to the Division of Transportation coverage, which mandates commercial airlines to legally refund tickets in relation to cancellation or alternate in flight, officers stated.

    The circumstances during which Air India was once requested to pay the refund and agreed to pay the penalty had been earlier than the nationwide service was once obtained through the Tatas.

    In step with an legitimate investigation, Air India took greater than 100 days to procedure greater than part of the 1,900 refund proceedings filed with the Division of Transportation for flights that the service cancelled or considerably modified.

    Air India may now not give you the company with data in regards to the time it took to procedure refunds to passengers who filed proceedings and asked refunds without delay with the service.

    “Regardless of Air India’s mentioned refund coverage, in follow Air India didn’t supply well timed refunds. In consequence, shoppers skilled vital hurt from the intense prolong in receiving their refunds,” the United States Division of Transportation stated.

    Along with Air India, the opposite airways that had been slapped with fines come with Frontier, TAP Portugal, Aero Mexico, EI AI, and Avianca.

    The Division of Transportation stated Air India was once ordered to pay $121.5 million in refunds to its passengers and pay $1.4 million as tremendous.

    Frontier was once ordered to pay $222 million in refunds and $2.2 million in penalty. TAP Portugal can pay $126.5 million as refund and $1.1 million in penalty; Avianca ($76.8 million in refund and $ 750,000 in penalty), EI AI ($61.9 million in refund and $900,000 as penalty) and Aero Mexico ($13.6 million in refund and $900,00 as penalty).

    Along with the greater than $600 million as refunds that airways have paid, the Division of Transportation introduced that it’s assessing greater than $7.25 million in civil consequences in opposition to those six airways for excessive delays in offering refunds.

    With Monday’s fines, the Division’s Administrative center of Aviation Shopper Coverage has assessed USD8.1 million in civil consequences in 2022, the most important quantity ever issued in one yr through that administrative center, a media free up stated.

    Beneath US legislation, airways and price tag brokers have a criminal legal responsibility to refund shoppers if the airline cancels or considerably adjustments a flight to, from and inside of the United States, and the passenger does now not need to settle for the opposite presented.

    It’s illegal for an airline to refuse refunds and as a substitute supply vouchers to such shoppers, the Division of Transportation stated.

    “When a flight will get cancelled, passengers in search of refunds will have to be paid again promptly. Every time that doesn’t occur, we can act to carry airways responsible on behalf of American travellers and get passengers their a refund.” stated US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

    “A flight cancellation is maddening sufficient, and also you shouldn’t additionally need to haggle or wait months to get your refund,” he stated.

  • Airplane technical snags: DGCA crackdown reveals inadequate engineering body of workers certifying planes

    By way of PTI

    NEW DELHI: With airways reporting a couple of technical malfunction incidents, aviation regulator DGCA on Monday stated it carried out spot exams and located that there’s an inadequate selection of required engineering team of workers certifying planes of more than a few carriers prior to their scheduled arrivals/departures in a brief period.

    Sooner than each and every departure, an airplane is checked and licensed through an airplane upkeep engineer (AME).

    The DGCA has now issued tips for airways at the deployment of AME team of workers and directed them to conform through July 28. 

    The spot exams additionally discovered that the AME groups of airways are improperly figuring out the “reason behind a reported defect”, the Directorate Normal of Civil Aviation (DGCA)’s order famous.

    In addition they discovered that there was an “expanding development of MEL (minimal apparatus listing) releases” of airplane, it stated. “MEL releases” approach an airplane is permitted to fly with positive inoperative apparatus or tools for a particular time period, till the upkeep are performed. Additionally it is observed that airways are resorting to common one-off authorisation to Class A certifying body of workers at transit stations which isn’t in keeping with present regulatory provisions,” the DGCA stated.

    The engineering head of one of the crucial Indian airways defined {that a} Class A engineer is named a ‘restricted scope engineer’, and she or he is permitted to certify and unencumber planes for departures best when the airplane does now not have any complicated defect.

    The Class B1 engineer is one step above the Class A engineer and she or he is in a position to dealing with mechanical defects. In a similar way, Class B2 engineering is in a position to dealing with defects within the digital apparatus of planes.

    The DGCA stated: “It’s been determined that each one airplane at base and transit stations will probably be launched through certifying body of workers protecting AME Class B1/B2 license with suitable authorisation through their organisation.”

