Air India comes up with new scheme at competitive rates

Air India on Wednesday announced the extension of its short term promotion scheme, Silver and Platinum Pass aimed at providing air travel at competitive and affordable rates.

The Silver and Platinum Pass being offered in two variants for unlimited travel in economy and executive class on the domestic sectors of the national carrier will now be valid for fifteen days, the airlines said.

Passengers buying the Silver Pass can fly on economy class to any domestic sector of their choice at a fare of Rs 35,000 any number of times during the 15-day period.

Passengers who purchase the Platinum Pass can enjoy unlimited trips in executive class to any domestic destination at a fare Rs 75,000. This fare is inclusive of taxes, Air India said.

The passes are available for sale at the offices of Air India Airline and its approved travel from September 21, 2011 and will be valid for travel up to January 15, 2012.

The day of commencement of the journey will be treated as the first day and fifteen days will be counted from the date of the commencement of the journey for determining travel validity, officials said.
Source: India Times (Air India Online Booking)

Fly to Dubai, Bangkok for Rs 10,000; IndiGo, Spice Jet to launch low cost flights

MUMBAI: If your holidays have been only about Coorg and Jaisalmer so far, now's the time to apply for a passport. The low-cost revolution that drastically brought down airfares on the domestic sector a few years ago is now set to play out on routes to west Asia and south-east Asia. Leading the pack are IndiGo and Spice Jet.

IndiGo will launch flights to Dubai and Bangkok from Mumbai and Delhi in September and to Muscat and Singapore in October. Spice Jet, which currently flies to Colombo and Kathmandu, will be launching flights to other destinations like west Asia and south-east Asia later this year.

The only low-cost carrier which connects Mumbai to south-east Asia is AirAsia, with its flights to Kuala Lumpur. For west-bound flights, Air India Express and Air Arabia offer low-cost connections to west Asia from Mumbai. With attractive launch fares and great deals on offer, even those who had no intention of travelling to these destinations are biting the bait, says Vijay Kesavan, CEO of ticket-booking site akbartravelsonline.

"IndiGo's return tickets from Mumbai or Delhi to Muscat or Singapore, which were priced at Rs 10,000, have sold out," he says. The competition has lowered fares on the Mumbai-Muscat route - this week, the cheapest one-way air ticket for August 30 was Rs 6,900 (taxes included), offered by Oman Air. IndiGo's fares for October are in the range of Rs 6,400, which beats Air Arabia's Mumbai-Sharjah-Muscat fare of Rs 7,800. The October fare to Singapore on IndiGo is Rs 8,500.

Fly cheap to Singapore

KOLKATA: Soon flying down to Singapore from the city may get cheaper than to Mumbai and Delhi, or even Bangalore. The Singapore Airlines is working on a plan to introduce a low-cost module, and a Kolkata-connection is very much on the cards.

Singapore Airlines chief executive Goh Choon Phong said the decision had been unanimously taken at a board meeting at the airline headquarters. While its primary market will be key destinations in South-East Asia, it is also eyeing three cities in India, including Kolkata.

Indian LCC Air India Express operates to Singapore four days-a-week. Sources said this, coupled with a steady loss of passengers to other LCCs like Air Asia and China Eastern, had led to Singapore Airlines considering a low-cost flight between Kolkata and Singapore.

"Once Air Asia or China Eastern picks up a passenger who has to travel beyond these destinations, it is a Thai or Chinese carrier that benefits. To retain onward customers and attract budget tourists to Singapore, an LCC carrier is critical," an aviation industry expert said.

Though a firm decision is yet to be taken, an airline source said Kolkata was very much on the radar. He further added that it would compensate for the loss of seats on the parent service. Last September, Singapore Airlines had pared its flights to Singapore City and Kolkata from six days-a-week to four days. It also altered the aircraft from Boeing 777-200 aircraft with an Airbus 330 aircraft that led to a slash in economy class seats from 293 to 25
Source: Times of India

Air India to seek 10k cr equity support to tide over crisis: Ravi

MUMBAI: The cash-strapped national carrier, Air India, will seek more than 10,000 crore as equity aid to tide more than its financial crisis and turnaround operations, stated the civil aviation minister Vayalar Ravi. "I am looking at a holistic process and not a piecemeal product to problems," he stated in Mumbai after a meeting with Air India unions.

