Yechuri also said the process of merging Air India and Indian Airlines (Indian) has not taken place in a proper way.
Hardening their stand, Air India unions said on Thursday they were not willing to renegotiate on the proposed wage cut by the management. NACIL is the holding company of the state-run airline and was formed after the merger of Air India and Indian Airlines.
Kingfisher Airlines, National Aviation Company of India Limited -- the state-owned company that runs Air India -- and Indigo could face additional cost pressures, with reinsurance rates expected to harden following the accident involving the Air France aircraft that was flying from Rio de Janeiro to Paris with 228 passengers on board.
In its petition, the association alleged that the procedure followed by the Union Government for the merger was not proper and was illegal. A new company, National Aviation Company of India Ltd was incorporated in March this year as promoter of the new brand and the merger would take two years to become effective.
The National Aviation Company of India Ltd (Nacil) will be able to save more than 30 per cent on its interest payment per year, as the finance ministry recently agreed to furnish sovereign guarantees on loans raised by the company which runs Air India.
Sky marshals could soon be grounded if some private airlines keep dawdling over the former's maintenance.
An airhostess has approached Delhi High Court challenging erstwhile India Airlines' decision to sack her for being "overweight".
Air India Express, the international low-cost arm of National Aviation Company of India Ltd, has finalised a blueprint for the launch of cheap-fare domestic routes. The plan includes shifting base from Mumbai to Kochi, rebranding to Express India and improving the utilisation of its 21-strong fleet from 9 hours to 12.5 hours daily.
Raghu Menon, CMD of National Aviation Company of India (Nacil), had said last year that more than 70 per cent of the merger process would be completed by the end of FY09.
According to top sources in the airline, about half the employees will shift to these JVs, which will be clearly focused on the areas of operation and will have to make money.
Sources close to the development reveal that after hectic negotiations and several rounds of meetings, the choice of brand was a unanimous one.
Nacil was formed after the merger of erstwhile Indian Airlines and Air India in 2007. In 2004, they ordered for 111 aircraft -- 68 from Boeing and 43 from Airbus. The Boeing order included 27 B787-800 Dreamliners.
After stiff resistance from its employees against a steep pay cut, National Aviation Company of India Ltd), which runs Air India, has come out with a fresh proposal to impose a 15-17 per cent cut on the total salary package.The total package includes basic salary, dearness allowance, house rent allowance and payments made under the productivity-linked incentive scheme . The cut, however, would not be applicable on 4000 employees.
The Delhi high court on Friday directed the civil aviation regulator to deregister planes leased to Go First within five working days, giving respite to the lessors. This means that the airline will have to give back all 54 aircraft to the lessors if its resolution professional (RP) does not challenge the order or ask for a stay. Justice Tara Vitasta Ganju also refused the request of the RP, represented by advocate Diwakar Maheshwari, to keep the operation of the order in abeyance for a week to enable them to file an appeal before the division Bench of the court.
National Aviation Company of India Limited, the public sector entity that owns Air India, will be offering a voluntary leave-without-pay scheme to 15,000 employees--around 46 per cent of its staff strength--to help the financially-strapped airline save over Rs 75 crore annually.
National Aviation Company Ltd, which runs Air India, has reshuffled its executive directors and created a new designation of ED (marketing).
National Aviation Company, the name of the proposed merged entity of Air India and Indian Airlines, plans to launch a value carrier to take on the challenge from JetLite and Air Deccan.
Launch on 10 sectors in the winter schedule.
When National Aviation Company of India's wage bill is described as impossible to sustain, the unions say it is due in large part to the salaries paid to the same brass which wants pay cuts, apart from other creamy layers such as pilots and engineers, who get quite a bit through productivity-linked incentives. Hence, say the unions, it is these sections which need to take the hit in salaries, not their members.
The government has not taken any decision on the communications ministry's proposal for appointing the next chairman of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.
The government is in the process of structuring a uniform performance-linked incentive scheme for Air India and Indian Airlines employees after the merger of the two airlines.
Barring a few, such as Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu (74), Union Minister C R Patil (69) and Uttar Pradesh Finance Minister Suresh Khanna (71), most other ministers attending the WEF represent the next generation of India's politicians.
National air-carrier Air India has been ranked as the 'Most Trusted Brand' in the aviation sector in the country by the Economic Times Brand Equity Survey 2010.
