Travelling from South India to Kashmir in December was magical for Ganesh Nadar as he feasted his eyes on the beauty of the snow-capped Himalayas.
Taking hoax bomb-threat messages and calls seriously, the government has started identifying those behind the menace and asked social media platforms like Meta and X to share data on such messages, sources said.
Civil Aviation Secretary Vumlunmang Vualnam on Thursday said the number of planes with domestic airlines will increase to 1,400 in the next five years as he highlighted the growth potential of the country's aviation space. Currently, the fleet is around 800 aircraft and leading carriers IndiGo and Air India have placed significant plane orders.
An airline official said the ban is with immediate effect and is in addition to the 30-day ban it had imposed on the individual earlier.
Around 200 pilots of Go First, the cash-strapped airline that suspended operations on May 2, have joined Air India. As many as 75 of them started training with the Tata-owned airline on Monday. As Go First tries to salvage its operations, it has announced additional pay or retention allowance of Rs 100,000 and Rs 50,000 for captains and first officers, respectively, with effect from June 1.
In a statement, Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu said the airport and emergency teams responded swiftly and effectively after a full emergency was declared at 18.05 hours.
Two IndiGo flights, one headed to Muscat and the other to Jeddah, also received bomb threats before they took off and the planes were moved to isolation bays for security checks.
Tata Group-owned Air India CEO Campbell Wilson on Saturday apologised for a flyer urinating on a fellow female passenger on a flight from New York in November, and said four cabin crew and a pilot have been de-rostered and the airline is reviewing policy of serving alcohol on flights.
Lenders of bankrupt airline Jet Airways, led by the State Bank of India (SBI), on Thursday told the Supreme Court that successful bidder Jalan Kalrock Consortium (JKC) was "unwilling" to pay the dues and that the "liquidation" was the only option left. The bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud was hearing the SBI-led consortium plea against the NCLAT's March order upholding ownership transfer of the bankrupt airline to JKC.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation has sought a report of the incident from the airline.
Air India will require more than 6,500 pilots to operate 470 aircraft that are to be supplied by Airbus and Boeing in the coming years, according to industry sources. Seeking to expand fleet as well as operations, the airline has placed orders for acquiring a total of 840 aircraft that includes an option to buy 370 planes. This is one of the largest aircraft order by any airline. Currently, Air India has around 1,600 pilots to operate its 113 aircraft fleet and in recent times, there have been instances of ultra-long haul flights getting cancelled or delayed due to shortage of crew.
The man accused of urinating on a co-passenger on board a flight of Air India from New York to Delhi, switched off his mobile phone and went incommunicado after the incident got reported in the media.
Tata group-owned Air India has issued new guidelines on grooming for its male and female cabin crew, including barring them from sporting black and religious thread on the wrist, neck and ankle. Among others, the airline has told the crew that they should not have grey hair and must be regularly coloured in natural shade. "Religious rings with coloured stones and pearls, nose-pins and neck jewellery" along with thumb rings are not allowed.
Competition Commission has approved Tata Group's proposed acquisition of debt-laden Air India as well as its two subsidiaries. The Rs 18,000 crore-deal that includes the winning bidder Talace taking over Rs 15,300 crore-worth debt, is a major step in the government's efforts over the years to revive the ailing airline. Talace Pvt Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tata Sons, emerged as the winning bidder in October.
Airbus will increase sourcing of components from India, which offers plenty of opportunities, according to the aircraft maker's CEO Guillaume Faury. The European major, which has bagged huge aircraft orders from IndiGo and Air India, doubled its sourcing of components and services from India to 1 billion euros during the period from 2019-2023, he said.
This incident was also not reported to the DGCA, for which the regulator pulled up the full-service carrier, stating its conduct was unprofessional and issued show cause notices to the airline, its director of flight safety and the crew that operated the New York-Delhi flight, asking them to explain within two weeks why action should not be taken against them.
Air India's handling of an incident in which an inebriated male flier allegedly urinated on a woman co-passenger suggests an urgent need for stricter rules to deal with unruly passengers, according to legal and aviation experts.
A Mumbai court has extended the police remand of the boyfriend of an Air India pilot, who allegedly committed suicide, until December 2. The police are seeking to retrieve deleted WhatsApp chats between the two from the boyfriend's mobile phone, believing the chats could contain crucial information about the pilot's death. The boyfriend, Aditya Pandit, was arrested and charged with abetment of suicide after the pilot, Srishti Tuli, was found dead in her apartment on Monday.
Air India has relaxed the new norm related to the accumulation of privilege leaves for those employees retiring in the current and next financial years. In March, the Tata Group-owned carrier revised its policy with respect to privilege leaves for both permanent and full-term contract staff to align the policy with prevailing market conditions. From April 1 onward, Privilege Leaves (PLs) accumulation limit for all employees is 60 days in a particular financial year.
