Page 35 - Air India

When Ratan Tata flew F-16 and F-18 jets back to back over Bengaluru skies

An avid aviator, Tata held licences to fly both jets and helicopters, and eagerly accepted the chance to co-pilot the combat aircraft

Merger pains: A-I, Vistara in churn over pilots' career progression plan

Vistara pilots claim A-I colleagues leapfrogging them in promotion

Air India's Delhi-London flight diverted to Denmark for medical emergency

An Air India flight from Delhi to London was diverted to Copenhagen on Sunday due to a medical emergency, according to an airline official. A male passenger who was feeling ill was de-planed at Copenhagen (Denmark) and taken to a local hospital for medical attention. Later, the flight departed for London, the airline official said. "Our ground colleagues at Copenhagen airport did their best to minimise inconvenience caused to all the guests due to the diversion," the official added.

Merger in full swing: Air India group to introduce uniform crew policy

Some of the new policies have been welcomed by pilots and cabin crew, while others have sparked criticism

Air India introduces new policy on room sharing, allowances for cabin crew

Air India is introducing a revised policy for the cabin crew members of domestic and international flights, wherein certain sections of the members will have to share rooms during layovers, according to a source. The revised policy will also be applicable for Air India Express, which has merged AIX Connect with itself. Among other changes, the source in the know said the allowances for cabin crew of international flights will be increased from USD 75-125 bracket to USD 85-135 bracket. There is no change in the allowances for the cabin crew of domestic flights. An airline spokesperson said that with the merger of Air India and Vistara formalising, there is a need to harmonise these policies for employees of both the organisations. "As part of that exercise, we have communicated the changes applicable to Air India employees. The revised compensation and benefits continue to be competitive and benchmarked to industry standards," the spokesperson told PTI in a statement. Under the re

Vistara experience to remain; services to have 'AI2' prefix: Air India

Air India on Wednesday said flights operated with Vistara aircraft will have numbers starting with the prefix 'AI2' after the merger next month while Vistara's planes, crew and service will continue to operate as before. The Tata Group-owned full service carrier also emphasised that the Vistara experience will remain post merger. The merger of Vistara -- a joint venture between Tatas and Singapore Airlines -- with Air India is scheduled for November 12 that will mark a major consolidation in the Indian aviation space after the integration of AIX Connect with Air India Express. There are concerns in certain quarters on whether Vistara passengers will continue to get the same services like now, post merger as Air India, which is in the transformation phase, has been facing certain service issues in recent times. An Air India spokesperson on Wednesday said the teams of Air India and Vistara have been working hard for over a year to ensure that the merger of the legal and regulated ...

AI Express-AIX Connect merger key in transformation journey: Wilson

The merger of AIX Connect with Air India Express is an important milestone in the transformation journey of Air India Group and the merged entity will cater to the growing air travel demand, Campbell Wilson said on Tuesday. Wilson is the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Air India as well as the Chairman of Air India Express. Aviation regulator DGCA has approved the merger of AIX Connect with Air India Express, which will now focus on future growth and transformation agenda, according to a release. The merged entity will operate under the 'Air India Express' name and a unified airline code 'IX'. With the merger completed, Air India Express will focus on a future growth and transformation agenda. "About a year ago, we started the integration of AIX Connect and Air India Express, bringing the two organisations together behind a common brand. "Alongside, we worked on the complex integration exercise culminating today in the operational and legal merger of the two ...

Merger promises 'huge' digital upgrade for Vistara, says Air India

AI-based chatbot has helped us "drastically" cut customer service centre costs, he added

AI-Vistara merger: Systems integration in progress after initial assessment

A comprehensive enterprise assessment of all systems has been completed and the integration process is going on as part of the upcoming merger of Vistara with Air India, a senior official said on Monday. Vistara, a joint venture between Tatas and Singapore Airlines, is set to be merged with Air India in November. The process for the merger of the two full service carriers, announced in November 2022, is in progress. Murali Karthik, VP & Head of Enterprise IT at Air India, stressed the importance of data-driven decision making process and a highly integrated system. Speaking at a session at the CAPA India Digital Aviation Summit in the national capital, he also said a comprehensive enterprise assessment of all systems has been completed with respect to the merger of Vistara and Air India. At the session, regional carrier FLY91's CTO Prasanna Subramanian said it is building the complete architecture for the digital systems. The systems are being scaled up and the focus is also on ..

Air India's new fatigue policy under fire: Is pilot safety at risk?

