The pilot of the twin-engine wide bodied aircraft issued a 'Mayday' distress call, denoting a full emergency, soon after takeoff at 1.39 pm, the Air Traffic Control at Ahmedabad said.
Minister of State for Civil Aviation Murlidhar Mohol in a written reply said the three-letter airport codes once assigned are considered permanent and are altered only under exceptional circumstances, usually involving air safety concerns.
Management and leadership changes, in addition to synchronising operations between all its airlines, are showing visible results for Air India. Data from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) show that there has been a marked improvement in key operational parameters of Air India after the Tata group took complete control of the national airline in January. One of the most dramatic improvements has been noticed in Air India's passenger load factor (PLF) - a crucial metric of capacity utilisation of an airline's fleet that shows how many seats it has been able to fill on every flight.
Tata Sons has emerged as the top bidder for the takeover of debt-laden State-run airline Air India but the bid is yet to be approved by a group of ministers headed by Home Minister Amit Shah, sources 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.
One of the major concerns highlighted by the DGCA was about the fact that not all staff had completed mandatory fatigue management training.
'...rectification has to happen then and there, and that takes additional time.'
Sri Lanka stays with you not just in memory, but gently reminds you what a society can achieve when heart and heritage guide the way.
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.
"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.
An ultra-Left students' outfit, RSF, has triggered a row by symbolically naming the venue of its state conference after Maoist leaders killed by security forces. The conference was held at Jadavpur University.
The flight had departed after a delay of almost 3.5 hours as its scheduled departure was at 8.50 am, as per flight tracking website flightradar24.com.
Airline Pilots' Association of India demands a fair and fact-based probe into the Air India plane crash, rejecting any bias towards pilot error in the investigation.
State-run Air India has withdrawn its 10 direct flights to international destinations in the last three years due to poor passenger load.
Air India will put in place new systems to proactively alert fliers about changes or delays in flight schedules and also set up a coordination team to address airport-specific issues, according to an internal communication. After reviewing block times, airport connecting times and aircraft as well as crew rotations, Tatas-owned Air India has identified various improvement areas for bettering overall performance. In the internal communication on Friday, Air India CEO and managing director Campbell Wilson said the airline would seek airport slots to carry out the improvements.
'The black box is very much in India and it it currently being investigated by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau'
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.
Several foreign experts were seen scouting the crash site for the last two days, checking the debris to find clues.
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.
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.
The nationality of the passengers onboard will define the minimum liability applicable to the airline operator as per the Montreal Convention, Prudent Insurance Brokers vice president (aviation & specialty lines) Hitesh Girotra said.
Security agencies went into a tizzy after three international flights originating from Mumbai received bomb threats on Monday with one of them, a New York-bound Air India aircraft, getting diverted to New Delhi as travel plans of some 500 passengers went for a toss.
With better utilisation of slots, foreign flying rights, and greater international connections, the operator of India's largest airport feels a privatised Air India will bring commercial benefit to Delhi airport and help it revive quicker from the pandemic shock. Delhi is the largest hub for Air India, with most of its long-haul flights to the US and Europe being operated from here. The airport plans to give its most modern terminal 3 (T3) exclusively to the Tata Group.
Aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Monday said it has issued a show cause notice to Air India regarding two incidents of passenger misbehaviour onboard a flight from Paris to New Delhi last month.
The Ahmedabad Civil Hospital performed the last rites for body parts of 19 victims of the June 12 Air India plane crash. The body parts were discovered after the initial remains were handed over to families.
Nearly two months after the urination incident on its New York-New Delhi flight, Air India on Tuesday said it has closed the internal probe into the case and will assist the flight's pilot-in-command with an appeal against the suspension of his licence by DGCA as the airline deems the action as "excessive".
'He must be telling you that you doubted me? Now I have shown what I can do. I have got it in me.' There is a lot more to Virat Kohli's animated celebrations in Ranchi and Raipur than meets the eye, believes Ravichandran Ashwin.
The Indian Commercial Pilots' Association (ICPA) defends the crew of the crashed AI 171 flight, rejecting insinuations of pilot suicide and calling for a fair investigation.
The Tatas are rather overwhelmed with some facets of the airline they have discovered, but even more unnerved by what they may not have yet uncovered, reveals Anjuli Bhargava.
'Whether it is the unions or the politicians, they don't have to do politics over Air India, but be guided by a solitary factor -- that we don't want Air India to fly into oblivion.'
'Pakistan is uncomfortable with the Indian presence in Afghanistan. They want the Taliban to ensure that there is no Indian presence in Afghanistan.'
India Post has suspended all mail operations to the US due to a lack of clarity regarding new customs regulations imposed by the US Customs Department. The suspension affects all categories of mail, including letters, documents, and gift items.
Families of victims of the Air India plane crash have hired a US law firm to explore legal options, seeking answers and accountability.
Indian Hotels Company Ltd (IHCL) net profit rose 15 per cent in the second quarter after excluding the one-off exceptional gain of Rs 307 crore in the previous year. Net profit fell 45 per cent when compared with the previous year's earnings after including a one-off gain.
An Air India plane that took off for Kyiv in Ukraine on Thursday morning to bring back Indians from the eastern European nation is returning to Delhi due to the closure of Ukrainian airspace amid the Russian military offensive.
The only case where there could be a change in insurance payout is if Air India's management were found to be aware of the accident and the accident was deliberate.
The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) has urged restraint in speculating about the cause of the Air India plane crash, emphasizing that the investigation is ongoing and premature narratives should be avoided.
The operations of many global carriers, including Qatar Airways, have also been impacted due to the airspace curbs in the wake of the Middle East tensions.
Aircraft manufacturer Boeing on Saturday said it continues to support the ongoing investigation into the Air India Flight AI171 crash, hours after the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) released its preliminary report on the incident that occurred in Ahmedabad.
November 7 2025, marked the 150th year of India's revered national song, Vande Mataram.
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