A total of 107 passengers boarded the maiden flight, which was flagged-off by Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha at a simple ceremony at Agartala's Maharaja Bir Bikram airport.
Tripura Transport Minister Pranajit Singha Roy, MBB Airport Director K. C. Meena among others were present in the ceremony.
According to Akasa Air co-founder Belson Coutinho, the airliner, which completed 75 days of commercial operations on Friday, is a low cost start-up and currently operates 7 aircraft to 17 different destinations and the process is on to procure 10 more aircraft.
Out of these new connections, Bhopal-Udaipur flight will be a regional connectivity scheme (RCS) route and will increase accessibility between the states.
These destinations are known for their breath-taking scenic tourist locations and serve as manufacturing centres of various industrial goods. Ranchi provides easy access to numerous waterfalls located in the close vicinity of the city. Ahmedabad is situated on the banks of Sabarmati river and is known for its world-famous cotton textiles, a wide variety of mouth-watering snacks and diamond cutting. Jammu is famous for its temples and beautiful palaces, forts, forests and powerful ziarats.
Similarly, Bhopal is known as the City of Lakes due to its various natural and artificial lakes and has major industries engaged in producing cotton textile, jute, and electrical products. Bhubaneswar is known for its temples; the city is a major centre of attraction for tourists from far and wide. Udaipur is known for its rich historical wealth in terms of forts, palaces, and lakes. Chandigarh has been known as the beautiful city with an ode to its cleanliness that compliments the tourist destinations.
Indore boasts of rich history and rapid industrialisation with the prominence of a thriving cotton handloom industry, magnificent palaces and temples, street food and night markets. Enhanced accessibility in these cities will help in magnifying the socio-economic and cultural growth of the country.
Sanjay Kumar, Chief Strategy and Revenue Officer, IndiGo said: "We are pleased to enhance connectivity and accessibility by introducing exclusive flights on new domestic routes between seven states. We will start direct flights between Bhopal and Udaipur under the UDAN scheme. Enhanced connectivity between the political and commercial capitals of these states will help bolster economic growth through increased trade opportunities and tourist footprint. We will strive to stay true to our promise of affordable fares, on-time performance, courteous and hassle-free service across our wide network."
These flights are designed to cater to business and leisure travellers who are constantly on the lookout for new and affordable flying options to access destinations which help in building businesses and are known for their tourist attractions.
The airline, which is "well capitalised", plans to start international services in the second half of 2023 once it has a fleet of 20 planes. Currently, the carrier has 6 aircraft and will have a total of 18 planes by the end of March next year.
Akasa Air Founder and CEO Vinay Dube on Thursday said the airline's performance has been "satisfying" in the first 60 days. "We are very happy, satisfied with... our performance".
Currently, the carrier has 30 daily flights, will start services from Delhi on Friday. It started operations on August 7.
The airline is progressively expanding its network and connecting more cities, its Co-Founder and Chief Commercial Officer Praveen Iyer said.
From November, domesticated dogs and cats can travel. The bookings in this regard will start from October 15, its Co-Founder, Chief Marketing & Experience Officer Belson Coutinho said while addressing a press meet here.
Each pet will have to be in a cage. The weight limit, including the cage, will be 7 kilograms in the case of cabin and 32 kilograms in check-in. There will be another option for heavier pets.
The policy for pets will be "enhanced" later. "We did have a lot of pet lovers asking... we all believe that we need to have an inclusive environment for pets as well. It (the decision) comes out of our love for pets," Coutinho said.
The airline will be leveraging the expertise of an NGO with respect to carrying of pets such as how to be prepared and what all things pet owners should know as well as the dos and don'ts, he added.
Among others, Air India allows carrying pets onboard.
Dube said the airline is well capitalised and is not looking to have new investors.
To a query on whether there has been any change in strategy following the demise of its key investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, Dube replied in the negative.
"There is no change in strategy... in terms of moral, emotional support, it is a deep deep loss," he noted.
On August 17, Dube said the airline is well-capitalised and its growth is secure with the financial means to place an order for more planes, days after the passing away of Jhunjhunwala.
With the passing away of ace investor Jhunjhuwala, whose backing itself had provided a tailwind for the country's newest airline, the future trajectory of the airline will be closely watched.
