Analysts remain sceptical on the profitability from freighter business, saying that once normal air transport resumes and there's abundant belly capacity, the traditional economics of air cargo may not be that lucrative.
"The strategic divestment transaction of Air India successfully concluded today with transfer of 100 per cent shares of Air India to M/s Talace Pvt Ltd along with management control," DIPAM secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey said in a tweet. A new board, led by the strategic partner, takes charge of Air India, he added.
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.
A sojourn in Seoul, one of Asia's largest metropolises, where the ultra-modern coexists with the ancient -- temples and palaces with futuristic skyscrapers climbing to the stratosphere, K-pop with Buddhism, a village within city limits.
'Air India's privatisation is acceptable as long as its control does not pass on to a foreign entity,' says A K Bhattacharya.
China's state-run Sichuan Airlines has suspended all its cargo flights to India for 15 days, causing major disruption to private traders' efforts to procure the much-needed oxygen concentrators and other medical supplies from the country despite Beijing reiterating its readiness to help India to deal with the latest surge of COVID-19 cases.
IndiGo was the only airline to have reported profits during this period, barring 2011-12 when it made a loss of about Rs 88 crore (Rs 880 million.
Many argue that the airline could achieve its full potential if Nusli Wadia were to run it the way he does Britannia.
Sebi on Friday barred fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya from the securities markets and restrained him from associating with any listed firm for three years in the matter of routing of funds to the Indian securities market using overseas bank accounts with UBS AG. The Indian government has been attempting to extradite Mallya from the United Kingdom to face fraud charges related to his now-defunct company Kingfisher Airlines. Mallya has been living in the United Kingdom since March 2016.
Seeking to assuage pilot shortage concerns, Akasa Air's chief executive Vinay Dube on Friday said the carrier has sufficient pilots and flyers should not expect any flight cancellations. "We have plenty of pilots. We have given numbers like 700 in the past. "I don't think this is something from an Akasa perspective people need to worry about because we have got this plan in place where we have pilots not just for our current set of aircraft but we have got pilots for the foreseeable future in terms of growth," Dube told PTI at the sidelines of a CII event.
As Prabhakaran was leaving his house, Rajiv Gandhi called his son Rahul and asked him to fetch his (Gandhi's) bulletproof jacket. He put the jacket on Prabhakaran's back and remarked with his usual charming smile: "Take care of yourself."
An airline's birth is a result of passion and enterprise, often not without its challenges and ordeals. And, Tata-run airlines are no exception
West Asian carriers are up against Air India and IndiGo in the battle for seats on lucrative international routes.
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.
'The quality of a leader should be such that even if the leader is not there, the institution carries on.'
'As a child, I didn't even know that he was an IPS officer... It was much later when I came back to India'
Days after it faced nationwide anti-government protests against its stringent zero-Covid policy, China in a major shift of its coronavirus response policies has announced that it will scrap quarantine for international travellers from January 8 as it reopens its borders and comes out of international isolation after nearly three years.
Indian and global airlines such as SpiceJet, Emirates, Virgin Atlantic among others too are marketing Covid-19 insurance products to attract passengers.
Ms Swaraj was a conscientious woman who understood suffering and pathos and attempted in her inimitable way to mitigate them, recalls Rup Narayan Das.
'I think some of us, like Mukesh Ambani, myself and those of us who head industrial units, ought to really focus on what we can really do to make the world a safer place, maybe 50 or 100 years from now.' 'For instance, how can we deal with climate change and global warming, right now?' 'The effects of it may not be felt now; in fact, we may pay a price for it today, but it will help the generations to follow.'
Move to allow the FDI in domestic airlines is expected to benefit Kingfisher Airlines.
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.
India may make peak-time allocation of airport slots for its airlines an essential part of any bilateral signed in future. Arindam Majumder reports.
Making a strong case for approval of their proposed airline JV, Tatas and Singapore Airlines have said that the venture would create significant job opportunities in India and would boost the country's image as an international investment destination.
Because of lack of pilots, airlines have been forced to cancel their flights and rework their schedules, constraining cash flows and delaying vendor payments.
Life of air passengers was different in the 1970s.
Phee Teik Yeoh, who has returned to the SIA HQ in Singapore worked hard to make Vistara the airline of choice. New CEO Leslie Thng would have the job of cutting losses while going international.
The plane that took off from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates carrying 303 Indian passengers, including many minors, was grounded at the Chalons-Vatry airport in Marne on Thursday.
"India's global image has taken a beating," Mallya said on the social networking platform Twitter.
Jet Airways is undergoing insolvency proceedings and at least three entities have put in initial bids for the carrier.
The move comes after the government rejected its plan to operate 20 flights a week.
A Romanian aircraft carrying 275 passengers, mostly Indians, on Monday left for India four days after they were detained by the French authorities at an airport near Paris over suspected 'human trafficking'.
'We emphasise the importance of not basing investment decisions solely on electoral outcomes.' 'Instead, focusing on investing in high-quality businesses capable of prospering regardless of the political landscape is paramount.'
With indications that government is keen to allow foreign airlines buy stakes in Indian carriers, a Group of Ministers (GoM) is likely to meet next week to decide on the investment cap by them, official sources said on Friday.
In a dramatic turn of events in May 2019, an Emirates aircraft en-route to Dubai was asked to stop while it was taxiing for a take off in Mumbai. The pilot was given no reason and ordered to immediately return to the parking bay. As the aircraft returned to the terminal, two passengers from the first class - Naresh Goyal and his wife Anita - were offloaded by the immigration authorities, who said the duo cannot leave the country. Goyal, founder of Jet Airways, was stunned. The man, who ruled the aviation sector for two and a half decades with an iron hand, did not expect to be offloaded in this fashion.
The 33-year-old grandson of JD-S supremo H D Deve Gowda is expected to land in Bengaluru in the small hours of May 31.
Govt to review decision after demand assessment.
In India, domestic airlines have not secured any relief from the government and are reporting 50-55 per cent loads as domestic air travel resumed on May 25 after two-month suspension.
The proposal to allow foreign airlines to buy upto 49 per cent stake in domestic carriers originally mooted by the Commerce and Industry Ministry, has received a green signal from the Finance Ministry and the Civil Aviation Ministry.
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