Showing posts with label Air India Feb 2017. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Air India Feb 2017. Show all posts

Monday, March 06, 2017

Air India Sets New World Record By Journeying Around The World With An All-Women Crew!

Ahead of International Women's Day, Air India created history by flying around the world with an all-women crew. The flight took off from New Delhi on Monday to San Francisco and returned on Friday after journeying around the globe.
The Boeing 777-200LR aircraft flew over the Pacific Ocean en route San Francisco and over the Atlantic while flying back, thereby covering the entire distance around the world.
Not only the crew but the air traffic controllers, engineers, and ground handling staff were all women. According to an Air India representative, the airline has already applied for a Guinness World Record and Limca Book of Records for this accomplishment.
05/03/17 Anjali Bisaria/India Times

Tuesday, February 28, 2017

Govt to sell 51% stake in Air India? Aviation secy says not true

Union Civil Aviation Secretary RN Choubey on Tuesday denied that the government was looking to sell a majority stake in Air India. A  report had claimed that the government was looking to sell a 51 percent stake in the loss-making national carrier to a strategic partner.  People familiar with the matter were quoted as saying that the proposal had included reviving the airline within five years. They claimed that presentations had already been made to the Finance Ministry and the Prime Minister's Office.  While Air India spokesperson Dhananjay Kumar and Finance Ministry spokesperson DS Malik had declined to comment, Choubey cleared the air by saying that no such proposal was on the table. The national carrier, which has the largest fleet in the country with 140 planes, has 14.6 percent of market share in the domestic passenger market. Under a financial restructuring plan in 2012, Air India was slated to receive Rs 30,231 crore equity infusion, 75 percent of which it has received so far. The airline’s losses have reduced of late, with Air India reporting a loss of about Rs 3,587 crore in 2015-16, from a loss of Rs 5,859 crore in the previous year.
28/02/17 moneycontrol.com

Govt may sell 51% stake in Air India to a strategic partner: Report

Government may soon sell its majority stake in country's national carrier Air India to a strategic partner in a bid to turn around the loss making airline, a Bloomberg report said.
The proposal includes reviving Air India within five years of selling a 51 per cent stake. Talks are at an initial stage and presentations have been made to the finance ministry and the prime minister's office, the report said quoting people who did not want to be identified.
Under a financial restructuring plan in 2012, Air India was slated to receive Rs 30,231 crore equity infusion over 10 years. It has received some Rs 23,993 crore so far. Even after pumping in huge money, the airline has not shown significant financial and operational improvement. For instance, the airline reported losses of Rs 3,587 crore in 2015/16, down from Rs 5,859 crore in 2014/15.
28/02/17 Business Today

`Forgetful' engineers put Air India plane in peril, grounded

Two Air India engineers were grounded on Monday as they reportedly "forgot" to remove pins from landing gear - which ensure that wheels of an aircraft on ground do not accidentally retract - while clearing a plane to take off. Due to this, the pilots could not retract the wheels on getting airborne and had to return soon after take off.
This unprecedented lapse took place on Monday when an AI aircraft was being prepared at Delhi for flying to Kochi. "The plane was cleared to take off by engineering and when the wheels did not retract once in air, the pilots had to return to Delhi on an urgent basis. Delhi air traffic control ensured that the plane returned without any delay once the pilot indicate that he had to turn back," said a source.
On landing, the aircraft was examined and the pins were found attached to the landing gear. The same were removed and the plane then took off again for Kochi after a detailed examination. The airline informed the Directorate General of Civil Aviation of this lapse and the regulator immediately grounded two aircraft maintenance engineers (AME) who had cleared the plane for take off.
Confirming this, a senior AI official said, "The landing gear pins were not removed due to which the aircraft had to turn back. DGCA has derostered the shift in-charge and the engineer who cleared the plane for take off and we are also investigating this issue. It was a slip by the engineers who were busy on something else and forgot to remove the pins on the landing gear."
When landing gear is extended on ground, some pins are put on them - similar to putting a brick behind wheels of a car parked on a slope to ensure it does to go down - to prevent the wheels from accidentally folding up. Just before departures these pins are removed.
28/02/17 Saurabh Sinha/The Times Of India

Air India keeping options 'open' for 5 wide-body aircraft

New Delhi: The government-owned Air India is keeping all options "open" on the type of wide-body aircraft, which it plans to lease, including the latest jetliner from Airbus, A350.

The European aviation major Airbus is scheduled to a give a formal presentation to the national airline early next month in this regard, sources have said.

At present Air India has wide-body planes from the US aircraft maker Boeing Inc, while its narrow-body fleet consists of Airbus planes.

The airline used to operate wide body A330 till a few years ago. However, it phased them out after inducting Boeing 787-800s in the fleet.

The Air India Board has recently given approval to the airline to lease five wide-body planes in the fleet, which are to be inducted between January and March next year.

"We have not yet decided about the manufacturer. We are keeping all options open on this. Some time back, Airbus had given us an initial proposal for its newest jetliner A350. We are evaluating this as well," a highly placed Air India official said.
28/02/17 PTI/Economic Times

Air India flight makes emergency landing at Mangaluru airport

A Kochi-bound Air India flight from Mumbai with 58 passengers and crew on board made an emergency landing at the airport here today due to a technical snag.

"The Air India flight coming from Mumbai and heading towards Kochi made an emergency landing at 7.50 PM at Mangaluru airport due to a technical snag," an airport official said.

He, however, declined to give details of the nature of the snag.
28/02/17 PTI/The New Indian Express

Air India case: Supreme Court asks tribunal to decide Delhi International Airport charges, puts 2-month deadline

The ministry of civil aviation has made a proposal to the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet to extend the tenure of the current bench of AERAAT (Airport Economic Regulatory Authority Apellate Tribunal) by a year — till March 2018 — for quick resolution of the issues regarding the decrease in tariff at the Delhi International Airport (DIAL). This is pursuant to the Supreme Court asking AERAAT to decide on the appeals against the tariff orders of Airport Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA) as expeditiously as possible, preferably within two months.
Air India, while moving the apex court seeking implementation of the reduced tariff for the second control period at DIAL, had raised the issue with regard to the tenure of the current bench of AERAAT expiring on March 8. The SC has now kept the matter for further hearing on April 24. In May 2016, the Supreme Court had asked AERA to decide on the matter within three months by August 2016. Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar appeared for Air India while senior counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi represented DIAL.
The tenure of the current bench of AERAAT will come to an end by March 8 this year and while hearing the matter on February 23, the appellate tribunal asked for an assurance from the civil aviation ministry for extending the term till the appeal is disposed of.
28/02/17 Malyaban Ghosh/The Financial Express

Poor crew decisions and support cited in Air India A320 accident

The aircraft, registered VT-ESH, was operating flight from Imphal and Guwahati to Delhi when it was forced to divert due to poor visibility at Delhi.

Listed alternate airports were Lucknow and Jaipur, however weather information was not provided by the flight dispatchers, nor were any weather updates sought by the flight crew for either airport. The aircraft was not equipped with aircraft crew address and reporting system (ACARS), but had VHF/HF radios.

After an initial missed approach at Lucknow, the crew decided to land at Jaipur. During its descent at 5,000ft, air traffic control advised the flight crew that the weather was deteriorating rapidly, and visibility was only 400m.

The captain elected to fly the approach manually, during which the aircraft deviated to the left of the runway centreline, touching down on soft ground to the left of the runway around 21:10 local time. During the touchdown and landing roll, the visibility was zero and crew were unable to see any reference cues.

The aircraft skidded on the unpaved surface during the rollout, and its left wing impacted trees causing major damage to the leading edge and a number of spars. The left main landing gear was also heavily damaged. The aircraft turned then right and entered the runway before coming to a halt.

Although the aircraft was written-off, there were no injures to the six crew and 173 passengers on board.
27/02/17 Aaron Chong/Flight Global

Govt Defers Decision On Centaur Land Transfer To DIAL As Air India Objects

The Civil Aviation Ministry has deferred a decision on handing over of the Centaur Hotel land to DIAL for airport expansion till next year after Air India raised "objection" over the issue. The Centaur in Delhi is one of the two hotels operated by Hotel Corporation of India (HCI), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Air India.

The property is on the land leased from Airports Authority of India (AAI) and the lease period is to end in 2032. As part of its revised Master Plan for IGI Airport, which has already been approved by the Civil Aviation Ministry, DIAL has proposed further development of landside, terminals and airside facilities to correspond to the projected traffic growth in next 20 years.

It also proposes expansion of passenger handling capacity of the IGI Airport from the existing 62 million passengers per annum (MPPA) to 109.3 million MPPA in a phased manner. Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) had last year written to the ministry for taking possession of the hotel land as part of these plans.

"Following this, the ministry asked Air India to vacate the building complex at the earliest. However, Air India wrote back to the Ministry, saying that since it is already working on plans to revive the hotel, it will not be feasible to transfer the property at this stage," official sources said.

The ministry has accepted Air India's plea and accordingly deferred a decision on the issue till the first quarter of the next calendar year, they said. DIAL is a joint venture between GMR-led consortium and Airports Authority of India. In the JV, while GMR group holds 64 per cent stake, mini-ratna Public Sector Undertaking AAI has 26 per cent ownership. The rest 10 per cent is with German airport operator Fraport.
27/02/17 PTI/Millennium Post

Monday, February 27, 2017

All-female Air India crew lands at TIA

As the aviation sector continues to set the bar high, an all-female crew operated an Air India flight from New Delhi to Kathmandu for the first time.
Siddhartha Roy, country manager of Air India, told The Himalayan Times that the AI-215 flight, which took off at 2:22pm from Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi, landed at Tribhuvan Innternational Airport in Kathmandu at 3:42pm.

“At least 115 passengers were on board the Airbus 321 jet. The entire show — cabin crew, and cockpit crew — was run by women,” Roy said.