Regarding the government's Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS), the Akasa Air chief on Thursday said it is appreciative that the government continues to recognise the importance of the aviation sector.
"We just hope that the government's support extends to startup airlines as well. Startup airlines are operating in the same difficult environment... we will be more than happy to get any kind of government support... I don't know what is on the table. So I can't elaborate," he said.
About airfares, Dube said the airline looks at the affordability of airfares in a much longer time horizon and "our view is that we will have a high degree of focus on infrastructure".
At present, the airline has a total staff of around 800 and about 175 people are joining every month.
Considering future expansion plans for our fleet, it is imperative to meet our workforce requirement for pilots. DGCA ((Directorate General of Civil Aviation) allows pilots to fly till the age of 65 years, compared to Air India retirement age of 58 years. Allowing pilots to fly till the age of 65 is a practice followed by most airlines in the industry, said the airline's internal document issued on July 29.
"To meet our requirement, it is proposed to retain our current trained pilots at Air India post-retirement on a contractual basis for 5 years extendable to 65 years," said S.D. Tripathi, AI's chief human resource officer (CHRO) in the document.
According to AI's new policy, a panel comprising functional representatives of HR and operations & flight safety will be constituted to examine the eligibility of pilots retiring in the next two years. The panel will be responsible for reviewing the past records of the pilots with respect to discipline, flight safety and vigilance. Post the review, the committee will recommend shortlisted names to the CHRO for issuing them post-retirement contract.
As per the airline's policy, post-retirement contract will include a clause for annual review of the contract basis performance, conduct and flight safety record. On completion of five years of satisfactory service, a comprehensive examination of their performance will be considered for further extension till 65 years. This will be reviewed by the constituted committee, said the document.
Jharsuguda: Launch of flight operations from Odisha’s second commercial airport at Jharsuguda may get delayed.
Though June 14 is the scheduled date for launch of flight services, the new airport has not received Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) license and training of security officials is still incomplete, sources said while citing reasons that could lead to delay.
Principal Secretary of General Administration Department, Ashok Meena, said “We have asked the Bureau of Civil Aviation Authority to complete the training of security personnel as soon as possible. Launch of flight services at the Jharsuguda airport, scheduled on June 14, is dependent on that.”
Even though the airport has proper runway, passenger terminal, lounge and a Visual Flight Rules (VFR) license, it still cannot launch operations without IFR, as that would mean a pilot will have to use his/her visual sense to land or fly a plane in absence of the same.
IFR provides instrumental support to the pilots in the flight deck and navigation is accomplished by reference to electronic signals, said sources.
Pilot, Raj Mahapatra said “Without IFR there will be landing problems during cloudy or rainy weather and also, in winters when visibility is very poor.”
According to sources, while the minimum visibility range to fly an aircraft is 5000 metre, at Jharsuguda airport, the visibility range is around 3000 metre because of emissions from the industries located in the district.
To implement the IFR rules, DVOR(Doppler VOR) instruments have been brought to the airport, however, the Regional Executive Director of Airports Authority of India (AAI) has said that it will take one and a half months to make it functional.
“We are installing the Instrument Landing System (ILS) which will be ready in one and a half months. Currently we are using NDB (Non-Directional Beacon) system for aircrafts to land,” said Regional Executive Director of AAI, KL Sharma.
On the other hand, Jharsuguda airport director has said that it will take some days to fix the technical problems but equipping the airport for night landing will take months.
“Night landing will be possible but it will take a few months time. However, planes will be able to land in low visibility conditions after installation of DVOR tower system in one and a half months,” Jharsuguda airport director, Loknath Padhy said.
A few days back, Air Odisha had announced that it will launch its flight services from the newly-licensed Jharsuguda airport under the Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik (UDAN) scheme from June 14.
In a letter to Minister of Civil Aviation, Ashok Gajapati Raju Pusapati, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said "I would like to seek your personal intervention in the matter for introduction of direct flights between Bhubaneswar and Pune by Air India or any other private airlines at the earliest".
He pointed out that the two cities are prominent educational and IT hubs of the country for which many academicians and IT professionals frequently communicate between the two cities. Besides, tourists from Pune also pay visit to places like Puri, Konark, Chilika in Odisha while people from the State also visit to Maharashtra-based tourist destinations like Shiridi, Mahabaleswar, Trimbakeswar near Pune, he cited.
