Civil aviation minister Praful Patel, who held this portfolio in the first government of the United Progressive Alliance, too, has so far followed a liberal open-sky policy, sharply increasing the number of seats offered to West Asian airlines on flights connecting India. According to internal figures available with airlines, the total number of seats offered to West Asian carriers rose from 2.5 million in 2004 to 7.5 million last year.
As revealed by the airline in response to a Right to Information application, Nacil paid Rs 93.29 crore (Rs 932.9 million) towards salaries and expenses to the agencies, which provided expatriate pilots to Air India and Air India Express last year.
The Boeing 737-800 Air India Express flight LX536, which was scheduled to leave at 12.10 pm (local time) on Tuesday, was delayed by nine hours after the 'tyre glitch' forced the pilot to abort the take-off.
Launch on 10 sectors in the winter schedule.
By cutting international flights, Indian firms forefeit market share.
After domestic private air-carriers, Jet Airways and Kingfisher launched their all-economy services to tap low-cost travellers, state-run Air India may now enter the no-frill segment in the domestic sector to beat the downturn in the aviation industry.
'If you are selling family silver, and if you are not getting the right value, then what is the point?'
It's too big to digest as one whole airline.'
Maverick entrepreneur Tony Fernandes, who built low-cost carrier AirAsia to be a formidable player in South-East Asia, is prepared for a price battle in the Indian skies.
GoAir recently introduced return zero fare tickets under 'GoHappy Fares' plan, while low-cost arm of Air India, Air India Express offered domestic travellers a fare of Rs 99 plus taxes. Air Deccan, which has been taken over by Kingfisher Airlines and Spicejet are already in the race offering such sops. For AI Express, which has been primarily operating on international routes, this is an effort to reach out to the domestic market.
Jet Airways launched direct flights to the Kuwait and Bahrain, thereby meeting the rising demand for connectivity with Gulf. It is the first private airline to fly to Gulf.
According to airline sources, the software, which is of Atlanta-based SITA company, was not functioning approximately from 3 am to 9 am on Saturday. Consequently, boarding passes could not be issued at major airports across the world and various flights were delayed.
National carrier Air India's strategy to cut full-service flights and replace them with low-cost services by Air India Express on its West Asian routes has backfired. The passenger load factor of the flag carrier's low-cost subsidiary for West Asia has fallen a steep 11 percentage points over the last six months as a result of competition from new low-cost entrants and fare wars by incumbents. The PLF on the Dubai-India route fell from 83 to 78 per cent in the same period.
National Aviation Company, the name of the proposed merged entity of Air India and Indian Airlines, plans to launch a value carrier to take on the challenge from JetLite and Air Deccan.
Air India Express, a new low-cost airline, and a subsidiary of Air India, is aimed at Keralites working in the Gulf.
The overall responsibility of the low-cost carrier, Air India Express, would be that of Joint Managing Director Vishwapati Trivedi, with P P Singh being appointed its Chief Operating Officer. Both of them would be based in Delhi, sources said.
Indonesia's foreign ministry could lodge a formal protest over the incident, Transport Minister Hatta Rajasa reportedly said.
Eyeing potential business opportunity, Boeing Corporation is planning to approach the proposed Tata-Singapore Airlines.
Air India Express along with SpiceJet and Jet Airways is one of the three main targets for Boeing in the country as it promotes its new 737 MAX aircraft, which is scheduled to enter commercial operations in 2017.
The 1.4 million non-resident Indian community in the UAE, which includes 200,000 Mangaloreans are expected to benefit from the new service, which was launched on Tuesday. \n
Passengers flying by Air India Express from Qatar to India will have to shell out more with ticket price of the no-frills carrier shooting up by nearly 40 per cent due to holiday season.
They defeated Maharashtra 3-1 in extra time in the final.
Rain during the last two days forced the organisers to postpone Monday's matches and reschedule the quarter-final league in the National Football Championship.
Government officials say a shareholding structure has been mandated to discourage non-serious bidders from accessing Air India's data room
According to preliminary information memorandum, Air India's new owner will be asked to list the company in some time
According to officials, more clarity might be required with regard to foreign fund managers in the context of Air India divestment.
V Thulasidas, Air India Chairman and Managing Director, has announced a bonanza package of 2,000 additional seats comprising seven additional flights from Kerala to destinations in the Gulf and Middle East.
In what could be the first, state-sponsored airline company in the country, the Kerala cabinet on Wednesday gave an in-principle approval for setting up an aviation company in the joint sector to operate international services.
The Middle East-India route is hotting up in December as several airlines are busy raising the number of flights.
Flights from Mumbai and Kerala will also have to transit through these routes due to restrictions
A 3-0 victory over Delhi 3-0 gave Kerala their second victory in the three-team quarter-final league in the National football championship.
Abhishek Yadav scored a hat trick as Maharashtra overcame Services 5-3.
Another reason working in Air India's favour now is the government's plan to clean up part of the airline's burgeoning debt from its books - a major deterrent for investors when it attempted divestment the previous time.
Alliance Air, a subsidiary of Indian Airlines, is facing the brunt of pilot exodus with as many as 29 pilots leaving the airlines for greener pastures during the current year.
The national carrier's capacity is expected to grow by 9.2 per cent with the addition of six more Boeing 787 Dreamliners to the fleet, they said. As of February this year, the airline has 13 Dreamliners in its fleet out of a total order of 27.
The Kerala government has requested the centre to permit Air Arabia operate its flights from the state to the Gulf sector, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said on Tuesday.
A 2-0 victory gave Maharashtra their second victory in the Group III quarter-final league and a place in the semi-finals of the Santosh Trophy National Football Championship.
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