Commanded by senior captain Renu and first officer Kala Mehra, the same squad flew the jet back to New Delhi from Kathmandu in the evening.  Air India operates two flights daily from New Delhi and four flights a week from Kolkata to Kathmandu.
27/02/17 The Himalayan Times

AIATSL Recruitment 2017: Apply For 186 Posts Before 14 March

Air India Air Transport Services Limited (AIATSL) has announced 186 vacancies for Store agent, Office agent, handyman and utility agent cum driver posts. Graduates and matriculates can apply. Interested candidates are suggested to go through details of the eligibility criteria and ensure that they are eligible to apply. Applications can be submitted till 14 March 2017. AIATSL is a wholly owned subsidiary of Air India Ltd. Candidates should note that the current recruitment is for selecting candidates for various positions for ground duties at Materials Management Department, Mumbai on a Fixed Term Contract basis for a period of three years which may be renewed at the discretion of AIATSL subject to their performance and the requirement of the Company.
27/02/17 Maitree Baral/NDTV

Sunday, February 26, 2017

170 stuck for 4 hours after Air India Dreamliner suffers snag

Chennai: More than 170 passengers were stranded inside a Chennai-Singapore Air India flight for four hours at Chennai airport on Saturday after the B787 Dreamliner aircraft broke down while entering a taxiway. Other flights were not delayed and the plane was grounded.
The flight scheduled to depart at 11.30am was taxiing when the brakes jammed. Attempts to release the brakes failed and the plane was towed to a parking bay around 3.30pm, an Air India official said. Passengers had to wait inside as authorities could not bring a ladder to take them out.
Later, around 120 passengers were moved to the terminal and taken to a city hotel, while others tried to reschedule the trip or book on other flights.
"We are bringing spare parts from Mumbai to rectify the defect. The passengers were served food and beverages inside the aircraft. Passengers were immediately not disembarked as technicians were trying to set right the snag. As the effort failed, we alerted Mumbai," he said.
The airline was trying to take the passengers on a spare plane to be brought from Mumbai. An Airports Authority of India (AAI) official said, "The stranded plane did not affect schedules of other flights because it was about to enter a taxiway. Other flights were routed via an alternative taxiway."
26/02/17 Times of India

Chargesheet filed against AISATS vice-president

Thiruvananthapuram: The city police have filed a chargesheet in the Judicial First Class Magistrate here against Binoy Jacob, vice president of Air India SATS, an agency offering ground handling services, for alleged sexual harassment and outraging the modesty of a woman colleague.
The Museum police filed the chargesheet on Saturday under Sections 354(A) (punishment for sexual harassment) and (D) (stalking) of the Indian Penal Code.
According to G Sunil, Museum SI, who submitted the chargesheet, the investigation revealed that Binoy Jacob had spoken to the complainant, several middle-level officers, in sexually explicit language on several occasions. Binoy had also tried to molest her several times. This has been proven. Now, the court has to make a final call,” Sunil said.
The incident took place in April last year at the AISATS office at Sasthamangalam when the accused tried to molest the complainant in his cabin.
Another day, the accused made obscene comments on her and tried to influence her by promising a ‘career growth’. He allegedly tried to block her probation period for ignoring him.Speaking to Express, the victim said she would get justice once the accused is convicted by the court. “I am happy that at least a chargesheet was filed.
26/02/17 New Indian Express

Saturday, February 25, 2017

Air India stops booking for morning Airbus for 2 months after March 26

Hundreds of passengers from the Diamond City are unhappy over Air India's (AI) decision to stop bookings for the morning Airbus between Surat and Delhi from March 26 until May 31.
Many frequent flyers from the city were planning their summer vacations in the northern states, but the sudden change in the morning schedule of Airbus has come as a big jolt to them.
Recently, AI had introduced morning Airbus between Surat and Delhi following strong representation from airport groups and MPs from Surat and Navsari. The Airbus, according to the airport groups, was getting more than 85 per cent passenger traffic to and from Surat on a daily basis.
'Member of We Want Working Airport at Surat' (WWWAS) Sanjay Jain said, "There is no logic for shutting the morning Airbus operations in the summer schedule, when the AI management is aware of the business potential from the city. We have written to the AI's chairman and managing director urging him to restore the Airbus operation in the morning. This will affect a large number of people, who are travelling to Delhi for business and other purposes on a daily basis."
25/02/17 The Times Of India

Union warns of no-confidence motion against Air India pilot

The Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA), Air India’s pilots’ union, has threatened to move a noconfidence motion against Captain A.K. Kathpalia for continuing as the carrier’s head of operations despite his flying licence being suspended by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation for evading a mandatory breathalyser test.

The ICPA, in a letter through its general secretary Captain Praveen Keerthi, said that being the head of flight operations in Air India and chief of flight operations inspector in the past, Kathpalia was well acquainted with aviation rules and regulations.

“He wilfully did not report the matter to the director of air safety and operated flights after evading the breathalyser test on January 19. The DGCA found him guilty post-inquiry and suspended him on February 7,” the letter read.

The ICPA further pointed out that as per civil aviation requirements of the DGCA, a pilot operating an aircraft without undergoing breathalyser examination or trying to evade the mandatory medical test should be kept off-flying duty.

“This rule is strictly followed in India. In fact, there are instances of pilots not being allowed to complete the route and taken off duty on first landing after they were found to have skipped breathalyser test, whereas Capt. Kathpalia had operated a flight from Delhi to Bangalore and back on the same day. On several other occasions, he had skipped the breathalyser test. He did not report to the authorities that he had not taken the test and tried to cover it up,” the letter said, warning of a no-confidence motion against him.
25/02/17 Aditya Anand/Mumbai Mirror

Air India and team undertake green initiatives

Air India, which is planning to install solar panels on its buildings in Kalina with the help of BMC, has got its employees involved in “green” initiatives.

The national carrier, which is the only airline in the country to set up an environment management cell, produced 500 kg of vermi-compost using 3,000 kg of dry and green waste in its compound. Moving a step ahead, the airline now aims to come up with solar panels by the end of June this year.

An Air India spokesperson said, “The Recycle Green Project is aimed at helping prevent air pollution due to burning of dry waste, reduce CO2 emissions resulting from transportation of waste to dumping grounds, and recycle organic waste. It is 100 per cent natural and free from chemicals and will result in a healthier atmosphere.”

Air India launched its “Recycle Green Project” on Thursday after it joined hands with BMC to convert waste (scrapped material from its own premises to reduce costs) into organic manure using Vermiculture, which is an alternative for disposal of green waste.
25/02/17 The Asian Age

Probe into AI flight’s ‘blind landing’ cites human error

An inquiry committee, probing the “blind landing” of an Air India aircraft in nearzero visibility in Jaipur, has submitted its report, blaming a combination right from organisational factors to human errors for the 2014 incident that could have turned into a major tragedy had the plane exploded.

Although the inquiry conducted by Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) got over in August 2016, the report was released on Thursday. The investigators — inquiry committee chairman R.S. Passi and members N.S. Dagar and Dhgruv Rebbapragada — also made several recommendations.

The incident took place on January 5, 2014, when an Air India flight (AI 890) from Guwahati to Delhi with 173 passengers on board was diverted to Jaipur, where visibility had dropped because of inclement weather. Mumbai Mirror had published a report, ‘Miracle in Jaipur’, in its front page on January 7, 2014.

The aircraft — an Airbus 320 — piloted by Captain Jalaj Vats was originally supposed to land in Delhi, but had to divert its path because of heavy smog in the national capital. Consequently, the aircraft was diverted to Lucknow, which had 2,000 meters visibility.

But the crew decided to head to Jaipur, ignoring the fast reducing visibility trend there, after a failed landing attempt in Delhi caused it to veer 40 nautical miles to the west of the national capital towards Rajasthan.

At the Jaipur airport, the airport had landed on soft ground to the left of the runway, careening up to 80 metres towards the left. As a result, the left wing of the plane hit a few trees, causing extensive damages to the aircraft, which, after veering towards the left, came back on the runway and halted.
25/02/17 Aditya Anand/Mumbai Mirror

Friday, February 24, 2017

Air India Puts New Airbus A320 Neo Into Operations

Chennai: Government-run Air India has put into operations its newly leased Airbus A320 Neo with its maiden flight arriving here from New Delhi.

The first A320 Neo aircraft with 161 passengers on board touched down at the Chennai International airport from the Indira Gandhi International Airport at 2030 hours yesterday, the airline said in a release.

The national carrier had inducted the latest fuel-efficient aircraft from European aviation major Airbus in its fleet on February 16.

The A320 New Engine Option aircraft is configured with 162 seats, including 12 in the business class.

Air India has plans to induct a total of 29 A320 Neos into its fleet by March 2019.

The fuel-efficient Airbus A320 Neo aircraft is highly environmental-friendly with reduced noise levels and 50 per cent less carbon emissions, the airline said in the release.
24/02/17 PTI/NDTV

Air India To Launch First Israel–India Flights Early Next Month

Air India will launch first Israel–India flights early next month, “Yediot Ahronot” reports. Hundreds of thousands of Israelis, flew Israel-India flights via El Al or stopover destinations such as Amman, Cairo, Istanbul and Kiev.

According to the Hebrew newspaper, chairman and managing director Ashwani Lohani and a senior delegation of Air India executives will visit Israel and formally announce the inauguration of the new route. Lohani  will be the guests of Minister of Tourism Yariv Levin.

Currently El Al Israel Airlines Ltd. and foreign carriers operate the only flights between the two countries. It’s unclear whether Air India will fly to Tel Aviv from Mumbai or New Delhi.
23/02/17 Jewish Business News

Air India may revive some flights to Africa

New Delhi: Air India is planning to revive some international routes in Africa which became defunct in 2006-2007. Increase in the number of Indians living in Kenya and Tanzania is one of the main reasons why Air India feels it could be commercially viable to revive these routes.

In the recent past, Air India has launched operations in Vienna and is also planning to launch operations in Washington and Copenhagen.

“A lot has changed since 2006. There are Indians now living in Kenya and Tanzania. I know of many Indian teachers who are living in Kenya and Tanzania. Commercial viability of an international route depends on the passenger load factor,” said Lally Matthews, Secretary of Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO).

 Although India has bilateral agreements with several African countries like Kenya, Zambia, Seychelles and Yemen, most of them are not being utilised. Air India is operating its flights only to South Africa at the moment. According to the tourism industry, many expatriates mainly from Gujarat living in Kenya and Tanzania who would like to visit India.
Air India officials said government support from Kenya and Tanzania is also a criterion for launching the operations.