The incident came to the notice of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) only on January 4 and the latest actions are for violations of various norms.
Aviation regulator DGCA has asked Tata Group-owned Air India to repair its aircraft after a passenger complained on social media on Monday about the plane's shabby interiors, including a broken armrest, officials said. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had last Wednesday grounded a SpiceJet aircraft over a passenger's complaint of dirty seats and malfunctioning cabin panels. The SpiceJet plane took to the skies a day later after all the suggested repairs were effected.
The pilot of the aircraft informed the ATC about the threat after a 'Bomb in flight' message, written on a tissue paper, was found in the washroom of the plane, they said.
He, however, cited the sensitivity of information due to the ongoing probe into the matter to decline to share more details, sources said.
Pilots' bodies at Tata Group-owned Air India have accused the airline management of making unilaterally "rapid" and "regressive" changes in the service conditions of pilots. In a letter to Air India Chief Human Resources Officer Suresh Dutt Tripathi on Tuesday, Indian Pilots Guild (IPG) and Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA) also stated that "all unilateral violations of their rights and service agreements are creating industrial unrest and shattering employee confidence in the current management". The communication comes amid Air India reducing drastically the annual limit of privilege leave accumulation to 60 days from 300 days earlier, as per a source.
Full service carrier Air India on Friday said some of its ultra long-haul flights are facing delays due to issues related to airport entry passes and it is "working closely" with the authorities to resolve the matter.
Two unions representing Air India pilots have asked members not to accept the revised compensation and employment offer, calling the company's proposals "unfair labour practices." They said any coercion on pilots to sign the offer would lead to industrial unrest. The Tata group airline announced on Monday a new salary structure for pilots and cabin crew.
The move follows the recent probe report by the United States National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) that highlighted safety concerns involving Boeing 737 aircraft equipped with Collins Aerospace SVO-730 Rudder Rollout Guidance Actuators.
The Tata Group-owned Air India has readied a five-year transformation plan, which is expected to take its domestic market share to 30 per cent, up from 8.4 per cent logged in June. IndiGo leads with a market share of 58.8 per cent. The transformation plan--Vihaan.AI-unveiled on Thursday revolves around tripling the domestic market share with investments in new aircraft, technology and improvements in customer service.
Nearly 80 domestic and international flights received bomb threats in less than 24 hours that later turned out to be hoaxes, keeping thousands of passengers and security agencies on tenterhooks.
Tata Group-owned Air India on Wednesday announced the launch of new flights connecting Mumbai with New York, Paris and Frankfurt, starting February next year. Besides, the full-service carrier also announced the resumption of non-stop flights connecting Delhi with Copenhagen, Milan and Vienna. The Mumbai-New York (JFK International Airport) daily service will commence from February 14 next year, Air India said.
In an internal communication to airlines' employees, he reflected on the urinating incident to say that "the repulsion felt by the affected passenger is totally understandable and we share her distress.
Air India will be commencing its scheduled operations -- two daily flights from the national capital -- to Dhaka on Wednesday.
Tata Group-owned Air India has extended the deadline for non-flying staff to apply for the Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS) till May 31. The deadline for applying for the VRS, which was announced in April, ended on April 30. "Last date to apply for voluntary retirement for all the eligible employees has been extended till May 31," Air India Chief Human Resources Officer Suresh Dutt Tripathi said in an internal communication on Monday.
A passenger on board the Delhi-Mumbai flight told ANI that the flight AI-805 was delayed from its original schedule of 8 pm to 10.40 pm first then 11.35 pm then 12.30 am and then finally it took off at 1.48 am from Terminal 3 of the airport in Delhi.
A 35-year-old man who was allegedly behind a series of hoax bomb threats to airports and railway stations across the country has been arrested after he presented himself before Nagpur Police, an official said on Friday.
Tata group-owned Air India plans to hire expat pilots for its Boeing 777 planes as the airline is facing a shortage of pilots amid plans to expand its fleet as well as international operations, according to sources. The carrier is looking to rope in around 100 pilots for the wide-body Boeing 777 fleet and has approached various agencies that provide expat flight crew to airlines, the sources told PTI. The loss-making Air India, which was under government ownership for nearly seven decades till the Tata group took over in January 2022, had stopped hiring expat pilots many years ago to save costs.
The Mumbai police have issued a notice to a teenage boy, his father and another person from Rajnandgaon in Chhattisgarh to join questioning in connection with bomb threats posted on social media targeting three flights, officials said.
The sources in the know said around 7 flights each of IndiGo, Vistara and SpiceJet got the threats while 6 flights of Air India received the threats.
The police on Wednesday registered an FIR and formed several teams to nab the accused passenger.
In recent times, there have been various incidents of unruly passengers onboard domestic and international flights.
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