Salt-to-software conglomerate Tata group was among "multiple" entities who on Monday put in preliminary bids for buying the government's stake in loss-making carrier Air India.
In nearly 100 seats, the BJP stands almost no chance of winning. In 200 seats, it is a direct fight between the BJP and the Congress where the BJP has an upper hand. In 243 seats, the BJP is pitted against regional parties and it is not going to be easy. That is why 400 seats may end up as a pipe dream, states Ramesh Menon, author of Modi Demystified: The Making of a Prime Minister.
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.
Air India must tighten costs to comes out of the red or it wil perish in no time, says experts.
Apart from Air India, the implementation of the airport hub project would involve the airport authorities, other Star Alliance partner airlines which operate from the two airports and ground handling agencies, among others, to make it easier for smooth transfer of passengers from one flight to another.
Lufthansa is a founder member of Star Alliance and was the mentor airline for facilitating Air India's entry.
The airline had renewed its insurance on Oct 1 for nearly $29 million to cover its 132 aircraft.
While political experts claim that the Modi Magic is missing in the 2024 general election, the common people in the street -- at least those in the crowd on Thursday -- vow that they will vote for Modi and the candidate who contests the election doesn't matter much.
While the number of operational airports in the country will rise to 131, other smaller towns too are seeing a surge in connectivity.
With the strain and anxiety of the longest Lok Sabha polls now behind the leaders, governance, with consensus, is the next step.
Around 1.12 crore domestic passengers travelled by air in December, approximately 6.7 per cent higher than the 1.05 crore who travelled in November, the country's aviation regulator said on Wednesday. Overall, 8.38 crore people travelled on domestic flights in 2021 as compared to 6.3 crore in 2020, showing a jump of 33 per cent, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) stated in its monthly statement. IndiGo -- India's largest carrier -- carried 61.41 lakh passengers in December, a 54.8 per cent share of the domestic market, it mentioned.
This appears to be a common refrain in Uttar Pradesh's Lakhimpur Kheri Lok Sabha constituency where farmers want better prices for their produce and respite from the stray cattle menace and others want political leaders to talk about job creation instead of issues like the Ram temple and Article 370.
IOC, BPCL and HPCL on Thursday afternoon stopped ATF supplies to Air India at six airports - Kochi, Pune, Patna, Ranchi, Vizag and Mohali - over payment defaults. AI flights from these places were tanking up from other airports.
With 19 border polling stations along the Line of Control in Rajouri and Poonch, a contingency plan has been worked out to deal with cross-border shelling though chances are negligible given the ongoing ceasefire between India and Pakistan that came into effect in February 2021, officials said.
The PM is seen as slipping up in confidence levels as aired by his 'exposure' of the BRS on a crucial issue as alliance negotiations, which is not done under normal circumstances, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
'The West has always opposed a strong nationalist leader in India and Narendra Modi is no exception.' 'The West prefers weak leaders who are amenable to Western pressure and Mr Modi's independent stance is not to the liking of the West,' asserts Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
There is an impression within the Tamil Nadu BJP -- although no one is airing it -- that over-exposure for Narendra Modi over the past months may work against party candidates, as they have triggered a near-continuous social media debate on his achievements and failures, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
These vacancies are likely to emerge as Indian airlines plan to induct more than 900 aircraft into their fleets in the coming years.
The government will soon initiate talks with Lufthansa to mentor the national carrier to join the global airline group
If the concerns over risking political capital are overcome, the long-term gains for the Indian economy will be immense, asserts A K Bhattacharya.
Jet Airways' prospects of entering the exclusive alliance brighten
Chinese and Russian warplanes on Tuesday conducted joint air patrols over the Sea of Japan, the East China Sea and the West Pacific Ocean as the leaders of Quad held their in-person summit in Tokyo, in an apparent attempt to send a message of unity between Beijing and Moscow.
'What should surprise BJP supporters is Modi's call for 'stability' at the manifesto launch, a theme that he and his team members had not touched ahead of the Lok Sabha polls in 2014 and 2019.' 'The last time the party called for 'stability at the Centre' was in 1998 and 1999,' recalls N Sathiya Moorthy.
The party fielded Maneka Gandhi from Sultanpur, while Uttar Pradesh minister Jitin Prasada has replaced Varun Gandhi in Pilibhit.
I hope those who underestimate Rajeev Chandrasekhar will be proved wrong in this fight for Thiruvananthapuram's future, notes Rajeev Srinivasan.
With Air India's July 31 deadline to join Star Alliance approaching, senior officials of the global umbrella body of airline and those from the national carrier would soon meet Indian government officials to discuss the progress made in this direction.
Amidst suspense about his whereabouts, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren has reached his official residence in Ranchi, a source in the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) said on Tuesday.
It will be in Modi's interest to reinvent his party, read the writing on the wall that voters wrote, and move ahead. He has little choice now. The country is watching, asserts Ramesh Menon.
Regional connectivity will bring development to tier-2 and tier-3 cities which are becoming "growth engines", Prime Minister Narendra Modi said while inaugurating the first flight under UDAN.
The work we have done in the south and the northeast over the last 10 years under Prime Minister Modi's leadership, we have started getting results of the same, he said.
Three passengers who travelled on Delhi-Jammu flight on Tuesday, six passengers who were on Bengaluru-Coimbatore flight on Wednesday, two passengers who were on Delhi-Coimbatore flight on Wednesday and one passenger who was on Bengaluru-Madurai flight on Wednesday tested positive for the novel coronavirus, the airline said.
Lufthansa has been Air India's mentor, helping and guiding it complete all formalities for joining the alliance.
While there is no concrete proposal as of now, possible options include raising funds through securitisation of ticket levy and reduction in number of subsidised seats on routes with higher demand.
The youth, Rahul Dev, has been recruited as a General Duty (GD) pilot officer in the Pakistan Air Force (PAF), Daily Pakistan reported. Dev hails from Tharparkar, the largest district in Sindh province, which is the home to a large population of Hindu community, local media reported on Monday.
Openers KL Rahul and Quinton de Kock hit fifties as LSG trounced CSK by eight wickets.
The Vijay Mallya-owned carrier would become the first airline from the subcontinent to join any of the global airline groups, the two others being 'Star Alliance' and 'SkyTeam', spokespersons of the airline and the alliance said.
The meeting between the two leaders, which was also attended by Bihar's deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav, was described as 'positive'.
Agra, Shimla, Nanded, Kanpur and Jamshedpur are among the many airports that would see connectivity under Udan.
"The voting percentage is likely to go upwards when reports from all polling stations are obtained as polling is scheduled till 6 pm in many constituencies. Final figures will be known on Saturday after the scrutiny of form 17A," the EC said.
Air Sahara on Monday said it is in talks with upcoming low-cost carrier Indus Air, promoted by Kapil Mohan of Mohan Meakins Group.
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