“The government must agree on the number of passengers that is to be carried from Kenya and Tanzania. A separate agreement is signed for that,” said K R Krishnan, Senior V-P of travel consultancy firm, Nivalink.
23/02/17 Abhijeet Anand/Statesman

Air India launches energy conservation and natural resources recycling project

Mumbai: This is the second such project. In the first, "while exploring alternate means for disposal of the green waste to reduce air pollution and also contribute to the “Cleanliness Campaign”, employees from Air India deliberated on the various options that were feasible.
After consultation with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) authorities, it was decided to convert the waste into organic manure using vermiculture which is the most economical and environment friendly alternative for disposal of green waste,"the state-run carrier said in a statement.
"The ground work for fabrication of crates was then started using scrapped material from its own premises to reduce costs.
24/02/17 Anirban Chowdhury/Economic Times

Thursday, February 23, 2017

ICPA demands removal of Air India operations head

New Delhi: Air India pilots' union ICPA today sought removal of Captain A K Kathpalia, whose flying licence has been suspended by DGCA, as head of operations of the national carrier.

Earlier this month, aviation regulator DGCA suspended Kathpalia's flying licence for three months for skipping compulsory pre-flight medical test on several occasions.

The Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA) said Kathpalia should not continue as Executive Director (operations) at Air India.

"The ED (operations) is overall responsible for the security and safety of all flight operations activities. A person who had wilfully broken the law of the land... Has no moral and legal standing to occupy the seat of ED Operations," ICPA said in a letter to Air India CMD Ashwani Lohani.
When contacted, an Air India spokesperson said the airline is yet to receive any such letter from ICPA so far.
23/02/17 Outlook

Air India Moves Supreme Court Seeking Cut in Delhi Airport Charges

New Delhi: State-owned Air India Ltd on 24 January moved the Supreme Court seeking reduction in charges at Delhi airport, court documents showed.

In its petition, Air India said Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL), run by GMR Infrastructure Ltd, is recovering Rs300 crore every month through these charges, and at this rate, by March 2019, it would have collected a total of Rs17,157.15 crore against the originally targeted Rs7,709.61 crore. This would be an excess collection of Rs9,447.54 crore over and above the target revenue, Air India said in its petition seen by Mint.

The Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA), which includes IndiGo, SpiceJet, GoAir and Jet Airways, and controls nearly 90% of the domestic market share may support Air India, a person aware of the matter said, asking not to be named.

"In a nutshell, the airlines as well as the users have been fastened with a massive liability which otherwise is unwarranted in law due to operating stay (by Delhi High Court), without being afforded even an opportunity to be heard," the airline said.

Delhi airport, which was modernized for nearly Rs13,000 crore in 2010, recoups part of this amount by charging passengers and airlines. Domestic passengers departing from DIAL are charged about Rs564 while international passengers are charged Rs1,301. Airlines pay their share through higher landing, parking and aircraft housing charges.
23/02/17 AviationPros

Centaur employees seek Jitendra Singh’s intervention

Centaur Hotel Employees’ Union, Srinagar today presented a memorandum to Union MoS Jitendra Singh seeking his intervention for redressal of their longstanding grievances regarding pay anomalies and working of the hotel setup.
A delegation of Srinagar Centaur Hotel employees, led by Peer M Ismaiel, General Secretary, Centaur Hotel Employees’ Union, today called on Singh at his New Delhi office, a spokesperson of the minister said.
The members of delegation pointed out that the revision of their wage structure had not taken place since 2002, after the 5th Central Pay Commission Report.
Jitendra Singh assured the delegation that he would take up the issue with the Union Ministry for Civil Aviation, because Hotel Centaur happens to be an Air India undertaking.
23/02/17 Greater Kashmir

Air India vs SpiceJet: Airlines woo fliers with cheap fares, free tickets

Air India and SpiceJet came out with offers, including free tickets, to attract more fliers as the airlines look to increase seat occupancy amid stiff competition.

While Air India is giving one ticket free for every booking in First Class and Business Class, SpiceJet would be offering tickets priced as low as Rs 777 on select routes.

Amid the domestic aviation sector growing at over 20 percent for the past two years, airlines are working on ways to tap the demand, mainly by way of discounted tickets. Under the 'Buy One Fly Two' offer, national carrier Air India would give one ticket free on First Class and Business Class on non-metro routes in the domestic sector. Both bookings and travel would be valid till May 31, according to a release.
23/02/17 Business Standard

Air India's future

Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju is unsure about what would be the most desirable future for Air India.

Raju seems to be in a Catch-22 situation over the issue of Air India’s privatisation. Ironically, he seems to want to have the cake and eat it too, when he states that the Centre wanted Air India to “survive” but also argues that “taxpayers’ money could not sustain the airline forever”.

The editorial is justified in observing that Air India’s survival must be decided on the basis of passengers’ choice and market principle, failing which it will have the dubious distinction of being a white elephant that thrives at a huge cost to the Consolidated Fund of India.
22/02/17 Kumar Gupt/Business Standard

Wednesday, February 22, 2017

Airlines woo fliers with cheap fares, free tickets

New Delhi: Air India and SpiceJet on Wednesday came out with offers, including free tickets, to attract more fliers as the airlines look to increase seat occupancy amid stiff competition.
While Air India is giving one ticket free for every booking in First Class and Business Class, SpiceJet would be offering tickets priced as low as Rs 777 on select routes.
Amid the domestic aviation sector growing at over 20 per cent for the past two years, airlines are working on ways to tap the demand, mainly by way of discounted tickets.
Under the 'Buy One Fly Two' offer, national carrier Air India would give one ticket free on First Class and Business Class on non-metro routes in the domestic sector. Both bookings and travel would be valid till May 31, according to a release.
An official at Air India said the scheme is aimed at increasing the occupancy in these two classes where generally only around 50 per cent of the seats are filled.
The sale would be open till midnight of February 25 while people can book the tickets under this window for travel between March 9 and April 13.
The Rs 777 all inclusive fare is valid on various routes including Jammu-Srinagar and Agartala-Guwahati.
22/02/17 PTI/Times of India

Air India is in a debt trap: Ashok Gajapathi Raju

The performance of Air India in recent times has gone up. It is a good airline but its finances are bad. Last year, it didn’t make an operating loss, but a profit that is probably worth not talking about. This year, it will make an operational profit again. But it’s in a kind of debt trap. The government had committed money and around ₹23,000 crore has been released. After that money comes in, what about its finances? It is still in a debt trap. So something has to be done. It’s a nice airline, and I have been saying that right from day one in office. Even in Parliament, I said that I will not do Air India bashing. We can’t commit the taxpayers’ money for eternity. If you leave it like this, there will be a downhill slide and one fine day it willAir India close shop. If some strategies come in, then it can survive and compete.

Is privatisation one of the strategies?

It has a big debt. You put the airline on the market and no one will buy it. What do you do? People who are well-versed with finances will have to start thinking on those lines.
21/02/17 Defence Aviation Post

Air India flight landing delayed at Tirupati

Due to a technical error, landing had been delayed for the Air India flight arriving from Hyderabad at Tirupati International Airport on Tuesday at 2.15 pm.

In this flight Secretary to Telangana CM Smitha Sabharwal and four security officials of the CM were also travelling.
22/02/17 The Hans India

Air India starts revamp of short-haul fleet

The new single-aisle jet is first of 14 aircraft being leased from Kuwait-based ALAFCO. The new fuel-efficient aircraft will join Air India’s existing fleet of 66 standard A320 series aircraft.

The new A320neos will come equipped with 162 seats in two cabins – 12 in business class and 150 in economy.

To-date, Airbus has delivered just over 70 A320neos, and 20 of these have gone to Indian carriers. IndiGo has received 14 of the aircraft, while GoAir has taken delivery of five, along with Air India’s first aircraft. AirAsia India is also expected to operate the model in future.
21/02/17 Mark Elliott/Travel Daily India

AI to operate additional flight to Leh today

Air India (AI) is operating additional flight to Leh tomorrow.
According to Station Manager, Air India, Mohammad Arif, Air India will operate additional flight to Leh tomorrow.
The departure of the additional flight AI 1450 is 1030 hours, Arif said, adding that stranded passengers of cancelled fight AI 450 have been requested to report airport at 0830 am sharp.
22/02/17 Daily Excelsior

Snag forces AI flight to return to Dabolim

A Delhi-bound Air India plane, with 168 passengers on board, was forced to make an emergency landing at the Goa International Airport on Monday after the pilots detected a technical fault in the aircraft soon after take-off. The pilots immediately radioed the air traffic control (ATC) at the naval base at Dabolim, seeking priority landing due to the emergency.
"After take-off, the pilots found a technical malfunction on board the aircraft and returned to the airport," airport director Bhupesh Negi said.
Airport sources said flight AI 155, was scheduled to take off at 2.10pm from Goa airport for Delhi, but due to air traffic congestion, it was delayed for nearly two hours and was finally cleared for take-off at around 4pm.
21/02/17 The Times Of India

Tuesday, February 21, 2017

Delhi-bound flight with 168 on board makes emergency landing at Goa airport

Panaji: New Delhi-bound Air India flight AI155 with 168 passengers on board made an emergency landing at Goa International Airport on Monday after pilots detected a technical fault in the aircraft post take-off.
The pilots immediately radioed the Air Traffic Control at the naval base at Dabolim to make an emergency landing.

"After take-off, the pilots found a technical malfunction in the aircraft and returned to the airport," airport director Bhupesh Negi said.
According to sources, the flight was scheduled to take off at 2.10pm from Goa airport for Delhi. The Airbus 320 was grounded once it returned to the airport till the engineers clear it for flying. Some passengers who had urgent commitments were accommodated on other flights by Air India. "An additional aircraft was pressed into service from Mumbai. All the connecting flights were taken care of," an Air India official said.
20/02/17 Newton Seqeira/Times of India

Air India Set To Lease Dornier 228s for New Regional Routes

Air India is planning to add Dornier 228 twin turboprops to the fleet of its Alliance Air subsidiary to boost service to second- and third-tier cities under the government-backed Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS), which begins in March. Air India chairman and managing director Ashwani Lohani told AIN that the flagcarrier expects to lease 10 of the 19-seat aircraft from government-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL), which already produces military-configured versions under license from Switzerland Ruag Aviation.

