If you’re a nervous traveller, you’ll be interested to know
that Qantas is the safest airline in the world, according to a new list from
AirlineRatings.com.
The Australian airline has nabbed the top spot on the annual
list since 2014, although technically it was a joint winner in 2018. United
Airlines is back on the list after the ranking left it out it last year.
AirlineRatings.com put together its list by sourcing data
from 405 airlines, looking at points like government audits, crash and serious
incident records, and profitability.
While Qantas has the top spot, Finnair and Hawaiian are not
far behind.
Here is the list of the top 20 safest airlines in
alphabetical order (which is how AirlineRatings.com presents the list):
Air New Zealand
Alaska Airlines
All Nippon Airways
American Airlines
Austrian Airlines
British Airways
Cathay Pacific Airways
Emirates
EVA Air
Finnair
Hawaiian Airlines
KLM
Lufthansa
Qantas
Qatar Airways
SAS
Singapore Airlines
Swiss
United Airlines
Virgin Atlantic
Virgin Australia
The Most Punctual Airline In The World
Panama’s Copa Airlines SA has been crowned 2018’s most
punctual carrier in a global survey.
Latvia’s Air Baltic ranked second among airlines arriving or
departing within 15 minutes of scheduled times, according to a report by data
firm OAG Aviation Worldwide Ltd.
Hong Kong Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines and Bangkok Airways
rounded out the top five. IndiGo & Air Asia India have come in the Top 20
as well.
About 4.3 billion passengers traveled by air last year, 6.1
percent more than in 2017, according to a preliminary report by the United
Nations’ International Civil Aviation Organization. Airlines filled a record
81.9 percent of their seats in 2018.
Here’s The List Of The Most Punctual Airlines in the world
in 2019
Low-Cost Carriers IndiGo & Air Asia India are the only 2
Indian Airlines to make it to the top 20 most punctual airlines in the world in
2018.
Among airports, Delhi, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Bhubaneshwar
feature in the top 20 list of the most punctual airports across the globe.
The report published by OAG Punctuality League ,a UK-based
air travel intelligence firm, analysed 58 million flight records in 2018 to
create a ranking of the best on-time performance (OTP) for the world’s largest
airlines and airports.
On-Time Performance (OTP) is the percentage of flights that
depart or arrive within 15 minutes of schedule. Airports handling at least 25
lakh passengers have been ranked according to their punctuality.
IndiGo, India’s largest airline by passengers carried and
fleet size, was ranked at number six under ‘Mega Airline’ list and at number
seven in ‘Low-Cost Carrier’ list for punctuality. It also took the tenth spot
in Asia Pacific region for best punctuality.
AirAsia India was ranked at number 12 in low-cost carrier
list for punctuality.
Under large airports with best punctual or on-time
performance, Hyderabad and Bengaluru airports took the number 13 and 16 spots
respectively. Airports with 10-20 million passengers in a year were identified
in this category.
Bhubaneshwar Airport also secured a place at number 20 in
the small airport list with annual passenger traffic of 2.5 to 5 million.
Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport was ranked
at 13 in the list of mega airports for punctuality, which has over 30 million
passengers departing every year. It is currently the seventh busiest airports
in Asia and among the top 20 busiest airports in the world.
A mid-air new year celebration party has landed SpiceJet into
trouble with Indian aviation regulators Directorate General Of Civil
Aviation(DGCA).
On December 31 last year, the private airline decided to
celebrate the arrival of 2019 onboard. The crew wore colourful wigs and carried
pompoms while greeting passengers in their seats.
What irked the DGCA was a video on social media that showed
passengers dancing on board a mid-air flight. The regulator has summoned the
airline officials seeking an explanation.
Here are the details of the incident:
The video was taken inside flight SG 282 flying
from Amritsar to Goa.
In the video, it is seen that while the aircraft
was mid-air, many passengers were moving around the aisle dancing, clicking
photos, and even posing with the cabin crew.
According to DGCA this is a violation of
cabin-safety requirements. Use of cell phones to take pictures mid-air is also
a violation of safety rules.
The regulator is probing whether crew members joined in the
celebration and if it was an incident inside only one aircraft. However, SpiceJet
said no protocols were violated and the airline crew did not participate in the
dancing.