Ravi , who met the finance minister on Wednesday using a request to include 2,000 crore equity infusion package inside the forth coming budget, stated the choice to raise more than 10,000 crore inside the government was taken at a recent review meeting.

He also stated that there will be a review on management claim that 65% from the turnaround plan were implemented.

Management and unions ought to occur forward to lessen the financial concerns and less-than-satisfactory operational performance of Air India, the minister said. He was in Mumbai to meet the trade unions to consume stock from the issues that confront the ailing airline.

The minister met representatives of some unions on Wednesday and others are slated to meet him on Thursday.

"Three main issues have emerged after the talks with employees, 1 could be the dilemma of differential salaries (between employees of erstwhile Air India and Indian) as well as the reduction of profitable routes from the airline as well as the integration of human resource inside the organisation is yet to consume place," stated Ravi.

The pilot unions of each Air India and erstwhile Indian met up from the minister. Although the Indian Airlines union will meet him once more with grievances, the Indian Pilots' Guild of Air India apprised him of differential treatment in comparison to expats and salary issues and mistreatment in between other issues faced by them.

Other unions that met him were the Indian Airlines Officers Association (2,500 members), Indian Airlines Technical Association (3,500 members) and Air India Aircraft Engineers' Association. All the unions wanted to know the financial viability from the airline as well as the plan for equity infusion.
Source: Economic Times

Air India, Jet Airways to Lease 35 Airbus Planes

NEW DELHI -- Air India and Jet Airways India Ltd. have agreed to lease 35 planes of European Aeronautic Defence & Space Co. NV's Airbus from leasing companies.

Flag carrier Air India has decided to lease 10 A330 planes and 15 A320s, Airbus said inside a statement late Monday. Jet Airways, India's biggest carrier by industry share, will lease 10 A330s.

Airbus said the 25 planes that Air India plans to eat on lease have a list acquisition cost of $3.1 billion, while the 10 planes chosen by Jet Airways have a list acquisition cost of $1.9 billion.

A spokesman for Airbus said the deals are, however, possibly being done directly on the leasing firms and are unlikely to give new firm to Airbus.

"The carriers will choose an engine supplier and also a leasing business during the near future," Airbus said.

Indian carriers have started to eat new planes on lease or order new aircraft as demand for air travel rebounds during the global economic slowdown of 2008 and early 2009. Budget carrier SpiceJet Ltd. last month ordered 30 turboprop aircraft from Canada's Bombardier Inc. for $900 million, adding to a $2.7 billion order for 30 Boeing Co.'s 737-800 planes placed in July. An additional budget airline IndiGo has received government approval to buy 150 Airbus planes.

Ragini Chopra, a spokeswoman for Mumbai-based Jet, said the airline is planning to eat the 10 A330s on lease to expand its international operations.

"We are in talks with numerous leasing firms for your aircraft," she said, but declined to elaborate.

The first two A330s are going to be leased among January and June 2011, while the sleep are going to be leased in 2012 for use on long-haul routes, said another Jet Airways executive, who declined being named.

"We are finalising our international expansion plans," the executive said. "We think demand is rising and this really is the proper time to deploy additional capacity."

Jet has already leased four ATR turboprop planes during the aircraft-leasing arm of U.K.-based Investec PLC. A couple of additional ATRs will join the fleet next month.

Air India executives weren't promptly accessible for comment.

Air India pilot's 'sleep inertia' caused crash

The senior pilot of an Air India jet that crashed in May was asleep for most with the flight after which produced critical errors since he was disoriented after waking up, based on Indian news reports.

The crash on May 22 in Mangalore, India, killed 158 men and women after the jet overran the runway and plunged off a cliff.

Capt. Zlatko Glusica was captured loudly snoring on a cockpit recorder, the accident investigation found, based on the Hindustan Times. The Associated Press confirmed the account from a federal government official who spoke on condition of anonymity since the report had not been presented towards the Indian Parliament.

