There are about 200 security staff who have the responsibility of checking the aircraft, baggages and also keep a vigil on the aircraft and areas surrounding it so that no one make an unauthorised entry. A senior airline's official dealing with the issue, said that their demand of salary hike has been sent to the head office in Mumbai.
The airline initiated an internal probe after Venugopal, who was on board a Delhi-Kochi-Thiruvananthapuram flight on January 4, saw 23 vacant seats inside while a Kerala minister was denied a seat on grounds of 'non-availability'.
'We need to raise the costs and consequences for Pakistan. It is long overdue. Our initial surgical strike was effective for about six months. Then, the Balakot strike provided a deterrent for perhaps two to three years. But we cannot operate under the assumption that such limited responses will suffice for decades to come.'
With respect and gratitude we honour the memory of soldiers who sacrificed their lives in Operation Sindoor.
Air India Chairman Rajiv Bansal has been appointed as the new aviation secretary as part of a major top-level bureaucratic reshuffle effected by the Centre on Wednesday. K Rajaraman, additional secretary in the department of economic affairs, has been appointed as secretary, department of telecommunications, a personnel ministry order said.
The Indian Air Force (IAF) has confirmed that its crew are well-equipped to handle potential GPS spoofing incidents, asserting that all relief missions to earthquake-hit Myanmar were successfully completed as planned. The IAF's statement follows reports of GPS signal tampering during relief flights, which raised security concerns. Sources in the military establishment had earlier suggested that IAF transport aircraft carrying relief materials to Myanmar faced "GPS spoofing", prompting the IAF to assure that its crew are capable of handling such situations.
The Mumbai police have registered a case against an unidentified person after three airlines received bomb threats on their X handle, an official said on Tuesday.
Let it gradually pull itself out of international routes and focus on linking remote towns and cities.
Air India, which operates 72 weekly flights from various cities to Dubai, and IndiGo cancelled their services on Wednesday.
The much-awaited merger between Air-India and Indian is expected to be cleared by the Union Cabinet by end of February, with the committee of secretaries submitting its recommendations to the Group of Ministers.
Reliance Industries Ltd has withdrawn its trademark application for the term 'Operation Sindoor' -- the codename for India's military strikes in Pakistan -- stating that it was inadvertently filed by a junior employee without authorisation.
'The fight against terrorism will continue. We have set a new normal and the new normal is that we will follow an offensive strategy. Wherever terrorists are, we have to kill those terrorists and we have to destroy their infrastructure. So it is still not over but as we speak the ceasefire is still intact'
The orders issued last Friday signed by an assistant general manager of the in-flight services, however, did not assign any reason for the suspension, sources said on Friday.
Raj Kumar Thapa, additional district development commissioner, Rajouri, and his two staff members were seriously injured when an artillery shell hit his official residence in Rajouri town, the officials said.
With a debt of several thousand crore rupees, there's no chance the government can attract any buyer unless it cleans up the balance sheet, says Anjuli Bhargava.
A medical summary issued by the Civil Aviation ministry said most of the AI pilots, who called in sick, were neither found at home by doctors sent by the airline nor reported to doctors empanelled by the carrier.
'I am not an aspiration-oriented politician.' 'This is the time to redefine politics.' 'Politics of power is not real politics.'
There are challenges galore before him, and it is not going to be easy. In the next four years, he has to conjure a system that changes the optics about him and the BJP both nationally and internationally so that he can ride back on his own, claim the top slot, and not have to lean on a coalition, asserts Ramesh Menon as Modi 3.0 completes a year in power.
'Every decision India makes along the LoC, it must also consider implications along the LAC.'
'The precision strikes were well planned and excellently executed. The world will be studying this operation.'