India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation is now working on a requested civil type certification for the aircraft. “The certification from DGCA could well be facilitated and speeded given HAL and Air India are both government owned,” R.K Bali, managing director of India’s Business Aviation Operators Association (BAOA) told AIN.
20/02/17 Neelam Mathews/AINonline

Air India puts 2 Dreamliners on sale to raise $250 million

New Delhi: State-owned carrier Air India has put on sale two more Dreamliners (Boeing 787-800) to raise USD 250 million (nearly Rs 1,700 crore) for the repayment of short-term loan availed earlier for purchasing these planes.

The airline would also lease back these two Boeing 787-800s under an operating lease for a period of up to 12 years with a three-year extension option, the airline said in its Invitation of Offers document.

These two aircraft were delivered to Air India between November last year and January this year.

Under a Sale and Lease Back (SLB) arrangement, the seller of an asset leases it back from the purchaser for a long-term period and continues to use it without actually owning it.

The airline has fixed a reserve purchase price at USD 125 million (Rs 836 crore) for each aircraft.
21/02/17 PTI/Economic Times

Monday, February 20, 2017

LandFlight flying high with Lufthansa and Air India

A company providing executive private hire coaches and chauffeur-driven cars is flying high after renewing its partnership with two major airlines at Birmingham Airport.

LandFlight, which is based in Solihull, has agreed new deals to extend its working relationships with Lufthansa and Air India.

The company, whose fleet includes coaches, buses, cars and people carriers, has worked with airlines operating at Birmingham Airport for more than 30 years, providing daily ground transport for up to 25 crew at a time between hotels and terminals.

Air India, the flag carrier airline of India, has agreed a new three-year contract with LandFlight to continue its work with crew and passenger transport in the West Midlands. Meanwhile, Germany’s biggest airline Lufthansa has extended its partnership with the firm for another two years.

Danny Matthews, director at LandFlight, said the contract extensions were testament to a high quality, prompt and reliable service.
20/02/17 Ian Hughes/Soilhull Observer

Sunday, February 19, 2017

To cut long waitlist, Air India to operate Airbus 320 from Bhopal to Delhi daily

Bhopal: National carrier, Air India faced with persistent demands and long waiting list of passengers flying to Delhi has decided to operate an Airbus A-320 daily evening on Delhi-Bhopal-Delhi sector from February 20. The Airbus aircraft will replace the A-319 with 122-seater. Airbus will help in increasing the capacity of passengers from 122 to 1687.
Currently only Jet Airways and Air India operate from the state capital. That too, the two airlines have cancelled their afternoon flights owing to re-carpeting work of runway. The re-carpeting work is being carried out between 10 am and 56 pm and will continue till April. This has left passengers with very little choice and they were dependent only on the morning and evening flights to go to Delhi but the waitlist were quite high.
Air India sources said that the airline has been planning to connect Bengaluru with Bhopal from this winter. "There has been long pending demand from both IT professionals and students to connect Bhopal with IT city Bengaluru. The flight for Begaluru most probably will start from October 2017," said an official of Air India.
The Airbus aircraft will take off from Delhi at 7.05 pm and reach Bhopal at 8.25 pm. From Bhopal to Delhi, AI-438 will take off at 9.15 pm to reach Delhi at 11 pm.
19/02/17 Ramendra Singh/Times of India

Pranab grounded UPA plan to privatise Air India

The United Progress Alliance (UPA) government had finalised a plan to privatise Air India five years ago, but it did not take off as the then Finance Minister, Pranab Mukherjee, vetoed it.

Today, the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government is non-committal on privatising the debt-ridden airline.

The privatisation proposal came on October 28, 2011, when a Group of Ministers in the UPA government sat down to decide Air India’s fate and approve a bailout package for the carrier.

Some Cabinet Ministers favoured the plan, based on recommendations made by a group of bureaucrats.
Mr. Mukherjee as Finance Minister rejected the idea, on the ground that privatising Air India was beyond the mandate of the GoM, according to documents obtained under the Right to Information (RTI) Act and reviewed by The Hindu.

The October 2011 recommendations in the turnaround plan and financial restructuring plan were submitted by a group of officers of the Union Finance Ministry, after a spell of continuous losses.

“Once Air India is able to achieve an appropriate level of growth rate, divesting the airlines to a strategic partner could be considered,” the group said, in a recommendation to the GoM on Civil Aviation headed by Mr. Mukherjee in October 2011.
18/02/17 Somesh Jha/The Hindu

AI will have no buyers: Raju

New Delhi: “I would like Air India to survive and fly Indian skies proudly. That’s my wish – whether in the public or the private sector,” Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju told The Hindu in an interview, citing the airline’s huge debt as its biggest issue, despite the ₹30,000 crore bailout package.

“It has a big debt. You put the airline on the market and no one will buy it,” Mr. Raju added.

In 2000, the then NDA government decided to sell 51% of equity of Indian Airlines, with a 26% stake going to a strategic partner. It also decided to allow disinvestment of 60% in Air India, running international operations, with a 26% foreign entity stake. However, the move was shot down by Sharad Yadav, who was the Civil Aviation Minister.
18/02/17 Somesh Jha/The Hindu

Saturday, February 18, 2017

Air India to operate bigger aircraft on Delhi-Bhopal route

Bhopal: Air India has decided to operate an A-320 aircraft, having 168 seats, on the Delhi-Bhopal-Delhi route from February 20, an official said today. Air India Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) Ashwani Lohani took the decision to make an A-320 aircraft operational on the Delhi-Bhopal-Delhi route in evenings following his recent visit here, said Vishrut Acharya, airline’s General Manager of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.
During the CMD’s visit, travel agents told him that the present aircraft A-319, which has 122 seats, operating on the route was inadequate, he added. The official said the CMD has directed the officials concerned to operate an A-320 aircraft in the evenings to enable fliers to board international flight from Delhi.
According to Acharya, Lohani also agreed to connect Bengaluru with the Madhya Pradesh capital in the winter. As per the official, the CMD has also said once the re-carpeting of the runway at Raja Bhoj Airport here is complete, the afternoon flight on Delhi-Bhopal-Delhi route would be restored.
18/02/17 PTI/Indian Express

Air India to operate bigger aircraft on Delhi-Bhopal route

Air India has decided to operate an A-320 aircraft, having 168 seats, on the Delhi-Bhopal-Delhi route from February 20, an official said today. Air India Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) Ashwani Lohani took the decision to make an A-320 aircraft operational on the Delhi-Bhopal-Delhi route in evenings following his recent visit here, said Vishrut Acharya, airline's General Manager of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. During the CMD's visit, travel agents told him that the present aircraft A-319, which has 122 seats, operating on the route was inadequate, he added. The official said the CMD has directed the officials concerned to operate an A-320 aircraft in the evenings to enable fliers to board international flight from Delhi.
18/02/17 PTI/moneycontrol

Friday, February 17, 2017

Air India revenue taxies, but earnings soar 60% to Rs 3,412 cr

Despite an increase in passenger revenues of just 2.85% year-on-year, Air India has reported a jump of 60% y-o-y rise in EBITDAR (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation and rentals) to R3,412 crore for the nine months to December. In 2015-16, the airline reported a loss of R2,636 crore, primarily because of the high outgo on interest of close to R4,500 crore.
While the price of aviation turbine fuel has risen by about 12% in the last six months to R52,540 per kilolitre, the national carrier has managed to rein in other costs such as expenses on maintenance.
Air India’s domestic yields have been under pressure — in the April to December period they declined 9.2% y-o-y to R4.56. Domestic passenger revenues decreased by 3.7% y-o-y while the same on the international network grew by 6.4% y-o-y.
Other airlines too have seen yields falling in recent months. The average yields at IndiGo, for instance, fell 13% in the December 2016 quarter although volumes rose 38% y-o-y. The management attributed the drop in yields to the competitive environment as also the impact of demonetisation. At SpiceJet, the fall in yields during the December 2016 quarter was a much lower 3% y-o-y while volumes rose 39% y-o-y.
17/02/17 Malyaban Ghosh/The Financial Express

Airbus cements position in India as Air India gets first A320 neo

French manufacturer Airbus on Thursday further strengthened its position in the Indian market as state-owned airline received its first A320 neo becoming the latest client of its popular single-aisle aircraft model.

Air India aims to have 29 A320 neo in its fleet by March 2019 out of which 14 will be delivered this year. While Air India has already tied up with three lessors — ALAFCO, GECAPS and CIT — for 22 planes, the process to select a bidder for the remaining seven such planes is underway.

Currently, Airbus has more than 200 aircraft in India and an order backlog of more than 520 Airbus A320neo, giving it a market share of more than 70 per cent in service. On an average, Airbus will deliver one aircraft each week over the next ten years.

“The A320 neo is a very popular aircraft due to its fuel efficiency, on an average it at least brings down fuel cost by 15 percent and helps an airline in saving money,” said Srinivas Dwarakanath, president, commercial aircraft at Airbus India according to whom  Airbus is delivering one aircraft every week.

Market leader IndiGo along with low-cost carrier GoAir and full service airline Vistara are Airbus clients and have ordered the A320 neo aircraft. IndiGo in two tranches in 2011 and 2015 ordered 530 aircraft which includes 430 neo. In the Farnborough Air Show held in July last year, the manufacturer bagged an order of 72 A320 neos from GoAir.

“The India market is strategically important for us as it is growing at 20 percent per year and also many new flyers are being added, with newer single-aisle aircraft, airlines based in Delhi can serve "around two-thirds of the world’s population, " said Dwarakanth.
17/02/17 Arindam Majumder/Business Standard

Curious case of 200 Air India passengers stranded at Ankara for 24 hours

A flight that has adequate fuel to fly, passengers are ready and pilots eager to move on. Yet it cannot take-off. Have you ever heard of such cases?
Over 200 passengers are stranded in Ankara flying in Air India Flight 130. They are experiencing the bitter circumstance every minute.
AI 130 flew from London for Mumbai but enroute encountered with a case of medical emergency on board. The pilot had to contact the nearest Air Traffic Control to make an emergency landing at Ankara.
But, later a technical issue prevented it from taking off and flying to its destination.
The plane is a Boeing 787. And, since it was Boeing 787, it cannot take-off if it has made 'overweight landing'.
What it means is that when a Boeing 787 lands, it shall have minimum weight. But as it happened in the present case, the plane had additional 20 tonne of fuel left when it landed. This additional fuel made categorised it as 'overweight landing'.
17/02/17 Anindya Banerjee/India Today

Flight cancellation: Did Air India mislead Shahnawaz Hussain?

