
Imphal-bound IndiGo flight returns midair to Delhi due to technical snag
Following standard safety protocols, the aircraft underwent thorough checks upon landing. After the required inspections, the plane resumed its journey to Imphal.IndiGo expressed regret over the inconvenience caused to passengers and reiterated its commitment to the safety and security of all on board.This comes a day after an IndiGo flight from Delhi to Goa was diverted to Mumbai and landed under a full emergency after one of its engines failed on Wednesday, sources told India Today.According to sources, the aircraft landed safely at 9:42 pm at Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport after the pilot raised an alarm at 9:25 pm.An IndiGo spokesperson said on Wednesday that a technical snag had been detected on flight 6E 6271 while it was en route from Delhi to Manohar International Airport in Goa.- EndsMust Watch

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Mint
7 hours ago
- Mint
How Indian airlines are benefiting from Look East Policy
For years, successive governments have had the 'Look East' policy to work with the South East Asian nations and offer a counterbalance to China's influence in the region. In 2014, this 'Look East' was converted to 'Act East' with a focus on economic connections, defence co-operation, and most importantly, people-to-people connect. The people-to-people connect part has greatly benefited the airlines, with the winners being Indian carriers in some cases, while foreign carriers in others. The change has been drastic from pre-COVID times to today and has been fuelled by the need from ASEAN to replace or hedge Chinese tourists, who remained away for a longer period due to restrictions in place by the Chinese government on travel. This meant that tourism-heavy economies like Thailand started offering incentives like free visas for Indians to travel, leading to a spurt in tourist traffic. Overall, the India-ASEAN market has been a mix of new connections, increased services and a growth like no other. Data obtained from Cirium, an aviation analytics company, exclusively for this article, shows that there has been a giant leap in connectivity, with Indian carriers also benefiting from this. In December 2019, the last full month of operations in the world before COVID started taking its toll, India did not have a connection with Brunei, Laos, the Philippines and Cambodia among the 10 ASEAN nations. Today, Royal Brunei operates a thrice-a-week service to Chennai; Air Cambodia flies twice a week to Delhi; Air India is starting flights to Manila in September while Laos remains the only blank spot right now. Among all the countries and connectivity, the India-Vietnam connectivity has seen a new high. From just 21 flights a week in December 2019, the connectivity has now gone up to 82 weekly flights. However, only 21 out of these are operated by Indian carriers — 14 by IndiGo and seven by Air India. The rest are being operated by the two Vietnamese carriers, Vietnam Airlines and VietJet. Their network in India has spanned to Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kochi, Delhi and Hyderabad to connect to Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, after having tried a few other variations. Overall, the seats went up nearly four times, and frequencies have gone up three times. While the India-Vietnam sector has seen the foreign carriers rule over Indian ones, the story is exactly opposite to Indonesia. By December 2019, all the Indonesian carriers had pulled out of India where multiple variations like non-stop and one-stop flights via Kuala Lumpur or Bangkok had been tried to connect Jakarta and Bali to points in India. On the other side of COVID, IndiGo and Vistara (later Air India) have 21 weekly frequencies to Indonesia, with IndiGo operating a daily flight to Jakarta from Mumbai and to Bali from Bengaluru while Air India operates to Bali from Delhi. The India-Malaysia market has remained more or less the same, with a slight drop. There are 42,124 weekly seats each way across 222 frequencies between India and Malaysia. While IndiGo reduced its presence at Kuala Lumpur, it added flights to Penang and Langkawi from Chennai and Bengaluru respectively, while Air India returned to Kuala Lumpur. The Malaysian carriers have shrunk 11 per cent even though they have tried multiple options having maxed out on seats to metros due to bilateral restrictions. The India-Singapore market comprises 57,611 weekly seats across 247 flights this August, a slump of 10 per cent compared to 2019. The Singaporean side has shrunk by 8 per cent since 2019, while the Indian side has remained constant. August also sees seasonal variations to Singapore and often sees drop in capacity by seats or frequencies. The biggest gainer for seats in the market between pre-COVID and today has been Thailand. This also is the biggest market among the three nations by seats on offer. There was an addition of 35 weekly frequencies and a growth of 10 per cent in connectivity between India and Thailand. The connectivity recalibrated with new points being connected, like Surat-Bangkok, Pune-Bangkok, Bhubaneshwar-Bangkok, Bengaluru-Krabi, Kolkata-Phuket, among others. The Indian carriers grew close to 25 per cent in the India-Thailand market, taking a fair share even after the fall of Go Air, while the Thai carriers shrank about 5 per cent. The total seats on offer each week between India and Thailand stands at 71,350. The people connect is driven by affordability and opening up of new connections, making it far easier to visit tourist destinations like Krabi, Phuket, Langkawi, Penang or Bali. The total cost, often a true measure of holiday expenditure, dictates the travel plans and Indonesia, Vietnam or Thailand stand out compared to the Maldives, where there was a diplomatic row last year, or European destinations which not only are expensive but also have challenges and lead time issues for visa. The strategic dependence on Indian tourism bodes well for the country as a whole, even when we struggle to attract as many foreigners and the international traffic is dominated by Indians travelling abroad.