According to SpiceJet, On one specific flight, after
completion of service and prior to the seat belt sign coming, they got some of their
cabin crew members to greet passengers while walking down the aisle.
“The people seen dancing were passengers who got momentarily
carried away. The crew immediately requested the passengers to be seated. The
captain also put on the seat belt sign and appropriate announcements were made.”
This is not the first time that the regulator has taken a
strict stance against a mid-air bash inside an aircraft.
In 2014, the DGCA had sent a show-cause notice to SpiceJet
for holding a 10-minute dance show inside an aircraft. In 2016, the regulator
had also grounded the crew of Jet Airways after singer Sonu Nigam was allowed
to perform mid-air over the public announcement device inside an aircraft.
Mid-air bashes, however, are common as airlines regularly
use them to attract flyers and improve their brand image. Airlines such as
Finnair and AirAsia have conducted dance and birthday celebrations onboard
their flights.
A report was published about the disappearance of Malaysian Airlines flights MH370 earlier this year ,which struggles to reveal conclusions about the final hours of the doomed aircraft.
Aviation in its more than 100 years of existence has had a few such incidences, where authorities and conspiracy theorists have not been able to reveal the true nature of its occurrences.
To excite the inner mystery hunter in you, below we detail 10 of the greatest mysteries in aviation, from the early history of flight to modern day.
1.The Bermuda Triangle
The Bermuda Triangle is known as a place where dozens of airplanes and ships have vanished in unusual circumstances, with the disappearances attributed to paranormal or extra-terrestrial activity.
Notable incidents include the disappearance of Flight 19, a US Navy bomber, on December 5, 1945, as well as the aircraft sent to search for it, a Douglas DC-3 aircraft with 32 people on board in 1948 and a mid-air collision between two US Air Force planes in 1963.
Since a long time, the roughly triangular area bounded by Miami, Bermuda and Puerto Rico has been debated upon without any clear conclusion. No one till date knows how or why these incidents occurred.
2.Trans World Airways Flight 800
TWA flight 800, a Boeing 747, exploded and crashed into the Atlantic Ocean near East Moriches, New York, on July 17, 1996, resulting in the deaths of all 230 people on board.
While many speculated that terrorists were to blame, no evidence of a criminal act was discovered by the FBI following a 16-month investigation.
Others suggested that a US Navy vessel blew up the plane with a missile strike, and that the US Government has since instigated a cover-up.
A report published on August 23, 2000, however, concluded that a short circuit was the most likely cause of the explosion and the case was hurriedly closed.
3.Air France Flight 447
In the early hours of June 1, 2009, Air France Flight 447 from Rio de Janeiro to Paris went missing, along with 216 passengers and 12crew members.
The Airbus A330-200 disappeared in the middle of the ocean,beyond radar coverage and in darkness. For several days no trace of it was found. Even when wreckage was discovered, the tragedy was no less confusing for the bewildered and shocked Air France authorities.
The aircraft had flown through a thunderstorm, but there was no distress signal, and the jet was state-of-the-art, a type that had never before been involved in a fatal accident. The aircraft’s black boxes were recovered nearly two years later, at the bottom of the ocean.
4.The Disappearance Of Amelia Earhart
The pioneering aviator vanished over the Pacific Ocean in 1937 while attempting to circumnavigate the globe.
Various reasons have been given for her disappearance. The theory that she was captured by Japanese forces has been suggested while others believe she faked her own death. A few oddballs even claim she was abducted byaliens
However, a photograph discovered last year was said to prove that Amelia Earhart did not die in a plane crash but was captured by the Japanese.
The photo, found in a former “top secret” file at the US National Archives, and thought to have been taken in 1937, has been subjected to facial-recognition and other forensic testing.
The theory was somewhat disproved, after a new similar image was said to have appeared in a Japanese travel brochure published years before Earhart disappeared.
5.Helios Airways Flight 552
In August 2005, air traffic controllers in Greece lost contact with Helios Airways Flight 522, but the airplane remained on the ATC radars of the Athens Airport for more than an hour.
At one point, a Greek fighter jet was sent to search the airplane and spotted that the pilot was passed out over the controls.
