Air India said on Monday that it has processed passengers refunds of more than Rs 150 crore during the first few months after its privatisation. After winning the bid for Air India on October 8 last year, the Tata Group took charge of the airline on January 27. Since then, the airline has been taking multiple steps to address the legacy issues such as stuck refunds.
In its first move to significantly expand the fleet after the Tatas took over, Air India has leased 25 Airbus narrow-body aircraft and five Boeing wide-body planes. These will enter service starting December, the company said on Monday. A wide-body plane has a bigger fuel tank, allowing it to travel longer distances such as India-US routes.
Sunil Bhaskaran, AirAsia India's chief executive officer (CEO) and managing director (MD), is the front-runner to head the low-cost carrier that will take birth after the merger of Air India Express and AirAsia India, sources said. In a show of confidence, the airline's board extended Bhaskaran's tenure by three years -- until March 2025 -- in a meeting held earlier this year, according to the documents reviewed by Business Standard. Moreover, AirAsia India's board of directors has increased Bhaskaran's salary twice in 2022 -- first in January by 5 per cent and then in June by 7 per cent, the documents showed.
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.
According to e-mails accessed by ANI, the Air India cabin crew supervisor had reportedly sent out emails on November 27 at around 1 pm to the head of the Inflight Service Department (IFSD), base operations in India, Lead HR head of IFSD, and head of the northern region of IFSD and of complaints (customer care), informing them about the incident.
Tata Group chief N Chandrasekaran on Thursday reached out to employees of Air India asking them to work together to build the airline that the country needs, while asserting that the "golden age" of the carrier lies ahead. In a welcome letter to the employees of Air India, after the Tata Group took over the management and control of the airline, Chandrasekaran, chairman of Tata Sons, reflected on the airline's "brilliant past" but said the entire nation is now waiting to see what "we will achieve together". "From the day of the announcement (of Tatas winning the bid), one word has been on everyone's lips: Homecoming.
'All they need is proper leadership.'
Flights from Delhi or Bengaluru, while they may still fly over Iran, depending on the route, have alternative paths that may take them through Central Asia or northern routes.
'I was stunned when he started crying and profusely apologising to me, begging me not to lodge a complaint against him because he is a family man and did not want his wife and child to be affected by this incident'
Ending its uncomfortable journey in India after eight years, Malaysia-based AirAsia Group on Wednesday said it has exited AirAsia India by selling its remaining 16.67 per cent stake to Tata Group-owned Air India for Rs 155.64 crore. Later in the day, Air India said it has begun the process of creating a single low-cost carrier subsidiary by merging AirAsia India and Air India Express. A working group consisting AirAsia India CEO Sunil Bhaskaran and Air India Express CEO Aloke Singh has been formed for the two carriers' integration, which is expected to take approximately 12 months, it added.
Management and leadership changes, in addition to synchronising operations between all its airlines, are showing visible results for Air India. Data from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) show that there has been a marked improvement in key operational parameters of Air India after the Tata group took complete control of the national airline in January. One of the most dramatic improvements has been noticed in Air India's passenger load factor (PLF) - a crucial metric of capacity utilisation of an airline's fleet that shows how many seats it has been able to fill on every flight.
The fundamental responsibility for preventing such crimes and for bringing the criminals to justice rests with the State, and it cannot abdicate that function.
Air India will put in place new systems to proactively alert fliers about changes or delays in flight schedules and also set up a coordination team to address airport-specific issues, according to an internal communication. After reviewing block times, airport connecting times and aircraft as well as crew rotations, Tatas-owned Air India has identified various improvement areas for bettering overall performance. In the internal communication on Friday, Air India CEO and managing director Campbell Wilson said the airline would seek airport slots to carry out the improvements.
The Tata Group-run Air India has banned smoking and consumption of intoxicating substances at the workplace and any employee violating this order will be "dealt with appropriate consequences", the airline's Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) Suresh Dutt Tripathi has stated. It was not clear what was the trigger for Wednesday's communique. Air India did not respond to PTI's request for statement on this matter.
The acquisition will give the Tatas a firm footing on international routes and generate economies of scale.
The landmark Air India-Boeing deal will create up to 1 million jobs across 44 states in the US and will further deepen bilateral ties, President Joe Biden has told Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Boeing and Air India announced a mega deal on Tuesday under which the Tata Group-owned airline will purchase 190 B737 MAX, 20 B787, and 10 B777X for a total of 220 firm orders valued at $34 billion at list price. The deal will also include customer options for an additional 50 Boeing 737 MAX and 20 Boeing 787, totalling 290 airplanes for a total of $45.9 billion at the list price.
More than 80 domestic and international flights of various Indian airlines received bomb threats on Thursday, according to sources.
The government will start working on selling the ground-handling arm of erstwhile national carrier Air India and the Expression of Interest (EoI) is expected in the next fiscal, an official said. "We already have the Cabinet approval for selling the subsidiaries of Air India. "So we will come out with an EoI inviting bids for one of the ground-handling arms in the next fiscal," an official told PTI.
A four-member Delhi police team on Friday afternoon landed in Mumbai in search of the man, who had allegedly urinated on his female co-passenger on an Air India (AI) flight on November 26 last year, but found his home here locked, an official said.
The Air India board met on Monday afternoon to consider the candidature of Ilker Ayci and after due deliberations approved the appointment of Ayci as the CEO & MD of Air India, Tata Sons said in a statement.
The Air India board met on Monday afternoon to consider the candidature of Ilker Ayci and after due deliberations approved the appointment of Ayci as the CEO & MD of Air India, Tata Sons said in a statement.