Did Air India mislead former Union civil aviation minister Shahnawaz Hussain? The answer appears to be affirmative.
During his visit to Gaya on Wednesday, Shahnawaz told TOI he had spoken to senior AI officials to inquire about reports of withdrawal of Gaya-Delhi flight AI 433. "The airline officials told me the flight was being rescheduled only," Shahnawaz told this reporter.
17/01/17 Abdul Qadir/The Times Of India

Air India leaves Tiruchy skies open for private operators

At a time when private players are gearing up to tap the potential of the Tiruchy-Chennai sector, the decision by State-owned operator Air India Express to wind up operations to the State capital has left fliers flummoxed. Having operated in the sector for over eight years, Air India Express announced last week that it was winding up the domestic service and cited operational restraints as the reason.

Air India Express operated its last flight to Chennai from Tiruchy on February 14, flying with 30 passengers, and will henceforth have services only to Singapore.

Considered the cheapest airline among the ones operating in the sector, the cancellation of services to Chennai has put flyers in discomfort. Several passengers who spoke to Express expressed concern that the decision would pave way for private carriers.

The announcement by Air India Express will directly help Jet Airways and the soon-to-be-launched  Air Carnival. Jet Airways operates three services to Chennai a day with tickets rates in  `4,500-`5,000 range, whereas Air Carnival would offer tickets at `1,499 as introductory fares.

Air India Express used to service Malaysia, which was eventually extended to Singapore with a touchdown in Chennai. Now, even the Malaysia flight has been scrapped, leaving the doors open for Air Asia and Malindo Air, which have at least six services on a daily basis with full capacity.
17/02/17 Harish Murali/The New Indian Express

Kerala-Gulf sector remains important for Air India'

Air India (AI) would buy 100 new aircraft in next four years, said Melvin Alphonso Diselva, Africa-Middle East manger of the airline. He was here to present awards tobest performing travel agents in the region.
When asked about direct flight services to Karipur, he said: "Once the authorities allow landing of widebodied aircrafts we will definitely restart the service. Kerala-Gulf sector is very important for us as we operate 375 weekly flights in the sector. Around 25% of the airline's income is generated from this sector."
He added that for Kochi and Hyderabad-bound passengers the baggage weight limit would be 45kg. Earlier, the cap was 40kg.
17/02/17 The Times Of India

AI lines up an all-woman, round-the-world flight

To fly to San Francisco from Delhi, Air India flies eastwards over the Pacific, making a 15,300km journey, which happens to be the world's longest non-stop route to be operated by any airline. To return to Delhi, it flies over the Atlantic. The to and fro route between Delhi and San Francisco then circumnavigates the globe. That exclusivity, combined with the fact that the national carrier employs a number of women pilots, engineers and flight dispatchers will be put to judicious use by Air India this Women's Day, in an attempt to fly into the Guinness record books.
Operating flights manned (pun unintended) solely by women crew to celebrate Women's Day is a decades-old practice with the national carrier. What is new this year is that it will involve an all-woman crew, around-the-world flight.
"On February 27, 4.30am, AI's Delhi-SFO-Delhi flight will take off with an all-woman crew. On ground too it will be readied exclusively by women as employees from eight departments, including pilots, engineers, dispatchers and flight safety officials will come together to operate the flight,'' said an Air India spokesperson.
"We have written to Guinness world records and Limca world records about the event. Each flight will also have on board two women achievers, apart from regular passengers,'' said the spokesperson, adding that the two-day Women's Day flights will begin on February 26 with all-woman crew flights to be operated from Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai to destinations like New York, London, Dubai, Singapore and Sydney. On March 8, Women's Day, AI will operate the Delhi-New York all-woman crew flight.
17/02/17 The Times Of India

Air India needs a sell-off plan; make it fast

Air India is barely flying. Ironical as it may sound, it has managed to just afloat on the back of a massive Rs 30,000 crore bailout package from the central government. As reported earlier, Air India has been hit severely by a Rs 46,570 crore debt including aircraft related loans of about Rs 15,900 crore. Earlier, the Economic Survey 2017 had also spoken about the mess AI was in and had given indications to privatise the airline. Now, while it has been opposed in the parliament on earlier occasions, it must be remembered that the bailout packages the government has been providing have gone in vain. In the year 2013, Jet Airliner Crash Data Evaluation Centre (JACDEC) had said that AI was placed third last in a list of 60 airlines which it evaluated. This is a big blow to the national carrier and its global image. So instead of humiliating the industry any further and wasting the tax payer’s money on something that has clearly been futile, the government could sell it to corporates that can make maximum use of the government schemes and policies while taking the airlines on a better path.
Earlier, speaking to CNN, Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju had said that the government wanted AI to survive. He had said that they did not mind where it was, who owned it as long as it served the Indian people and skies. Raju had further added that he couldn’t waste the taxpayers’ money to keep it flying for eternity. Whether it was owned by the government or somebody else, the government would like it to survive.
17/02/17 Financial Express

Air India leaves Tiruchy skies open for private operators

Tiruchy: At a time when private players are gearing up to tap the potential of the Tiruchy-Chennai sector, the decision by State-owned operator Air India Express to wind up operations to the State capital has left fliers flummoxed. Having operated in the sector for over eight years, Air India Express announced last week that it was winding up the domestic service and cited operational restraints as the reason.
Air India Express operated its last flight to Chennai from Tiruchy on February 14, flying with 30 passengers, and will henceforth have services only to Singapore.
Considered the cheapest airline among the ones operating in the sector, the cancellation of services to Chennai has put flyers in discomfort. Several passengers who spoke to Express expressed concern that the decision would pave way for private carriers.
17/02/17 Harish Murali/New Indian Express

4 flights resume operations from Patna airport

Patna: With improvement in visibility conditions, four — one Air India and three IndiGo — flights resumed operations from the city's Jayaprakash Narayan International Airport after a gap of nearly three months on Thursday.
While IndiGo has resumed three morning flights — 6E-494 on Delhi-Patna route, 6E-634 on Patna-Calcutta-Goa route and 6E-339 on Patna-Lucknow-Mumbai route, Air India has resumed the operation of an evening flight (AI- 415/416) that operates on Patna-Delhi route.
Flights are not allowed to land at the airport unless the visibility is at least 1,200 metres. Accordingly, all four airlines operating from the city airport — Air India, IndiGo, GoAir and Jet Airways — had cancelled or rescheduled their morning flights and added flights in the afternoon under their winter schedule from the first week of November. Changes in timings were also made for the evening flights.
17/02/17 Times of India

Thursday, February 16, 2017

Air India inducts A320 neo plane, 13 more this year

New Delhi: Air India today inducted the first Airbus 320 neo aircraft, that burns less fuel, into its fleet and plans to lease 13 more such planes this year.

The A320 neo (new engine option) aircraft is configured with 162 seats, including 12 in the business class, and it joins the national carrier's existing fleet of 66 A320 family planes.

After formally inducting the plane, which was given the traditional water canon salute at the international airport here, Air India CMD Ashwani Lohani said a total of 14 A320 neos would be inducted into the fleet this year.
The airline would also look at using these planes for international operations, he said.

Air India is the third one after IndiGo and GoAir to induct A320 neo aircraft. The national carrier is the first domestic operator of neo plane that is powered by CFM engine since the other two are using the aircraft having Pratt & Whitney engine.
16/02/17 PTI/Economic Times

Air India to inaugurate A320 neo with Delhi-Chennai route

New Delhi: The Delhi-Chennai route will be the first route on which Air India will deploy the first Airbus A320 New Engine Option (NEO) which joined its fleet on Thursday.

The first flight on the Delhi-Chennai route is expected towards the end of March and the airline plans to utilise the new aircraft to operate at least two daily flights on the route, senior airline officials said.

The delivery on Thursday was the first of the 14 Airbus A-320 NEO aircraft which AI will lease from Kuwait headquartered ALAFCO Aviation Lease And Finance Company. The new aircraft landed here on Thursday morning.
16/02/17 Business Line

Air India to add six new international destinations in 2017

New Delhi: In a major expansion drive, national passenger carrier Air India on Wednesday said it plans to add six new international destinations to its network in 2017.

"We are going to add six more international spots this year," said Ashwani Lohani, Chairman and Managing Director, Air India.

"This year we are going to connect Delhi with Tel Aviv and Delhi with Washington," Lohani said at the travel trade show — SATTE 2017 — which is being organised by UBM India at Pragati Maidan here from February 15 to 17.


According to Lohani, the airline is looking at connecting New Delhi with Stockholm or Copenhagen, Mumbai with Franfurt, and Mumbai with either Nairobi or Johannesburg.

Last year, the airline added four new international destinations including New Delhi-San Francisco, Delhi-Vienna, Delhi-Madrid and Ahmedabad-London.
16/02/17 IANS/Business Standard

Air India flight carrying Union Mininster Mahesh Sharma returns due to technical snag

New Delhi: Air India`s air borne flight from Delhi to Gorakhpur that had Minister of State (MoS) for Culture and Tourism Mahesh Sharma onboard, returned back to Delhi on Thursday due to a technical snag.

The Minister was travelling for an election campaign.It was an Alliance Air flight which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Air India.
16/02/17 Zee News

Security expert upset with the release of Air India bomb-maker

Vancouver: Inderjit Singh Reyat – the only person ever convicted in the Air India Bombings has been released from his halfway house and can now live with his family.

One security expert from SFU thinks this release was the wrong move. Andre Gerolymatos, a member of the Canadian Advisory Council on National Security, is not convinced that Reyat is a changed man.

