One thing is certain: The part-Goan, part-Malayali group CEO of Air Asia is not your usual boardroom CEO, and he cultivates the maverick businessman image, buying race car teams and football clubs and taking off-beat bets with his mentor and now buddy Richard Branson of Virgin.
According to sources, Vistara was looking at commencing operations on Oct 15 to commemorate J R D Tata's flight from Karachi to Mumbai on the same date in 1932.
AirAsia India began operations in June 2014.
This is the first time that AirAsia chief has raised concerns about the dual airline strategy of the Tata group, his partner.
A bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw posted the matter for hearing on Friday.
The promoter-brothers, distant cousins to IndiGo's Rahul Bhatia, are eyeing Air India's ground handling subsidiary to augment their aviation services business even as they make a big play in EVs.
Earlier, budget carrier SpiceJet said it would hire 500 from Jet, including 100 pilots. Air India Express has also inducted around 25 commanders from the grounded airline.
Reduction in fuel price was supposed to bring back good luck for Indian airlines. But with the global spread of coronavirus, airlines are being forced to rejig their network, cut flights, and delay launches.
This was good enough for Fernandes to hire Chandilya to lead his India business.
Vistara starts flying in India.
No-frills carrier IndiGo has expressed interest to buy Air India
Currently, Vistara has more than 22 planes and operates around 850 flights every week.
SpiceJet has decreased its domestic services by 31 per cent to 2,995 weekly flights in the upcoming winter schedule as compared to 4,316 weekly flights that it got approved for the winter schedule of 2019, the aviation regulator DGCA said on Thursday. Meanwhile, Vistara, another private carrier, has increased its domestic services by 22 per cent to 1,675 weekly flights as compared to 1,376 weekly flights for 2019 winter schedule, the regulator added. The winter schedule begins on October 31 of a year and ends on March 26 next year.
'I've always wanted to be a pilot; setting records is the icing on the cake.'
Vistara is likely to offer 148 seats in a three-class configuration in its Airbus A320s, industry sources said.
The new owner may be allowed to dispose of assets accruing from the 10-26 per cent of the net assets of the company.
A Delhi court on Saturday sent Shankar Mishra, accused of urinating on a woman co-passenger on an Air India flight, to judicial remand for 14 days while rejecting a plea by police for his custody.
Sources say the arilines has inducted a senior pilot from IndiGo to head its safety team.
The Foreign Investment Promotion Board on March 6 cleared the Malaysian budget carrier AirAsia's bid to launch an airline in India by joining hands with Tata Sons.
A family man, a confident investor, someone who was sure two decades ago that India and its stock market were going to boom. T N Ninan recalls his chats with Rakesh Jhunjhunwala.
Vistara is trying to be leaner and meaner, while staying focused on the original brand promise; it aims to be profitable by FY21. Arindam Majumder reports.
With a debt of several thousand crore rupees, there's no chance the government can attract any buyer unless it cleans up the balance sheet, says Anjuli Bhargava.
Paving the way for launch of its flights, Tata-Singapore Airlines joint venture airline Vistara was on Monday granted flying permit by aviation regulator DGCA, almost nine months after it applied for the licence.
The controversial 5/20 rule required an airline to have five years of domestic operations and 20 aircraft in its fleet to be able to fly abroad.
AirAsia India, which is using the training facilities of its parent airline AirAsia in Malaysia, plans to set up similar facilities in India in the coming years, airline sources said.
Jet has come under regulatory scrutiny twice this year.
Kamra was banned by India's largest airline for six months on Tuesday for allegedly harassing Goswami on the Mumbai-Lucknow flight. SpiceJet, GoAir and Air India also imposed a similar ban on Kamra without specifying any period.
A senior DGCA official said 23,403 departures per week have been finalised, covering 103 airports, which is 1.2 per cent higher than the 23,117 operated during the previous winter schedule.
Increases seats in the premium segment, scraps loss-making domestic flights
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.
To make space for the extra row, Vistara has opted for the smartLav concept offered by Airbus
Bhattacharjee in a handwritten complaint to the airlines had stated that the distressed passenger was made to go back to her soiled seat despite four seats in the First Class being vacant.
Chief Operating Officer, Sanjiv Kapoor will be leaving the company effective October 31, 2015 after two years with the organisation.
Indian airlines currently are required to have a minimum fleet of five aircraft and five years of operational experience for starting international services.
'With a less than comely bride and no dowry to speak of, the prospects of landing a good match look bleak, a grim, sinister and no-nonsense prospective father-in-law notwithstanding,' says Anjuli Bhargava.
'It will be like this: If you use the window seat in the first row, next will be the aisle in the second row, to maintain social distancing.' 'So, two-thirds of the aircraft is not going to be used.'
Enormous debt isn't the only thing afflicting Air India. Its work culture is an equal culprit in its downfall.
A bench of Chief Justice N V Ramana and Justice Manmohan issued notice to Civil Aviation Ministry, DGCA and others and sought their response by October 30.
Though NOC was issued by the Ministry last week, this was the first formal statement by the AirAsia CEO on microblogging site Twitter.
The Tata-SIA airline Vistara is gearing up to station an indigenously developed robot, RADA, at its signature lounge at Delhi airport's Terminal 3. Powered by AI, the robot is programmed to scan boarding passes, provide information on the terminal, departure gates, real-time flight status and weather conditions of destination city etc. And RADA can also entertain people by playing games and multimedia content, says Sangeeta Tanwar.
