Page 33 - Air India

Want a budget vacation? Air India's 'Xpress holidays' start at Rs 15,876!

Air India Express guests can now seamlessly book their travel and stay together on the airline's website and mobile app

Tata Group to retain Air India's top management post-Vistara merger

Campbell Wilson will continue as the chief executive officer, with Nipun Aggarwal and Sanjay Sharma remaining as the chief commercial and transformation officer, and chief financial officer

Air India-Vistara mega-merger likely to impact around 600 non-flying staff

Around 600 non-flying staff of Air India and Vistara are likely to be impacted by the two airlines' mega-merger, and efforts will be made to provide job opportunities to the affected employees within Air India group and Tata companies, sources said on Wednesday. Tata Group-owned loss-making full-service carriers -- Air India and Vistara -- together have more than 23,000 employees. Sources in the know told PTI that the merger is expected to impact around 600 employees from the two airlines. Efforts will be made to provide employment opportunities for the affected people at Air India as well as the Tata groups. Those who cannot be accommodated in both groups will be provided a voluntary separation scheme package, they added. Further, the sources said the process is still progressing and the exact number of impacted staff will be known after completion of the merger, which is expected in late September or early October. There was no comment from Air India. The fitment exercise -- wh

Air India likely to offer voluntary separation scheme for 600 employees

Air India will introduce a Voluntary Separation Scheme (VSS) for around 600 employees whose roles may become redundant due to the merger with Vistara

Tata airlines complete harmonising operating process ahead of merger

Vistara, a joint venture between Tata Group (51 per cent) and Singapore Airlines (49 per cent), is being integrated into Air India to create a single full-service carrier

Tata group airlines complete harmonising operating manual ahead of merger

The harmonisation of operating manuals across all Tata group airlines has been completed in the run-up to the Vistara-Air India merger and amalgamation of AIX Connect with Air India Express, a statement said on Monday. At present, the steel-to-software conglomerate fully owns three airlines -- Air India, Air India Express and AIX Connect (formerly AirAsia India) -- while it holds a majority of 51 per cent in Vistara. Singapore Airlines holds the remaining 49 per cent in Vistara. Following the completion of the harmonisation of the operating manuals, Air India said there will be two separate manuals, one for the full-service carrier Air India and the other for the low-cost cost-carrier Air India Express. Before this, all four airlines had separate operating manuals. Over the last 18 months, a team of more than 100 members have worked to align on the best practices and adopt common operating procedures, Air India noted. "This is an important milestone in the merger of the Tata Grou

Did Air India divert a flight for Indian cricket team? DGCA seeks report

The DGCA has asked Air India for an explanation after reports surfaced that a scheduled Newark to Delhi flight was diverted to Barbados to transport India's T20 World Cup-winning cricket team

A-I cancels Newark-Delhi flight to ferry cricketers; DGCA asks for report

No passenger of the Newark-Delhi flight is stranded in the US due to this cancellation, says Air India

Hurricane Beryl delays Indian cricket team's departure from Barbados

The T20 World Cup-winning Indian cricket team's departure from the Caribbean island has been delayed as the charter flight is yet to arrive here. An Air India special charter flight named AIC24WC -- Air India Champions 24 World Cup -- is set to bring back the Indian squad, its support staff, the players' families and some board officials and Indian media, who have been stranded here for the past three days due to hurricane Beryl. The Rohit Sharma-led side won the title after pulling off a thrilling seven-run win over South Africa in the final on Saturday. The flight, which took off from New Jersey, USA on July 2, is expected to land in Barbados around 2 am local time. As per the schedule, the flight is now expected to take off from Barbados at 4:30am (local time). It will take a 16-hour flying time to reach Delhi, where the team will land on Thursday at 6 am (IST) if there are no further delays in their departure. The Grantley Adams International airport here resumed its operation

A-I Express to defer inquiries against cabin crew; next meeting on Aug 8

Air India Express on Tuesday decided to defer the inquiry process initiated against nearly 200 cabin crew members for reporting sick in May when the airline faced significant operational disruptions, according to sources. The decision was taken at the meeting convened by the Central Labour Commissioner (Central) in the national capital as part of the ongoing conciliation proceedings. At the meeting, representatives of the Air India Express Employees Union (AIXEU) mentioned about the issuance of charge sheets to around 200 cabin crew members in June and sought the withdrawal, the sources said. They added that on the advice of the conciliation officer, the representatives of the airline's management agreed to defer the inquiry process related to the charge sheets. AIXEU, which represents a section of the cabin crew at the airline, had filed a complaint before the labour department last year. Following the complaint, a conciliation process is happening under the Industrial Disputes Ac

Clear skies ahead: Strong long-term gains for IndiGo as demand rises

Post-merger of Air India and Vistara, the top two players will hold around 90 per cent domestic market share together. However, IndiGo's superior cost structure is a likely differentiator

Air India to set up flying training organisation in Maharashtra's Amravati

To meet the growing demand in the country's air travel market, Indian carriers have made four significant aircraft orders since last year