“He was and probably still is a terrorist. He has not done anything to warrant this release. And of course, there’s always a danger that he will go back doing what he was doing before he went to prison because when he comes out he’s going to be a hero to these people because he did not rat on them, he did not turn them into police”.

Reyat is still subject to some conditions including not having extremist propaganda, and not possessing anything that could be used to build an explosive device.

“A terrorist who has really recanted would have also provided the authorities with a list of names and participants in terrorism. He has never done it.”

He says this gives the wrong message to those who would do us harm.

“They are sending a message to every terrorist out there and even criminals that says ‘no matter what you do, eventually you will come out. You don’t really have to do much to get out. You don’t have to renounce terrorism. You don’t have to give up your friends. Just hang in there long enough and some parole board will let you go.'”
16/02/17 News 1130

Shahnawaz talks to Air India’s boss about Gaya-Delhi flight

Gaya: Taking a dig at Congress-SP alliance in UP, former Union minister Syed Shahnawaz Hussain has said the SP has made the BJP's task of making Congress-mukt (Congress-free) India easier.
Shahnawaz, one of the BJP's star campaigners in UP and Uttarakhand, said Congress used to contest all the 400-plus seats in UP. Post alliance, the party is contesting around 100 seats, which means the country's largest state was already 75% freed of Congress. The rest of the job will be done by the people, he said.
Talking to TOI during his Gaya visit on Wednesday, Shahnawaz said he campaigned extensively in UP and Uttarakhand and was optimistic about his party's performance in the assembly elections in the two states. The BJP will comfortably win both the states, he claimed.
Attributing the alliance in UP to Akhilesh Yadav's political panic, Shahnawaz said the UP CM betrayed his nervousness by making the 'unholy' alliance. The BJP was contesting UP polls on the twin planks of governance and development, the areas where Akhilesh has miserably failed to deliver.
He also said he came to know about the imminent withdrawal of Gaya-Varanasi-Delhi flight on account of runway re-carpeting of the Varanasi airport. He has talked to the Air India CMD and the airline official has told him that all efforts would be made to retain air connectivity between Gaya and Delhi during the Varanasi runway repair.
16/02/17 Abdul Qadir/Times of India

Wednesday, February 15, 2017

Canada frees man convicted for 1985 Air India bombing that killed 329 people

Ottawa: The only person convicted in the 1985 Air India bombings that killed 331 people has been freed, according to Canada’s parole board.

Inderjit Singh Reyat had been ordered to live at a halfway house following his release from prison one year ago, after serving two decades behind bars.

That condition has now been lifted and Reyat may return to a normal life, including “living in a private residence”, parole board spokesman Patrick Storey told AFP in an email.

The Sikh immigrant from India was convicted of making bombs that were stuffed into luggage and planted on two planes leaving Vancouver, and of lying in court to cover for his co-accused.

Canadian security criticised for 'errors' over bomb that killed 329
 Read more
One bomb tore apart Air India Flight 182 as it neared the coast of Ireland, killing all 329 people aboard, including entire families.

The second exploded at Japan’s Narita airport, killing two baggage handlers as they transferred cargo to another Air India plane.

The blasts followed a crackdown on Sikhs fighting for an independent homeland, and those behind it were allegedly seeking revenge for the storming of the Golden Temple in Amritsar by Indian troops.

Reyat was working as a mechanic in westernmost Canada and purchased the dynamite, batteries and detonators used to construct the bombs.
15/02/17 AFP/Guardian

Senior Air India Pilot suspended for three months for failing breath analyser test

Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Wednesday suspended Air India's senior pilot Arvind Kathpalia for three months as he failed the Breath Analyser (BA) test. Reacting to the incident, the Air India Pilot Union wrote a letter to the DCGA saying it wasn’t satisfied with the action taken against the pilot.The DGCA rule of mandatory breath analyser test left all airline pilots and crew members in a state of shock where the figure showed a rise of 10 percent failing this safety test. The DGCA has also called three doctors of Air India in connection with Arvind Kathpalia’s case. On Wednesday, the DGCA had sent an email to Air India chairman to ground Arvind Kathpalia with an immediate action.

The Air India Pilots Union, the Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA) had sent a legal notice to the DGCA for not taking proper actions against pilots for violation of breath analyser test.

As per aviation regulator DGCA, 224 pilots and crew failed the test in 2016, whereas in the year 2015, 202 pilots and crew failed the test.
15/02/17 ANI/DNA

Boeing expects to maintain widebody lead in India

The manufacturer is anticipating some full-service carriers to soon undergo fleet replacements, and also seeing more domestic carriers looking to fly internationally, Boeing's senior vice-president of sales in Asia-Pacific and India Dinesh Keskar tells FlightGlobal.

He cites Jet Airways and Air India as two full-service carriers that could place new orders “within the next two to three years”, due to their aging Boeing widebody fleets.

Flight Fleets Analyzer shows that India has 58 Boeing widebodies in service, compared to just eight from Airbus.

It lists Jet with a fleet of 111 aircraft, of which 10 are 777-300ERs, aged between nine and 10 years old and taken from lessors. The carrier also has 10 787-9s on order.
14/02/17 Aaron Chong/Flight Global

India is willing to privatize its loss-making national airline

"We want Air India to survive," Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju said at the CNN Asia Business Forum in Bangalore on Monday. "We don't mind where it is, who runs it, as long as it serves the Indian people and our Indian skies."
The state-owned airline has been plagued by inefficiency and enormous losses for years. It received a $4.5 billion bailout from the government in 2012.
"I can't commit the taxpayers' money for eternity to keep it going," Raju said. "Whether it's owned by government, owned by [someone else], we'd like it to survive."
Air travel in India is growing at a furious rate. The country is forecast to overtake the U.K. as the world's third largest aviation market within the next decade.
14/02/17 Rishi Iyengar/CNN Money

Tuesday, February 14, 2017

Air India to get its first fuel-efficient A320Neo aircraft this week

After a delay of about one month, Air India is all set to induct the first A320Neo aircraft into its fleet this week, which will make it the third domestic carrier to have this latest single-aisle plane from Airbus.  At present, two domestic carriers –IndiGo and GoAir — operate the fuel-efficient A320Neo planes in their fleet.
The national carrier has plans to induct a total of 29 A320 new engine option (Neo) into its fleet by March 2019.
While Air India has already tied up with three lessors — ALAFCO, GECAPS and CIT — for leasing of 22 planes, the process to select a bidder for the remaining seven such planes is underway.  “Our first Airbus A320Neo plane of the 14 such aircraft being leased from ALAFCO of Kuwait will arrive here on Wednesday from Toulouse,” an Air India official said today.
The induction of the new fuel-efficient aircraft into its fleet is aimed at augmenting the capacity in the domestic market which is growing at a rate of over 20 per cent for nearly two years now.
13/02/17 PTI/The Financial Express

From May, Air India to start 4 flights a week between Chandigarh, Bangkok

Air India informed the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Monday that it was going to start flights between Chandigarh and Bangkok four days in a week from May onwards for which the flight schedule was yet to be finalised. However, as planned earlier, Air India is yet to take a final call about starting of flights connecting Chandigarh and Singapore.
The information was submitted before a division bench comprising Justices S S Saron and Darshan Singh during the resumed hearing of a public interest litigation filed by the Mohali Industries Association.
Appearing for the Air India, advocate Sunil Kumar Sahore submitted that Air India was in the process of acquiring more aircraft but the supply of aircraft had been delayed at the end of the manufacturing company by over a month.
Taking note of the submissions, the court directed the convening of a meeting within 10 days between the General Manager (operations) of Air India, representatives of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Civil Aviation and the Intelligence Bureau to sort out the issues about “Hub and Spoke Policy” of Air India. Under “Hub and Spoke Policy”, Air India connects various cities in India with metro cities like Delhi and Mumbai before flying the international passengers abroad.
Also, taking note of the other connected petition filed by the Amritsar Vikas Manch seeking resumption of non-stop international Air India flights from Amritsar International Airport to London, Birmingham and other countries, the court directed Air India to file reply as to why the international flights cannot take off from Delhi to land in Amritsar and then take off directly for international destinations. The petitioner had submitted that as per “Hub and Spoke policy”, at present international passengers are taken by Air India flight to Delhi and they are made to wait there for even 10 hours before taking the next connecting flight to international destinations. The same issue was also raised by the Mohali Industries Association in case of the Chandigarh International Airport.
14/02/17 The Indian Express

Air India refuses to let New York-bound techie’s motorised wheelchair on board

Suffering from spinal muscular atrophy, a physical condition that has rendered him immobile, Pratyush Nalam never faced too many hardships, thanks to his battery-operated wheelchair.
Till Sunday happened. The 23-year-old techie was left helpless and hapless upon landing at the John F Kennedy International Airport in New York after he discovered that his motorised travel aid had been held back by Delhi airport's security staff without his knowledge.
Nalam, an IIT-Bombay graduate who reached the US to join Microsoft in Seattle where he has landed a job after completing MS in computer science from Columbia University, flew from Chennai to New York via Delhi on two Air India flights — AI-43 and AI 101.
While the wheelchair made it to the flight from Chennai to Delhi (AI-43), it was surprisingly not loaded on to the aircraft (AI 101) from Delhi to New York.
The security personnel at the airport did not allow the wheelchair on the flight, ostensibly because the batteries had not been taken out.
Speaking to Mumbai Mirror, an enraged Nalam said, "No, you simply cannot leave behind a passenger's motorised wheelchair halfway across the world just because you 'think' the batteries haven't been disconnected. The least you could do was to contact the passenger before the flight took off."
Nalam said that the motorised wheelchair was his sole support for moving independently.
"It is more than legs for me. Do you leave behind your aircraft's landing gear because it didn't clear security?" he asked.
14/02/17 Aditya Anand/Mumbai Mirror/The Times Of India

Hindu, Sikh bodies write to PM on ‘halal’ meat in Air India

Over six organisations of Indians, including those of Sikhs and Gujaratis, in Australia have sent a letter of protest against Air India addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Union minister of civil aviation Ashok Gajapathi Raju, alleging that the national carrier was offering only 'halal' meat to its passengers.
Citing the menu of the national carrier, they have said that while the "moslem meal" mentioned that all non-vegetarian items were "halal" and did not contain pork. For the Hindu meal (non-veg), it mentioned that the food did not contain any pork or beef products, but it did not confirm that it was "halal" or not.
"How clever. It doesn't confirm whether the non-veg Hindu meal has 'non-halal' meat. This confirms our doubt that it does contain 'halal' meat. The fact has been substantiated by persons who have travelled by Air India, claiming that even the air hostesses confirmed to them privately that 'halal' meat was being served in the Hindu non-veg meal", the protest letter reads.
14/02/17 IP Singh/The Times Of India

AISATS COOLPORT launched at Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport

Air India SATS Airport Services (AISATS), India’s premier airport services company, launches AISATS COOLPORT, India’s first integrated on-airport perishable cargo handling centre, at Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru (KIAB).