Around half an hour later the plane started to descend, crashing into the hills near Grammatiko, killing all 121 passengers and crew (the deadliest air disaster in Greek history).
According to the report released, a gradual loss of cabin pressure had left the crew incapacitated, but many people feel that this was just a coverup.
6.D.B.Cooper
In 1971, an unidentified man travelling under the name of “Dan Cooper” managed to hijack a Boeing 727, extort a $200,000 ransom and leap from the rear exit on the aircraft (with a parachute), never to be seen again.
No conclusive evidence has emerged confirming his true identity or subsequent whereabouts, but FBI investigators claimed he would not have survived the jump.
A year after the incident “Cooper vanes” were installed to disable aircraft doors while the landing gear is up.
7.EgyptAir Flight 990
In 1999, EgyptAir Flight 990 from New York to Cairo plummeted into the Atlantic Ocean around 60 miles off the US coast.
All 217 people died in the crash, but mystery still surrounds its cause. The Egyptian Flight Officer controlling the plane was recorded repeatedly saying “I rely on God” moments before the disaster.
A colleague claimed he crashed the jet as an act of revenge,
however an investigation concluded he did not deliberately cause the accident.
8.The Wright Brothers Weren’t The 1st To Fly An Airplane
Some believe the Wright brothers did not build the world’s first successful airplane.
German-born Gustav Whitehead should get the credit, they say, as evidence suggests he took to the sky two years earlier.
They add that US institutions did not accept Whitehead’s role in the birth of aviation because of their indebtedness to the Wrights’ legacy.
A contract between Orville Wright and the Smithsonian museum was signed in 1948 where it legally obliged to call the Wright brothers the first to fly.
9.British South American Airlines Disappearance
In August 1947, a British South American Airways airliner vanished as it flew between Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Santiago,Chile, via Mendoza.
No wreckage was discovered for over 50 years, provoking conspiracy theories about sabotage and abduction by aliens.
A Rolls Royce engine and the remains of nine of the eleven victims were eventually found at the foot of a glacier in the Andes.
10.Malaysian Airlines Flight 370
Since Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 vanished in March 2014,while flying from Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Malaysia, to its destination, Beijing Capital International Airport in China, many speculations have come up.
Theories like the airplane was shot down, hijacked by Russia or landed on an island have come up. Infact, outlandish theories like the airplane was switched and some other airplane all together was shot down as a cover up have been pondered upon.
But, despite all those theories, the reality is certainly more mundane. According to aviation expert David Learmount , whatever happened to the airplane was “a deliberate act by someone on board, probably the captain”.
He went on to say that journalists in search of weirdstories have made up their conclusions, however it was probably a carefully planned suicide and revenge attack but we’ll never be able to prove it.
People will soon be able to make calls and access internet through their phones during air travel within Indian territory as the government has notified rules for providing such services.
The government has made a set of guidelines under the Indian Flight and Maritime Connectivity Rules (IFMC), 2018, which says that Indian and foreign airlines operating in the country can provide in-flight voice and data services in partnership with a valid Indian telecom licence holder.
The services will be activated once the aircraft attains a minimum height of 3,000 metres in Indian airspace to avoid interference with terrestrial mobile networks, the rules state.
The IFMC licences will be granted against an annual fee of Re 1 for a period of 10 years and the permit holder will have to pay licence fees and usage charges based on revenue earned from providing services.
However, airlines and service providers will decide how much they want to charge the customer. It is also up to them whether they want to offer both internet and calling services or limit themselves to Wi-Fi services only.
Most airlines globally offer only Wi-Fi on board as allowing mobile calls could be too much of a nuisance for fellow travellers.
This development helps India, one of the fastest growing aviation markets and the second largest smartphone market, join a long list of countries like the US, UK, Canada and China that have been offering the services for a couple of years now.
The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has initiated an inquiry into the pricing of air tickets after it found that airlines were allegedly following a similar pattern while setting tariffs, thus making the process anti-competitive.
Airlines follow a bucket system in pricing their tickets, wherein fares are lower if the ticket is booked in advance. Tariffs increase when the travel is booked closer to the date of departure.
Airlines say that this is a software-based system which takes into account historical booking patterns while pricing the tickets.
