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.
Gehlot said there is no such tradition in the party to offer posts to any leader in order to pacify him.
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.
Two ministers who raised the banner of revolt with former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot during the political crisis also find their names in the list.
He also said Pilot should have raised his demand for action in cases of alleged corruption by the previous Bharatiya Janata Party government during a debate in the Rajasthan assembly, instead of holding a day-long fast on the issue.
Pilot threatened to launch a massive movement in Rajasthan if action on his demands is not taken.
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.
Pilot said he is not backing down from the stand he has taken against the state Congress government saying he is "politely requesting" it to take action in corruption cases from the previous dispensation.
The pilot of Air India AI-915 Delhi-Dubai flight on February 27 allowed a woman friend to enter the cockpit, according to a complaint filed by a cabin crew member on the same flight.
Addressing a kisan sammelan in Jhunjhunu, Pilot also targeted the government over the political appointments of retired bureaucrats instead of party workers.
'Not paying workers enough will end up being self-destructive or harmful for the corporate sector itself.'
All four occupants survived the crash that took place near Paud, though they may have suffered injuries, an official said.
The trails of mega-mergers, tailwinds of expanding fleets, flights and airports will dot the fast-growing Indian aviation firmament in 2025, though the dark clouds of supply chain woes will persist longer. Also, new airline takeoffs, the future trajectory of revised norms to tackle pilot fatigue and efforts to reduce carbon emissions will be on the radar.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) suspended the licences of 92 pilots in 2022 for violating safety norms, which was more than double the 2021 figure. The number of scheduled flights (domestic and international) in India increased by 32.74 per cent to 1.3 million in 2022, according to data from aviation analytics firm Cirium. A DGCA official stated that the minimum period of licence suspension in 2022 was one month and the maximum was three years.
Dissident Congress leader Sachin Pilot began a 125-km foot march from Ajmer to Jaipur on Thursday, challenging Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and the party's top brass as assembly elections in Rajasthan approach.
In its probe report into the June 17 accident in West Bengal's Darjeeling district that left 10 persons dead, including the loco pilot of the goods train, the Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS) also recommended implementation of the Automatic Train-protection system (KAVACH) on top priority.
The railway officials launched an investigation jointly with the Railway Protection Force (RPF) and Government Railway Police (GRP) and found there was no criminal intent behind the act.
Air Marshal Denzil Keelor was an Indian Air Force legend. His nephew Basil Keelor, son of another war hero Wing Commander Trevor Keelor, remembers a remarkable officer and gentleman.
Over two dozen people have been detained for questioning in connection with the suspected bid to derail the Kalindi Express in Kanpur two days ago, officials said on Wednesday.
Forced to make an emergency landing in a remote village near Munsiyari due to bad weather on Wednesday, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar spent the night in an uninhabited house in sub-zero temperature along with two pilots and two poll officials.
In a December 2012 interview, Ratan Tata, then preparing to step down as chairman of Tata Sons, expressed doubts about the Tata group re-entering the aviation sector, calling it a space plagued by "destructive competition". But beneath that frustration lay nearly two decades of failed attempts to conquer the Indian skies. In 1994, Tata, along with Singapore Airlines, had plans to launch a joint venture (JV) airline in India.
'80% of start ups fail because they don't have a support system to help them in the very early phase.' 'It's not just an idea that takes an entrepreneur through the initial three years of journey.' 'What plays a definitive role in making a start-up successful is idea+team+capital+mentors+access to a larger ecosystem.'
NSG 'Sky Marshals' travel alone or in pairs on-board Indian airlines aircraft like normal passengers but they have a concealed weapon and some specialised gadgets to combat hijackers and rescue passengers in case such an incident takes place.
Pilot said "opportunist" people are ruling at the Centre after taking votes on emotions but they have failed the country on all fronts.
'Women and children were crying desperately for help.' 'We had to save them first.'
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.
The engine driver and the guard of the goods trains, however, escaped unhurt, the official added.
A Pilot camp MLA said that the former deputy chief minister is raising the issue of corruption in the public interest.
Punjab Kings' Sikandar Raza took the game away from Lucknow Super Giants as he hammered his maiden IPL half-century.
Pilot said Gehlot has been calling him 'nikamma, naakara, gaddar and so on' but it was not part of his upbringing to use such language.
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.
Gopichand Thotakura, India's first civilian space tourist, received a warm welcome on his arrival in New Delhi on Monday, August 26, 2024.
Anandiben Patel said students should study ancient Indian texts to appreciate the unparalleled research and discoveries made by their ancestors.
This is the third reported incident in the past two months in the Agra Division in which the crew of an express train violated the speed restriction.
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 marching contingents of the Army, the Navy and the IAF will participate in the prestigious parade along with their French counterparts.
Days after a crisis erupted in Rajasthan Congress, former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot met food and civil supplies minister Pratap Singh Khachariyawas at the latter's residence in Jaipur on Monday night.
A senior police officer said Poornima was produced before a court on Wednesday and sent to judicial custody till August 2.
Zelenskyy further said that the assault occurred overnight and into the morning, and involved a barrage of approximately 120 missiles and 90 drones, including Shaheds, Zircons, Iskanders, and Kinzhals.
An Army helicopter crashed in a forested area in Jammu and Kashmir Kishtwar district on Thursday, officials said.
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