After waking, Glusica did not respond when his co-pilot H.S. Ahluwalia repeatedly urged him to abort the landing.

Indian investigators stated that Glusica was suffering from "sleep inertia," a condition that can be deeply disorienting when an individual is awoken suddenly from deep sleep, based on the reports.

The accident may be the most clear-cut instance yet of the crash caused by a tired pilot and might affect the debate during the United States more than how to adjust pilot schedules to reduce fatigue, aviation safety experts say.

"This is almost a smoking gun," stated Curtis Graeber, a fatigue expert and consultant who specializes in pilot schedules.

The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board has observed that fatigue played a role in several accidents, but has had to rely on circumstantial evidence. In the crash of the commuter plane on Feb. 12, 2009, near Buffalo that killed 50 people, investigators raised concerns that each pilots had not slept the night before, but stopped short of citing fatigue as being a cause.

Graeber and others could not recall a case wherever a pilot involved in an accident had been recorded even though asleep.

Two pilots on board a go! airlines flight in Hawaii on Feb. 13, 2007, fell asleep for at least 18 minutes, and their commuter jet flew past its destination, but the crew awoke in time to return to your safe landing.

In June 2008, an Air India aircraft headed to Mumbai flew past its destination with each pilots asleep. They landed after being awakened by air-traffic controllers.

The Federal Aviation Administration, under orders from Congress to address pilot fatigue, last September unveiled sweeping changes that would require longer rest periods for pilots. The proposal has met fierce opposition from airlines and some pilot unions.

John Cox, a retired airline pilot who works as being a safety consultant, stated he expects the Air India crash to be cited during the debate more than U.S. regulations.

Cox also cautioned that other factors might be blamed for ones India crash. For example, the co-pilot could have woken the captain earlier and been far more assertive, he said.

"This flies during the face of professional training," Cox said. "What has happened right here is tough to understand."

Cox and Graeber stated that the factors identified during the accident appear unlikely to come during the USA, wherever co-pilots are trained to speak up if they have safety concerns.
Source:USA Today
Yatra.com

Air India empowered to take decision on hiring employees says Praful Patel

NEW DELHI: The Civil Aviation Ministry on Tuesday mentioned how the Management of Air India was empowered to take any choice during staff selection, right after reports that some of its Board directors had opposed appointment of Pawan Arora as COO of its low-cost arm Air India Express .

"If there is any controversial appointment, I am sure that Air India management and Air India Board will take a right decision. It is a question of an Air India employee, so allow the Air India management and board take care of these issues," Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel told reporters here.

He was replying to questions on reports that some of Air India's independent directors had raised objections on the appointment of Arora as well as the functioning of its top management.

He asserted that there was "no controversy" within the board's independent directors meeting top officials within the PMO to discuss the trouble on functioning of Air India.

Yesterday, the five independent directors with the business -- Anand Mahindra of Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd , Ficci's secretary general Amit Mitra, Ambuja Realty chairman Harsh Neotia and former air chief Fali H. Major-- met Prime Minister's Principal Secretary T K A Nair and reportedly expressed their anguish over the appointments being made by the company.

They also met Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel today and briefed him for the meeting with Prime Minister office.

"There is no question of any controversy. Independent Directors wanted to meet me and they had courtesy call. They have been on the Board for over six months and they wanted to share their views with me," Patel said.

Apart within the trouble of Air India COO, difficulties relating to Air India's financial position, debt case and human resources are also understood to have occur up for discussion within the meeting with TKA Nair.

Source: The Economic Times

Mumbai FC gun down Air India

Since its launch four many years ago, Mumbai FC had not managed to beat Mumbai football’s powerhouse, Air India. Manager Henry Picardo, a former Air India player, kept dreaming in the result.

And that dream couldn’t were realised at a far better occasion than from the final in the Nadkarni Cup. Mumbai FC defeated Air India 2-0 to win the championship at the RCF ground, Chembur, on Monday.

Ebi Sukore Theophilus’s strike from the 40th minute followed by a superb back volley from striker Pc Lalawmpuia from the dying minutes clinched the 104th edition in the tournament for Mumbai FC.

