Page 27 - Air India

A-I staff to carry out aircraft maintenance at domestic stations by Apr

Air India aims to make line maintenance works of aircraft in-house at its 55 domestic stations by April, the airline's CEO Campbell Wilson said on Friday. Line maintenance works of the planes are carried at 55 domestic stations (airports) and the airline has been working on doing the activities in-house amid expanding fleet. In a message to the employees, Wilson said the airline is making good progress on taking control of its line maintenance, with 42 of its 55 domestic stations now handled directly by Air India staff. "This gives much greater control on quality and timeliness and enables us to conduct a wider range of maintenance tasks in-house, including lighter checks during extended transits and overnight stops," Wilson, who is the CEO and MD of the Tata Group-owned airline, said. He also said that in-housing of the remaining 13 stations is on track to be completed by April. Loss-making Air India has embarked on an ambitious transformation plan. Last year, Air India merged .

Air India flight returns to Bengaluru airport after midair engine failure

Delhi bound flight, returned to Bengaluru for an emergency landing after one its engines failed mid-air

Committed to turning Air India into top-class airline: Tata Sons chairman

Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran on Saturday said his company is fully committed to transforming Air India into a top-class airline, delivering exceptional service and performance on a global scale. Tata Group acquired Air India in 2022 after the government had signed a share purchase agreement with Tata Sons for the sale of Air India for Rs 18,000 crore. Chandrasekaran was responding to a query during a free side chat with TVS Supply Chain Solutions Ltd Managing Director Ravi Viswanathan at the Global Alumni Meet of NIT Trichy, here, on what people can expect from Air India following the acquisition made by Tata Group in 2022. "My commitment is to take every effort to make Air India, an absolute top-class airline in the world. In terms of the hardware, the flight experience, customer experience, technology and in every which way." Chandrasekaran said. On a lighter note, he appealed to the audience gathered at the venue to urge the aircraft manufacturers Boeing and Airbus to ...

Air India becomes first Indian airline to offer Wi-Fi on domestic flights

In July last year, Vistara became the first Indian airline to provide Wi-Fi services on international flights. Vistara was merged into Air India in November

Starting Jan 1, 2025 Air India to offer in-flight Wi-Fi on domestic flights

Starting 1 January 2025, in-flight Wi-Fi services available on all flights operated by Air India's A350, B787-9 and select A321neo aircraft.

Air India to increase global coverage in years ahead: CEO Wilson

Air India has covered a lot of ground since privatisation and its global coverage will further increase in the years ahead, the airline's chief Campbell Wilson said on Wednesday. He also said the interior refit of the single-aisle fleet, serving domestic and short-haul international destinations, is underway, and will be completed by mid-2025. Loss-making Air India was acquired by the Tata Group from the government in January 2022, and is undergoing an ambitious five-year transformation plan. In 2024, Air India completed the merger of Vistara with itself as well as integration of Air India Express and AIX Connect was also done. In his New Year message, Wilson said these mergers and new aircraft deliveries have taken Air India Group's fleet to 300 aircraft, allowing it to expand to over 100 domestic and international destinations. "Air India's global coverage will further increase in the years ahead, not least because of the recent addition of 100 aircraft to our order book, augmen

Air India to strengthen practices in 2025, become profitable: CEO

Wilson stated that the Group employs 30,000 people who help its two airlines fly over 60 million passengers annually to more than 100 destinations within India and internationally

Air India to roll out key initiatives in 2025, may turn profitable: CEO

Air India will see progress on various key initiatives, including refitting of wide body and narrow body planes, in 2025 as well as tighten practices and processes to ultimately become profitable, the airline's chief Campbell Wilson said on Friday. After taking over the loss-making Air India from the government in January 2022, Tata Group has been working on an ambitious transformation plan to turn around the airline, which recently also placed orders for 100 more aircraft. In his message to the staff on Friday, Wilson said 2024 saw the realisation of some of the most significant milestones, including the completion of the mergers of Air India Express and AirAsia India, and Vistara with Air India that "position us as the fourth largest business, by revenue, in the Tata group". Air India group operates 300 aircraft across both brands, flying over 60 million customers annually to more than 100 destinations in India and around the world. While describing 2024 as a transformative year

Indian carriers see 12% more domestic flyers at 14.2 million in Nov

Indian airlines carried 1.42 crore passengers on domestic routes in November, nearly 12 per cent more compared to the year-ago period, amid rising air traffic demand. In terms of domestic market share, IndiGo topped the list with a 63.6 per cent pie, followed by Air India (24.4 per cent), Akasa Air (4.7 per cent) and SpiceJet (3.1 per cent). While all these carriers saw their share rise, the share of Alliance Air was unchanged at 0.7 per cent in November, according to the latest data from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). "Passengers carried by domestic airlines during January-November 2024 were 1,464.02 lakh as against 1,382.34 lakh during the corresponding period of the previous year thereby registering an annual growth of 5.91 per cent and monthly growth of 11.90 per cent," the watchdog said in its monthly report. Domestic air passenger traffic was at 142.52 lakh in November compared to 127.36 lakh in the same period a year ago. In October this year, domestic ...

