Around 1,000 passenger complaints have been received against Air India during the last three months related to various issues, including refund of fares, overbooking of flights, and staff behaviour, Minister of State for Civil Aviation V K Singh said on Monday. The Tata Group on January 27 took control of Air India after winning the bid for the airline on October 8 last year. "Ministry of Civil Aviation has been receiving grievances related to air transport, including Air India, on the various issues such as refund of fares, flight issues, staff behaviour, baggage issues, overbooking of flights, etc," Singh said in his written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha.
Indian airline companies are likely to announce the suspension of flight operations to and from Tel Aviv, Israel, amid rising tensions between Iran and Israel.
With the Iran war escalating sharply and crisis deepening in the global energy market, India on Monday unveiled a coordinated plan to support exporters and shippers caught in the fallout.
Besides, the carrier is having a technical stop in Kolkata for some of the North America flights from Delhi, they added.
Air-India has no plans to operate on the domestic sector, Minister of state for Civil Aviation Rajiv Pratap Rudy informed the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.
Apart from the Adani group, the Tata group, the Hinduja group, Indigo and a New York-based fund, Interups, are expected to submit EoIs.
Air India, under its new Tata management, has taken a Rs 60,800 crore ($8 billion) cover by paying Rs 266 crore premium to a clutch of insurance companies, including Tata AIG General Insurance. The airline managed to get a better deal as it valued its fleet lower by almost $2 billion. The new management held extensive negotiations - both in India and London, to get a good deal considering the rising premiums due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.
In recent times, there have been various incidents of unruly passengers onboard domestic and international flights.
'India is giving selective traffic rights wherever it makes sense to allocate those traffic rights.'
Nearly three decades after the ambitious project was first conceived to decongest the existing airport in the financial capital, the greenfield Navi Mumbai International Airport became a reality on Thursday as an IndiGo Airbus A320 from Bengaluru landed on the tarmac at 8 am amid a traditional water cannon salute.
Information Commissioner Sushma Singh told the officials of National Aviation Company of India Limited, the company formed after the merger of Air India and Indian Airlines, to give the details of 'pay, perks and privileges' enjoyed by its chairman, managing director and functional directors to Right to Information activist Subhash Chandra Agrawal.
A crew member tested at the temporary facility there was found positive for COVID-19, senior airline officials said.
The new owners of Air India will have to retain all the employees of the national carrier for at least one year post which they can offer a VRS. The gratuity, pension fund and post retirement medical benefits of existing and past employees too would be honoured by the new owner, civil aviation secretary Rajiv Bansal said. Tata Sons has emerged as the winning bidder for Air India with the government accepting its Rs 18,000 crore offer to acquire 100 per cent of the debt-laden state-run carrier.
Air-India on Tuesday derecognised the Indian Pilots Guild with immediate effect.
Air India will be Indian cricket team's 'preferred airline' for travel from now on with the national carrier signing an MoU with the BCCI in this regard. The deal, which comes into effect from September 1, has been signed for a period of one year.
The building has been sealed for two days to conduct a thorough sanitisation of the building after an employee tested positive for the coronavirus.
The civil aviation ministry initiated and then made a mess of the merger of the erstwhile Indian Airlines with Air India, according to a Comptroller and Auditor General report.
US aircraft manufacturer Boeing said on Friday that it would concentrate on clinching the Air-India deal of 17 aircraft and was willing to have a dialogue with the government on the Indian Airlines' proposal to acquire 43 aircraft.
$3.6 billion worth of aircraft - by today's prices - are lying idle or are in hangers due to poor maintenance and management
Keeping in sync with the international trend, Chairman and Managing Director V Thulasidas of Air-India on Saturday said he favoured it should be merged with the domestic carrier Indian Airlines.
IndiGo, which operates the largest fleet among Indian carriers, has reported the highest number of serious engine-related incidents.
