Air India has leased a fleet of six Airbus A320 neo aircraft from CDB Aviation, a wholly owned Irish subsidiary of China Development Bank Financial Leasing Co Limited, to boost the Tata Group-owned company's transformation journey, a statement said on Wednesday. The leasing agreement was signed on the sidelines of the Airline Economics Growth Frontiers Asia Pacific 2022 conference, said the CDB Asia statement. CDB Aviation is among the first aircraft leasing companies to secure the placement of Air India's additional A320 neo aircraft under the recently announced multi-stage transformation plan since the purchase of the airline by Tata group, which aims to increase the carrier's fleet and help it boost both domestic and international operations.
India will be one of the key centres for design and development of the A350 aircraft, European aircraft manufacturer Airbus' answer to the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
The Tata Group-owned Air India has decided to procure its maiden batch of wide-bodied A350 aircraft of Airbus and the first plane is likely to be delivered to the airline by March 2023, sources have said.
Public carrier Indian (formerly Indian Airlines) on Friday signed a deal with Airbus Industrie for the purchase of 43 aircraft as part of its fleet expansion plan, which was cleared by the government earlier.
The interiors of the world's biggest passenger airline, the Airbus A 380 resemble a luxury hotel.
The presence of an engine maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) facility in India could have prevented Go First airline from going "belly up", as sending engines abroad for servicing is not an efficient way to operate a carrier, Piyush Srivastava, senior economic advisor, Ministry of Civil Aviation, said in a statement on Tuesday. On May 3, Go First suspended its flights and filed for insolvency, squarely blaming engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney (PW) for its cash crunch. The airline claimed that about half of its 54 aircraft were grounded on May 3 due to a delay in the supply of engines by the US-based company. PW has denied the charges.
IndiGo has restored annual increments for more than 4,500 pilots as a financial turnaround helped the airline make a profit in Q3 FY23 after three quarters of loss. An email from the airline's management last week informed pilots of the restoration from April. "The component of annual increment for Indian captains (Rs 10,000 per month) and Indian first officers (Rs 5,000 per month) on the Airbus and ATR fleet which was stopped due to Covid will restart from April 1, 2023," the airline's senior vice president (flight operations) Ashim Mitra said in the staff email.
Launch on 10 sectors in the winter schedule.
India and the European Union today issued a Joint Action Plan covering various areas of cooperation and signed the Framework Agreement on cooperation in Europe's Galileo navigation project
Air-India's decision to purchase Boeing's 787 Dreamliners has re-ignited the fight for supremacy between Boeing and Europe's Airbus in the civil aviation market, media reports said in Washington.
A day after Air-India gave away its entire Rs 30,000 crore (Rs 300 billion) deal for 50 aircraft to American company Boeing
Its association with India is over 70 years old and spans both civil and military aviation. The Douglas DC-3 transport aircraft used by the air force beginning the 1940s and the iconic Boeing 747 aircraft flown by Air India, both had Pratt & Whitney (P&W) engines. The Indian Air Force's present-day, heavy-lift C-17 Globemaster III and the yet-to-be-inducted C-295 planes, too, have P&W power plants.
Air India's flying crew, ground and security staff will soon sport new uniforms designed by fashion designer Manish Malhotra as the Tata Group-owned airline embraces a new global brand identity. As Air India pursues a revival and modernisation plan, the new uniforms are expected to be introduced for the frontline staff by the end of this year and are likely to coincide with the induction of the airline's first wide-body A350 aircraft into its fleet. Malhotra -- whose career spans more than 30 years as a couturier, costume stylist, and entrepreneur -- and his team have started meeting Air India's frontline staff, conducting discussions and fitting sessions with them to better understand their specialised needs, the airline said in a release on Thursday.
Full-service airline Tata-SIA, submitted its application for the grant of Air Operator's Permit (AOP or flying license) in April.
The government has cleared the lone bid of Airbus-TATA consortium for replacing Indian Air Force's fleet of ageing Avro transport aircraft for Rs 11,930 crore besides approving Russia's offer to build Kamov Ka-226T helicopters under 'Make in India' initiative.
Satisfied that the CBI was making all efforts to probe the mid-1980s contract to buy 31 Airbus-A320 planes for the Indian Airlines, the Delhi High Court on Monday disposed of a petition seeking investigation into the deal worth Rs 2,400 crore.
Air-India is to acquire 18 aircraft of 160-seater plus category, worth over $1.5 billion, during the next five years, even as it has decided to scale down its requirement of long-range aircraft from 17 to 10 planes.