People along the Line of Control and International Border in the Jammu region continue to live under the shadow of death, with unexploded mortar shells fired by Pakistani troops still embedded in farmlands and residential areas even though hostilities have stopped for nearly a week. IMAGE: Kindly note that this image has been posted for representational purposes only. Photograph: / Rediff.com Despite the May 10 understanding between India and Pakistan, locals describe the border areas as a 'death trap'. Sixty-two-year-old Balvinder Singh, who returned to his home in Pargwal sector on May 14, recounted a narrow escape. "Two shells exploded in our compound, damaging our house. Three more landed on our farmland. We were terrified and told our family to stay away from the fields until the Army could help," Singh told PTI. Army engineers later came to the village and safely defused the unexploded shells, bringing a temporary sense of relief. "Fear is writ large on the faces of people to these death traps in border hamlets", he said. Scenes of destruction are evident rooftops torn apart, broken houses, windows punctured by shrapnel, and carcasses of cattle lying in pools of blood. The acrid smell of gunpowder still lingers in the air. Sardar Gurmeet Singh faced a similar ordeal. His family could not re-enter their home as a live mortar shell had sunk into the compound in a village close to the International Border. "The army's bomb disposal squad removed it after four days, allowing us to finally enter, back home," he said. Indian Army engineers have launched a sweeping clearance operation across border districts, defusing over 80 unexploded shells in the past five days -- including 6 in Pargwal, 19 in Rajouri, 42 in Poonch, and 12 along the IB. "These shells, mostly 120 mm calibre, have a range of 15 to 30 km and pose a serious threat to both civilian and military targets," an Army officer said. "Many of them were fired by Pakistan during recent hostilities." On May 7, the Indian Army launched Operation Sindoor, conducting precision strikes on nine terror hubs in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK) in response to the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam that killed 26 people, most of them tourists. The subsequent retaliation by Pakistan pushed the region to the brink of war. From 7 to 10 of May, 27 civilians were killed and over 70 injured in Pakistani shelling in the Jammu region. Farid Din Gujjar, a resident near the border, expressed fear about returning to his fields. "Several shells created deep craters in our paddy land. We cannot resume work until all unexploded ordnance is cleared. It's a death trap," he said. Army units, in coordination with Jammu and Kashmir Police, have evacuated high-risk zones and issued stern warnings to residents not to touch any suspicious objects or unexploded shells. In one major operation, 42 live shells were safely destroyed in the Poonch villages of Jhullas, Salotri, Dharati and Salani. "All safety protocols were followed. The shells posed a serious danger to local lives," an Army spokesperson said, calling the effort a 'continued commitment to protect civilians and restore normalcy'. Poonch saw the vast majority of deaths due to shelling. Security officials said that Pakistan used a mix of mortar shells, armed drones, and missiles during the shelling spree, specifically targeting civilian habitations and border towns in Jammu, Samba, Kathua, Rajouri, and Poonch. As clearance operations continue, the border residents are slowly returning to their homes, but with caution, fear, and lingering uncertainty about shelling that may yet happen in the future.
Beginning with the Eden T20I, the two teams will fight it out in a full white ball series, comprising five T20Is and three ODIs, which will serve as a crucial warm-up for the Champions Trophy, slated to begin on February 19 in Pakistan and Dubai.
'Prashant Kishor is a businessman before he is a politician, and given that the expected average turnout for JSP candidates is 5,000 to 6,000 votes and since Bihar has a significant number of seats where the margin between the winner and runner-up falls within that range he will capitalise on exactly that to showcase his presence.'
The pilots have been "derostered" pending investigation, Air India Express later said in a statement.
Air-India, India's flagship international carrier, on Thursday launched its first flight to the Chinese metropolis of Shanghai, marking the burgeoning trade and economic exchanges between the two neighbouring countries.
In a letter written by Director General of DRI Najeeb Shah, Air India has been asked to sanitise its staff, especially those involved in ground-handling duties, official sources said.
'Looking at how quickly the hostilities were escalating, the nuclear threshold did not seem that far.'
In a bid to slash costs, Air India has hedged 10,000 barrels of jet fuel for its aircraft this month, four weeks after its Board gave a nod to the move.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday questioned the safety of nuclear weapons in the hands of Pakistan, and said they should be taken under monitoring of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
The casualties were reported hours before India and Pakistan agreed to end hostilities, which soared after the Indian Armed Forces hit terror launchpads in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir earlier this week in response to the Pahalgam attack.
"Some didn't make it to important lectures. Others lost precious vacation days. And a few worried they would miss once-in-a-lifetime family events."
'We should not just react when a terror attack happens on our soil.' 'Our approach should be continuous and a launch pad should be destroyed the moment it comes up.'
'Fears in Washington began to intensify when it was realised that subsequent Pakistani and Indian attacks on major military facilities -- which were significant in terms of geographic scope and intensity -- could rapidly take both sides to where neither actually wanted to go.' 'The US objective was to stop the fighting as soon as possible. Everything else was secondary.'
'War is not an answer. War is not a solution.' 'Deterrence is a solution. We should have the stick with us with which we can beat Pakistan.'
Air India pilots and crew often play musical chairs, leading to a substantial revenue loss for the airline in an inefficiently managed set-up
Bollywood celebrities have extended support to the nation and offered prayers for the safety and well-being of the people.
Calm prevailed in Punjab, especially in the border areas of the state, on Sunday morning, following an understanding between India and Pakistan to stop all firings and military actions on land, air and sea.
A differently-abled woman flyer has alleged she had to "crawl" to the passenger coach after deboarding an Air India plane as the carrier failed to arrange a wheel chair for her due to "security" reasons, a charge denied by the airline.
Air India has come up with a "gift" this marriage session - 'Shagun Vouchers'.
Last year, Air India replaced veg and non-veg sandwiches with veg hot meals on flights