Under the new policy, fatigue reports will be reviewed by multiple departments, and if deemed unsubstantiated, will be marked as 'sick'

AI Express-AIX Connect merger in Oct first week; 'I5' to fly into sunset

AIX Connect as well as airline designator code 'I5' will fly into the past in the first week of October as the merger of the no-frills carrier with Air India Express becomes a reality. "Everything is on track," a senior airline official told PTI earlier this week about the merger process that has been in progress for nearly one year. AIX Connect, which was earlier known as AirAsia India, will cease to exist after flying for 11 years. The aircraft registered under its Air Operator Certificate (AOC) will be transferred to the AOC of Air India Express under the legal merger that is to come into effect in the first week of October, another official said. Currently, Air India Express and AIX Connect operate around 400 flights daily and the operations are set to expand in the coming months. It has a fleet of 88 planes, including 61 Boeing 737 NGs and MAXs, and 27 A320 ceos and neos. With the legal merger, all flights of erstwhile AIX Connect will be operated with the airline designator c

Air India passenger finds 'cockroach' in food; airline expresses concern

An Air India passenger has complained of finding a cockroach in an omelette served onboard the flight from the national capital to New York, with the airline saying the matter has been taken up with the catering service provider for further investigation. "We are aware of a social media post by a passenger regarding a foreign object in the onboard meal offered to them on AI 101 operating from DEL to JFK on 17 September 2024," an Air India spokesperson said in a statement and also expressed concern over the incident. In a post on X, the passenger said a cockroach was found in the omelette served on the flight from Delhi to New York. "My 2 year old finished more than half of it with me when we found this. Suffered from food poisoning as a result," she said. The passenger also shared a short video and pictures of the food items served during the flight. She tagged Air India, aviation regulator DGCA and Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu in the post. In the statement, the ...

Air India to check veracity of flight crew's fatigue reports from Oct 1

The policy is part of a series of new measures being implemented ahead of A-I's merger with Vistara

Vistara-Air India merger: Link Club Vistara and Flying Returns accounts now

If you fail to link your accounts, you may miss out on the automatic transfer of points and elite statuses

Outdated fleet and seats, supply woes hinder Air India's turnaround

Global shortages are hurting plans for most airlines, but the problem is more acute for Air India

State Bank of India brought down Kingfisher, Air India: JKC to SC

The first tranche payment of Rs 350 crore was required to be made by March 21, 2022

Strike at Boeing leaves Asian airlines sweating on plane deliveries

Boeing didn't respond to a request for comment on any delays to Max deliveries in Asia

Air India derosters 3 cabin members for lapses in opening aircraft door

Air India has derostered three cabin crew members for an erroneous approach in opening the door of a Boeing 777 aircraft that led to the auto-deployment of the emergency slides, according to sources. The incident happened with the Boeing 777 plane at the Bangalore airport after it landed from San Francisco on September 15, they said. When contacted, an Air India spokesperson said a technical issue was reported with one of the doors not opening appropriately upon landing and the matter was attended to promptly. "In a serious safety violation, the door of Air India's Boeing 777 aircraft that operated the flight AI 176 from San Francisco to Bangalore on September 15, was opened in armed mode when the aircraft arrived at the Bangalore airport. "As a result of this, the emergency slides automatically got deployed," a sources told PTI. Another source said three cabin crew members have been derostered for the lapse and an internal probe has been ordered. However, Air India did not comme

Air India refunds Rs 5 lakh to passenger on India-US flight: Here's why

Anip Patel, the founder of Chicago-based VC firm CaPatel Investments, shared a disappointing experience flying first class with Air India

Air India hired 9,000 employees in two years to meet needs: Airline chief

Air India has hired 9,000 employees, including 5,000 crew members, in the last two years to meet the workforce requirement for its expanding fleet and network, the airline's chief Campbell Wilson said on Friday. In a message to staff, he said the airline's domestic market share rose from 24 per cent in FY23 to 27 per cent in FY24 and the international market share climbed from 21 per cent to 24 per cent during the same period, on the back of network expansion and service improvements. The airline has completed two years of its five-year ambitious transformation plan Vihaan.AI. On a consolidated basis, the Tata Group-owned airline recorded a 25 per cent rise in operating revenues and a more than 50 per cent reduction in loss in the last financial year. "When we consider that the FY in question covered only the early part of our transformation program, before most of the initiatives we have been working on were implemented, these early results should encourage us that the effort is .