News18
2 days ago
- News18
Domestic air traffic rises to 1.36 crore passengers in Jun: DGCA data
New Delhi, Jul 24 (PTI) Indian airlines carried more than 1.36 crore passengers in June, higher than the year-ago period, according to official data released on Thursday. The number of passengers flown by the carriers was 3 per cent more in June compared to 1.32 crore in May. IndiGo's market share dipped to 64.5 per cent in June from 64.6 per cent in May, while that of Air India Group rose to 27.1 per cent last month compared to 26.5 per cent in May. Last month, the market share of Akasa Air remained unchanged at 5.3 per cent while that of SpiceJet declined to 1.9 per cent from 2.4 per cent in May. 'Passengers carried by domestic airlines during January-June 2025 were 851.74 lakhs as against 793.48 lakhs during the corresponding period of the previous year, thereby registering an annual growth of 7.34 per cent and a monthly growth of 3.02 per cent," the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said in its report. The overall cancellation rate of scheduled domestic airlines in June stood at 0.93 per cent. Nearly 37 per cent of the flight cancellations in June were due to technical reasons, followed by operational (25 per cent) and weather (22.4 per cent). In June, as many as 1,20,023 passengers were affected due to flight delays, and airlines shelled out little over Rs 1,68 crore towards facilitation. A total of 33,333 passengers were impacted by flight cancellations in June, and carriers spent Rs 72.40 lakh towards compensation and facilities. As per the data, 1,022 passengers were denied boarding, and airlines paid Rs 99.57 lakh towards compensation and facilities. PTI RAM IAS BAL BAL view comments First Published: July 24, 2025, 20:45 IST Disclaimer: Comments reflect users' views, not News18's. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.


Hindustan Times
2 days ago
- Hindustan Times
Goa sees 39% rise in domestic tourist arrivals post-Covid: Minister Khaunte
Panaji: Goa has witnessed a 39% growth in domestic tourist arrivals between 2019 (pre-COVID) and 2024, tourism minister Rohan Khaunte said on Thursday, slamming 'paid social media influencers' for 'attempting to paint a wrong picture' of the state. This year, Khaunte said that between January and June, 57.12 lakh domestic tourists and 3.25 lakh foreign tourists have visited Goa. (Representative photo) Speaking in the Goa legislative assembly, Khaunte said the department has improved its data collection systems, which show that Goa recorded 71.27 lakh domestic and 9.37 lakh international tourists in 2019, and the footfall surged to 99.41 lakh domestic and 4.67 lakh international tourists in 2024. 'This reflects a 39% growth in domestic tourism compared to pre-COVID levels and a 50% recovery in international tourism. These numbers clearly show that tourism is thriving,' he said. This year, Khaunte said that between January and June, 57.12 lakh domestic tourists and 3.25 lakh foreign tourists have visited Goa. The data shows that between January and June, Goa recorded 57,12,758 tourist arrivals, including 34,64,490 domestic arrivals through Goa Dabolim International Airport in Vasco and 22,48,268 through Manohar International Airport at Mopa. International arrivals stood at 3,25,835, with 1,15,645 arriving via Goa Dabolim International Airport and 2,10,190 through Manohar International Airport. 'Many of these so-called influencers are sitting outside the state, getting paid to create noise that doesn't reflect the reality on the ground,' Khaunte said. 'When we presented the official data, none of them had a response.' Also Read: Goa minister declines to answer 12 questions on sub judice issues; Oppn protests 'Flights and hotels are almost full. We [Goans] can see the growth happening. In the past six months, both the airports have seen consistently high footfalls, and hotel occupancy has remained between 70 to 100% all year-round,' he said. Earlier, BJP legislator Michael Lobo had said that the state government was giving 'incorrect' figures, including data of tourists, locals, and emigrants who were moving to and from the state. Data on tourist arrivals and hotel occupancy is captured through the Tourism Information Management Enterprise (TIME) software, a centralised digital platform developed to streamline the process of data collection and analysis across the state's tourism accommodation sector. All registered hotels, guesthouses, and homestays are mandated to use TIME to log guest check-ins and report occupancy statistics on a real-time basis. This initiative helps the department monitor tourism trends, improve planning, and make data-driven policy decisions. Also Read: Use Goa's elaborate road infrastructure to attract more tourists: Nitin Gadkari Khaunte said that an e-visa programme was initiated with 170 countries and visa-on-arrival is currently available at select metro airports. He has requested the Centre to extend the visa-on-arrival facility to Goa as well and suggested involving coastal MLAs to push the demand forward. 'Goa is now linked to several parts of the world,' Khaunte said, adding that efforts like roadshows and marketing campaigns have opened up previously untapped international tourist segments.