Coming to the aid of all Air India pilots, permanent as well as on contract, whose services were terminated last year, the Delhi high court on Tuesday quashed the national carrier's decision and directed their reinstatement. The direction was issued by Justice Jyoti Singh who also ordered that back wages would have to be paid to the reinstated pilots. The court said that the back wages, including allowances, have to be paid at par with what in-service pilots were receiving and in accordance with the government rules.
The Air India Express Employees Union, which is affiliated with the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, has written a letter to the chief labour commissioner (central) in this regard.
Malik was shot dead in Surrey, British Columbia on Thursday. Malik and co-accused Ajaib Singh Bagri were acquitted in 2005 of mass murder and conspiracy charges related to the two bombings in 1985 that killed 331 people, the CBC News said.
After more than two decades and three attempts, the government has finally sold its flagship national carrier Air India, and it is deja vu for Maharaja as it returned home to its founding father the Tata group. Jehangir Ratanji Dadabhoy (JRD) Tata founded the airline in 1932 and named it Tata Airlines. In 1946, the aviation division of Tata Sons was listed as Air India, and in 1948, the Air India International was launched with flights to Europe. The international service was among the first public-private partnerships in India, with the government holding 49 per cent, the Tatas keeping 25 per cent and the public owning the rest. In 1953, Air India was nationalised and for the next over four decades it remained the prized possession for India controlling the majority of the domestic airspace.
Indian carriers transported 12.8 million domestic passengers in March 2023, a year-on-year growth of 21.41 per cent. India's largest carrier IndiGo shored up its domestic market share from 53.8 per cent in Q4 of FY22 to 55.7 per cent in Q4 of FY23, according to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) data released on Monday.
Around 1,000 passenger complaints have been received against Air India during the last three months related to various issues, including refund of fares, overbooking of flights, and staff behaviour, Minister of State for Civil Aviation V K Singh said on Monday. The Tata Group on January 27 took control of Air India after winning the bid for the airline on October 8 last year. "Ministry of Civil Aviation has been receiving grievances related to air transport, including Air India, on the various issues such as refund of fares, flight issues, staff behaviour, baggage issues, overbooking of flights, etc," Singh said in his written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha.
No other corporate house in India is in a better position than Tata group for the takeover of debt-laden airline Air India, former deputy chairman of erstwhile Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia said on Thursday. Tata Sons has emerged as the top bidder for the takeover of the state-run airline but the bid is yet to be approved by a group of ministers headed by Home Minister Amit Shah. "You can't have a better corporate, with a better position than the Tatas, we can hand it (state-run airline Air India) over," he said while replying to a question in a virtual event.
The US has ordered Tata-group owned Air India to pay a whopping $121.5 million as refunds and $1.4 million as penalties for extreme delays in providing refunds to passengers due to the cancellation or change in flights, mostly during the pandemic, officials said. Air India is among the six airlines that have agreed to cough up a total of over $600 million as refunds, the US Department of Transportation said on Monday. Air India's policy of "refund on request" is contrary to the Department of Transportation policy, which mandates air carriers to legally refund tickets in the case of cancellation or change in flight, officials said.
Due to the group's presence across multiple businesses, it is in a unique position in the aviation industry to bring the best of talents.
N Chandrasekaran, chairman of Tata Sons, has been appointed as the chairman of Air India by the airline's board, aviation industry sources said on Monday.
Shankar Mishra, the man accused of urinating on an elderly woman co-passenger on an Air India flight, told a Delhi court on Wednesday his act was not driven by sexual desire nor aimed at outraging the complainant's modesty, as he sought bail in the case.
Air India cancelled 14 flights on India-US routes from Wednesday onwards due to deployment of 5G internet in North America which could interfere with aircraft's navigation systems. Meanwhile, DGCA chief Arun Kumar told PTI that the Indian aviation regulator was working "in close coordination with our carriers to overcome the situation" that has arisen due to 5G internet's deployment in the US. US aviation regulator Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) had on January 14 said that "5G interference with the aircraft's radio altimeter could prevent engine and braking systems from transitioning to landing mode, which could prevent an aircraft from stopping on the runway".
'Tata Group is excited to work together to make Air India the airline of choice in terms of passenger comfort and service'. This is an audio message from Ratan Tata played onboard some Air India flights. Tata Group completed the takeover of the loss-making Air India on January 27.
Air India on Friday opposed before the Delhi high court the reinstatement and payment of back wages to over 40 pilots, saying that unless resignation is specifically made prospective, it is effective immediately and a pilot cannot withdraw it subsequently. "Unless otherwise specified, resignation is effective immediately. "There is no competence (with pilots) to withdraw on the ground that I am still serving notice period," Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing Air India, told a bench headed by Justice Rajiv Shakdher.
The incident took place in the business class of the Air India flight from New York to Delhi on November 26 last year.
The DGCA has derostered the Air Traffic Controller (ATC) who was on duty at the time of the incident on Saturday, while IndiGo has initiated a probe into the matter
The government has notified the agreement between Air India and special purpose vehicle AIAHL for the transfer of non-core assets, ahead of the national airline's takeover by the Tata Group. The government had in October last year, inked the share purchase agreement with the Tata Group for the sale of national carrier Air India for Rs 18,000 crore. The Tata Group is expected to take full control of the airline, it founded in 1932, on Thursday. The cash component of the deal would come once the handover process is completed. The Tata Group would pay Rs 2,700 crore cash and take over Rs 15,300 crore of the airline's debt.
The Tata Group-owned Air India has decided to procure its maiden batch of wide-bodied A350 aircraft of Airbus and the first plane is likely to be delivered to the airline by March 2023, sources have said.
In a post on the microblogging platform 'X' on Saturday, passenger Vineeth K said that even though he was getting cheaper fares with Gulf carrier Etihad, he had opted for Air India as it operates a non-stop service to the US.
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