'The Modi government is trying hard to see if it could be sold to a private airline.' 'But it appears there are no takers.' 'If no buyer comes forward by June, the government will close down Air India,' predicts A K Bhattacharya.
Sri Lanka continues relief and rescue efforts with India's assistance after Cyclone Ditwah caused widespread devastation, killing over 190 people and affecting nearly a million.
Highly placed sources said Oil Minister Murli Deora took exception to Menon's proposals during a meeting of the Federation of Indian Airlines and Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel to resolve the crisis arising out of mounting fuel bill arrears. "There should not be any layoffs. Why are you raising it now," sources quoted Deora as telling Menon.
The Air India management has reached an agreement with pilots from the erstwhile Indian Airlines on the contentious issue of pay parity. Fearing another agitation from the Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA), the airline's management has agreed to the union's demands for fixed allowances each month.
India and Russia have agreed to jointly produce a twin-engine narrow-body passenger aircraft for short-haul flights, marking a significant step in their strategic ties. Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) and Russia's Public Joint Stock Company United Aircraft Corporation (PJSC-UAC) have signed an agreement for the production of SJ-100 aircraft in India.
The government is considering several routes like enacting a law or getting a court order or simply issuing an ordinance for merging the two state-owned carriers -- Indian and Air-India, official sources said on Tuesday.
Air India has started three flights per week - on Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
India has advised its citizens to defer travel to Nepal due to ongoing unrest and anti-government protests. The Ministry of External Affairs has also urged Indian citizens currently in Nepal to exercise caution and avoid public areas.
The total revenue increased from Rs 14,713.81 crore in 2011-12 to Rs 20,606.27 crore in 2014-15.
'I was stunned when he started crying and profusely apologising to me, begging me not to lodge a complaint against him because he is a family man and did not want his wife and child to be affected by this incident'
'Air India's privatisation is acceptable as long as its control does not pass on to a foreign entity,' says A K Bhattacharya.
Kamra allegedly heckled Goswami, the editor of Republic TV, on IndiGo's Mumbai-Lucknow (6E5317) flight on Tuesday.
Hit by the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and soaring fuel prices, airlines are flying towards record losses with a likely loss of a whopping Rs 20,000 crore for the full fiscal year, warns a report. The airlines are flying towards their steepest-ever net loss of over Rs 20,000 crore this fiscal, which will be 44 per cent more than Rs 13,853 crore they bled last fiscal, Crisil said in a report. This will push back the industry's recovery beyond fiscal 2023, the report based on three large listed airlines--Indigo, Spicejet, and Air India--which together command 75 per cent of the domestic traffic, warned.
Costlier fuel, fall in yields make things increasingly tough; analysts say focus on ending red ink a must.
A court in Canada has ordered the seizure of amounts collected by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) on behalf of Air India and the Airports Authority of India (AAI). Separate orders were passed on November 24 and December 21 on pleas by shareholders of Devas Multimedia Private Limited who have filed multiple petitions to enforce arbitration awards against the Indian government. According to a Devas spokesperson, more than $30 million has been seized to date under the IATA action.
'The crash site must be secured because something small -- like a pipe or hydraulic line -- could hold a critical clue.'
Reddy, who represents Andhra Pradesh's Anantapur seat in the Lok Sabha, reported late for the flight and therefore, was not allowed to board it, a source said.
Airbus on Tuesday said it will deliver the first A350 aircraft to Air India by the end of this year and that the deal with the airline also marks the European aviation major's "emphatic return" to the wide-body segment in India, which is the fastest growing aviation market. As it looks to expand the fleet as well as operations, Tata Group-owned Air India on Tuesday announced that it will buy 250 planes from Airbus -- 210 from the A320 neo family and 40 A350. Remi Maillard, president and managing director of Airbus India and South Asia, said the company was very proud that the Tata Group has chosen A350 and A320 planes for Air India, adding that the magnitude of the order shows the appetite for growth in the Indian aviation industry, which is the fastest growing aviation market.
