'...rectification has to happen then and there, and that takes additional time.'
A timeline of events related to the investigation of the Air India Boeing 787 crash in Ahmedabad, including investigation initiation, black box recovery, and safety measures taken.
With the earlier order for 55 planes and additional 100 new 737-8 MAX aircraft, the no-frills carrier now has firmed up the order for a total of 155 planes, besides purchase rights for 50 B737-8 MAX and wide body aircraft.
An Air India aircraft with 242 passengers on board heading to London crashed in the Meghaninagar area near Ahmedabad airport on Thursday afternoon, the police said.
The Tata Group-owned airline, grappling with disruptions following the fatal plane crash on June 12 in Ahmedabad, said the objective of reducing flights on 18 international routes is to restore schedule stability and minimise last-minute inconvenience to passengers.
Turkish Airlines is the national airline of Turkey and has already taken four Boeing 777 aircraft on lease from Jet Airways.
Paramount Airways, the Coimbatore-based private airline, is in an advanced stages of negotiations with aircraft manufacturers Airbus and Boeing for a $1 billion order of 15 wide-bodied aircraft. The deal is likely to be announced shortly.
Airbus is now confident of crossing 1,000 net orders (excluding cancellations or conversions from previous orders) in 2014.
Air India has finalised an order for around 250 aircraft with Airbus and the deal is expected to be announced next week, a source said on Thursday. The source in the know also said the airline has signed a deal with Boeing for about 200 planes. Specific details could not be immediately ascertained and there was no immediate comments from Air India about the deals.
Indian Airlines has floated tenders to lease 12 wide-bodied aircraft to launch new foreign operations, while its subsidiary Alliance Air would lease two business jets for operations of oil major ONGC.
... changing seats and in-flight entertainment on its older aircraft.
Addressing close to 700 employees and the leadership team across the Air India headquarters and Air India Training Academy in Gurugram, Chandrasekaran urged them to stay on course, terming the accident the most "heartbreaking" crisis of his career.
This isn't the first instance of Vistara facing scrutiny from the regulator over improper pilot training.
IndiGo share price today: IndiGo share price fell as much as 4.8 per cent to a low of Rs 4,275 per share on the BSE in Monday's intraday trade as investors booked profit in the stock post a its April-June quarter (Q1) results for financial year 2024-25 (FY25). The stock ended 1.36 per cent lower at Rs 4,430 as against a 23-points gain in the benchmark BSE Sensex. The selling also got exacerbated as the management commentary, post Q1FY25 results, highlighted that inflationary pressure could likely dent July-September (Q2FY25) performance.
Business Secretary Lord Peter Mandelson made the announcement on a visit to the Filton Bristol, plant of Airbus UK which will be making the wings for the new plane. The government assistance will create and sustain more than 1,200 jobs at Filton and at Airbus UK's Broughton plant in north Wales.
Air India has cancelled eight flights, including four international services, on Friday due to enhanced maintenance and operational reasons, the airline said.
IndiGo has the flexibility to decide what would be the precise size of its aircraft fleet by 2035, its chief executive officer (CEO) Pieter Elbers said on Monday. IndiGo - the country's largest airline - has 312 aircraft in its fleet. Elbers said the airline will double in size by 2030, indicating the airline will have a fleet of about 625 by 2030.
Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Tuesday said there needs to be anchor airlines at particular airports, more wide body aircraft as well as synergy between domestic and international departures to have an international aviation hub in India. The country's civil aviation sector is on the recovery path after being hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic and is projected to have 400 million air travellers in the coming years. "We are in the growth phase and there are tremendous opportunities on the airlines and airports side," Scindia said.
Air India on Monday announced a new compensation structure for its pilots and cabin crew, with a guaranteed flying allowance of 40 hours per month for both categories of staff. While the flying allowance has been doubled for pilots, it has been introduced for flight attendants as part of the new compensation structure. Pilots will earn an additional amount as a reward based on the number of years of service with the airline and get an allowance while undergoing training for command or conversion to another aircraft type.
With the Middle East tensions flaring up, Air India has temporarily suspended its Tel Aviv flights and airlines have charted alternative flight paths to avoid the Iranian airspace.
Air India on Monday said it will progressively induct 30 new aircraft, including 5 wide-body Boeing planes, from December this year, as the Tatas-owned airline looks to boost its domestic and international services. The airline has signed leases and letters of intent for inducting 5 wide-body Boeing and 25 Airbus narrow-body planes over the next 15 months. "These new aircraft, which will enter service from late 2022, will increase the airline's fleet by over 25 per cent.
