21 Sep 2020

India Aviation Industry Newsletter 21 September

AAI To Launch Greenfield Airport In Arunachal Pradesh's Hollongi The Airports Authority of India is set to inaugurate a Greenfield airport in Arunachal Pradesh's Hollongi, the Union Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region. The Greenfield airport project is expected to be completed by 2022 and will be able to fit in narrow-body jets like the Airbus A321 in the first phase, the Ministry stated. "The Airports Authority of India is ready to inaugurate a Greenfield Airport in Hollongi, Arunachal Pradesh.” AirAsia Announces Flights on Mumbai-Guwahati, Mumbai-Srinagar Routes AirAsia India announced that it will start flights on the Mumbai-Guwahati and the Mumbai-Srinagar routes from Saturday. Making the announcement via press release, the airline said the Mumbai-Guwahati flight will operate three times a week while the flight on the Mumbai-Srinagar route will operate four times a week. Civil aviation sector on a steady growth trajectory: Puri India's civil aviation sector is on a steady growth trajectory said Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri  Speaking at the launch of 'General Aviation' terminal at IGI airport  Puri said: "The sector is all set to emerge stronger in a post-Covid world as more routes are opening up and number of passengers are growing. We expect a bulk of pre-Covid domestic air passengers' traffic to be back by Diwali this year, and 'General Aviation' will have a significant contribution to it." GoAir partners Stemz Healthcare to offer COVID-19 testing to passengers GoAir announced it has partnered Stemz Healthcare to offer coronavirus testing facility to its domestic and international passengers. As per travel guidelines of different states and countries, several destinations require a COVID-19 RT-PCR (Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction) test to be undertaken within a stipulated time frame before a passenger boards a flight. India's first General Aviation Terminal for private jets opens at Delhi Airport Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport has opened India’s first ever exclusive private jet terminal for India’s growing ultra-rich population. Over the past five years, India’s uber-rich have grown by leaps and bounds - 116%, to be exact - and a long standing demand has been to cater to their private jets, which now seems to be slowly manifesting itself. India Has Air Bubble Agreements With 10 Countries India has entered into Air Bubble agreements with 10 countries viz. USA, Canada, France, Germany, UK, Maldives, UAE, Qatar, Afghanistan and Bahrain. Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of State (I/C) Civil Aviation, informed Lok Sabha last week. These are temporary agreements between two countries aimed at restarting commercial passenger services when regular international flights are suspended as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.  They are reciprocal in nature i.e. airlines from both countries enjoy similar benefits. Tickets for the flights are sold through the airlines' website, travel agents and Global Distribution Systems. Vistara Now Offers Inflight WiFi On Its Boeing 787s Vistara has rolled out WiFi on its 787s, officially making it the first Indian airline to offer the feature. The first WiFi-enabled flight took place last week on Vistara’s Delhi to London route. The service is currently free to passengers on the 787 and pricing will likely be announced soon. India reversed its long-standing ban on inflight WiFi in March, the same time Vistara took delivery of its first 787-9. The airline had earlier announced that it plans to offer WiFi on its Boeing 787-9s and Airbus A321neo’s, both of which will be deployed on international routes. Acumen Aviation © 21 September 2020 All Rights Reserved.