Akasa Air's standalone net loss rose 18.7 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) to roughly Rs 1,983 crore in 2024-25 (FY25), driven by rising employee costs, aircraft maintenance and airport charges, and a sharp increase in foreign exchange (forex) expenses, sources privy to the development told Business Standard.
Costlier fuel, fall in yields make things increasingly tough; analysts say focus on ending red ink a must.
Sources have revealed that at least five hardcore terrorists affiliated with banned terror outfits Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) were killed in Indian strikes in Pakistan on May 7th. The strikes targeted nine terror sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Among the dead were Mudassar Khadian Khas, a LeT leader, and Hafiz Muhammed Jameel, the brother of JeM founder Maulana Masood Azhar. Other notable casualties included Mohammad Yusuf Azhar, a brother-in-law of Masood Azhar, and Khalid alias Abu Akasha, a LeT operative. The Pakistani military and government officials were present at the funerals of the slain terrorists.
'Just look at China: They have five or six major airlines and some smaller ones.'
Various airlines in India have engaged nearly 1,000 foreign pilots. However, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation has advised all scheduled, non-scheduled and general aviation operators to submit their plan to phase out foreign pilots and replace them by trained Indian pilots. As per the plan, all the foreign pilots are likely to be repatriated in about 5 years time. Government has taken steps to reduce the gap between demand and supply of skilled India pilots.
'This festival season, advance airfares for major metros are up 20 to 25 per cent from last year.'
So should airlines play the keening, trance-like Siddi folk music from the Kutch peninsula? The Sufiana Kalam of Kashmir? Carnatic music? Rabindra Sangeet? Bihu melodies? Classical music from the Hindustani gharanas? Ghazals? Bhajans? Bollywood hits?... asks Kanika Datta.
There were also seven Portuguese nationals and one Canadian on board the Air India flight that crashed in Ahmedabad.
Financial services giant HDFC Bank, carrying a brand value of $44.9 billion, has surged past IT consulting behemoth Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) to reclaim its crown as the country's most valued brand, according to the 2025 Kantar BrandZ Most Valuable Indian Brands report.
The Indian stock market in the October-November period sees high trading activity due to increased consumer spending, festive demand, upbeat sentiment, renewed investor confidence, and the auspicious Muhurat trading session. This impacts many stocks and sectors in the festive season.
Mohammad Javad Hosseini, the deputy chief of mission at the Iranian embassy, said more evacuation flights could be operated in the coming days to bring back Indians if required.
Air travel penetration in India remains small in global terms, with 0.04 annual trips per capita against 0.3 in China and more than two in the United States.
The plane can fly non-stop to Singapore, Doha (Qatar), Kuwait, Abu Dhabi (UAE), Riyadh (Saudi Arabia), Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), Tehran (Iran), Salalah (Oman) and Kunming (China), among other destinations, from various Indian airports.
Besides, the carrier is having a technical stop in Kolkata for some of the North America flights from Delhi, they added.
Restricting air access to foreign carriers by not granting them more bilateral rights is akin to shooting yourself in the foot, as air transport is a wealth multiplier for India's economy, Emirates President Tim Clark said during a press conference held on the sidelines of the annual general meeting of the International Air Transport Association.
Even as New Delhi turns up the heat on Turkish firms over Ankara's public embrace of Islamabad, Indian companies rooted in Trkiye are staying put. Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M), Dabur India, and Jubilant FoodWorks say it's business as usual, with no plans to alter course despite the geopolitical chill.
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.
The Boeing 787-8 aircraft -- VT-ANB -- was 11.5 years old and had flown for more than 41,000 hours, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium.
All You Want To Know About The 1999 Hijack.
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.
India has advised its citizens to defer travel to Nepal due to ongoing unrest and anti-government protests. The Ministry of External Affairs has also urged Indian citizens currently in Nepal to exercise caution and avoid public areas.