It looked like an I-League encounter over a local tourney as each the sides play from the national tournament. The intensity was high as there was high quality action and drama involved. Some comical errors from the referees added on the excitement.

However, they also raised question marks over some of the decisions taken by them. From the very first half, several Air India players argued in the referee over the rules during a free kick. However, it was resolved amicably.

For most in the opening period, each sides played both equally well, doing inroads to the opponent’s half but they could not capitalise on the opportunities that came their way.

Five minutes ahead of the very first half whistle, Air India’s Samson Singh committed a foul from the box, which resulted inside a penalty kick for Mumbai FC. Ebi obliged by tapping the ball in without having any issue leaving Air India custodian Kunal Sawant, a mere spectator.

Second half as well had some exciting moments as the ball went over the horizontal bar quite a few times, but a 90th minute back volley strike from Lalawmpui finished the game in style in Mumbai FC’s favour.

Picardo, who was in-charge in the team from the absence of coach Khalid Jamil, was all praise of Lalawmpui.

“He is recognized for that. That goal from him sealed the game for us,” mentioned Picardo.

He mentioned he is happy, especially, mainly because his team had defeated the power property of Mumbai.

“It was dream arrive true. Since our team was launched four many years ago, we had never defeated Air India. Beating this sort of a big and tough side gives you high. As far as winning the tournament is concerned, it'll give us a improve ahead of the I-League begins.”
Source: DNA India

Air India cover for $9 billion

Mumbai, Oct. 10: ICICI Lombard General Insurance has won the bid to insure Nacil’s aircraft fleet for $9.1 billion. Nacil runs Air India.“We submitted the bid on September 15. The bids were opened on the 16th and we got the final mandate on September 21,” Rajive Kumaraswami, head (risk & reinsurance), said. The national carrier had called for bids as the earlier $8.9-billion cover was to expire on September 30.

NSE move

New Delhi, Oct. 10: advanced discussions with the London Stock Exchange group to launch Nifty in the UK. The two bourses are in talks to evaluate options for cross-listing of their key indices (NSE’s Nifty and UK’s FTSE 100 Index) on each other’s platforms.

FDI details

New Delhi, Oct. 10: Maharashtra and the National Capital Region accounted for over 50 per cent of the foreign direct investment during April-July, the industry ministry’s data showed. Maharashtra attracted the maximum FDI at $2 billion, while Delhi’s NCR, including parts of Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, received $1.71 billion.

Gold import

Mumbai, Oct. 10: India’s gold imports have zoomed 30 per cent to 34.8 tonnes in September from 26.8 tonnes in the previous month even in the backdrop of skyrocketing prices.

Trade panel

New Delhi, Oct. 10: The government’s 45-member trade advisory board, which includes Anand Mahindra and Pawan Munjal, will meet on October 19 to discuss the export scenario amid persisting sluggishness in the global economy.

Source: The Telegraph

Air Iindia flight makes emergency landing in Kochi

The Airbus A 310 aircraft was on its way to Riyadh from Kochi via Kozhikode. It took off from Nedumbasseri at 4.30am and landed at Kozhikode to pick up the rest of the passengers. The carrier left Kozhikode at 6.45am and after about 45 minutes the smoke alarm went off, an official spokesman said.

The captain told the passengers not to worry and that he was returning to Nedumbasseri. Both pilots were Indians. By about 9 am, the plane landed in Kochi and fire tenders were rushed to the aircraft. All emergency services had been kept on alert. There were a total of 197 passengers - 11 in J class, 180 in economy class and six infants - besides 10 crew members on board the plane. There were only about 40 passengers when the plane left Kochi. The rest of them joined from Kozhikode. They were shifted to hotels and the aircraft was tugged away for inspection.

Engineers scanned the body and found a malfunction in engine number 2 on the right side of the aircraft. Official sources said it will take at least a day to fix the error.

Passengers, who came out of the aircraft, said they had panicked after being alerted about the fire. The airconditioning in the plane had also gone off, they said. Experts however, said passengers might have felt so as the plane during an emergency landing, climbs down at a faster rate than it does under normal conditions. This creates a difference in cabin pressure which results in uneasiness for those inside.

