There is no denying that the India-US sector is one of the hottest routes for airlines both from India and the United States
Air France-KLM is planning to invest directly in the US airline industry for the first time by taking a minority stake in the group expected to be formed from a merger of Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines, the number three and five US carriers.
While global majors like JetBlue, RyanAir, Southwest sell almost 90 per cent of their tickets through their own websites or apps, airlines in India have a minuscule share of around 25 per cent through direct channel booking.
But the regulator has dropped the proposal of asking flyers to maintain 30 seconds of silence.
It was supposed to be a happy journey to London, one that the Imam family had been planning for the past two months. Everything was set - except the visa, which did not arrive in time for one of its members. "Visa was the villain...As a consequence, half of the family of four will be in London today and the other half at home in India and the US, respectively," Sanjar Imam, director of travel firm Panache World, wrote in a Facebook post on Sunday.
It offers a real opportunity for the flag carrier to compete on the world stage, backed by a leading conglomerate with deep pockets like the Tatas, observes Indrajit Gupta.
The world's 10 longest non-stop flights criss-cross the world, cutting down travel time and making journeys easier and comfortable.
An intense winter storm has caused electricity outages for tens of thousands of Americans. Some 65,000 homes and businesses along the US east coast are without power. The storm is the product of a rapid and rare drop in barometric pressure known as bombogenesis, or bomb cyclone. Heavy snow has pounded the east coast from Maine as far south as North Carolina, taking out power lines, icing over roads and closing hundreds of schools.
Karnik was mandated to oversee commercial and sales functions of the airline. He took over from Hameed Ali, who joined the airline's board.
The IAF has paid French aerospace firms Dassault and Thales about Euro 350 million for 'performance-based logistics'. This requires the vendors to ensure that 75 per cent of the Rafale fleet is combat-ready at all times, notes Ajai Shukla.
Together with Jet Airways we will have 61 flights to Amsterdam and Paris during the winter season. That also makes us the second largest airline group after Lufthansa, which has 67 weekly flights, and we are catching up to become the first, says KLM CEO Pieter Elbers.
Vistara announced the new fare model giving its economy class customers the choice to forego complimentary meal for a ticket price which is Rs 500-1000 cheaper than the standard fare.
Indian and global carriers are offering limited period discounted fares to attract flyers from New Delhi on the occasion of the 68th Independence Day.
GoAir has temporarily suspended all its international operations -- Dammam, Kuwait, Muscat, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Bangkok, Phuket and Male -- starting March 17 until April 15.
The major US indexes pared losses late in the session.
The United States has described as "discriminatory and restrictive" the Indian government not allowing American carriers operate chartered flights on Indo-US routes even though Air India was doing so under the Vande Bharat Mission.
Tata Sons has started the process of due diligence of state-owned Air India and its subsidiary Air India Express. Sources said the group has appointed Bain and Company and Seabury Group for this purpose. Once complete, a financial bid will be submitted and a deal to take over the airline is likely to fructify by end of this year or even earlier, people involved in the process said. Simultaneously, the group has brought in veterans in the aviation business from Delta and United Airlines to prepare a plan for post-merger integration of Air India with its existing airline ventures. Tata Sons operates Vistara - a 51:49 percent joint venture with Singapore Airlines and Air Asia India, in which Tatas hold 83.67 per cent stakes.
Over 250 passengers on board two US airliners got a scare on Sunday when "credible" bomb threats sent via Twitter prompted the military to scramble F-16 fighter jets to escort the planes to land in Atlanta, but searches by a bomb squad turned up nothing threatening.
Two aborted missions, three different ministers, multiple rule changes and two decades later, Indian taxpayers will no longer have to pay Rs 20 crore per day to keep the loss-making Air India flying. While opposition Congress expectedly attacked the decision as selling the family silver, DIPAM secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey said what Tata is getting is not a cash cow but an airline which is bleeding where money needs to be pumped in to refurbish obsolete aircraft and dust up strangled ones while being unable to touch any employee for one year and only be able to resize staff after paying a VRS. "It won't be a very easy task there. Only advantage is they (new Air India owner) are paying the price which they think they can manage. "They are not taking the excessive debt accumulated to fund years of losses. We are continuing it as an ongoing concern.... This process has also saved huge amount of taxpayers money going forward," Pandey told PTI.
The Tatas are rather overwhelmed with some facets of the airline they have discovered, but even more unnerved by what they may not have yet uncovered, reveals Anjuli Bhargava.
Intelligence agencies believe attacks by militants during the Sochi Winter Olympics are highly likely, but will probably be aimed at "softer" targets elsewhere in Russia, such as public transportation or other civilian venues, US and European officials said.
What is more worrying, according to the report, is the fact that in over 20 per cent of the topic caseload districts where the second has ebbed, the third wave has set in firmly, which was only 5 per cent a month ago.
Days after it faced nationwide anti-government protests against its stringent zero-Covid policy, China in a major shift of its coronavirus response policies has announced that it will scrap quarantine for international travellers from January 8 as it reopens its borders and comes out of international isolation after nearly three years.
Curtailment of flights between India and China will help Air India and other airlines to boost their seat occupancy and market share.
Though there have been no cancellations of contracts by invoking the force majeure clause, a number of clients - especially in the worst-affected sectors like travel and hospitality, oil and gas, as well as manufacturing - have started asking for reducing level of IT support.
A resurgent SpiceJet is spreading its wings and Vistara is set to challenge Jet on long-haul routes in the coming years.
However, a passenger can carry such phones on board in switch off mode and in cabin baggage
Ahead of two crucial audits, the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) has proposed to allow deputy director generals (DGs) and officers of Indian Air Force (IAF) to apply for the post of chief of India's aviation regulator. The current head of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), Arun Kumar, has been promoted as secretary and is expected to move out some time soon. DGCA has four Deputy DGs with experience in different fields of aviation.
Several international airlines on Wednesday halted flights to Israel indefinitely, citing security concerns as high-level diplomatic efforts failed to yield any result to end the 16-day conflict that has killed 640 Palestinians and 31 Israelis.
Pence accused the Chinese government of orchestrating an aggressive military, economic and political campaign to expand its influence inside the US and across the world.
'Due to severe rains and heavy cross winds, arrivals at #AAI Chennai Airport will remain suspended from 1315 hrs to 1800 hrs, today. Departures will continue. The decision has been taken considering the safety aspect of passengers and severity of wind,' the Chennai Airport tweeted.
'It is very clear that Air India cannot be managed by the government.' 'Air India should be run as a separate profit entity.'
Travel bubbles, also called travel bridges or green corridors, do away with the waiting period for travellers from certain countries. They are reciprocal in nature, meaning flyers from both countries will enjoy similar benefits.
The US on Monday announced a new international travel system under which fully vaccinated individuals would be allowed to enter the country beginning in November.
Bids to be evaluated according to guidelines by the civil aviation ministry, following which a buyer will be selected. Transfer of control to the buyer to be effected by June-end.
The Delhi-based airline currently has 13 Airbus A320 aircraft in the fleet and it plans to take another seven (A320 Neo) planes by June 2018.
Last year, Jet Airways and Air France-KLM signed an enhanced cooperation agreement' for the development of their operations between Europe and India
This means fully vaccinated Indian passengers will no longer be subjected to a compulsory 10-day hotel quarantine on their arrival in Britain.
As competition hots up, airlines are doling out freebies to wean away customers.
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