The 11,000 square metre state of the art facility built at a total project cost of INR 48 crores, was inaugurated by R V Deshpande, Minister for Large & Medium Industries & Infrastructure Development, Government of Karnataka.

The launch of AISATS COOLPORT will meet the extensive handling requirements of perishable cargo products such as pharmaceuticals, fruits, vegetables, flowers, meat and sea food, through its future ready infrastructure with capability to handle 40,000 tonnes per annum, customised cold storage solutions comprising of 17 dedicated cold rooms with temperature ranging from -25 to 250C, Refrigerated Queue Lanes with a temperature range of 2 to 80C for unitised shipments and end-to-end cold chain solutions including refrigerated trucking service, indigenously developed cool trolley and thermal blanket, as well as temperature controlled container handling.
14/02/17 Stat Times

Centre wants Air India to survive, says Ashok Gajapathi Raju

Bengaluru: Union Minister for Civil Aviation Ashok Gajapathi Raju today said the Centre wants Air India to survive and does not mind who runs it as long as it serves the Indian people.

"If it is left like what it is, it is bound to die.... we want Air India to survive, we don't mind where it is, who runs it. As long as it serves the Indian people and Indian skies, we are happy," Raju said.

He was responding to a question regarding the privatisation of Air India, during a conversation with CNN's Richard Quest at CNN Asia Business Forum tonight here.
Stating that Air India is a "nice" airline and in the last two years it has not added to its losses, Raju said, "....I like that Airline, I like it to survive, I would love it to survive, but I cant commit the tax payers money for eternity."
Responding to a query, what is the time schedule from now to eternity, he said "...some thing has to be done about it, the sooner the better. We would like it to survive whether it is owned by the government....."
14/02/17 PTI/Economic Times

Monday, February 13, 2017

Air India all set to welcome Airbus 320 neo aircraft

Air India is all set to induct the first Airbus 320 neo aircraft which will be delivered on February 16, making it the third domestic carrier to have this latest single-aisle plane from Airbus.

Air India ordered total seven Airbus 320 neo aircraft to increase more strength in its fleet. Airbus 320 neo aircraft is very passenger friendly aircraft. It is not only fuel efficient but it has more seats capacity compared to Airbus 320. We will deploy it on Delhi to Chennai route by March,? said an Air India spokesperson.

According to the data, Air India has total 24 Airbus 320 aircraft in its fleet.

Airbus 320 aircraft is very old and now it is time to replace most of 320 aircraft from Air India fleets.

At present, two domestic carriers, IndiGo and GoAir operate the fuel-efficient Airbus 320 neo planes in their fleet.
13/02/17 ANI/DNA

Air India lesson for oil merger

The government should be cautious with its plan to merge state-owned oil companies such as ONGC and IOC, analysts said.

They pointed out at the botched-up merger of Air India and Indian Airlines, which resulted in the national carrier looking for government support to survive.

The government should weigh all options before moving ahead, they added.

"Merging state-owned oil companies is a significant challenge," former petroleum secretary Saurabh Chandra said while referring to the Air India-Indian Airlines merger. "The different work culture and hierarchical structures of the airlines were not taken into consideration while merging them and this botched up the affairs."

While presenting the Union budget, finance minister Arun Jaitley said, "We seek opportunities to strengthen our central public-sector enterprises through consolidation, mergers and acquisitions."
12/02/17 R.Suryamurthy/The Telegraph

Converting Air India debt to equity is an idea that can be worse than Vijay Mallya’s Kingfisher Airlines

Given how large debt hobble companies, it is not surprising Air India’s chief Ashwani Lohani has been quoted as saying the airline will beat everyone if its debt was removed. What the airline’s chief does not talk of, though, is how his rivals would do if their debt was also removed. What is more relevant, though, is that after getting R24,000 crore of money free from the government by way of equity over the past five years—amazingly, the Competition Commission of India whose job is to ensure a level playing field didn’t think this distorted it—the airline continues to chalk up huge, though reduced, losses; as compared to R5,859 crore in FY15, these were R3,587 crore in FY16.

What is worrying, going by a Mint news report, the government seems to be backing a move to convert part of the airline’s debt—the newspaper doesn’t say how much—into equity; the airline’s short-term working capital debt is R28,000 crore and the total debt R50,000 crore. Depending on how much of the debt is converted, this could make the airline profitable, but the government has to think of how much of this money is likely to be recouped—and if Air India’s debt can be converted into equity, why not do this for everyone in all sectors? Since public sector banks will be left holding tens of thousands of crore of Air India’s debt in the form of equity, both the airline chief and the aviation minister should testify—in Parliament—that they feel the share price will soar by so much it will allow the banks to recoup a sufficient part of their original debt. Since this will not be the first time Air India has failed miserably in achieving fancy turnaround targets set out by well-paid consultants, the government has to be careful before embarking upon another misadventure.
13/02/17 The Financial Express

Royal Mess: How Many More Times Will the Govt Bail Air India Out?

The trouble with socialism, it has been said, is that you run out of money. Well, not in India, or so it seems. The truism, widely attributed to Margaret Thatcher, has been set up for a reality check.
The context is Air India. The national carrier finds itself, yet again, in the “rescue me” queue. This time around – after sinking public monies and staking sovereign guarantees – the government is looking at an “innovative” bailout.
The innovation: the conversion of Rs 28,000 crore – out of the Rs 46,570 crore that the airline owes 31 institutions – into equity, inducting professionals with proven skills, and listing of the airline.
Simplicity can be seductive. Effectively, lenders are expected to forsake interest earnings for a slice of ownership and the promise of dividend – ownership in a flailing enterprise ranked the world’s third worst-performing in 2016, and returns from an airline that has reported net losses of Rs 6,279 crore, Rs 5,859 crore and Rs 3,836 crore in the past three years.
13/02/17 Shankkar Aiyar/The Quint

Sunday, February 12, 2017

Snags after take-offs force Air India flight to return twice in seven hours

Mumbai: Two Air India pilots flying on the Mumbai-Jodhpur-Jaipur-Mumbai route were forced to return and make precautionary landings twice within a span of seven hours on Saturday, as wheels of two A320 Classic aircraft—termed "lethal, snag-prone" by a pilots' union—failed to retract post take-offs.
For the past two years, an AI pilots' union has been demanding that A320 Classics, which are over 20 years old, be grounded.
It all started around 11 am when the pilots of AI 645 faced a technical problem soon after they took off from Mumbai. "Since the undercarriage assembly of the A320 classic couldn't be retracted, the aircraft had to return as per standard operating procedures," said a source. Given that the 168-seater aircraft was loaded with fuel to safely last the journey, an overweight landing was carried out at the Mumbai airport. Then the aircraft was grounded.
The passengers were moved to another aircraft, again an A320 classic. The second aircraft departed at 12.45 pm, landed safely in Jodhpur and then departed for Jaipur and landed there safely too without any problem around 4 pm. By now, flight AI 645 was three-and-a-half hours behind schedule.
12/02/17 Times of India

Air India suspends bookings for Gaya-Delhi flight from March 1

Gaya: Even as the Gaya MP Hari Manjhi's demand for additional flight on the Gaya-Delhi route has not found favour with the civil aviation ministry, the Air India, in a surprise move, suspended booking tickets on this route for March 1 onwards travel.
The AI operates a flight (433) on the Gaya-Delhi route in the afternoon, the only air link between the seat of Buddha's enlightenment and the national capital. After taking off from Gaya, the flight stops at Varanasi.
Confirming the suspension of passenger booking, a Bodh Gaya based IA official said it does not mean withdrawal of services from the Gaya-Varanasi-Delhi route. The official attributed the decision to the proposed recarpeting of the Varanasi airport and the airport's non-availability for landing and take-off for the better part of the day.
The airline official said the matter is likely to be sorted out within a week. Allaying apprehensions, the airline official said some way out will be find out by rescheduling the flight and, if need be, Varanasi can be skipped to make it a direct flight between Gaya and New Delhi.
Sources say on account of the proposed repair/recarpeting of the Varanasi airport, the runway at Varanasi will be available only for six hours (6-9am and 6-9pm). For 18 hours, the airport will display notice alerting aircraft pilots against hazards.
12/02/17 Abdul Qadir/Times of India

AI on expansion mode, Eastern Region to get more flights

With the induction of more Dreamliners to its fleet this year, national carrier Air India is planning to start more direct international flights, including one from Kolkata,” AI Chairman and Managing Director Ashwani Lohani said here today.

After an internal meeting at the AI Headquarter here, Lohani said that “Air India is set to enhance its connectivity in the Eastern Region from its summer schedule starting in a phased manner from March-end this year.”

The national carrier would launch a thrice-a-week Kolkata-Bangkok flight operated by the state-of-the-art Airbus A320 Neo aircraft in May.
Air India would also reinstate the day-return Kolkata-Bangalore flight in addition to the existing flight to Bangalore from the city.

“The AI, which is set to induct 34 aircraft this year, is on an expansion mode driven by its policy Fly More Fill More directly connecting Delhi with Washington shortly and also launching a Dreamliner flight to Copenhagen later in the year.

