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)

AI Express flights tail dips during take-off at Kochi

KOCHI:An Air India Express flight bound for Abu Dhabi had to land back in Kochi after its tail dipped during take-off on Sunday night. The flight was carrying about 190 passengers including four infants, and the Air Traffic Control (ATC) had noticed the incident soon after the take- off.

The pilot was asked to immediately return, after jettisoning off portion of the fuel. It took about an hour and a half to finish the fuel jettisoning process and to landed back normally, an Air India spokesman told TOI here.

The passengers were then lodged in a nearby hotel and the aircraft was declared AOG (Aircraft On Ground) for carrying out the repairs.

"The Boeing design ensues that structure of the aircraft is not affected in the tail dipping incident, as the cartridges provided for this on the tail take the impact of dipping.

But those cartridges have to be replaced after such an incident. The repair work is over and the aircraft is back into commercial sorties. It flew to Mumbai this morning and will fly to Sharjah tonight after its return," the spokesman said.

The passengers were sent to Abu Dhabi today in a Jumbo flight which also carried the passengers stranded at the airport following the skidding off of the Gulf Air flight on Monday morning, he disclosed.

Some of the passengers on the flight however complained that the airline did not give any reason for the return of the flight after its take off, and were not giving adequate information on the rescheduled flight for a long hours on Monday.

The flight was carrying about 190 passenger's including four infants, and the Air Traffic Control had noticed the incident soon after the take- off.
Source: Times of India