Singapore Airlines will make an additional investment of Rs 3,194.5 crore in Tata Group-owned Air India post-merger of Vistara in November. The merger, announced on November 29, 2022, and set to be completed on November 11, 2024, will result in Singapore Airlines having a 25.1 per cent stake in the enlarged Air India. Full-service carrier Vistara, which started flying on January 9, 2015, is a joint venture between Tatas and Singapore Airlines, where the latter holds a 49 per cent shareholding.
The total amount of penal interests charged from the defaulting parties stood at about Rs 115 crore.
Else customers will face capacity shortages and high fares.
Most of them had to wind up operations due to high operating cost, expensive fuel and longer than expected gestation period.
Names and names and names and names... 329 in all. Some Indian. Some Canadian. Some British. Berry. Gupta. Jain. James. Bhatt. Beauchesne. Chatlani. Enayati. Lougheed.... Vaihayasi Pande Daniel visits Ahakista, Ireland, home to the memorial for the worst terrorist atrocity in India's history.
A SpiceJet employee, Mudasir Ahmad Khan, claims he was assaulted by an army officer at Srinagar airport for enforcing baggage rules. He demands action against the officer, while the army says it is cooperating with the investigation.
A 36-year-old Indian-origin man, Bhaveshkumar Dahyabhai Shukla, has been charged with sexually assaulting a fellow passenger on a flight from Montana to Texas. Shukla faces two years of imprisonment, a USD 250,000 fine, and at least five years of supervised release if convicted.
The Pakistani military fired unprovoked shots across the Line of Control (LoC) in Kashmir for a second consecutive night, triggering retaliatory action from Indian troops. This escalation follows heightened tension between India and Pakistan after the Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 civilians. Despite the exchange of fire, no casualties were reported. India has imposed a series of punitive measures in response to the attack, including the suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty and closing the Attari land-border crossing. Pakistan has responded in kind, closing its airspace to Indian airlines and suspending trade with India.
'In the inspections, no issues were found with the said locking mechanism.'
India on Monday extended the closure of its airspace for flights operated by Pakistan airlines by another month till July 24.
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.
Pakistani troops continued to violate the ceasefire along the Line of Control (LoC) by resorting to unprovoked firing in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch and Kupwara districts, army officials said. This was the fourth consecutive night that Pakistan resorted to unprovoked firing along the LoC and came amid heightened tension between New Delhi and Islamabad following last week's terror attack in Pahalgam. Indian troops responded swiftly and effectively.
Singapore Airlines on Wednesday said it is fully cooperating with relevant authorities in the investigation into the London to Singapore flight which encountered severe turbulence, leading to the death of one passenger and injuring 30 others.
Pakistan has banned Indian-flagged ships from entering its ports with immediate effect after India imposed fresh punitive measures, including a ban on the import of goods and entry of Pakistani vessels into its ports, against Islamabad amid heightened tensions following the Pahalgam terror attack. The move comes after India announced a raft of punitive measures against Pakistan, including the suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty, shutting down of the only operational land border crossing at Attari, and downgrading of diplomatic ties following the terror attack. The Pakistan Army has also conducted a successful training launch of the Abdali Weapon System, a surface-to-surface missile with a range of 450 km, saying it was aimed at ensuring the operational readiness of troops and validating key technical parameters. India considers the test launch of the ballistic missile a "blatant" act of "provocation."
'Whoever is doing it (threats to airlines), they are actually carrying out a recce.' 'This is the manner in which terrorists strike.'
The CCS meet was held at the prime minister's Lok Kalyan Marg residence, a day after he held a meeting with the top military brass and accorded operational freedom to the armed forces on the "mode, targets and timing" of India's response to the April 22 attack that killed 26 people.
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.
Pakistani troops continued unprovoked small arms firing in different sectors along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir for the 10th consecutive night, prompting effective retaliation by the Indian army. The ceasefire violations, which started after the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam, were reported from eight places across five districts in the Union Territory during the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday. Indian Army responded promptly and proportionately to the unprovoked firing, a defence spokesperson said.
In the last one week, nearly 100 flights of Indian airlines received bomb threats.
