Routes abandoned by long-haul Gulf carriers like Emirates and Etihad have given Indian low-cost carriers an opening. But can they compete with Air Arabia?
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has recommended giving financial autonomy to Air India Charters Ltd (AICL), the company which runs Air India Express, the low-cost brand of Air India operating in the international sector.
At least 158 people are feared dead after an Air India Express aircraft from Dubai, carrying 173 passengers, overshot the runway while landing at the Mangalore airport in Karnataka on Saturday morning.
The regulator will audit an airport's ground facilities, its turnaround and general safety procedures, and the movement of vehicles. Underground facilities, ground servicing equipment, passenger boarding bridges, condition of the apron, marking and lighting, and availability of foreign object dustbin bins will be checked.
AI Express operates 195 weekly flights, mostly from Kerala.
Move will help AI Express reduce costs and increase fleet utilisation.
Reduction in fuel price was supposed to bring back good luck for Indian airlines. But with the global spread of coronavirus, airlines are being forced to rejig their network, cut flights, and delay launches.
Renu Mittal takes a hard look the two years of the United Progressive Alliance government.
The families of victims of the Air India Express crash in Mangalore last year are entitled to a minimum compensation of Rs 75 lakh each, the Kerala high court held on Wednesday.
The Air India board has cleared a proposal for sending its pilots on deputation to its budget arm, Air India Express, which has been facing shortage of commanders for some time now.
Nearly four months after an air tragedy claimed 158 lives when an Air India Express crashed near Bajpe airport in Mangalore, the agency appointed to settle compensation claims has so far succeeded in settling only 11 claims.
Amid continuing uncertainty over the fate of the national carrier, an official said there is also need for funds to restart operations of 12 grounded narrow-body planes.
In the 18 months that Arvind Jadhav has been the chairman of state-owned Air India, he has faced more than one crisis.
The plan includes expanding the number of flights of AI Express from 204 a week to over 250 a week with a new thrust on West Asia.
Air India Express, the international low-cost arm of National Aviation Company of India Ltd, has finalised a blueprint for the launch of cheap-fare domestic routes. The plan includes shifting base from Mumbai to Kochi, rebranding to Express India and improving the utilisation of its 21-strong fleet from 9 hours to 12.5 hours daily.
Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan jointly flagged off the inaugural Air India Express flight, carrying 186 passengers to Abu Dhabi.
None of the passengers on board the ill-fated Air India Express flight, which crashed at Mangalore Airport on May 22, were travelling on forged passports, a senior Dubai official has said.
Air India Board is likely to approve the appointments in four key managerial positions, which would put an extra annual burden of over Rs 4 crore (Rs 40 million).
An 'incorrect' flight path, missing the touchdown point, a brake failure, pilots' fatigue and judgmental error are various reasons being cited by technical experts for the plane crash at Mangalore. The Boeing 737-800 of the Air India Express on Saturday overshot the runway and its 90 metre long spillover area, plunged into a ravine and burst into flames, claiming 158 lives.
The cancellation of certain frequencies to the Gulf sector was done to rightsize the airline due to commercial and operational reasons.
On Monday, the five independent directors of the company -- Anand Mahindra of Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry's secretary general Amit Mitra, Ambuja Realty chairman Harsh Neotia and former air chief Fali H Major -- met Prime Minister's principal secretary T K A Nair and reportedly expressed their anguish over the appointments being made by the company.
In a bid to restructure its top hierarchy, Air India plans to hire some senior executives, including a Chief Strategy Officer and a Chief Operating Officer for its low-cost international arm Air India Express, airline sources said on Tuesday.
Cash-strapped Air India is in the process of finalising appointments to three key managerial positions which would put an extra annual burden of about Rs 3.5 crore (Rs 350 million) annually, sources said.
The crucial devices of Air India Express aircraft that crashed on Saturday, including the Cockpit Voice Recorder, which could provide vital clues were brought to New Delhi on Monday night to analyse the cause of the accident that claimed 158 lives.
A last-minute change in his travel plan saved Congress Member of Legislative Assembly from Kerala A P Abdullakutty from meeting the fate of 158 passengers who died when an Air India Express plane from Dubai crashed near Mangalore airport on Saturday morning. Abdullakutty initially planned to catch the ill-fated flight to Mangalore since he had to reach his home town Kannur urgently. But he was a bit late to reach the Dubai International Airport and changed his ticket.
Bodies of 104 victims of the Air India Express plane crash have been identified and handed over to relatives, a top official said on Sunday. "A total of 104 bodies have been identified and handed over to relatives. Fifty four bodies are yet to be identified," Karnataka Director General of Police Ajai Kumar Singh said at the crash site. Earlier, Deputy Inspector General of Mangalore Police Gopal B Hosur had said 115 bodies had been identified so far.
A team of experts arrived in Mangalore on Sunday morning from Hyderabad to conduct DNA tests to help in identification of bodies charred beyond recognition in the Air India Express plane crash
As many as 163 persons were feared dead when an Air India Express flight from Dubai with 173 on board crashed and caught fire on Saturday as it overshot the newly-built runway while landing at the Mangalore airport. There were seven survivors who are being treated in various hospitals in the city.
An Air India plane with around 160 passengers on board overshot a runway on landing in Mangalore on Saturday and burst into flames. Police said that there could be several causalties. Emergency services have been pressed into action at the site of the accident.
Staffers of the Air Traffic Control made two shocking revelations on day one of the proceedings in the Mangalore air crash case -- the flight did not land on schedule and the radar at the airport was non-functional at the time of the crash.
'We are going to have plane crashes left, right and centre.'
Abhay Pathak, Air India's regional manager, said so far, only one flight to India -- IC 968 Sharjah-Trivandrum-Trichy-Chennai -- has been cancelled.
Air India is arranging for grief counselors in an attempt to help the family members of the victims of the Air India crash overcome the tragedy. One 'Angel' -- a Special Assistance Team member of Air India -- is also being attached to each survivor and to the families of the deceased victims to assist them in any possible way. There were eight survivors in the crash of the Air India Express from Dubai, in which 152 passengers and the six-member crew were killed.
The first thing Omar Farook asked the doctors treating him how long it will take for him to recover. He was keen to join his first job that he had landed in Dubai before he took the ill-fated Air India Express flight to Mangalore on Saturday.
A major tragedy struck at Mangalore on Saturday morning when an Air India Express flight, rom Dubai crashed when it was about to land. Karnataka Home Minister V S Acharya said that when he last got the information, 160 persons were feared dead in the crash.
The plane was flying low and just five minutes before the landing it overshot the runway and burst into flames. In all there were 137 adult passengers on the flight, 23 children and 6 crewmembers.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday condoled the loss of lives in the Air India Express flight crash in Mangalore and announced a financial assistance of Rs 2 lakh each for the families of those killed.
Air India is likely to rejig its team of directors shortly in view of retirement of some of its top officials.
'The lay of the runway is not at all safe.' 'Even operating a 737 is dangerous there.' 'During the monsoon, they must ban landing on runway 10.'
Etihad wants to control a domestic carrier that can give it access to over 45 cities in India from where it can bring traffic to its hub in Abu Dhabi and beyond.
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