IndiGo leads Indian aviation with record 10 million passengers in November

Indian aviation achieved record-breaking traffic in November, with IndiGo flying over 10 million passengers, Air India crossing 30 lakh, and Akasa Air recording its best month yet

Delhi-bound Air India intl flight's passengers fight over armrest space

Two passengers on board a Delhi-bound Air India flight from Copenhagen (Denmark) came to blows over armrest space just when the aircraft was about to land at the Indira Gandhi International Airport on Sunday, a source said. The flight landed at around 7.35 am. An Air India official said that the passengers had an argument over some issue at its Copenhagen-Delhi flight of Saturday which was later sorted out "amicably". According to the source, "The two passengers started an argument over the armrest space in economy class when the cabin crew was serving food and beverages, which turned into a heated exchange. The cabin crew pacified them by giving one of the passengers another seat. "However, when the aircraft was about to land in Delhi, the passenger came to collect his baggage from the seat he was sitting earlier, they again started the fight and came to blows." The number of passengers on board the Boeing 787-8 aircraft, operating AI 158 (Copenhagen-Delhi) could not be known. T

Air India orders 34 trainer craft for cadet pilots at planned flying school

The order includes 31 single-engine aircraft from Piper Aircraft in the United States and 3 twin-engine aircraft from Diamond Aircraft in Austria

Revised flight duty norms to apply from Jun 2025: IndiGo, AI tell DGCA

Two major airlines IndiGo and Air India have told aviation regulator DGCA that the revised flight duty norms for pilots can be implemented only in a phased manner starting from June next year, according to sources. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation's revised Civil Aviation Requirement (CAR) relates to flight duty time limitation seeks to provide more rest time for pilots amid concerns over pilot fatigue. Initially, the new norms were to come into effect from June 1 this year but was postponed. The pilots' bodies -- Indian Pilots Guild, Indian Commercial Pilots Association and Federation of Indian Pilots -- told the DGCA that they want the norms to be fully implemented at the earliest from February 15, the sources told PTI. IndiGo has informed the regulator that the CAR can be implemented starting from June next year, with weekly rest period for pilots to be increased from 36 hours to 40 hours, they said. The impact of the change will be assessed with a view to potentially

Air India's new offer: 10% off on fares and 10kg extra baggage for students

· New student fares available in Economy, Premium Economy, and Business Class

Air India announces international flight network upgrades for 2025

To introduce retrofitted A320neo on Delhi-Bangkok flights and deploy A321neo, B787-9 planes on other key routes

Air India announces changes in its international routes with new aircraft

The airline is looking to increase flexibility and connectivity for intercontinental travel between North America, Europe, Australia, and Southeast Asia through its hubs in Delhi and Mumbai

Tata airlines overall seat capacity soars 20%, but IndiGo way ahead

Despite that the group has a long way to go even to reach half of the domestic seat capacity of rival IndiGo

Tata Group-owned Air India places an order with Airbus for 100 planes

Full-service carrier Air India and its low-cost airline subsidiary Air India Express currently have a fleet of about 210 and 90 planes, respectively

Air India Express-AIX Connect merger will drive long-term profitability: MD

Tata Group's low-cost carrier, Air India Express, has completed its merger with AIX Connect (formerly AirAsia India), a strategic move to create a unified budget airline under Air India with a focus on achieving sustainable profitability without straining its financials, a top company official said. Dismissing concerns regarding the merger of AIX Connect, a loss-making entity, Air India Express managing director Aloke Singh told PTI, "The merger process was completed in October. The integration of AIX Connect will expedite our path to profitability by achieving significant scale, optimising costs, and better utilising our assets. The objective is to build a robust, scalable network that supports long-term growth." Compared to a profit of Rs 117 crore in FY'23, Air India Express reported a net loss of Rs 163 crore in FY'24. This was despite a robust 33 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) increase in income to Rs 7,600 crore, driven by higher passenger volumes and improved operational ...

Taking steps to deal with fog, poor visibility in winter season: Air India

Air India on Thursday said it has taken various steps, including adjusting flight schedules, and increasing the number of CAT-III trained pilots, among others, to deal with the issues of fog and poor visibility this winter season. Fog and poor visibility conditions impact a large number of flights every year, particularly those originating from Northern India. The Tata Group-owned Air India faced a Rs 30 lakh fine from the DGCA in January this year for not having enough pilots trained to fly in low visibility conditions ahead of the fog season. "Air India has adjusted flight schedules to minimise disruptions to long haul and metro-to-metro flights with onward connectivity during the fog window. It has also increased the number of CAT-III trained pilots who are certified to land in low visibility operations and CAT-III instrument landing system," Air India said without giving the number of such pilots. CAT III is an instrument landing system, which enables an aircraft to land in low