Besides, Air India would start a flight from Mumbai to Guwahati and from Mumbai to Ranchi and start a service on the Delhi-Guwahati-Dibrugarh sector, Lohani said.
11/02/17  DefenceAviationPost

10,000 vie for 150 Air India posts

Kolkata: More than 10,000 youths queued up at the Air India office at Kolkata airport on Saturday to vie for the 150-odd posts for loafers that the carrier had advertised. Chaos reigned all day as applicants jostled to submit their applications. No untoward incident was, however, reported as the airline had arranged for adequate security presence in the light of AI chairman and MD Ashwani Lohani's trip to the city.
12/02/17 Times of India

Saturday, February 11, 2017

Probe who is packing buffet food: Air India crew

Mumbai:  Air India crew members on Friday expressed displeasure over the airline's decision to issue a general circular about breakfast buffet etiquette instead of first probing who took away food from the buffet table of a London hotel to be eaten later.
On February 6, an AI assistant general manager (AGM) issued a circular to all crew members titled, 'A buffet is not a take away'. A hotel in London where AI crew stay during stopovers had complained about some crew members regularly packing food from breakfast presumably to eat later. The AGM warned the offenders of serious disciplinary action.
Taking offence over the circular, AI crew members sent an email to the AGM. "Based on a mere three line email from a hotel staff, you (AGM) issued a circular hurting sentiments of majority of crew members. Have you even questioned them (the hotel) on the credibility of such email or even asked for any specific information pertaining to this matter/incident? Obviously if you had, you won't be publishing a general circular to us but would taking action against such crew members, or maybe you are aware of such 'handful' of crew but your department is not able take any action against them due to some constraints or limitations," the letter said.
11/02/17 Times of India

Friday, February 10, 2017

Air India eyes Rs 300 crore operating profit this fiscal

Mumbai: Air India expects to post a higher operating profit of Rs 300 crore in the current financial year as the national airline continues with efforts to revive its fortunes amid stiff competition.
The state-owned carrier, which is surviving on a Rs 30,000 crore bailout package, had recorded an operating profit of Rs 105 crore in the last financial year ended March 2016. This was the first time in a decade that the airline remained operationally profitable.
A senior official said Air India's board at its meeting here today discussed and approved the carrier's Budget for the next financial year.
Going by current estimates, Air India is expected to post an operating profit of Rs 300 crore in the current fiscal and a higher amount of Rs 530 crore in 2017-18, the official said.
The expected operating profit of Rs 300 crore this fiscal ending March 2017 would be more than double than registered in the previous financial year.
Despite a debt of Rs 46,570 crore, including Rs 15,900 crore on account of aircraft acquisition, Air India managed to report an operating profit in 2015-16.
In the Union Budget 2017-18, the airline has been allocated Rs 1,800 crore as part of the Rs 30,231 crore financial bailout package.
09/02/17 Times of India

Air India's balance sheet to be restructured and debt reduced: Jayant Sinha

Mangaluru:  Air India's balance sheet has to be restructured and debt reduced as part of transformation of the national carrier, Union minister of state for civil aviation Jayant Sinha said at an ASSOCHAM event in New Delhi.
"Air India's balance sheethas to be restructured and debt reduced ... the other issue is that corporate governance and professional management need to be put in place. Besides, it has to be seen how best use can be made of the non-core assets of Air India. Also work on route optimization is underway," said Sinha addressing ASSOCHAM's 96th annual session.
The overall transformation of Air India is being done with a combination of steps which have started yielding results. The carrier which was running into losses has started giving operating profits. "This year again Air India would generate operating profits," he expressed confidence.
On the issue of renaming some of the airports, the minister said, "On the proposal of naming the airports is under consideration of the cabinet."
As part of the expansion of the aviation sector, Sinha said, "Work on as many as 43 new airports is underway." The bids for Jaipur and Ahmedabad airports are being called.
09/02/17 Jaideep Shenoy/Times of India

Air India breath evasion test: 3 doctors to probe case against grounded Captain Kathpalia

New Delhi: Director General Civil Aviation on Friday called 3 doctors of Air India in off-rostered Executive Director Operation Captain Arvind Kathpalia case to carry out further inquiry against him. The Indian aviation authority will take disciplinary action if it finds more concrete evidence against Captain Arvind Kathpalia of evading breath test.
Yesterday, there was news that a four-member panel will be set up to look into the Captains matter who has been evading the breath test since past 15 days.
As per Hindustan Times, the DGCA had sent an email to Air India chairman to ground Arvind Kathpalia with immediate effect. The Air India Pilots Union Indian, the Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA) had sent a legal notice to the DGCA for not taking proper actions against pilots for violation of Breath Analyzer (BA) test.
On Thursday, news agency ANI had reported on the same incident that the test is conducted to ensure that the pilots are not drunk before entering their cockpits.
10/02/17 India.com

Air India operations head comes under close scrutiny of DGCA

New Delhi: Taking note of the allegations made against Air India’s operations head Capt A K Kathpalia, DGCA is gathering information to ascertain whether he had skipped compulsory pre-flight medical test on multiple occasions. Following the regulator’s orders, Air India has already taken him off flying duties after he skipped the pre-flight medical test while operating a flight on January 19.
A senior DGCA official today said Kathpalia did not take medical test either before or after the flight on that day.
Amid allegations that he had skipped the mandatory medical tests on various occasions, the aviation regulator will be gathering medical information from the doctors who carry out such tests.
This is to check whether Kathpalia had skipped the tests on earlier occasions also, according to the DGCA official.
10/02/17 Reuters/Financial Express

Air India to take delivery of four more dreamliners this year

National carrier Air India is scheduled to take delivery of the four remaining dreamliners -- Boeing 787-8 planes -- this year with the last one to be delivered in October. The airline has acquired 23 dreamliners during the period from September 2012 to January 9, 2017, Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha told the Lok Sabha even as he acknowledged the aircraft "have experienced technical reliability issues" since induction into the fleet. "One B787-8 aircraft will be delivered in July 2017, two B787-8 aircraft in August 2017 and one B787-8 aircraft will be delivered in October 2017," Sinha said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha. According to him, the technical reliability issues do not adversely affect the safety of the airplane due to the system design and in-built system redundancy. "Further, regular improvements are incorporated as a part of reliability enhancement process," he added. In a separate written reply, Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju said the system reliability issues on the dreamliners are caused by airplane software as well as failures of some of the components of airplane and engine.
09/02/17 PTI/moneycontrol

Substantial Progress in Operational and Financial Areas by Air India

Delhi: Air India continuously monitors the market developments, performance of its flights and carries out studies with an objective to withdraw, to introduce new routes or increase or decrease frequency on existing routes. Air India has withdrawn flights which were not meeting their fuel and variable cost. However, Air India analyses the reasons for the losses and based on the strategic importance of such services to its network arrives at a decision whether to continue or withdraw such services. While determining the desirability or otherwise of discontinuing services of loss making services, Air India takes into account the revenue contributions made by the subject services to its other services by way of feeder traffic. As such non-profitability of any one flight is not taken in isolation as the sole barometer of its financial performance.
The Government had approved a Turnaround Plan (TAP) / Financial restructuring Plan (FRP) for operational and financial turnaround of Air India.
09/02/17 Business Standard

Air India to Announce New Mumbai-Tel Aviv Route During Modi’s Visit to Israel

Air India is in the process of inaugurating a new Mumbai-Tel Aviv route, which is expected to be announced during Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s upcoming visit to Israel, The Times of India reported Thursday.

The flight will take a circuitous route to avoid flying over countries that do not have relations with Israel, and will therefore take seven rather than five hours.

“Saudi Arabia does not allow planes to fly to Israel from over its airspace. So AI is drawing up a circuitous route to avoid overflying countries that have such restrictions for Israel-bound planes,” a source with knowledge of the expected announcement told the Times.

El Al, Israel’s national airline, currently operates a route between Tel Aviv and Mumbai, though its jets are barred from flying over several Islamic and Gulf countries, including Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates. El Al jets must therefore fly southwards over the Red Sea towards the Horn of Africa and then head east to Mumbai, lengthening the trip to eight hours. In contrast, Air India may overfly Saudi Arabia, though it would need to take a detour over the Red Sea so as not to fly directly into Israel. Its flights may therefore be a little shorter.
09/02/17 TheTower.org

Air India revival plans: Banks may have to get ready for more red ink on their balance sheets

 As newspaper headlines this morning scream about corporate governance issues at IT bellweather Infosys, perhaps the government needs to look out for its own airline, Air India. For several months now, Air India’s board has been taking decisions without any independent directors - apart from functional directors, the two government nominees seem to be the only voices of sanity in the board meetings since last summer, when the five independent directors retired. Whether there are corporate governance issues at Air India a la Infosys is something the experts need to ponder over. We are bringing up this point to show how Air India’s owner, the government, is going around in circles, clueless about which leaking tap to fix in its rush to keep the airline under its fold.

Someone needs to tell the Modi government to stop protecting Air India from possible privatisation, stop preening about its maiden operating profit (which was a first after the merger of the two erstwhile airlines in 2015-16), control the urge to pump in yet more of taxpayers’ money into this black hole – and address the basic issues plaguing the national carrier first.

If after months of back-and-forth the government is still undecided about who to nominate as independent directors on the airline’s board, is it all serious about making Air India self-sustainable? Perhaps the attempt should be to shutter the airline now, when it has shown at least one year of operational profit, instead of waiting endlessly for the bleeding behemoth to shudder and pass out.
10/02/17 Sindhu Bhattacharya/First Post

AI Express defers Tehran flight plan on US-Iran uncertainties

Air India Express has deferred plan to launch direct flight to Tehran amid uncertainties over the current US administration's stance towards Iran as fresh sanctions could hurt the airline's operations.
The carrier -- the low cost arm of national carrier Air India -- was preparing to start Tehran flight this year as part of international expansion plans.
"We don't know what is going to be the policy of the Trump administration towards Iran. If sanctions are re-imposed, there could be an issue in getting permission from the US banks for operating the aircraft in that territory," a highly placed source told .
As of now, the plan to launch flight to Iran stands deferred, the source said.
Since some Air India planes are financed through a loan from Exim Bank of the US, the latter's approval would be required before operating flights to Iran. In case there are sanctions, clearance would be a difficult proposition.
The plan to launch Tehran flight was decided after the US, under the then President Barack Obama, had eased the sanctions imposed on Iran after striking a nuclear deal. However, there are concerns that the current American regime led by President Donald Trump could impose fresh sanctions on the Islamic Republic.
09/02/17 PTI/The Times Of India