Air India on Thursday unveiled a new brand identity and aircraft livery as the airline moves ahead with its transformation plan since being taken over by Tata Group more than one-and-a-half years ago. The new look re-imagines the iconic Indian window shape, historically used by Air India, into a gold window frame that becomes central to the new brand design system. It symbolises a 'Window of Possibilities', according to a release.
Aiming at launching international services, all-business-class carrier Paramount Airways on Friday placed a $1.5 billion order for acquiring 10 Airbus A-321 aircraft with each of them costing over $900 million.
An Air India pilots' grouping has raised fatigue concerns in the wake of flight crew rosters generated using a new rostering tool, saying that extended waiting periods between duty time will jeopardise crew alertness and performance. "Extended waiting periods, occurring before active flight duties, run counter to enhancing crew readiness and, in fact, contribute to the accumulation of fatigue over time," the Indian Pilots Guild (IPG) has said. In a letter to Air India head of safety Henry Donohoe last week, IPG said it has been recently observed that the relentless pursuit of operational efficiency and economic gains has led to an unintended overshadowing of the primary intent behind Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) regulations.
Close on the heels of clinching the Indian Air Force contract for supply of mid-air refuellers, European consortium Airbus will now bid for the Rs 12,000-crore global tender to be floated by India for procuring 56 medium-lift transport aircraft to replace its vintage Avro planes.
Air India on Monday said it will progressively induct 30 new aircraft, including 5 wide-body Boeing planes, from December this year, as the Tatas-owned airline looks to boost its domestic and international services. The airline has signed leases and letters of intent for inducting 5 wide-body Boeing and 25 Airbus narrow-body planes over the next 15 months. "These new aircraft, which will enter service from late 2022, will increase the airline's fleet by over 25 per cent.
Air India is set to increase capacity on domestic and international routes over the next few months as it overhauls its grounded aircraft. Air India has the approval to operate 2,456 flights per week in the summer schedule. This is more than a 16 per cent increase over 2020. But its international schedule has declined 41 per cent (compared to winter 2019) to 361 weekly departures.
The 550-seater A-380, which will enter airline service from 2006, is billed to be the largest aircraft in the world.
In its first move to significantly expand the fleet after the Tatas took over, Air India has leased 25 Airbus narrow-body aircraft and five Boeing wide-body planes. These will enter service starting December, the company said on Monday. A wide-body plane has a bigger fuel tank, allowing it to travel longer distances such as India-US routes.
'Within five years, we should be achieving more on the international front than what it took most airlines 15 to 20 years back.'
Crew shortage is impacting the operations of Air India, with some flights to the US and Canada either getting cancelled or facing inordinate delays, according to a source. Tata group-owned Air India, which is the only air operator flying on ultra-long haul routes, had faced problems last year also due to the shortage of crew members. An ultra-long haul flight's duration is more than 16 hours.
Full service carrier Air India on Thursday announced a new multi-year global distribution services partnership with US-based Sabre Corporation. The collaboration enables travel agents and corporations around the world to access Air India fares and seats through Sabre's extensive global travel marketplace, Air India said in a statement. In addition to the distribution services, Air India said it is utilising Sabre's consultancy expertise to help determine optimal routes for its existing and new fleet.
The national carrier has sought dry-leasing these planes for six years instead of buying them, as part of its Turnaround and Financial Restructuring Plans, airline sources said.
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.
Vistara is likely to offer 148 seats in a three-class configuration in its Airbus A320s, industry sources said.
With this order for 72 A-320 NEO (New Engine Option) planes worth $7.2 billion, GoAir has a total order book of 92 aircraft worth Rs 43,200 crore ($9.6 billion).
Budget carrier GoAir on Tuesday said it has placed orders for purchase of 20 Airbus A320 aircraft to add to its current fleet of five.
Sanjive Narain, owner of Assam's oldest news channel, and Sanjay Aditya Singh, promoter of a cabin crew training academy, are coming together to launch a regional airline providing business and premium economy services in the Northeast. Jettwings Airways will be based in Guwahati and will connect places with twin-class Embraer E175 aircraft. The airline has secured an initial no-objection clearance from the civil aviation ministry and plans to launch services in October.
Jet Airways is in discussions with aircraft manufacturers and lessors to lease 6-8 planes, including some of those which were to be delivered to Russian carriers prior to the Ukraine war, as it gets ready for the relaunch, according to sources. Moreover, the airline is also negotiating with airport operators to secure slots with "good" timings, they said. Once a major player in the Indian aviation space, the carrier has not flown since April 17, 2019 and is being revived under the ownership of the Jalan-Kalrock consortium.
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