In absence of direct air communication passengers have to choose costlier routes to reach Pune via Hyderabad or Mumbai, which is also time consuming for them, he mentioned in the letter.
Air India's new flight is the second direct international service from the Odisha capital.
The airline operated a 162-seater Airbus A 320 neo aircraft on its inaugural flight from Bhubaneswar to Bangkok.
The first flight took off today with 38 passengers on board from Bhubaneswar to Bangkok.
Describing this as a historic moment, Patnaik said he hoped it will further strengthen ties with southeast Asian countries.
"It will also boost trade and tourism. Besides, it will pave way to attract more international visitors to our Buddhist tourism centres, said Patnaik after cutting a cake with passengers.
He also thanked Air India for starting the international flight.
State Tourism Minister Ashok Panda said the direct flight service would boost tourism sector.
The Bhubaneswar-Bangkok flight will operate twice a week - Thursday and Sunday.This is the second international flight from the BPIA as low-cost airline AirAsia launched its international operations from the airport on April 26, 2017.
Earlier, the incoming flight from Bangkok, AI 339, was welcomed with the customary water canon salute after it landed here. The passengers were given rousing welcome after they landed at the airport.
Incoming passengers were also given mementos and rose buds.
The flight to Bangkok fulfils a long-standing desire of the people of the state, which is known for its rich socio-religious confluence of Hindu, Buddhist and Jain heritage, said an airline official.
The first direct international flight from Bhubaneswar started on April 26 this year.
Air connectivity to the steel city under the central government’s ambitious 'Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik' (UDAN) scheme was scheduled to begin this September but due to lack of CISF and Fire Services facilities the AAI had dropped Rourkela from the list of selected cities included in the first phase of the regional air connectivity scheme.
After the intervention of the state government, the Rourkela Steel Plant authorities have agreed to provide necessary CISF personnel required for operationalising security services at the airport. Similarly the state government has also given approval to deploy required Fire Service facilities at the aerodrome.
Following the approval of the state government, the AAI has given green signal for the flight services which is likely to begin by October end.
Meanwhile, city residents have welcomed the decision by the AAI. “For welcoming big corporate houses and industries to the city we need better air travel facilities. The launch of commercial flight services from the city will increase the revenue of the state and will also help in the development of Rourkela,” said former president of Rourkela Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Subrata Patnaik.
"As residents we feel proud for our steel city as the air connectivity to different parts of the country will lead to expansion of business and commerce," said Rourkela Bar Association president Ramesh Bal.
Bhubaneswar: Flight services to Jharsuguda from Bhubaneswar under Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik (UDAN) scheme is likely to begin from September later this year, Chief Secretary A P Padhi informed media after the first state level monitoring meeting today.
“We have decided to operationalise the flight route between Bhubaneswar and Jharsuguda from September while for other routes like Jeypore, Rourkela and Utkela we need some time for the preparations before they are opened up for flights,” Padhi said.
On the other hand Rourkela Steel Plant has denied participating in operationalising flight services to the steel city, so the government is working to sort out the issue, he added.
Padhi said Jeypore and Utkela which are also scheduled to be operational will need some more time. “We need more infrastructure and so it might take another month or two,” Padhi said.
The state government will bear the entire cost of security, safety, airport management and fire. Besides, 20 percent of the liability gap funding provided to the airlines will also be borne by the state government, Padhi added.
UDAN scheme is a flagship program of the Union Government launched last October which aims at boosting air connectivity to and from unserved and under-served airports and make flying more affordable for general public under which fares have been capped at Rs 2,500 for a one-hour flight.
Several north-bound trains were running late.Travellers faced problems because of bad weather conditions. Rajdhani Express scheduled to leave Bhubaneswar at 9.30 am was rescheduled at 12 noon. Similarly, Purusottam Express was rescheduled at 8 am and Nilachala Express at 10 am and Hirakhand at 9 am.
Several passengers had to wait for hours to start their journey. The people, who were waiting for their journey, had returned to their home and hotels after Railways rescheduled the timing of the train. But some passengers waited at the waiting room of the station for hours to board the train.
The fog enveloped the Capital city till 10 am today following which many vehicles were found plying on road with light. The visibility reduced to around 10to 15 metre
Officials said passengers on board the two aircraft-- Royal Nepal Airlines (Delhi-Kathmandu) and Air India (Delhi-Bhubaneswar-- were evacuated and taken to the isolation bay where security agencies carried out anti-sabotage checks after a threat call was received by the airport control room at about 10 AM.
