The National Investigation Agency (NIA) conducted searches at four locations in Punjab on Friday as part of its probe in a terror-conspiracy case involving designated terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun and the Sikhs For Justice (SFJ), a banned organisation associated with him.
Air India on Monday said it will progressively induct 30 new aircraft, including 5 wide-body Boeing planes, from December this year, as the Tatas-owned airline looks to boost its domestic and international services. The airline has signed leases and letters of intent for inducting 5 wide-body Boeing and 25 Airbus narrow-body planes over the next 15 months. "These new aircraft, which will enter service from late 2022, will increase the airline's fleet by over 25 per cent.
Air India will purchase 220 planes from Boeing for $34 billion, with an option to buy 70 more aircraft that could take the total transaction value to $45.9 billion, a deal that US President Joe Biden described as a "historic agreement". While announcing the Boeing-Air India deal on Tuesday, Biden also asserted that together with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he was looking forward to deepen the ties between India and the US. As per an announcement from the White House, Boeing and Air India have reached an agreement under which the airline will purchase 190 B737 MAX, 20 B787, and 10 B777X for a total of 220 firm order valued at $34 billion at list price.
Air India has leased a fleet of six Airbus A320 neo aircraft from CDB Aviation, a wholly owned Irish subsidiary of China Development Bank Financial Leasing Co Limited, to boost the Tata Group-owned company's transformation journey, a statement said on Wednesday. The leasing agreement was signed on the sidelines of the Airline Economics Growth Frontiers Asia Pacific 2022 conference, said the CDB Asia statement. CDB Aviation is among the first aircraft leasing companies to secure the placement of Air India's additional A320 neo aircraft under the recently announced multi-stage transformation plan since the purchase of the airline by Tata group, which aims to increase the carrier's fleet and help it boost both domestic and international operations.
Air India on Monday said it will lease 12 more aircraft comprising both A320 neo and Boeing 777, which are expected to be inducted in its existing fleet in the first half of 2023. The new planes will be deployed on the airline's short, medium and long-haul international routes, Air India said in a statement. Air India said it has leased 42 aircraft since its privatisation in January this year.
The home ministry has given security clearance to Air India CEO-designate Campbell Wilson, paving the way for him to take charge of the airline, according to a senior official. The appointment of Wilson as the chief executive officer and managing director of Air India was announced by Tata Sons on May 12. Tata Sons took over the loss-making carrier on January 27.
The agencies have also found some common lines and words used in these fake threats like "bombs", "blood will spread everywhere", "explosive devices", "this is not a joke" and "you will all die" and "bomb rakhwa dia hai" (Hindi for bomb has been placed) among others.
The bulk of Indian carriers flying to Dubai are low-cost carriers, which include IndiGo, Air India Express, and SpiceJet.
The airline said it has filed a police complaint about the incident, but did not specify when the 30-day ban came into effect.
Air India will no longer enjoy a priority in allocation of international traffic rights. This follows its takeover by Tata Sons in January. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation has dropped a clause which gave Air India an advantage over other private airlines in the amended rules issued on April 19.
In the past few days, more than 40 flights operated by the Indian carriers have received bomb threats which later turned out to be hoaxes.
Air India on Monday said it has introduced refreshed inflight food and beverages menus across cabins on all international flights. "The refresh of the menus is based on guest feedback and is designed to offer travellers an assortment of gourmet meals, trendy appetizers, decadent desserts, and showcase India's locally sourced culinary influence while keeping in line with the healthy eating trend," the airline said in a release.
In its first move to significantly expand the fleet after the Tatas took over, Air India has leased 25 Airbus narrow-body aircraft and five Boeing wide-body planes. These will enter service starting December, the company said on Monday. A wide-body plane has a bigger fuel tank, allowing it to travel longer distances such as India-US routes.
Air India said on Monday that it has processed passengers refunds of more than Rs 150 crore during the first few months after its privatisation. After winning the bid for Air India on October 8 last year, the Tata Group took charge of the airline on January 27. Since then, the airline has been taking multiple steps to address the legacy issues such as stuck refunds.
Sunil Bhaskaran, AirAsia India's chief executive officer (CEO) and managing director (MD), is the front-runner to head the low-cost carrier that will take birth after the merger of Air India Express and AirAsia India, sources said. In a show of confidence, the airline's board extended Bhaskaran's tenure by three years -- until March 2025 -- in a meeting held earlier this year, according to the documents reviewed by Business Standard. Moreover, AirAsia India's board of directors has increased Bhaskaran's salary twice in 2022 -- first in January by 5 per cent and then in June by 7 per cent, the documents showed.
Tata Group chief N Chandrasekaran on Thursday reached out to employees of Air India asking them to work together to build the airline that the country needs, while asserting that the "golden age" of the carrier lies ahead. In a welcome letter to the employees of Air India, after the Tata Group took over the management and control of the airline, Chandrasekaran, chairman of Tata Sons, reflected on the airline's "brilliant past" but said the entire nation is now waiting to see what "we will achieve together". "From the day of the announcement (of Tatas winning the bid), one word has been on everyone's lips: Homecoming.
