The Boeing 787-8 aircraft -- VT-ANB -- was 11.5 years old and had flown for more than 41,000 hours, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium.
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.
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.
Indigo airlines cancelled 13 flights from Hyderabad airport, causing chaos and frustration among passengers. The cancellations were attributed to technology and operational issues.
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.
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.
Pilots' body the Federation of Indian Pilots (FIP) has alleged that IndiGo, despite getting a two-year preparatory window before the full implementation of new flight duty and rest period norms for cockpit crew, "inexplicably" adopted a "hiring freeze."
Air-India on Tuesday derecognised the Indian Pilots Guild with immediate effect.
A crew member tested at the temporary facility there was found positive for COVID-19, senior airline officials said.
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.
In recent times, there have been various incidents of unruly passengers onboard domestic and international flights.
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 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 move follows the recent probe report by the United States National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) that highlighted safety concerns involving Boeing 737 aircraft equipped with Collins Aerospace SVO-730 Rudder Rollout Guidance Actuators.
Pakistan has extended the closure of its airspace for Indian flights until June 24, 2025, citing the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) rules that restrict such closures for a month at a time. The ban, which was first imposed in May after the April 22 Pahalgam terrorist attack, applies to all Indian-registered, operated, owned, or leased aircraft, including military aircraft. The decision comes after an IndiGo pilot requested permission to briefly use Pakistani airspace to avoid turbulence during a hailstorm, but the request was rejected.
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.
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.
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.
Taking a serious note of the situation, the civil aviation ministry said it has invoked regulatory powers to ensure fair and reasonable fares across all affected routes.
$3.6 billion worth of aircraft - by today's prices - are lying idle or are in hangers due to poor maintenance and management
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 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.
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.
Aviation watchdog DGCA has granted IndiGo a six-month extension to operate two leased Boeing 777 aircraft from Turkish Airlines, subject to certain conditions. This decision comes after a previous extension and amidst geopolitical considerations.
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.
The total revenue increased from Rs 14,713.81 crore in 2011-12 to Rs 20,606.27 crore in 2014-15.
Indian carriers are grappling with severe operational disruptions after Iran launched missile strikes on the US military base in Qatar late Monday. This led to airspace closures for long hours in parts of West Asia. Iran, Qatar, the UAE, Bahrain, and Kuwait shut down their skies following the attack, forcing airlines to cancel, divert, or delay flights through these vital corridors.
'Air India's privatisation is acceptable as long as its control does not pass on to a foreign entity,' says A K Bhattacharya.
'Where rostering systems are automated and duty time software interfaces directly with DGCA, the assertion that they suddenly discovered crew shortages is simply implausible.' 'If adequate crew planning hasn't materialised within 12 to 24 months from inception, how will 45 days -- from December 5 to February 12 -- suddenly resolve matters?'
Kamra allegedly heckled Goswami, the editor of Republic TV, on IndiGo's Mumbai-Lucknow (6E5317) flight on Tuesday.
Besides, the carrier is having a technical stop in Kolkata for some of the North America flights from Delhi, they added.
Costlier fuel, fall in yields make things increasingly tough; analysts say focus on ending red ink a must.
The ICC said the South African contingent had begun departing for home on Wednesday with "four players and five family members having boarded the flight".
'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'
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.
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.