Air India to set up flying institute in Maha to train 180 pilots annually

Tata Group-owned Air India on Monday said it will set up a training institute at Amravati in Maharashtra with an aim to train 180 commercial pilots annually. The DGCA-licensed Flight Training Organisation (FTO) at the Belora Airport will be the largest such institute in South Asia and become operational from the first quarter of next financial year, Air India said in a statement. According to the airline, the upcoming facility will be the first by any Indian airline in the country and will have 31 single-engine aircraft and three twin-engine aircraft for training. Air India said it has got the tender from the Maharashtra Airport Development Company (MADC) to establish and operate the facility for 30 years. "The FTO at Amravati will be a significant step towards making Indian aviation more self-reliant and offering more opportunities to the youth in India to fulfil their ambitions of flying as pilots. "The young pilots coming out of this FTO will fuel Air India's ambition of becomi

Air India to deploy A350 planes on Delhi-London route starting September 1

Air India will start operating its wide-body A350-900 aircraft on the Delhi-London route with two daily flights from September 1. The flights will mark the introduction of the plane on the international long-haul route, as Air India revamps and expands its operations to strengthen presence in international and domestic segments. "The A350-900 will replace the currently deployed Boeing 777-300 ER and Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner on 14 of 17 weekly flights. As a result, an additional 336 seats will be available on the Delhi-London Heathrow route each week," the airline said in a release on Thursday. Besides, the airline will introduce premium economy class seats in the A350-900 planes operating on the Delhi-London Heathrow route. Air India will operate two daily flights between the national capital and London Heathrow with the A350-900 aircraft starting from September 1. The airline started operating the A350-900 plane on the international route from May 1 with services between Delhi and

London-bound Air India flight receives bomb threat, no explosives found

A London-bound Air India flight received a bomb threat here on Tuesday but no explosives were found, an official said. A man suspected of making the threatening call has been apprehended by authorities, a Cochin International Airport spokesperson said . Security personnel conducted extensive checks on the aircraft and found no danger, allowing the flight to proceed as planned, he said in a statement here. According to him, a bomb threat call was received by the Air India call center in Mumbai early on Tuesday for flight AI 149, scheduled to fly from Cochin to London Gatwick. The alert was promptly communicated to Air India here and the Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL) at 01:22 hours. Following established protocols, a Bomb Threat Assessment Committee (BTAC) was immediately convened at CIAL. The threat was assessed and declared specific. Following this, thorough security checks were conducted by the Airport Security Group (ASG-CISF), airline security personnel, and inl

Indian mission in Ottawa marks 39th anniversary of Kanishka bombing

The Indian missions in Canadian capital Ottawa and Toronto city on Sunday marked the 39th anniversary of the 1985 Kanishka bombing in which 329 persons, including 86 children, on board an Air India lost their lives in one of the most heinous terror-related air disasters in the history of civil aviation. High Commissioner Sanjay Kumar Verma paid homage to the victims of Air India flight 182 Kanishka on the 39th anniversary of the "cowardly terrorist bombing", the High Commission in Ottawa posted on X along with a series of photographs from the event. Addressing the gathering, Verma said, No government in the world should overlook the threat of terrorism emanating from its territories for political gains. Human lives are much more important than the transitory political interests. All terrorist activities should be met with exemplary legal and social actions, before they start harming the larger humanity. Governments, security agencies, and international organisations must work in ...

Air India banks on artificial intelligence to cut call centre costs

The airline had launched its own chatbot AI.g, earlier known as Maharaja, in May 2023

Air India to start premium economy class on a few domestic routes from July

Air India on Wednesday said it will launch premium economy class on select domestic routes from next month. As of now, Vistara is the only Indian carrier which offers premium economy-class travel category on its domestic routes. The Tata Group-owned airline said it has refitted two new A320neo aircraft in a three-class configuration, featuring eight seats in business, 24 seats with extra legroom in premium economy, and 132 in the economy category, offering a wider choice to its guests. This is the first time the airline has introduced premium economy cabins on its narrow-body aircraft. "The introduction of a three-class cabin to Air India's narrow-body fleet and commencement of interior refits are important steps in the journey of enhancing the flying experience," said Campbell Wilson, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director at Air India. The latest upgrade of the narrow-body fleet, which operates on domestic and short-haul international networks, complements the upgraded ..

39 yrs of Kanishka bombing: India at forefront of countering terrorism

India stands at the forefront of countering the menace of terrorism and works closely with all nations to tackle this global threat, India's Consulate General in Vancouver has said as it reminded the world of the Kanishka bombing, the most heinous terror-related air disasters in the history of civil aviation. The Montreal-New Delhi Air India 'Kanishka' Flight 182 exploded 45 minutes before it was to have landed at London's Heathrow Airport on June 23, 1985, killing all 329 people on board, most of them Canadians of Indian descent. The bombing was blamed on Sikh militants in retaliation to 'Operation Bluestar' to flush out militants from the Golden Temple in 1984. The Consulate General of India has planned a memorial service to mark the anniversary of the bombing. "India stands at the forefront of countering the menace of terrorism and works closely with all nations to tackle this global threat," the Consulate General of India in Vancouver posted on X on Tuesday. "23 June 2024 mark

Anticipating pilot shortage, Air India to launch its own training school

Air India's initiative marks a departure from the traditional approach of Indian airlines, which have typically partnered with independent flight schools both domestically and internationally