While the Kathmandu flight (RA-206) had 155 passengers and nine crew members, the flight bound for Odisha's capital Bhubaneswar (AI-075) had 178 fliers and seven crew members.
Passengers of both the flights and their baggage were subjected to a second round of checking with the Bomb Threat Assessment Committee (BTAC) at the IGIA monitoring the situation.
Security personnel from the CISF and Delhi Police cordoned off the two planes along with bomb disposal squads, the officials said.
They added the threat was triggered after the airport control room received a call from a person identifying himself as Abhishek Singh, a "CBI officer" and said that while there is a "time bomb" in the Nepal bound flight, some "movement" has happned at the terminal area to hit the AI flight.
Officials said the agencies are trying to track the number and location from where the call was made to the airport call centre.
Anti-sabotage checks are on at the two aircrafts, they said.
Preliminary reports said four Members of Parliament were to travel on the AI flight.
Talking to OTV over phone, Parida said he was told over phone by airport authorities not to board the plane. "Some people who had already boarded were immediately evacuated," he said.
About the menace of hoax calls, Central Industrial Security Force chief Surender Singh had said while 44 such calls were received last year at various airports the force is deployed, 16 such calls have been made till early March this year.
The flight 6E 345 had 178 passengers on board.
"At around 10.15 a.m., Indigo 6E 345 returned due to windshield crack," the sources said.
It landed safely at 10.34 a.m.
The probe was ordered by Minister of Civil Aviation and Commerce and Industry Suresh Prabhu on Tuesday.
"I have ordered an enquiry into the incident of off-loading passenger Dr Saurabh Rai by Indigo at Lucknow Airport," Prabhu tweeted.
The passenger Saurabh Rai told media he was forcibly removed from the aircraft by security staff of Indigo after he complained about the mosquitoes in the flight from Lucknow to Delhi.
Indigo, however, said in a statement that the passenger had misbehaved with the crew members and threatened to damage the aircraft. "We have zero tolerance for such behaviour," the airline said.
The historic Qantas flight QF9, a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner with more than 230 passengers and crew on board, touched down at 5.03 a.m., at Heathrow, reports the Guardian.
The landing marked the first commercial passenger jet journey direct between Australia and Europe and has been described as a "game-changer" by some in the aviation industry.
The Dreamliner, which Qantas says has 20 per cent better fuel efficiency than similar-sized aircraft, covered the 14,875km with no major dramas.
Passengers did have to endure a period of some turbulence as the plane skirted Cyclone Marcus, a storm off the west coast of Australia, shortly after take-off.
QF9 departed Perth at 6.57 p.m., on Saturday with the company CEO Alan Joyce, Australia's Trade and Tourism Minister Steve Ciobo and journalists on board.
After touchdown Captain Lisa Norman, who was one of four working pilots on board, said: "I would like to welcome you to the history book of aviation.
"The world has been watching us today. Thank you for being part of something so magical and so special."
Speaking at an event ahead of the inaugural flight, Joyce said the earliest Qantas flights between Australia and the UK - known as the "kangaroo route" - had taken four days and involved seven stops, the BBC reported.
The flight will be the world's second-longest after Qatar Airways' route from Doha to Auckland, which spans 14,529km, according to the International Air Transport Association.
Some of the passengers have agreed to share data on their sleeping and activity patterns with researchers from the University of Sydney.
They are wearing special monitors and devices that also record mental state, eating patterns and hydration.
Civil Aviation Minster Ashok Gajapathi Raju and Aviation Secretary R.N. Choubey sought consulations from public and the industry stakeholders over the draft policy guidelines.
According to the proposed rules, airlines can impose a ban on an unruly passenger in the time range of three months to two years or beyond depending upon the level of misbehaviour.
"We have put instances of unruly behaviour into three categories," Choubey told reporters.
"Level 1 represents unruly behaviour such as verbal harassment, physical gestures... Level 2 includes physically unruly behaviour such as pushing, kicking, inappropriately touching," he said.
Level 3 will be "life threatening" behaviour of a passenger such as damage to aircraft operating system, physical violence like choking or murderous attempt or assault to flight compartment, he said.
