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.
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 victorious Indian women's cricket team led by Harmanpreet Kaur touched down in the national capital on Tuesday evening for its meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday.
The loss-making airline has already started using food items stocked from India during its onward journey to Stockholm, Copenhagen, Birmingham and Madrid, and use them when returning. It has said food items purchased from these foreign cities are much more expensive when compared to Indian cities.
The timeline for disinvestment of Air India and Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) may be pushed by two to three months due to impact of the second Covid-19 wave. However, the government is confident of wrapping up the sale of the two companies by FY22 and meeting the disinvestment target of Rs 1.75 trillion. This will be achieved by sale of government stake in core and non-core public sector undertakings (PSUs).
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.
With over 700,000 annual passengers and 21 per cent market share Air India is the largest carrier on India-United Kingdom routes.
As the Tata group inches closer to taking over Air India in January 2022, the $242-billion conglomerate will also inherit a stake in Kerala's Cochin airport. The Tatas would become the only airline to have an operational stake in a major Indian airport. The airport is a strategic hub connecting India to Middle East nations - home to the largest share of Indian migrant workers. In addition to Air India and Air India Express, private carrier Indigo also uses Cochin to ferry the lucrative 'Malayali Gulf traffic' to multiple locations like Jeddah, Riyadh, Sharjah, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Doha, Kuwait and Bahrain, among others. According to regulatory filings, Air India has a three per cent stake in Cochin International Airport.
The two parties agreed further that no unilateral decision on cut in Productivity Linked Incentive would be taken. ICPA sources added that some suspended pilots would be reinstated.
The Union government has no 'Buy India' policy, but has a 'Buy Air India' policy.
In recent times, there have been various incidents of unruly passengers onboard domestic and international flights.
Airlines tell Arindam Majumder and Aneesh Phadnis they are forced to look at expats due to a lack of commanders, a position that requires experience.
More than 300 flights have been cancelled and at least 25 airports, including Srinagar, have been temporarily shut for operations amid restrictions in the wake of the armed forces launching missile attacks on terror targets in Pakistan on Wednesday morning.
Air India CEO Campbell Wilson addresses the preliminary report on the Ahmedabad plane crash, stating no mechanical or maintenance issues were found with the aircraft. He urges against premature conclusions as the investigation continues.
The three state-owned oil companies have decided to defer snapping fuel supplies to Air India. The airline owes the three firms over Rs 5,000 crore in past fuel bills.
While the civil aviation ministry's activist supervision of the airline's functioning is said to be responsible for much of the mess, the airline management has its own sins to answer for.
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.
The former Indian Airlines pilot won a good deal for colleagues protesting a pay cut; but others question whether the victory was good for the airline.
The cost of any flight from Delhi and Mumbai could rise by up to Rs 3,000 soon unless the airport regulator is able to reverse a court order.
'This festival season, advance airfares for major metros are up 20 to 25 per cent from last year.'
In the message posted by Tata Group on X, he also said the group will cover the medical expenses of those injured and ensure that they receive all necessary care and support.
Apart from the Adani group, the Tata group, the Hinduja group, Indigo and a New York-based fund, Interups, are expected to submit EoIs.
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.
An Air India aircraft with 242 passengers on board heading to London crashed in the Meghaninagar area near Ahmedabad airport on Thursday afternoon, the police said.
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.
A crew member tested at the temporary facility there was found positive for COVID-19, senior airline officials said.
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.
The building has been sealed for two days to conduct a thorough sanitisation of the building after an employee tested positive for the coronavirus.
'Who tried engine relight?' 'If the first officer was the one flying at takeoff, the captain may have taken control immediately post-thrust loss.' 'But the AAIB report doesn't clarify any of this.'
Air-India on Tuesday derecognised the Indian Pilots Guild with immediate effect.
'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 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.
$3.6 billion worth of aircraft - by today's prices - are lying idle or are in hangers due to poor maintenance and management
The Supreme Court has criticized the selective publication of a preliminary report on the Air India crash, calling it 'unfortunate and irresponsible'. The court raised concerns about privacy, dignity of victims' families, and the potential for biased narratives.
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.
'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.
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.
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.
A senior government official confirmed that after a meeting with other stakeholders, the decision has been taken and airlines and airport authorities have been informed about it.
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