Religare Enterprises, a financial services firm, has disclosed that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) turned down its application to appoint Rakesh Asthana as its whole-time director in May this year without citing any reasons. Asthana is a former top official of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). In a notice to the stock exchanges, Religare said that while the company and Asthana were weighing the options of dealing with the letter of refusal by the RBI, it was also busy in preparing for the "herculean task" of making ready multiple applications to regulators.
The presence of an engine maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) facility in India could have prevented Go First airline from going "belly up", as sending engines abroad for servicing is not an efficient way to operate a carrier, Piyush Srivastava, senior economic advisor, Ministry of Civil Aviation, said in a statement on Tuesday. On May 3, Go First suspended its flights and filed for insolvency, squarely blaming engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney (PW) for its cash crunch. The airline claimed that about half of its 54 aircraft were grounded on May 3 due to a delay in the supply of engines by the US-based company. PW has denied the charges.
The Maharashtra government has become the owner of iconic Air India building with the Union government approving transfer of the asset on Thursday. The Maharashtra government bought the Air India building at Nariman Point in Mumbai for Rs 1,601 crore. "GoI has approved transfer of Air India building, Mumbai of AI Assets Holding Company Ltd (AIAHL) to Government of Maharashtra (GoM) at consideration of Rs.1601 cr. GoM has agreed to waive dues of Rs. 298.42 cr, which would have been otherwise payable by AIAHL to GoM for this transaction," DIPAM secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey said in a post on X.
A delegation of high-level executives from US public pension funds (non-profit and government sectors) is visiting India next week to assess and familiarise themselves with the investment opportunities in the country. These executives belong to various American states and cumulatively represent $1.8 trillion in assets under management (AUM) invested across the US and global markets. The United States (US) mission to India, which includes its embassy and consulates and the Department of Treasury, along with India's Ministry of Finance and the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF), is hosting the delegation.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Spanish counterpart Pedro Sanchez on Monday inaugurated the Tata Advanced System Limited (TASL)-Airbus facility in Vadodara to manufacture C-295 military aircraft in India.
InterGlobe Enterprises on Thursday said it along with Archer Aviation plans to launch an all-electric air taxi service across India in 2026. Once launched, the InterGlobe-Archer flight will aim to take passengers from Connaught Place in the national capital to Gurugram in Haryana in approximately 7 minutes whereas by road, the 27-kilometre-long trip will take 60-90 minutes, according to a release. Both companies have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the goal of partnering to launch and operate an all-electric air taxi service in India, subject to appropriate regulatory approvals and clearances.
Whether this happens because DGCA actually cares about the future of the national carrier or for other motives is not clear.
Modi alleged that the Congress government in Karnataka gave reservations in tenders based on religion, "snatching the rights of SCs, STs and OBCs." But Ambedkar had said there would not be reservation based on religion and there is a bar on giving reservation on the basis of religion in the Constitution, he stressed.
'Whoever is doing it (threats to airlines), they are actually carrying out a recce.' 'This is the manner in which terrorists strike.'
The government on Monday scrapped 30-month old windfall profit tax on domestically-produced crude oil and on export of jet fuel (ATF), diesel and petrol following a decline in international oil prices. Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary tabled a notification in Rajya Sabha scrapping the levy on crude oil produced by firms like state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and exports of fuels done by companies like Reliance Industries Ltd.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron have called for enhancing trade and investment ties between their countries and committed to further deepening their engagement in the Indo-Pacific. They discussed a full spectrum of bilateral relations, including key global and regional issues, and stressed the urgent need for reform in the United Nations Security Council. The leaders also underscored their commitment to ensuring the global AI sector can drive positive social, economic, and environmental outcomes.
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.
Amber Dubey explains why India needs to stop blocking competition if it ever wants to become the top aviation market.
Ace Aviation, which has been fighting Jet Airways for the acquisition of three Boeing B777 aircraft, said that it has acquired another aircraft for the conversion slot in early February 2025.
He is the first high-profile person who has deposed before the ED in this case.
Discontent has been brewing among a section of the cabin crew at the low-cost carrier for some time now, especially after the start of the process of merger of AIX Connect, formerly AirAsia India, with itself.
Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha emphasised that the brand name has both sentimental and economical value.