CCI, a fair trade regulator, is investigating allegations of similar pricing as well as a simultaneous increase in ticket prices by airlines. The cases pertain to steep fluctuations in airfares during the Jat agitation in Haryana, floods in Chennai, among other instances, in the last few years.
According to CCI chief Mr. Sudhir Mittal, during the Jat riots in Haryana, all airlines decided to increase the price of tickets on the same day. A similar thing happened in 2015 when floods hit Chennai.
The regulator is waiting for a report from the Director General (DG), which is its investigation arm. Generally, cases where the CCI finds evidence of violations of competition norms, DG is detailed to investigate.
Mr. Mittal has said that they have asked the DG to look into the algorithms, used by airlines for determining fares, to ascertain whether airlines coordinated to fix prices or the algorithms function on their own to determine prices.
CCI, which keeps a tab on unfair business practices across all sectors, has the power to penalise entities for anti-competitive ways and direct them to cease operations or desist from indulging in such practices.
India’s first biofuel-powered aircraft landed yesterday at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi.
Last week it was announced that Indian carrier SpiceJet would first test fly it over Dehradun, and if a success, would again fly it from the hill station to the national capital.
Union Ministers Mr. Dharmendra Pradhan,Civil Aviation Minster Mr. Suresh Prabhu and other top officials were at the airport when the SpiceJet flight,arrived in the capital. Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat flagged off the flight in Dehradun.
For the test flight, which carried 28 people, including five crew members, the aircraft’s right engine was filled with 75% Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) and 25% of biofuel, made from Jatropha plant. The 45 minuet flight was completed with a Bombardier Q400 aircraft.
The fuel was prepared by the CSIR-Indian Institute of Petroleum (IIP), Dehradun. The institute’s Director, Mr. Anjan Ray, said around 330 kg of biofuel was made for flight.
According to SpiceJet Chairman and Managing Director, Mr. Ajay Singh, it was a “historic occasion” to operate the test flight and said that India is the first among developing countries to fly an airplane powered by biofuel.
Science and Technology Minister, Mr Harsh Vardhan has said that bio-jet fuel is carbon neutral and that only three to four nations are using it. He also emphasised that ways should be explored to scale up production of such fuels.
Biofuel is low cost and helps in significantly reducing carbon emissions. It has the potential to reduce the dependence on traditional aviation fuel by up to 50% on every flight and bring down fares
It also comes at a time when the airline industry is grappling with spiralling fuel prices that are impacting their profitability. However, use of biofuel for regular flights would take some time.
International authorities such as International Air Transport Association(IATA) & American Standard Testing Method (ASTM) have been looking into using bio-jet fuel for some time now.
IATA has also set out a target for one billion passengers to fly on aircraft using a mix of clean energy and fossil fuels by 2025.
India is all set to create history. It may become the first developing nation to test a biofuel-run aircraft!
Indian carrier, SpiceJet, announced that it will fly a passenger aircraft which will solely run on biofuel.
The aircraft will take-off from Dehradun on Monday and fly around the city. If it’s a success, SpiceJet will make the airplane fly again from Dehradun to Delhi. Senior officials from the government and airline will be on board the flight to see the results.
The main purpose is to make air travel economical and bring some respite to airlines in India who are fleeing the pressure of rising fuel prices globally.
Biofuel, produced from vegetable oils, recycled grease, algae, and animal fat, is an alternative fuel that can be used in place of fossil fuels. According to some estimates, biofuel has the potential to reduce the aviation carbon emissions by up to 80 percent.
Global association of airlines, International Air Transport Association (IATA), has set a goal to cut carbon emissions for the industry by 50 percent by 2050.
Till now, no developing nation has tested a biofuel-run flight. However, some developed nations like Australia and the US have flown commercial flights on the sustainable fuel. Australian airline Qantas had flown a Dreamliner between Los Angeles and Melbourne in January this year.
Alaska Airlines and KLM had also tested flights using biofuel. Many nations are testing biofuels for flight operations to get independence from Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) which is a non-renewable fossil fuel and costly.
If the test flight on Monday is a success, we may soon have ‘Green’ airplanes flying us from one place to another. Biofuels will definitely be a cost-effective and pollution-free substitute for ATF
