Their battle for survival has actually made them more reliable and brought better customer service to the industry.
Cracks started appearing on Saturday in a grouping of airlines that was planning to suspend flights on August 18 to protest high jet fuel prices and taxes, with budget carrier IndiGo saying it would operate as usual.
In an unprecedented show of solidarity on Friday in Mumbai, India's cash-strapped, loss-making private airlines -- including Kingfisher Airlines, Jet Airways, and others -- have demanded a bailout package from the government or they 'will have to suspend their operations indefinitely'.
One lesson the government should learn from the Air India-Indian Airlines merger fiasco is that combining two sick people ends up making them sicker.
And learn what not to do from the so far jinxed Navi Mumbai International Airport.
The Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA), the non-executive pilots' body of erstwhile Indian Airlines, on Wednesday said that it will not accept any pay cut proposed by the management.
Painting a gloomy picture, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) on Friday said the Indian aviation industry is estimated to suffer a collective loss of $1.5 billion in 2009, with Air India accounting for most of it.
As a part of its route rationalization and cost-cutting measures, Air India plans to replace its twin-class aircraft with all-economy ones belonging to low-cost subsidiary Air India Express on few Gulf routes from this month end.
SpiceJet is the first Indian airline to operate on Kathmandu-Bagdogra route.
Canada has denied permission to convicted hijacker and terrorist Parminder Singh Saini to practise law citing dubious past, including hijacking of an Indian plane 26 years ago. The Law Society of Upper Canada rejected Saini's plea to allow him to practise in Greater Toronto.
The Jet Airways of old is no more and the industry mourns its demise. Anjuli Bhargava reports.
While the civil aviation ministry's activist supervision of the airline's functioning is said to be responsible for much of the mess, the airline management has its own sins to answer for.
Bharatiya Janata Party President Rajnath Singh on Friday refused to speak on dvani''s role in the Kandahar hijack. " I refuse to say anything on the Advani issue," said Singh.
The times could not have been any worse for Bharatiya Janata Party.
Breaking his decade-long silence, former External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh on Friday sought to embarrass L K Advani by saying that he "covered" up for him when he said that the former Home Minister was not aware that he was going to Kandahar with three terrorists during the 1999 hijack episode.
Many states like Maharashtra, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu were opposed to opening up of their airports in view of rising cases of the coronavirus infection.
The airline, which was formed through a merger of international carrier Air India and domestic carrier Indian Airlines announced in 2007, has accumulated losses of Rs 4,334 crore till March 31, of which fiscal 2008-09 will account for almost Rs 3,000 crore.
The Supreme Court on Friday ticked off Indian Airlines for terminating the services of airhostess who failed to knock off their extra pounds and said it would be better if it focussed on ensuring their courteous behaviour rather than insisting on their slender waistlines.
Wakil Ahmed Muttawakil, the Taliban foreign minister when the Indian Airlines plane, IC-814, was hijacked from Kathmandu to Kandahar in December 1999, tells Jyoti Malhotra that India should not look at Afghanistan through the Pakistani lens.
The crisis management committee went into a review of its policy and will formulate new norms on how to deal with cases of aircraft hijack and terrorism.
In a last-ditch effort, the management of national air-carrier Air India is holding talks with a section of its employee unions to avert a strike on the issue of deferment of June salaries.
The former Indian Airlines pilot won a good deal for colleagues protesting a pay cut; but others question whether the victory was good for the airline.
'Boeing has returned some cash to the airline which will help it improve the current liquidity crisis.'
The new rules follow India's ratification of Montreal Convention on the issue by amending its own laws, an official spokesperson said on Monday. Currently in case of death of a passenger, the Indian airlines operating to international destinations provide Rs 7,50,000 as compensation. The new rules would raise this up to 100,000 special drawing rights or over $66,500, that is almost Rs 33 lakhs (Rs 3.3 million).
Old aircraft, tough competition and higher operational costs made making profits much more difficult for Air India. Here are some ways to revive the national carrier.
Pakistani authorities have reportedly imposed restrictions on the movement of Jaish-e-Mohammed founder Maulana Masood Azhar and confined him to his home despite turning down India's demand for handing him over.Azhar, who was freed by Indian authorities along with two other terrorists in exchange for passengers of an Indian Airlines flight hijacked from Kathmandu to Kandahar in 1999, has been confined to his multi-storey building in Model Town area of Bahawalpur.
All airlines put together flew 67,61,000 passengers in January-February this year compared to 75.56 lakh last year, the official traffic data released on Friday showed. As per the world airports report prepared by Airports Council International, the growth rate of global air traffic in January fell by six per cent year-on-year while that of air freight declined by 'a frightening 27 per cent'.
Air India had planned to launch the service in October but had to defer it as two of its cargo aircraft had to be sent for mandatory checks following an advisory from the Federal Aviation Administration, the official said. These aircraft are expected to join the fleet shortly along with one Airbus A310-200 configured freighter next month, the official said.
Airline companies under the Federation of Indian Airlines plan to make a presentation to the civil aviation ministry saying they will be forced to axe 8,000 employees if the government implements the new ground handling policy from January 1, 2009. About 29 per cent of the 28,000-odd employees working in the private carriers are involved in ground handling.
By cutting international flights, Indian firms forefeit market share.
Jet Airways, Kingfisher Airlines and state-owned NACIL owe public sector oil companies over Rs 2,241 crore (Rs 22.41 billion) as payment for jet fuel, Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dinsha Patel said on Tuesday.
Highly placed sources said Oil Minister Murli Deora took exception to Menon's proposals during a meeting of the Federation of Indian Airlines and Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel to resolve the crisis arising out of mounting fuel bill arrears. "There should not be any layoffs. Why are you raising it now," sources quoted Deora as telling Menon.
The ministry of civil aviation has initiated a probe into the incident. It would look into the records of conversations between the ATC and the pilots.
'It is very clear that Air India cannot be managed by the government.' 'Air India should be run as a separate profit entity.'
Observing that the Indian aviation industry was passing through a 'fragile and delicate moment', he said some airlines could go bust in the coming few months if 'structural changes are not carried out expeditiously'. As many as 25 carriers worldwide have folded up operations in the past several months due to huge losses, the latest being Italian national carrier Alitalia, leading to over 100,000 jobs in the aviation sector being lost.
SpiceJet has been most affected by the grounding of 737 Max 8 aircraft as it has 12 of them in its fleet.
Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said Indian airlines had suffered major losses in the past two years over the unprecedented rise in prices of aviation turbine fuel.
An unprecedented decision to form a ministerial-level committee was driven by fears of witch-hunt by investigating agencies.
National Aviation Company of India Limited, the public sector entity that owns Air India, will be offering a voluntary leave-without-pay scheme to 15,000 employees--around 46 per cent of its staff strength--to help the financially-strapped airline save over Rs 75 crore annually.
MRTPC has suspected cartelisation amongst low-cost fliers over fixing of air fairs. It has called for a probe into the matter.
