India’s government has granted international airport status to facilities in Lucknow, Varanasi in northern India and Mangalore, Tiruchirapalli and Coimbatore in the South. “All these airports are capable of handling medium capacity-range, long-range type aircraft and are also equipped with facilities for night operations,” says Finance Minister P Chidambram.

Indian carrier Kingfisher Airlines has canceled all operations following a strike by some of its employees, who say the privately owned carrier has not paid their salaries since March. The airline has told civil aviation authorities that it will restart operations in the next few days, after it has settled this labor dispute. An airline spokesman says management will “review the situation on Oct. 4 or the day on which the strike is called off, whichever is earlier.” The airline has halted the sale of tickets until then, he adds.

The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has approved the maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) unit at India’s Cochin International Airport to conduct line maintenance on Airbus narrowbodies. Cochin International Aviation Services Ltd. has two hangars with an area of 35,000 sq. ft. that can handle two narrowbodies simultaneously. The MRO business in India is estimated to be worth $800 million and likely to grow to $1.5 billion by 2020, says India's Directorate General of Civil Aviation.