The ministry of civil aviation has taken several steps during the year 2014 to give boost to the aviation sector by improving the air connectivity and providing better services to air travellers. The highlights are as follows;
Draft Civil Aviation Policy finalised:
Draft Civil Aviation Policy was finalised and uploaded on the website for stakeholders’ comments and the consultations with various stakeholders have begun. The new policy will be a step towards making civil aviation a vibrant sector of the country’s economy and aims at providing the people safe, secure, sustainable and affordable air connectivity services with world-class civil aviation infrastructure.
Know Your Rights portal of DGCA:
A new portal Know Your Rights (KYR) of DGCA has been launched to provide information to passengers about their rights and grievance redressal mechanism etc. The information will be provided on the rights of passengers in cases of delays, cancellation and denied boarding; lost, delayed, misplaced and damaged baggage; and on matters relating to booking, airfare components and on refund of air tickets.
Facilitation of disabled passengers:
An order in the form of Civil Aviation Requirements (CAR) has been issued on facilities to be provided to disabled passengers.
Anti-Hijacking Bill 2014:
The Bill has been introduced in Rajya Sabha on December 17, 2014.
Evacuation of people from flood hit J&K:
During the unprecedented flood situation in the state of Jammu and Kashmir, Air India had operated two A-330 aircraft exclusively as additional flights to evacuate people from Srinagar to Delhi.
Evacuation of Indian workers from Iraq and Libya:
Air India successfully evacuated 1361 Indian workers and nine children from Iraq and Libya in its six special flights from July 4 to August 18, 2014.
Resuming operations at Vishakhapatnam Airport after Cyclone Hudhud:
Vishakhapatnam Airport was severely damaged due to cyclone Hudhud which hit Vizag on Octobrt 12, 2014. Due to consorted efforts of Airports Authority of India (AAI) operations were restored on October 18, 2014.
Solar photo voltaic power plants at airports:
Airport Authority of India, in its endeavour to tap alternate sources of energy, has decided to establish Solar Photo Voltaic Power Plants at its airports to meet its own requirements. A detailed action plan has been prepared to produce five MW for captive consumption at 13 airports. This will be completed by March 31, 2015.
Helpdesk at airports:
CISF has established Helpdesks on 52 airports for assisting the passengers and in other 19 airports it has been set up by AAI to be manned by state police.
Haj 2014 operations:
Haj 2014 operations started on August 27, 2014. Haj pilgrims can fly from 21 embarkation point in India to Jeddah/Medina for a fare of INR35,000 per head. A total subsidy of INR550 Crores has been proposed for Haj 2014.
Turn Around Plan for Air India:
Under the approved Turn Around Plan for Air India, INR3833 crores have been released in first quarter of 2014-15 against total allocated INR5500 crores for the current financial year.
Air India joins Star Alliance:
Air India joined Star Alliance on July 11, 2014, which was pending for over five years. With Air India joining Start Alliance, its passengers are offered more itinerary choices to cover 1,269 destinations in 193 countries around the world.
Air India commences services to Moscow: Air India commenced its services to Moscow, Russia from July 18, 2014 and to Rome and Milan, Italy from July 6, 2014.
Operations of Airbus A- 380 approved: The ministry allowed operations of A-380 at four airports, i.e. Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bangalore which have the required infrastructure for such operations.
Review of downgrade by Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), USA:
FAA has conducted reassessment of DGCA on eight critical areas from December 08- 12, 2014. The final report will be sent by them within one month and decision on restoration of category I will be communicated by mid of March 2015.