The letter was sent as an early warning of what was then widely being perceived as a plunder of national resources.
Chief executive officers of airlines have asked the government to bear 50 per cent of three months' salaries of employees.
Loans for Indian airlines have dried up as banks have become cautious to lend to the sector.
In little over a year, Air India and IndiGo have announced plans to purchase up to 170 wide-body planes as they bet on ambitious expansion and efforts also continue to make India a global aviation hub. Also, the two carriers' orders usher in European aircraft maker Airbus into the country's wide-body space, which has traditionally been dominated by US major Boeing. If narrow-body aircraft orders of Air India, IndiGo and Akasa Air are added to the list, the order book is well over 1,200 planes and that too in less than 14 months or since February 2023.
These vacancies are likely to emerge as Indian airlines plan to induct more than 900 aircraft into their fleets in the coming years.
India seamer Deepak Chahar has claimed that Malaysian Airlines misplaced his luggage when he was travelling to Dhaka from New Zealand and he was not served food even as he was flying Business Class.
Despite partial restoration of salaries, pilots across airlines remain dissatisfied, throwing challenges for managers.
After facing significant flight disruptions recently, Vistara CEO Vinod Kannan on Thursday told the airline staff that the "worst is behind us" and operations have already stabilised. Pilot woes have forced the Tata Group airline to temporarily cut down capacity by 10 per cent or 25-30 flights daily. While acknowledging that things should have been planned better, Kannan said it has been a "learning experience".
Besides human resources integration, the merged airline, is expected that the combined airliner would have the benefit of increased cost savings and profitability of Rs 820 crore by 2010.
Indigo has zero competition on 61.2 per cent of its 838 domestic routes.
Aviation consultancy CAPA on Thursday said allowing domestic airlines to take advance bookings from April 15 is "unfair" to consumers since a decision on lifting the nationwide lockdown is yet to be taken. During the lockdown period only special flights approved by aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation, medical evacuation flights and those carrying cargo, including medical equipment, to and from different parts of the country are operational.
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.
'You don't need massive industry or huge energy resources.' 'You could start with just 3 or 4 people in a coffee shop and invent the world.'
A senior IDBI Bank official allegedly conspired with businessman Vijay Mallya for sanction and disbursement of loan to the latter's Kingfisher Airlines, the Central Bureau of Investigation said in its supplementary chargesheet filed in a Mumbai court. Mallya is an accused in the alleged Rs 900-crore IDBI Bank-Kingfisher Airlines loan fraud case, which is being probed by the CBI. The Central agency had recently filed a supplementary chargesheet before a special CBI court.
If all 102 grounded planes could fly, there will theoretically be 400 more Delhi-Mumbai flights every day.
The Canadian Air Force aircraft is ferrying 191 stranded passengers of an Air India flight from Iqaluit airport has landed in Chicago.
At the heart of the current controversy is the government's FDI rule
Rakesh Jhunjhunwala-backed new airline Akasa is in talks with US aerospace company Boeing for buying up to 100 737 Max aircraft. Former Jet Airways CEO Vinay Dube and his family members are promoters while ex-IndiGo president Aditya Ghosh is a board member of the airline. The airline is in negotiation with Boeing and has reached out to the government to recertify the aircraft which has been grounded since 2018 after two crashes killing 349 persons, according to sources in the know.
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.
The Indian embassy in France has reached and obtained consular access.
A passenger on a New York-New Delhi American Airlines flight allegedly urinated on a fellow male passenger in a drunken state, sources said on Sunday.
The threats via microblogging platform X came a day after three international flights originating from Mumbai received bomb threats, causing trouble to hundreds of passengers and airline crew.
The new visa-free regime allows travellers to stay for up to 60 days instead of only 15 earlier.
The Yeti Airlines aircraft took off from Kathmandu's Tribhuvan International Airport at 10.33 am on Sunday and crashed on the bank of the Seti River between the old airport and the new airport in Pokhara, minutes before landing, according to the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal.
Fuelled by rising passenger traffic and reviving local economies, the global airline industry is projected to record a net profit of $9.8 billion this year, IATA Director General Willie Walsh said on Monday and also made a strong pitch for having global standards for a Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) book and claim system to help reduce carbon emissions. While addressing the Annual General Meeting of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) here, Walsh also flagged concerns about supply chain issues that are raising costs as well as limiting the ability of airlines to deploy aircraft. He also pointed out that decarbonising aviation is a serious issue and governments must not be allowed to use it to shore up exchequer finances.
The MEA said Indian nationals residing in Iraq are advised to be alert and may avoid travel within Iraq. The DGCA asked airlines to take all precautions in airspace over Iran, Iraq, Gulf of Oman and waters of Persian Gulf.
Indian carrier Vistara on Monday announced voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) and voluntary separation scheme (VSS) for its permanent ground staff ahead of its merger with Air India, which had announced similar plans for its non-flying permanent staff two weeks ago.
SpiceJet's resurgence, once the new funding is in place, has the potential to disrupt the Indian aviation market in 2024 as the airline will bring its grounded aircraft back to service and lease as many planes as possible to be competitively relevant, aviation consultancy firm Capa India said on Thursday. "Although the market for procuring aircraft in 2024 is exceptionally tight, we expect that SpiceJet will bring stored aircraft back into operations, and will wet or dry lease as much capacity as possible, in order to be competitively relevant. "This will have a material impact on the industry structure, and possibly on domestic profitability," Capa India said in its report.
A Nepalese private plane crashed and caught fire shortly after taking off from the Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu on Wednesday, killing 18 people aboard, including a child, and seriously injuring the pilot -- the only survivor.
The airlines have instead suggested compulsory personal protective equipment-like suit, gloves and mask for flyers and crew members.
'If the airlines are not given a clear deadline to change the altimeters by the DGCA, why should they do it voluntarily?' 'It means that the aircraft will be grounded for a while and lose money.'
IndiGo will introduce business class seats in select flights on 12 domestic routes starting from November 14 and also launch a customer loyalty programme, as the 18-year-old airline seeks to expand business and strengthen global presence. The announcements, made at an event in the national capital on Monday to mark 18 years of operations, also highlights a pivotal trajectory for the airline.
'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.'
Air India (AI)'s rise could be at the expense of three "super-connector" hubs - Doha in Qatar, and Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the UAE - as the Indian passenger would any day prefer direct flights of their national airline that is providing excellent on-time service, Arved von zur Muehlen, chief commercial officer of Saudia Airlines, said on Thursday.
Experts say carriers will start making money on higher ticket prices, but jet fuel costs may act as a dampener
The ministry has also asked that the cap of such borrowings is to be set at $500 million (Rs 3,450 crore) for a single company and $1 billion (Rs 6,900 crore) for the entire sector.
Police in Maharashtra's Nagpur have identified a 35-year-old man from Gondia in the state as the person behind a spate of hoax bomb threats that triggered panic, caused flight delays and led to increased security at airports and other establishments, an official said.
The government on Thursday reappointed former IPS officer Ajit Doval as the National Security Adviser (NSA), according to an official order.
This versatile lentil salad can be a whole meal by itself or an accompaniment to a light evening repast.
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