    The regulator advised airways to put Class B1 and Class B2 engineers in any respect base and transit stations and ensure that required equipment and gear are to be had. “However, it’s possible you’ll go for sending the certifying body of workers on flight tasks,” the DGCA discussed.

    The DGCA stated that its instructions should be complied with through July 28.

    An airline engineering head, talking at the situation of anonymity, stated that it’s going to be very tough for airways to put Class B1 or Class B2 engineers on all transit stations. “If I perform one flight in step with day from Jorhat or Jharsuguda, how can I stay two Class B1 or B2 engineers — which can be anyway in fewer numbers — simply to certify and unencumber that one flight,” the top defined.

    There were a couple of technical malfunction incidents in Indian carriers’ planes all over the ultimate one month.

    On Sunday, IndiGo’s Sharjah-Hyderabad flight used to be diverted to Karachi as a precautionary measure after pilots seen a defect in one of the crucial engines.

    On Saturday night time, the Calicut-Dubai flight of the Air India Specific used to be diverted to Muscat after a burning scent used to be seen within the cabin mid-air.

    An afternoon previous a chook, which used to be alive, used to be discovered within the cockpit of the Air India Specific Bahrain-Kochi flight.

    SpiceJet is below regulatory scanner at this time. On July 6, the DGCA issued a show-cause understand to SpiceJet following no less than 8 incidents of technical malfunction in its airplane since June 19.

    The DGCA is recently investigating some of these incidents.

    NEW DELHI: With airways reporting a couple of technical malfunction incidents, aviation regulator DGCA on Monday stated it carried out spot exams and located that there’s an inadequate selection of required engineering team of workers certifying planes of more than a few carriers prior to their scheduled arrivals/departures in a brief period.

    Sooner than each and every departure, an airplane is checked and licensed through an airplane upkeep engineer (AME).

    The DGCA has now issued tips for airways at the deployment of AME team of workers and directed them to conform through July 28. 

    The spot exams additionally discovered that the AME groups of airways are improperly figuring out the “reason behind a reported defect”, the Directorate Normal of Civil Aviation (DGCA)’s order famous.

    In addition they discovered that there was an “expanding development of MEL (minimal apparatus listing) releases” of airplane, it stated. “MEL releases” approach an airplane is permitted to fly with positive inoperative apparatus or tools for a particular time period, till the upkeep are performed. Additionally it is observed that airways are resorting to common one-off authorisation to Class A certifying body of workers at transit stations which isn’t in keeping with present regulatory provisions,” the DGCA stated.

    The engineering head of one of the crucial Indian airways defined {that a} Class A engineer is named a ‘restricted scope engineer’, and she or he is permitted to certify and unencumber planes for departures best when the airplane does now not have any complicated defect.

    The Class B1 engineer is one step above the Class A engineer and she or he is in a position to dealing with mechanical defects. In a similar way, Class B2 engineering is in a position to dealing with defects within the digital apparatus of planes.

    The DGCA stated: “It’s been determined that each one airplane at base and transit stations will probably be launched through certifying body of workers protecting AME Class B1/B2 license with suitable authorisation through their organisation.”

    The regulator advised airways to put Class B1 and Class B2 engineers in any respect base and transit stations and ensure that required equipment and gear are to be had. “However, it’s possible you’ll go for sending the certifying body of workers on flight tasks,” the DGCA discussed.

    The DGCA stated that its instructions should be complied with through July 28.

    An airline engineering head, talking at the situation of anonymity, stated that it’s going to be very tough for airways to put Class B1 or Class B2 engineers on all transit stations. “If I perform one flight in step with day from Jorhat or Jharsuguda, how can I stay two Class B1 or B2 engineers — which can be anyway in fewer numbers — simply to certify and unencumber that one flight,” the top defined.

    There were a couple of technical malfunction incidents in Indian carriers’ planes all over the ultimate one month.

    On Sunday, IndiGo’s Sharjah-Hyderabad flight used to be diverted to Karachi as a precautionary measure after pilots seen a defect in one of the crucial engines.

    On Saturday night time, the Calicut-Dubai flight of the Air India Specific used to be diverted to Muscat after a burning scent used to be seen within the cabin mid-air.

    An afternoon previous a chook, which used to be alive, used to be discovered within the cockpit of the Air India Specific Bahrain-Kochi flight.

    SpiceJet is below regulatory scanner at this time. On July 6, the DGCA issued a show-cause understand to SpiceJet following no less than 8 incidents of technical malfunction in its airplane since June 19.

    The DGCA is recently investigating some of these incidents.