For the first time in 13 years, since Jet Airways' A330 planes exited the airline's fleet in around 2010, an Indian wide-body aircraft will have a Rolls-Royce-powered engine, with Air India ordering 40 Airbus A350 planes. On Tuesday, Air India announced its mega aircraft order for 470 aircraft, including A350 planes. The A350 aircraft, which will come in two variants, are powered solely by Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engines and the local team has begun work to assist Air India with its aircraft-induction plans.
'My one recommendation would be to first quell the violence and then encourage dialogue and build the trust among the different communities.' 'This is not easy but necessary, for violence cannot be the way forward.'
'All they need is proper leadership.'
From CEOs to RBI governors, cricket's rich imagery and strategy resonate deeply with leadership, uncertainty, and decision-making across industries and global diplomacy, points out Suveen Sinha.
From highways connecting once-remote regions to aviation networks carrying millions, India's infrastructure story is one of transformation.
Lenders of bankrupt airline Jet Airways, led by the State Bank of India (SBI), on Thursday told the Supreme Court that successful bidder Jalan Kalrock Consortium (JKC) was "unwilling" to pay the dues and that the "liquidation" was the only option left. The bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud was hearing the SBI-led consortium plea against the NCLAT's March order upholding ownership transfer of the bankrupt airline to JKC.
According to e-mails accessed by ANI, the Air India cabin crew supervisor had reportedly sent out emails on November 27 at around 1 pm to the head of the Inflight Service Department (IFSD), base operations in India, Lead HR head of IFSD, and head of the northern region of IFSD and of complaints (customer care), informing them about the incident.
Taking hoax bomb-threat messages and calls seriously, the government has started identifying those behind the menace and asked social media platforms like Meta and X to share data on such messages, sources said.
Police have arrested a 23-year-old man on charges of sexually harassing a woman co-passenger on a flight from Delhi to Goa, officials said on Wednesday.
In a statement, Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu said the airport and emergency teams responded swiftly and effectively after a full emergency was declared at 18.05 hours.
Two IndiGo flights, one headed to Muscat and the other to Jeddah, also received bomb threats before they took off and the planes were moved to isolation bays for security checks.
Ending its uncomfortable journey in India after eight years, Malaysia-based AirAsia Group on Wednesday said it has exited AirAsia India by selling its remaining 16.67 per cent stake to Tata Group-owned Air India for Rs 155.64 crore. Later in the day, Air India said it has begun the process of creating a single low-cost carrier subsidiary by merging AirAsia India and Air India Express. A working group consisting AirAsia India CEO Sunil Bhaskaran and Air India Express CEO Aloke Singh has been formed for the two carriers' integration, which is expected to take approximately 12 months, it added.
Management and leadership changes, in addition to synchronising operations between all its airlines, are showing visible results for Air India. Data from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) show that there has been a marked improvement in key operational parameters of Air India after the Tata group took complete control of the national airline in January. One of the most dramatic improvements has been noticed in Air India's passenger load factor (PLF) - a crucial metric of capacity utilisation of an airline's fleet that shows how many seats it has been able to fill on every flight.
The acquisition will give the Tatas a firm footing on international routes and generate economies of scale.
'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'
Civil Aviation Secretary Vumlunmang Vualnam on Thursday said the number of planes with domestic airlines will increase to 1,400 in the next five years as he highlighted the growth potential of the country's aviation space. Currently, the fleet is around 800 aircraft and leading carriers IndiGo and Air India have placed significant plane orders.
Air India will put in place new systems to proactively alert fliers about changes or delays in flight schedules and also set up a coordination team to address airport-specific issues, according to an internal communication. After reviewing block times, airport connecting times and aircraft as well as crew rotations, Tatas-owned Air India has identified various improvement areas for bettering overall performance. In the internal communication on Friday, Air India CEO and managing director Campbell Wilson said the airline would seek airport slots to carry out the improvements.
The Tata Group-run Air India has banned smoking and consumption of intoxicating substances at the workplace and any employee violating this order will be "dealt with appropriate consequences", the airline's Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) Suresh Dutt Tripathi has stated. It was not clear what was the trigger for Wednesday's communique. Air India did not respond to PTI's request for statement on this matter.
The pilot of the aircraft informed the ATC about the threat after a 'Bomb in flight' message, written on a tissue paper, was found in the washroom of the plane, they said.
Airbus will increase sourcing of components from India, which offers plenty of opportunities, according to the aircraft maker's CEO Guillaume Faury. The European major, which has bagged huge aircraft orders from IndiGo and Air India, doubled its sourcing of components and services from India to 1 billion euros during the period from 2019-2023, he said.
The government will start working on selling the ground-handling arm of erstwhile national carrier Air India and the Expression of Interest (EoI) is expected in the next fiscal, an official said. "We already have the Cabinet approval for selling the subsidiaries of Air India. "So we will come out with an EoI inviting bids for one of the ground-handling arms in the next fiscal," an official told PTI.
Air India will be commencing its scheduled operations -- two daily flights from the national capital -- to Dhaka on Wednesday.
This will be the first full-year Budget of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government since it came to power for a third consecutive term in July last year.
Coming to the aid of all Air India pilots, permanent as well as on contract, whose services were terminated last year, the Delhi high court on Tuesday quashed the national carrier's decision and directed their reinstatement. The direction was issued by Justice Jyoti Singh who also ordered that back wages would have to be paid to the reinstated pilots. The court said that the back wages, including allowances, have to be paid at par with what in-service pilots were receiving and in accordance with the government rules.
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