Two aborted missions, three different ministers, multiple rule changes and two decades later, Indian taxpayers will no longer have to pay Rs 20 crore per day to keep the loss-making Air India flying. While opposition Congress expectedly attacked the decision as selling the family silver, DIPAM secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey said what Tata is getting is not a cash cow but an airline which is bleeding where money needs to be pumped in to refurbish obsolete aircraft and dust up strangled ones while being unable to touch any employee for one year and only be able to resize staff after paying a VRS. "It won't be a very easy task there. Only advantage is they (new Air India owner) are paying the price which they think they can manage. "They are not taking the excessive debt accumulated to fund years of losses. We are continuing it as an ongoing concern.... This process has also saved huge amount of taxpayers money going forward," Pandey told PTI.
To attract bidders, the government had decided to hive of around Rs 35,000 crore of the company's debt into a separate subsidiary, leaving around Rs 23,286 crore to be absorbed by the new bidder.
The move came soon after Belgium confirmed a case of the B.1.1.529 variant in someone who had travelled back from Egypt earlier this month, with the European Union (EU) member states agreeing to a snap travel ban on seven African nations.
The spotlight on London football usually shines on glamour clubs Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur or West Ham United but rarely on unfashionable Brentford who last played in the top flight nearly 70 years ago.
Life of air passengers was different in the 1970s.
Against the backdrop of objections by some MPs, Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh on Tuesday strongly defended the Rs 2,058 crore (Rs 20.58 billion) Jet-Etihad deal, saying those opposing it were "long on politics and short on facts".
After four-odd years of focusing on reducing debt, the series of deals with Etihad could finally get it out of the spiral.
Sarao was described as a fun guy, outgoing and talkative by other members of the tight knit South Asian community.
United Kingdom-based Indian-origin businessman Shrien Dewani has been extradited to South Africa to stand trial for allegedly plotting the 2010 murder of his Indo-Swedish wife while on their honeymoon.
The industry is hoping the Tatas deepen their dive and offer two stable airlines -- a Vistara merged into Air India servicing the international routes, and an AirAsia India merged with Air India Express that competes with the low fare airlines in India and offers destinations within five hours, says Anjuli Bhargava.
'They should be conserved, preserved, and valued highly.'
"The return fare on economy class to most European capitals from Mumbai are close to 50,000 plus. If an LCC can offer direct connectivity for a basic fare of 25,000 with additional top ups for meals, baggage and blankets, which further takes the fare to, say, 35,000, it is still a value deal."
Shah Rukh and his family flew home to Mumbai last weekend. Roscoe Mendonza, who was on the same flight, captures his impressions of an unlikely encounter.
'Even if we ate our chappatis with pickle, we ensured proper food for Sumit.'
Let it gradually pull itself out of international routes and focus on linking remote towns and cities.
The new kid on the block, Athiya Shetty, speaks about her dream has come with her debut film, Hero.
Aseem Chhabra has been trying to get an interview with the superstar since 2005, and has been lucky only once.
Ahead of the four-Test series against the West Indies, starting in Antigua, on July 21, Rajneesh Gupta sheds light on India's first tour of the Caribbean.
Pakistan's dismal public health system is rife with mismanagement and a paucity of resources. Amidst this shambolic system, one hospital in Karachi has been providing specialised healthcare to millions. Free of charge. As the Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation celebrated 40 years of successful service, Dr Sanjay Nagral visited the facility and met the man who helms it, armed with the simple philosophy that 'No person should die only because they are unable to afford medical expenses.'
