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The Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA) is seeking a review of the existing jet fuel pricing formula, and said domestic ATF should be priced on the actual cost of fuel plus a reasonable margin rather than international benchmark pricing. The unprecedented increase in fuel costs, compounded by geopolitical disruptions and rupee depreciation, is placing significant pressure on airline cash flows and viability, it said. In a letter to the Civil Aviation Ministry late last month, FIA also said that "if timely relief is not available, the airlines may be compelled to withdraw from several unsustainable routes." Air India, IndiGo and SpiceJet are the members of FIA. From around 30-40 per cent, airlines' operating costs have increased to around 55-60 per cent under the prevailing circumstances, out of which ATF remains the single largest variable cost, it said. The current conflict (West Asia) has pushed the Brent Crude from USD 72 / BBL to USD 118 / BBL, and the resultant ATF price (MOP
Air India is expanding use of Salesforce's Agentforce artificial intelligence platform to streamline customer service processes, including automated email resolution, name change processing and an AI-powered knowledge assistant for customer service teams, Salesforce has said. Air India has built a cloud-based digital ecosystem covering more than 140 enterprise systems and has more than 30 agentic AI initiatives underway, Salesforce said on Monday. The name change automation system handles eligibility checks, validations and ticketing actions, including initiating ticket reissuance and sending the updated ticket to the customer, it added. Under the automated email resolution system, Agentforce can identify multiple requests in a single customer email, gather and validate information across systems, take the required actions and generate a consolidated response using Air India-approved templates. For eligible cases, responses are generated only when the system's confidence level exce
India is a fantastic market that demonstrates the real value of aviation, but high fuel costs is a challenge for the local airlines, IATA chief and IndiGo's incoming CEO Willie Walsh said on Monday. Speaking at briefings after the conclusion of the IATA Annual General Meeting (AGM) in the city, Walsh said India has great opportunities, as well as some as challenges. Howeever, taxation could slow down the growth potential, he added. "The net position in India is very, very exciting and that is proven by the growth that we've seen in the domestic market... I think (there) would be a very significant growth in the international market in due course as well," he said. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is a grouping of more than 370 airlines and accounts for around 85 per cent of the global air traffic. Talking about the challenges in the Indian market, Walsh cited high fuel costs. "That is an additional burden when fuel (price) is denominated in dollars and you've see