Choubey said for level 1, unruly passengers would be suspended for three months, for level 2 suspension would for six months and for level 3 it would be for two years or beyond.
He said the proposal also provided an appeal provision for passengers.
Every airline will be asked to have a three-member committee that would look into the complaint filed by the crew and a decision on the ban should be taken within 10 days of the complaint.
The set of draft guidelines followed Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad's misbehaviour with an Air India employee in March. Gaikwad was barred from flying by all domestic airlines before the ban was revoked.
Moreover, in order to enhance awareness about the cultural heritage of India, pilots can make in-flight announcements about important monuments or sites enroute the flight, the advisory said.
Announcements in local language would be in addition to the ones made in Hindi and English, according to the DGCA advisory.
On December 22, Goa minister Vijai Sardesai, whose GFP (Goa Forward Party) is a part of the BJP-led coalition government in the state, said his party workers should not allow airlines to operate at the Dabolim airport if announcements are not made in the local Konkani language.
The state has lone airport at Dabolim in south Goa. Konkani is the official language of the coastal state. "Blacking out Konkani at the Goa airport is unacceptable and we should project our language first," Sardesai had said on December 22.
The DGCA clarified in its Thursday advisory that airlines may make the aforementioned additional in-flight announcements without compromising any safety requirements or core job functions of crew members.
"It is made clear that the above announcements be made without compromising safety of operations at any stage," the advisory added.
In 2016, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) had issued a circular asking airports under its control to make public announcements in the local language followed by Hindi and English.
There are more than 100 operational airports in India.
"To enhance awareness about cultural heritage of India, pilot can make in-flight announcement about the important monument or site (such as the Taj Mahal, the Konark Temple, the Ajanta Ellora, the Statue of Unity etc.), which are enroute the flight," the DGCA advisory stated on Thursday.
"All the passengers and crew of the Jet Konnect flight number 7048 are safe and were brought down from the aircraft unhurt," said Pravakar Mishra, station director of Airport Authority of India (AAI) based at Rowriah Airport.
The Jet Konnect flight after landing at the airport at 1.45 pm was taking the first right turn on the runway to the parking bay when it skidded off it, after one of its rear wheels got stuck to the ground, he said.
As the wheel got stuck to the ground, the front part of the plane tipped downward. There was panic among those on-board, but the situation was saved as the engine had been switched off and the aircraft was running at limited speed. It was about 1,500 metres away from the airport lounge, the airport authority said.
The stuck aircraft was later pulled out from the ground with the help of an Indian Air Force crane and other machinery.
The flight was cancelled for technical investigation and the passengers were accommodated in local hotels, the airport authority officials added.
According to industry insiders, some sectors have shown a rise of more than 100 per cent in last minute bookings.
"With an unprecedented number of planes now grounded due to various factors, reduction in seat capacity has led to an increase in fares overnight. Last minute airfares on Wednesday increased to more than 100 per cent on some key routes like Delhi-Mumbai, Mumbai-Chennai, Mumbai-Kolkata and Mumbai-Bengaluru as compared to same time last year," said Aloke Bajapi, CEO and Co-founder, ixigo.
"Spot fares for Mumbai-Chennai are touching Rs 26,073 as opposed to Rs 5,369 the same time last year. High airfare patterns are expected to continue in the short term with Holi and summer school holidays round the corner, resulting in an increased demand."
Operations of airlines like SpiceJet and Jet Airways have been hit due to the government's Wednesday decision to join a global grounding of 737-MAX aircraft following a crash in Ethiopia.
In India, SpiceJet and Jet Airways operate 17 Boeing 737-800 MAX aircraft - Spice (12) and Jet (5). A part of Jet fleet has already been grounded due to other reasons.
The grounding led SpiceJet to cancel 14 flights on Wednesday. This number is expected to touch 32 on Thursday.
Apart from SpiceJet, Jet Airways, which faces financial challenges, has already grounded four more aircraft over non-repayment of dues to lessors, taking the total to 32.
The company in BSE filings has said that its 19 aircraft were grounded in February over non-repayment of dues to lessors, while 13 aircraft were grounded this month, taking the total to 32. The Jet Airways Group operates a fle et of 123 aircraft.
However, around 50 planes are said to be non-operational due to a host of reasons, including lack of spare parts.
