A group of Air India unions on Friday asked Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel to fix the accountability on those who are "sabotaging" the airlines merger process
Domestic air passenger traffic was back to the growth trajectory in June amid the falling number of COVID-19 cases in the country with around three million passengers flying on local routes in the previous month as against around two million in May, a report said on Tuesday. Though there is some recovery observed in June, stress on demand continues, driven largely by the second wave of the pandemic, limiting travel to only necessary travel, credit rating agency ICRA said in its report. On a sequential basis, domestic passenger traffic was up 41-42 per cent in June over May.
Lufthansa has terminated the services of 103 India-based flight attendants after they allegedly sought "job assurance" from the management while the German airlines group had offered them leave without pay option for two years, sources close to the developments said.
While Jet founder Naresh Goyal said he was willing to infuse Rs 700 crore and also pledge all his shares in the company provided he can have at least 25 per cent stake, the airline's foreign partner Etihad Airways insists he must not keep more than a 22 per cent stake.
Marriott has the best breakfast in town. New Delhi airport has the best stores. Kishore Singh on the good, bad and worst among hotels, airports and airlines.
The year gone by has also forced all airlines to turn the lens sharply on their own costs, workings and internal dynamics, opening their eyes to their vulnerabilities. Fewer, leaner, nimbler players will emerge from the carnage.
Despite the best ever quarterly net profit of Rs 3,091 crore during April-June of financial year 2023-24 (Q1FY24), challenges are mounting for InterGlobe Aviation-run IndiGo in the near term, said analysts. Given this, most brokerages have retained their ratings from 'buy to underperform', as well as their target price for the stock. For instance, Motilal Oswal Financial Services has retained its 'neutral' rating on the scrip as it believes the low-cost airline is facing teething issues at present.
The new plan is likely to be discussed in the meeting of the group of ministers to be held next week.
It has been lowered to 'IND BBB+' from 'IND A-', besides placing the rating on 'Rating Watch Negative' (RWN).
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The proposal of Tatas and Singapore Airlines for a new joint venture, entailing foreign investment of $49 million, is likely to come up before the Foreign Investment Promotion Board for approval on October 18.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday promised that wages and appropriate perks would be paid to Air India employees at the earliest after the financial problems of the ailing carrier found a resonance in Lok Sabha with members raising concern over non-payment of salaries.
People have said they would be inclined to travel for leisure during the festival and year-end season.
This State-corporate 'cooperation' didn't begin with the arrival of the Modi government.
Many of the big licences, contracts, and even environmental clearances for the Adani group had come in the UPA's time, points out Shekhar Gupta.
The issue of equity infusion in Air India will be taken up by the Cabinet shortly and a cabinet note will be prepared in two weeks.
In the biggest aviation takeover in India, Jet Airways has struck a deal to buy Sahara Airlines for Rs 2,300 crore (Rs 23 billion), a move that would help Naresh Goyal promoted carrier to become the biggest domestic carrier.
The Congress leader is also being probed by ED in two separate money-laundering cases of Aircel-Maxis and INX Media.
Both Jet Airways and Go First have met with a similar fate of landing up in insolvency, albeit for different reasons. Whether Go First will be able to avoid the sharp erosion in value like in the case of Jet, experts say, will depend on how quickly it is able to restart operations and retain its slots at airports. Go First, owned by the Wadia group, filed for voluntary corporate insolvency resolution on May 2 due to inadequate capacity utilisation that led to a cash crunch.
'All these incidents go to show that the day of the anodyne, apolitical corporation is running out fast,' says Kanika Datta.
The decision on additional grant would also be taken keeping in view the high cost debt 'both current and long term' taken by Air India.
"Tata Sons board is meeting tomorrow (Friday) to consider the proposal to bid for Jet Airways," people in the know of the development told PTI.
The country's largest domestic budget carrier IndiGo on Wednesday announced the appointment of Pieter Elbers as its chief executive officer, replacing incumbent Ronojoy Dutta. Seventy-one year old Dutta, who came to helm the airline in January 2019, has decided to retire on September 30, after guiding the airline through the turbulent Covid period, IndiGo said in a statement. Elbers' appointment, which is subject to regulatory approvals, will be effective from on or before October 1, it said.
"The GoM on the civil aviation sector, headed by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, is meeting tomorrow as the government has broadly agreed to support Air India in its restructuring process," civil aviation minister Praful Patel said on Tuesday.
There are only three entities left in the fray now - Russian Fund Treasury RA Partners, Panama-based investment firm Avantulo Group and South American conglomerate Synergy Group Corp.
The objections were filed after Airbus failed to repay Rs 196 crore, availed by the aircraft-making company on behalf of Mallya-controlled Kingfisher Airlines
Two months after launch, low-cost warrior AirAsia is expanding to uncharted routes in India.
Air India CMD Rohit Nandan was asked to join the meeting at the fag end.
The ATR 72-600 aircraft was accorded water salute as it landed at the Jaffna airport, about 400-km from capital Colombo.
But says the airline will have to meet targets to get fund.
The P-8I, which is widely acknowledged to be the world's most deadly LRMR-ASW aircraft, is a derivative of the Boeing 737-800 airliner, onto which a plethora of sensors and weaponry has been fitted.
Excerpted from Sahara: The Untold Story by Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
"Pakistan Air Force continuously monitored the complete flight path of the flying object from its point of origin in Sirsa in India till its point of impact near Mian Channu and initiated requisite tactical actions in accordance with standard operating procedures," Pakistan Army spokesman Major General Babar Iftikhar said.
The country's fourth budget carrier has also announced the addition of Kochi to its existing network from July 20.
India has realised that one can only deal with China from a position of strength and that is not palatable to Beijing, observes Dr Rup Narayan Das.
Commercial aviation is safe because the crew is paid well and trained extensively for contingencies
Rising fuel prices, intense competition and inability to pass on spiralling expenses have been negatively impacting the domestic airlines.
Naresh Goyal, after being ousted with his wife from the board last week, and with his shareholding halved to 25 per cent, can still make a comeback by partnering a new investor and win back majority control.
Mody, 92, held important positions in Tata group and led Tata Steel till he retired in the early 1990s.
The civil aviation ministry had last week suspended all flights between the European country and India from December 23 to December 31 as a mutated variant of the coronavirus was detected there.
Domestic air traffic grew by over 14 per cent in September, with 11 Indian carriers together flying a total of 66.66 lakh passengers during the month.