Yet another passenger said he felt like the aircraft had begun a free fall and that there was no way to escape. Air India later announced that the passengers were put on board a flight summoned from Mumbai and sent to Riyadh.

Source: The Times of India

Jolt to Mihan as AI cargo service grounded

NAGPUR: While chief minister Ashok Chavan is trying to push Mihan, there is another shocker awaiting the prestigious project. National carrier Air India is almost ready to dump its freighter services that were supposed to use Nagpur's Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport as hub. Announced in 2007, the project was to be launched by converting Air India's old Boeing 737s into freighters.

Air India was supposed to launch the cargo services connecting six major destinations through Nagpur. It would have greatly added to the appeal of Mihan. However, the cash-strapped Air India seems to have abandoned the plan. In fact, it has offered the reconfigured aircraft for sale. This development is another jolt to Mihan after the India Post recently discontinued its 'night airmail service'.

A local Air India official, requesting anonymity, said the company had planned to operate AI's reconfigured aircraft in phases from Nagpur. However, plans have not fructified and now management has decided to shelve the project.

Another official in Mumbai said, "AI plans to sell six Boeing 737-200 freighters which were converted for cargo operations in 2007," he said. Apart from these aircraft, the airline had converted four Airbus A 310-300 into freighters at a cost of $ 40 to 50 million. Now Air India Airlines has invited tenders to sell all these aircraft, he said. AI General Manager, corporate communication, Chandrakumar however denied that plans for freighter service were cancelled. He said the 8 aircraft on sale were 20 -years-old and the sale had no relation with the project.

"The project is in pipeline and a decision will be taken in board meeting," he said. AI's cargo head Anita Khurana said she was not aware of plans to sell freighter aircraft. However, she said that the freighter service from Nagpur was on hold.


Source: Times of India

Air India to Implement SAP ERP Package for Better Efficiency

MUMBAI: The Air India Board on Tuesday approved the implementation of the SAP Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) project.

The implementation of the ERP project is in line with the business objectives and strategy of the company for effecting a turnaround, a press release said here.

SAP is the largest provider of ERP solutions world-wide and has been preferred by more than 115 airlines.

SAP solutions support the core business of airlines in passenger services planning and development and also MRO (maintenance, repair and overhaul) functions.

The implementation of the SAP ERP package would help Air India in strategic decision-making, monitoring and control systems, the release said.

Besides, integration of key business functions in the erstwhile Indian Airlines and Air India Airlines, the package would also help in seamless integration with other systems and ensuring availability and consolidation of critical data and information,

At the same time, the airline could aim for improved profitability by availability of real-time information on route network and profitability, it said.

It would also help in reduction in costs especially in inventories across various areas.

Source: The Economic Times

Air India Plans to dry-lease 4 Airbus A-330 aircraft

Air India is planning to dry-lease four Airbus A-330 aircraft to service some of its medium-haul international routes, airline sources said on Monday.

"The purpose of taking A-330 aircraft is to deploy them on medium-haul routes or on sectors which have 7-8 hours of flying, like Hong Kong," the sources said, adding "though we are leasing only four aircraft now, our actual requirement is that of ten of these planes."

Currently, the national carrier has two of these wide-body planes in its fleet which are operating on the Jeddah and Shanghai sectors.

The leasing period of the A-330s would be one-and-a-half year to two years, the sources said. Under the dry-lease arrangement, the lessor provides an aircraft without crew, insurance, ground staff, supporting equipment and maintenance, all of which has to be taken care of by the lessee.

The routes on which these A-330 aircraft would be deployed are being finalized, the sources said, adding that the delivery of these leased planes would have to be made between October 2010 and September 2011.

The decision to lease these Airbus planes came in the wake of delays in the delivery of Boeing 787 Dreamliners by the US manufacturer for which Air India has sought compensation.

Air India had placed orders for the delivery of 27 Dreamliner aircraft even when the project was on drawing board in 2006. It was to receive the first aircraft in 2009, which would now be delivered by 2013.

Following the delay in the delivery of B-787s, Air India has planned to take on lease ten A-330s, besides several A-320s and turboprop ATR planes to meet its requirements.