As many as 19 flights have received bomb threats in three days and a Riyadh-bound IndiGo flight was diverted to Muscat due to the threat, according to officials.
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).
The EoI and the share purchase agreement would be issued in January itself for the bidders. While Air India's net loss in 2018-19 was around Rs 8,556 crore, its current total debt is around Rs 80,000 crore.
The government will transfer about Rs 16,000 crore of unpaid fuel bills and other pending dues that Air India owes to suppliers, to a special purpose vehicle before handing over the loss-making airline to the Tata Group, a senior official said. Air India Assets Holding Ltd (AIAHL), which will hold non-core assets of Air India such as land and building, will also be saddled with 75 per cent of the airline's debt that the Tata Group is not taking over. Besides the debt, the excess liability going to AIAHL comprises unpaid fuel bills to oil companies, airport operators and vendors, said Tuhin Kanta Pandey, Secretary to the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management - the department running the privatisation programme of the government.
The RSS-affiliated ABVP won the president's post and two other positions in the Delhi University Students' Union (DUSU) elections, restricting the NSUI to just one seat. The victory celebrations were muted due to court orders against disruptive festivities.
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.
Heated arguments were also witnessed when BJP leaders and others accompanying Kangana tried to pacify the residents, and police had to intervene to restore peace.
Starting this October, Air India Express will fly Cochin-Chennai, Cochin-Hyderabad, Cochin-Bangalore, Bangalore-Chennai, Chennai-Kolkata, Hyderabad-Kolkata and Kolkata-Agartala.
'CORSIA has set impossible targets. It tries to limit countries to the emission levels of the number of aircraft that they had in 2020. That has to be opposed.'
When the Tatas re-boarded Air India on January 27 last year, the price of aviation turbine fuel was at over Rs 80,000 per kilolitre. Rupee was trading at around Rs 74 to a US dollar. The Omicron variant of Covid-19 was in prevalence - barely a week earlier, India had reported over 340,000 cases on a single day. Seven-day home quarantine of international travellers was the norm.
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.
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.
Two aborted missions, three different ministers, multiple rule changes and two decades later, Indian taxpayers will no longer have to pay Rs 20 crore per day to keep the loss-making Air India flying. While opposition Congress expectedly attacked the decision as selling the family silver, DIPAM secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey said what Tata is getting is not a cash cow but an airline which is bleeding where money needs to be pumped in to refurbish obsolete aircraft and dust up strangled ones while being unable to touch any employee for one year and only be able to resize staff after paying a VRS. "It won't be a very easy task there. Only advantage is they (new Air India owner) are paying the price which they think they can manage. "They are not taking the excessive debt accumulated to fund years of losses. We are continuing it as an ongoing concern.... This process has also saved huge amount of taxpayers money going forward," Pandey told PTI.
No response has been received for the Expression of Interest floated for the strategic divestment of Air India
Virtually addressing employees of Air India across the globe, he said for the airline to be the best again there will be an organisational redesign, and it will "require a huge transformation, probably the largest transformation and the change all of you would ever go through". The carrier will expand its "outreach both domestically and internationally" and it has the desire to connect India with every part of the globe, he added.
India Test captain Shubman Gill expressed anguish over the large-scale devastation caused by floods in his home state of Punjab due to incessant rainfall.
Air India pilot unions IPG and ICPA on Monday sought Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri's intervention on the wage cut issue and also requested for an "urgent" meeting with him on several other issues. "In our meetings in September, you had given us an assurance to look into our grievances positively. "While other airlines are rolling back the austerity pay cuts for their pilots, the wage cut for Air India pilots further increased from October.
The government proposes to divest 76 per cent of Air India, along with its shareholding in Air India Express and its ground-handling subsidiary, AISATS.
Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra condemned the killing of five Al Jazeera journalists in Gaza, calling it a "heinous crime" and expressing solidarity with Palestinians.
Tharoor, who is leading the all-party delegation to the Americas during his Bogota visit, had expressed dismay over the South American country's stance during a press conference on Thursday.
The bulk of Indian carriers flying to Dubai are low-cost carriers, which include IndiGo, Air India Express, and SpiceJet.
Government officials say a shareholding structure has been mandated to discourage non-serious bidders from accessing Air India's data room
According to the DRDO chairman, the BrahMos missile, primarily launched from Sukhoi Mk 1, was used during the offensive phase.
Weighed down by surging jet fuel prices, Air-India's net profit plunged by a huge 82.54 per cent at Rs 16.29 crore (Rs 162.9 million) for the year 2005-06.
The tragic incident saw 241 of the 242 lives on board the London-bound Boeing 787-8 perish, along with 29 people on the ground as the aircraft plunged into a medical college campus shortly after takeoff.
The threats via microblogging platform X came a day after three international flights originating from Mumbai received bomb threats, causing trouble to hundreds of passengers and airline crew.
Apart from the main company, five of Air India's subsidiaries and a joint venture firm have been included in the strategic sale plan.
'We need to be very vigilant as we are passing through some fraught times.'
The pilots have been "derostered" pending investigation, Air India Express later said in a statement.
"The strategic divestment transaction of Air India successfully concluded today with transfer of 100 per cent shares of Air India to M/s Talace Pvt Ltd along with management control," DIPAM secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey said in a tweet. A new board, led by the strategic partner, takes charge of Air India, he added.
With over 700,000 annual passengers and 21 per cent market share Air India is the largest carrier on India-United Kingdom routes.
The Foxconn move may have been prompted by the Chinese government's focus on strengthening its supply chain.
Trump's one-on-one meetings with Putin during his first term were clouded with mystery. With only a translator inside the room, it was often unclear what exactly was discussed. Aides had a difficult time ascertaining if the two reached any agreements. After one such meeting, in Germany, Trump asked his interpreter to discard his notes.
With only a few days to go before the country celebrates Holi, several airline companies offered discounts on fares on the occasion of the festival of colours. While two airlines are providing discounts on both domestic and international networks, another has the offer only for the domestic sector. Low-cost airline Akasa Air said it is offering an all-inclusive one-way fare starting at Rs 1,499 on domestic routes.
Air India buyer has to take over interest-bearing debt of Rs 16,500 crore a large portion of which is aircraft related, meaning they are backed by aircraft value
It is high time India ends its silence on the human cost of the Gaza war and takes a principled stand without diluting its relations with Israel. A largely friendless Tel Aviv today needs New Delhi more than the other way around. India's failure now may cost it diplomatically in the long run, cautions M R Narayan Swamy.
Trump stated that Russia will face "severe economic consequences" if Putin doesn't show interest in de-escalating the Ukraine conflict.
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.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances