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)

Air India COO Baldauf resigns; carrier faces pilot strike

Air India COO Gustav Baldauf resigned last week after controversial comments produced on the Indian government's role in AI, in accordance with numerous news reports from India. The Austrian native, who became the first to preserve the COO title inside the airline's history once he joined last April, told The Indian Express in an job interview how the Indian government "should not be involved in day-to-day [AI] operations" and was "too prominent" in AI decision-making. According to the reports, airline management deemed the comments out of bounds for an Air India Airlines executive.

The departure from the COO is not the only sign of tumult at the struggling carrier—AI also faces a capacity strike by former Indian Airlines pilots set to start on March 9. In a letter to employees sent March 3, AI Chairman and MD Arvind Jadhav did not reference the COO's departure but expressed concern more than the looming strike by the Indian Commercial Pilots Assn.

"It is time for all of us to strive and work towards the a growth path which would take in the company out of its supply issues and strengthen the hands from the [Minister of Civil Aviation] to resolve various issues amicably," he said. He also cited the airline's progress in its restructuring and integration of Air India Airlines and Indian, for instance "making operational profits due to the fact November 2010."

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 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

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