Aviation watchdog Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has asked Vistara to submit a daily report on flight cancellations and delays as the Tata group airline cancelled more than 50 flights for the second straight day on Tuesday amid non-availability of pilots.
Facing disruptions due to non-availability of crew, Vistara on Sunday announced reducing 10 per cent of its capacity or 25-30 flights daily and most of the cancellations are in the domestic network as the Tata Group airline strives to stabilise operations. The full-service carrier is to operate over 300 flights daily in the ongoing summer schedule and witnessed significant disruptions earlier this week as many pilots reported sick, resulting in cancellations of flights. "We are carefully scaling back our operations by around 25-30 flights per day, i.e. roughly 10 per cent of the capacity we were operating.
Air India on Tuesday signed agreements with Airbus and Boeing for acquiring 470 planes for an estimated $70 billion at list prices. The Tata Group-owned airline had announced that it will buy 470 aircraft, including wide-body planes, in February this year. The "firm orders include 34 A350-1000, 6 A350-900, 20 Boeing 787 Dreamliners and 10 Boeing 777X widebody aircraft, as well as 140 Airbus A320neo, 70 Airbus A321neo and 190 Boeing 737MAX narrow-body aircraft," the airline said in a release.
Air India on Friday said it has completed the acquisition of its first A350-900 aircraft by way of a finance lease transaction with HSBC through the GIFT City. This is also the first wide body aircraft to be leased through the GIFT City, the country's first International Financial Services Centre (IFSC). In a release, the airline said the transaction was facilitated by its wholly-owned subsidiary AI Fleet Services Ltd (AIFS) and is also the first financing transaction from the orders for 470 aircraft that were made earlier this year.
The total cost will include expenses related to crew, fuel, navigation, landing and parking charges.
'The funds were arranged from multiple banks at a very competitive rate and converted into dollars at the best rates.'
The airline would offer access to in-flight connectivity only on Dreamliners and Airbus 321 aircraft on international routes.
Tata Group-owned Air India on Wednesday announced the launch of new flights connecting Mumbai with New York, Paris and Frankfurt, starting February next year. Besides, the full-service carrier also announced the resumption of non-stop flights connecting Delhi with Copenhagen, Milan and Vienna. The Mumbai-New York (JFK International Airport) daily service will commence from February 14 next year, Air India said.
Boeing states that it is the company's most fuel-efficient airliner and the world's first major airliner to use composite materials for most of its construction.
Eight passengers on Vistara's Mumbai-Kolkata flight were injured on Monday as the aircraft encountered severe turbulence just before landing, officials said.
The first ultra long-haul passenger jet with a capacity to fly about 250 passengers non-stop up to 16,000 km touched down at the IGI airport in New Delhi on Wednesday.
Virgin Atlantic plans to operate three flights a week from Delhi to London's Heathrow from September 2, while Mumbai services are planned to re-commence from September 17 with four flights per week. Both the destinations will provide connections to New York JFK and will operate on 787-9 Dreamliner.
This is the third instance in the last three days when the aviation regulator grounded a plane after an incident.
A Boeing Co 787 Dreamliner operated by Air India this week returned to London due to a communications problem, but has since been operational, the state-run carrier said on Wednesday.
5 AI's Dreamliner pilots left the airline to join other carriers without serving the mandatory six-month notice period
The central government on Monday permitted airlines operating in India to provide in-flight wi-fi services to passengers, according to an official notification.
However, airlines will need to sell 20 per cent seats below midpoint of the fare band on each flight instead of 40 per cent as mandated earlier.
Boeing's 50 Dreamliners in service have been grounded since mid-January following two incidents involving battery problems.
Air India is keen to raise working capital by selling aircraft.
Though the Dharmadhikari report expects Air India would be cash surplus by eight years, the efforts are on so that it happens earlier.
National carrier Air India has tied up with Deutsche Bank and the British lender Investec Bank to raise up to $500 million to take the delivery of five Boeing Dreamliners, according to airline sources.
Several such incidents of windshield cracks suffered by the Dreamliners of Air India have been reported in the past.
The state-run carrier had ordered 27 Dreamliners, but Boeing failed to supply those planes by the scheduled September 2008 timeline. Air India has sought compensation of $710 million from Boeing for the delay in deliveries.
Market estimates suggest the airline has already totted up Rs 1,800 crore of losses in FY20, and FY21 is expected to see losses in the region of Rs 2,500 crore to Rs 3,000 crore Many in the sector say that Vistara lacks the light-footedness of the airlines with which it competes, reports Anjuli Bhargava.
'I don't think there will be a direct reaction to the fuel price hike on air ticket prices.'
Now, Japan and Europe will decide whether the fix for the high-tech plane's lithium-ion batteries is safe.
Is working to speed up assembly line to produce 10 Dreamliners a month by year-end.
ANA said instruments on a domestic flight early Wednesday indicated a battery error.
Air India is going all out to woo business class travellers asking them to fly the Dreamliner, but the jury is out on whether that will be enough to create a brand image.
The Boeing 787-8, which costs $185.2 million is a long-range, mid-size wide-body, twin-engine jet airliner.
Here are eight images that prove we live in a mad, mad world.
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With the launch of these services, Air India would become the first airline to operate the new Boeing-787 Dreamliner to the Australian continent, a spokesperson said.
Air India shelves plan to acquire Boeing 787-9 aircraft.
Within days of deciding to sell and leaseback the first seven Boeing 787 Dreamliners it will receive till this June, Air India has offered to lease five of its eight Boeing 777-200 planes for 8-10 years, officials said.
Eyeing potential business opportunity, Boeing Corporation is planning to approach the proposed Tata-Singapore Airlines.
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.
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.
Ajit Singh represented a bridge between a constituency that represented a more traditional era in politics and a modern, forward-looking, India, remembers Aditi Phadnis.
According to Air India, the number of flights per week would be increased on routes such as Delhi-Bengaluru-Delhi, Delhi-Amritsar-Delhi, Chennai-Ahmedabad-Chennai and Chennai-Kolkata-Chennai.
US aircraft manufacturer Boeing said on Tuesday the company will deliver more wide-bodied 777 aircraft to India in 2009 than in the current year, besides the 787 Dreamliner.