IndiGo faces massive turbulence of pilot shortage, leading to truncated flight schedule
Earlier, the airline said that 30 of its flights which have been affected represent only 2 per cent of its network. It has decided to curtail its schedule till March 31, by about 30 flights a day.
"As a proactive measure, IndiGo has decided to continue its curtailment until the end of March. This measure has already been implemented and passengers informed," the airline said in a statement.
"These medium term cancellations have been made to minimise the impact on passengers as alternative travel options have been offered well in advance. The operations will be normalised by the start of the summer schedule."
For sometime now, Air India has grounded 17 aircraft due to technical reasons.
On Wednesday, the government had advised domestic airlines not to go in for predatory air fare pricing as several 737-MAX aircraft were grounded due to safety reasons.
Civil Aviation Secretary Pradeep Singh Kharola said: "We have advised the airlines... that they should not use it (grounding) as a reason to jack up their fares."
"They have promised they will go as per normal routine. DGCA has just said that it will be monitoring all the sectors very closely."
Experts say the government, through its bankers, undertook a "backdoor nationalisation" of Jet Airways Ltd.
The roadmap is troubled as the resolution plan led by the State Bank of India (SBI) is that the lenders will install a board for day-to-day operations and revive the airline, give comfort level to the pilots by paying their salaries and rentals to the lessors and bring it to the stage of selling to a new owner to recover their loans.
All this to be done under government-initiated intervention or through backdoor nationalisation of a private airline, said aviation experts.
With the Jet promoter and his wife stepping down from the board, the stage is set for giving the lenders the majority stake by converting part of its debt to equity as the beleaguered airline battles a cash crunch, the lenders, most of whom are government-owned, are now the owners of the airline. And all this has been done at Re 1.
Jet Airways, an airlines existing for over a quarter of a century but now grappling with a financial crunch, is also looking to raise fresh funds. Banking industry sources said that the government is only doing this to protect the banks' money in the airlines and, in a poll year, the nearly 23,000 jobs that could be endangered.
There have been questions if this this is a bailout or backdoor nationalisation. After all, government-owned entities - banks like the SBI and DFIs - are prima facie the new owners of the airline. In a move reminiscent of Kingfisher Airlines, which subsequently went belly up in 2014, lenders, including the SBI, had converted existing debt into the loss-making company's shares in 2011.
The Jet board, as part of a provisional resolution plan, agreed to allot 11.4 crore shares at an aggregate value of Re 1 to the lenders' consortium led by the SBI, according to an earlier stock exchange filing of the airlines.
Through the conversion, the board of Jet Airways Ltd has approved an action plan by its lenders to resolve a near Rs 8,500 crore ($1.19 billion) funding gap, which will make them the largest shareholders of India's biggest full-service carrier.
Do the lenders have the wherewithal and expertise to run a full-face airline with so many imponderables strewn in its path? Or will they try and stabilise the operations only to sell it or merge it later with another domestic carrier? For the moment, the government is saddled with two debt-laden carriers - Air India and now Jet Airways.
Through the conversion, the lenders will end up owning 50.1 per cent in the full-service carrier. That will bring down Goyal and Etihad Airways' stake by half to 25 per cent and 12 per cent, respectively, according to back-of-the-envelope calculations.
The banks, led by the SBI, will now convert their debt into equity and take a controlling stake in the airline for a token sum of 1 rupee ($0.0145), Jet said in a statement to the stock exchanges after its board met earlier on Monday.
The banks will also give the airline a fresh loan of Rs 1,500 crore ($217.71 million) to meet payments and restore normal operations and set up an interim management committee to manage the airline, Jet said.
Jet, saddled with over $1 billion in debt, had a turbulent 2018 as competition intensified in the Indian airline market, the rupee depreciated and high oil prices squeezed margins. The rescue deal by Jet's lenders, led by the SBI, includes funding through a mix of equity infusion, debt restructuring and sale or leaseback of aircraft.
The plan also gives the lenders the ability to appoint nominees to the airline's board.
Jet said that after its approval, the plan will be presented back to the lenders as well as to an overseeing committee of the Indian Bankers' Association, the board of shareholder Etihad Airways and Goyal.
Abu Dhabi's Etihad, which owns 24 per cent of Jet, bailed out the Indian airline in 2013, paying $600 million for a 24 per cent stake in Jet, three take-offs and landing slots at London's Heathrow and a majority share in Jet's frequent flyer programme.