The airline is not convinced that it will have a sizeable passenger traffic to make wide body operations profitable
The bulk of Indian carriers flying to Dubai are low-cost carriers, which include IndiGo, Air India Express, and SpiceJet.
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.
For the first time in 13 years, since Jet Airways' A330 planes exited the airline's fleet in around 2010, an Indian wide-body aircraft will have a Rolls-Royce-powered engine, with Air India ordering 40 Airbus A350 planes. On Tuesday, Air India announced its mega aircraft order for 470 aircraft, including A350 planes. The A350 aircraft, which will come in two variants, are powered solely by Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engines and the local team has begun work to assist Air India with its aircraft-induction plans.
Air India will purchase 220 planes from Boeing for $34 billion, with an option to buy 70 more aircraft that could take the total transaction value to $45.9 billion, a deal that US President Joe Biden described as a "historic agreement". While announcing the Boeing-Air India deal on Tuesday, Biden also asserted that together with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he was looking forward to deepen the ties between India and the US. As per an announcement from the White House, Boeing and Air India have reached an agreement under which the airline will purchase 190 B737 MAX, 20 B787, and 10 B777X for a total of 220 firm order valued at $34 billion at list price.
The Delhi-based airline currently has 13 Airbus A320 aircraft in the fleet and it plans to take another seven (A320 Neo) planes by June 2018.
A draft circular issued by the DGCA on June 17 had said that any pilot of a wide-body aircraft (these are used mostly for overseas flights) should have a flying experience of at least 7,000 hours, including 2,000 hours on a jet aircraft and 1,500 hours on a wide-body aircraft on international routes.
Planemakers have started pitching their latest aircraft to a privatised Air India which has been acquired by salt-to-steel conglomerate Tata Sons. European aerospace major Airbus on Monday said that it is in talks with the airline to sell its long haul aircraft Airbus A350-900. The wide-body aircraft is capable of flying non-stop between India and United States- one of the most popular and revenue generating routes.
Full service carrier Vistara expects to add a total of 10 planes as well as hire more than 1,000 people in the current financial year and has shelved plans to fly to the US, according to a top executive. Currently, Vistara, which is set to be merged with Air India, has a fleet of 61 aircraft and a staff strength of over 5,200. During an interaction in Istanbul this week, Vistara CEO Vinod Kannan said there has been a ready pool of talent, especially pilots and cabin crew members, with the collapse of Go First.
The country's largest airline IndiGo on Thursday reported more than doubling of its net profit to Rs 1,894.8 crore in the three months ended March 2024 and announced the introduction of business class in select routes this year. The strong performance in the latest March quarter, which also marks six consecutive quarters of profitability, was fuelled by higher traffic, increased capacity and a favourable external environment.
IndiGo will introduce business class seats in select flights on 12 domestic routes starting from November 14 and also launch a customer loyalty programme, as the 18-year-old airline seeks to expand business and strengthen global presence. The announcements, made at an event in the national capital on Monday to mark 18 years of operations, also highlights a pivotal trajectory for the airline.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Tuesday suspended Air India's Boeing simulator facility in Mumbai after finding certain alleged lapses during a spot check, a DGCA official said. The pilots, who were scheduled to undergo refresher courses at the Mumbai facility, will now not be able to do so.
Air India on Monday said it will lease 12 more aircraft comprising both A320 neo and Boeing 777, which are expected to be inducted in its existing fleet in the first half of 2023. The new planes will be deployed on the airline's short, medium and long-haul international routes, Air India said in a statement. Air India said it has leased 42 aircraft since its privatisation in January this year.
'The lay of the runway is not at all safe.' 'Even operating a 737 is dangerous there.' 'During the monsoon, they must ban landing on runway 10.'
The central government on Monday permitted airlines operating in India to provide in-flight wi-fi services to passengers, according to an official notification.
The new owner may be allowed to dispose of assets accruing from the 10-26 per cent of the net assets of the company.
In a statement, Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu said the airport and emergency teams responded swiftly and effectively after a full emergency was declared at 18.05 hours.
West Asian carriers are up against Air India and IndiGo in the battle for seats on lucrative international routes.
After the accident on Friday, Virudhunagar MP Manickam Tagore, Ludhiana MP Ravneet Singh Bittu and Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor alleged on Twitter that there were safety lapses on the part of the civil aviation ministry.
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