The national carrier's market share has declined from a near-monopoly to 16.6 per cent as of September 2014.
Even a rump Air India could not hope to get away with the shoddy service and scrappy fare for which I paid nearly two lakh, complains Sunanda K Datta-Ray.
Former Air India executive director Jitender Bhargava comes out with a book detailing what went wrong with the national carrier. According to him, India does not have a civil aviation policy, and that's just the beginning.
'The crash site must be secured because something small -- like a pipe or hydraulic line -- could hold a critical clue.'
In a letter to Air India Chairman and Managing Director Rajiv Bansal, the ICPA said, "In the press conference by Honourable Minister Shri Hardeep Singh Puri dated 16th July 2020, you had stated 'we are in negotiation with the pilots', which is far from reality." "It was not a negotiation, but the 'diktat' of the MoCA (ministry of civil aviation) which was conveyed to us. We would also like to place on record that the so-called negotiation was 'not harmonious' in any aspect," the Indian Commercial Pilots' Association (ICPA) noted.
The crash has dealt a blow to the conglomerate's efforts to turn around Air India, especially following its merger with Vistara in 2024.
The airliners will be withdrawn from Air India, sent to France to fit airborne radars, then handed over to DRDO to be integrated with the complex software that will allow these aircraft to function as 'eye-in-the-sky' controllers of air force battles.
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.
'We consider everyone who lost someone in this tragedy as part of our family -- now and forever.'
Indian carriers transported 12.8 million domestic passengers in March 2023, a year-on-year growth of 21.41 per cent. India's largest carrier IndiGo shored up its domestic market share from 53.8 per cent in Q4 of FY22 to 55.7 per cent in Q4 of FY23, according to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) data released on Monday.
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.
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.
Three major domestic carriers -- Air India, Kingfisher Airlines and Jet Airways -- will together require around $10-12 billion (Rs 47,000-Rs 560,000 crore) over the next two-three years to fund their aircraft acquisition plans, an aviation think tank has said.
The government is selling its entire 100 per cent stake in Air India but wants effective control to stay with Indian nationals.
The SC observed that the government should be more worried about the health of citizens rather than the health of commercial airlines.
Vasant Shinde, a former municipal council president of Jintur in Parbhani district, told PTI that he survived the 1993 tragedy, in which 55 people lost their lives, as the aircraft flew into an 11 KV powerline, which fortunately did not have any supply.
Air India is a brand, a brand symbolising the nation, especially amongst the Indian diaspora and travellers overseas.
There had been sufficient warnings on Air India's state but the government failed to take action, former executive director Jitender Bhargava said.
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.
Another reason working in Air India's favour now is the government's plan to clean up part of the airline's burgeoning debt from its books - a major deterrent for investors when it attempted divestment the previous time.
Corporate India is embarking on an ambitious investment drive, with capital expenditure (capex) expected to double to $850 billion over the next five years, according to a report by S&P Global Ratings. Indian power & transmission, airlines, and green hydrogen sectors would spearhead the spending, the report said.
'It is not as bad an airline as it is made out to be: We serve wonderful food, the leg space is more, our cabin crew is warm and friendly.' 'The customer needs to be apprised of these things.'
India's Air Chief Marshal A P Singh met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday to discuss the security situation arising from escalating tensions with Pakistan. The meeting comes after a similar briefing by the Navy Chief on the situation in the Arabian Sea. This follows a deadly terror attack in Pahalgam, which India has blamed on Pakistan. India has taken several retaliatory measures, including suspending the Indus Waters Treaty and banning imports from Pakistan.
.jpg)
With the launch of these services, Air India would become the first airline to operate the new Boeing-787 Dreamliner to the Australian continent, a spokesperson said.
Air India Express and AirAsia India have moved to a unified reservation system, whereby passengers can make bookings for both airlines through an integrated website. The move is part of the ongoing process of merging AirAsia India with Air India Express. The combined entity will focus on leisure-oriented and price-sensitive markets.
It is Air India's only profitable subsidiary. In 2016-17, it clocked a profit of over Rs 33.4 crore, earning Rs 620 crore in revenues from its handling operations.
The airline might find it difficult to fill posts.
The Supreme Court has raised concerns about the preliminary report on the Air India crash and has asked for a more independent and thorough investigation.
Air India, which is operating flights to evacuate Indians stranded in foreign countries, have asked its pilots to undertake coronavirus test before they operate such flights.
Employees can be sent on LWP for six months or for a period of two years extendable up to five years, depending upon the following factors - suitability, efficiency, competence, quality of performance, health of the employee, instance of non-availability of the employee for duty in the past as a result of ill health or otherwise and redundancy.
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.
Cooking oil is often discarded after being used for frying at home or in restaurants. However, a refinery of IndianOil has now won a certification to use the same oil to produce sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), the company chairman Arvinder Singh Sahney said.
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.
The flight will operate every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. While the inaugural flight AI 139 left at 6 pm (Indian time) on Thursday, the scheduled departure will be 4.50 pm (Indian time) from March 25 when the summer schedule comes into operation.
Else customers will face capacity shortages and high fares.
Cairn Energy and Air India have jointly asked a New York federal court to stay further proceedings in the British firm's US lawsuit targeting the airline for enforcement of a $1.2-billion arbitral award. The move follows the government enacting a law to scrap retrospective taxation in the country, which in effect will result in withdrawal of the Rs 10,247 crore tax demand on Cairn, according to court documents reviewed by PTI. The British company had won an international arbitration award against levy of such taxes and sought to take over Air India assets when the government refused to honour the award and pay it $1.2 billion-plus interest and penalty.
IndiGo has delivered impressive operating performance in the past six quarters as it navigated cost and capacity challenges. It has managed to mitigate the impact of faulty engine-related groundings. The airline has also managed costs related to grounding, expensive secondary leasing, increasing airport charges, and pilot compensation inflation and delivered stronger yields and spreads.
Kingfisher Airlines and Jet Airways on Thursday cancelled their flights to London while Air India postponed its services to Toronto and London, which were to take off tonight as airspace was closed over several North European airports due to drifting ash from a volcano in Iceland.