He has attacked the airlines for their acts.
Gandhi tweeted "The ban imposed on #kunalkamra by 4 airlines is the act of a coward leveraging his influence with the Govt to silence a critic.'
Rahul Gandhi also took on the journalist without taking his name.
"Those who use their "news" cameras as 24x7 tools of propaganda, should show some spine when the camera is turned on them. "
The minister said each band would have its specific lower and upper limits of air fare, and the first such band will consist of flights that are of less than 40 minutes duration.
The subsequent bands from the second to the seventh would be of flights with durations of 40-60 minutes, 60-90 minutes, 90-120 minutes, 120-150 minutes, 150-180 minutes and 180-210 minutes respectively, he told a press conference.
However, Puri did not say what would be the upper limit and lower limit fares, and when would airlines be able to open their bookings for domestic flights.
Later, the aviation regulator DGCA said in an order the lower and upper fare limits for the first band would be Rs 2,000 and Rs 6,000, respectively.
The lower and upper limits for the subsequent bands would be Rs 2,500-Rs 7,500, Rs 3,000-Rs 9,000, Rs 3,500-Rs 10,000, Rs 4,500-Rs 13,000, Rs 5,500 - Rs 15,700 and Rs 6,500-Rs 18,600, respectively, the DGCA added.
Aviation Secretary P S Kharola, who was also present at Puri's press conference, said 40 per cent of the seats would have to be sold at less than the mid-point of the lower and upper air fare limits set for the flights.
Giving the example of the Delhi-Mumbai route, Kharola said the lower limit and upper limit has been fixed at Rs 3,500 and Rs 10,000, respectively.
This means that airlines will have to sell 40 per cent of seats on Delhi-Mumbai flights at less than Rs 6,700, which is the mid-point of this band, he said. "This is how we are ensuring the fares do not go out of control. At the same time, we are ensuring the fares are reasonable for airlines."
When asked if passengers boarding domestic flights would be put under quarantine at the place of arrival, the minister told reporters, "Quarantine will be dealt with in a pragmatic manner."
"If I go to Kerala, will I be put under quarantine for 14 days? Then on my return, will I be put under quarantine again for 14 days? This is not practical," he added.
Puri said he can't comment right now on when flight operations would be restored completely.
"We gained some experience from Vande Bharat mission. Now we are opening 1/3rd of our domestic civil aviation operations. Whatever experience we gain now, on that basis we would then go to open international travel," he said.
He said social distancing norms won't be implemented even if middle seats are kept vacant on flights, therefore, "we have decided to not keep middle seats vacant".
If a passenger does not have the Aarogya Setu app on her or his phone for some reason, they can give a self-declaration form, the minister said, adding that they will not be stopped from boarding the flight.
The minister added that private carriers will join the Vande Bharat mission to repatriate Indians stranded abroad amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Puri said by the end of the month, total 50,000 Indians would be brought back from abroad under the mission. The Vande Bharat mission began on May 7. Till date, only Air India and its subsidiary Air India Express have been operating flights under this mission.
Domestic flight operations will resume in India from May 25. All commercial passenger flights were suspended in the country from March 25, when the Modi government imposed a lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus.
Here is the approved summer schedule of domestic flights.
https://dgca.gov.in/digigov-portal/Upload?flag=iframeAttachView&attachId=130621836
More On Resumption Of Flights:
SOPs For Resumption Of Flights From May 25: Aarogya Setu App Must For Flyers Above 14 Yrs
Domestic Flight Services To Begin From May 25: Civil Aviation Minister
"The airline shall allot seats in a manner that the middle seat or seat between two passengers is kept vacant, if the passenger load and seat capacity permit," the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said in an order on Sunday.
Keep middle seats VACANT as much possible!
Airlines shall allot seats in a manner that middle seat is kept vacant if passenger load, seat capacity permit; if not, middle passenger must be provided protective equipment: Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA)
— OTV (@otvnews) June 1, 2020
However, members of the same family could be allowed to sit together, it added.
If the middle seat was occupied due to the high passenger load, the airline would have to provide additional protective equipment, like 'wrap-around gown', to the person "occupying the intervening seat in addition to the three-layer face mask and face shield," it said.
(IANS)
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