Page 38 - Air India

A-I ceased to be 'State' or its instrumentality post disinvestment: SC

Air India Limited (AIL) ceased to be State or its instrumentality under Article 12 of the Constitution after its disinvestment and take over by the Tata Group in January 2022, and no case of alleged violation of fundamental right would lie against it, the Supreme Court ruled on Thursday. The apex court dismissed the appeals filed against a September 20, 2022 verdict of the Bombay High Court which had disposed of four writ petitions instituted by some employees of AIL over alleged stagnation in pay and non-promotion of employees and delay in payment of wage revision arrears, among others. The top court noted that the petitions before the high court had claimed violation of Articles 14 (equality before law), 16 (equality of opportunity in matters of public employment), and 21 (protection of life and personal liberty) of the Constitution. A bench of Justices B R Gavai and Sandeep Mehta noted that the high court had disposed of the pleas on the ground of non-maintainability of the writ

Integration of frequent flyer programs of Vistara, Air India begins

The integration of approximately 7,000 employees of Vistara will begin in June, with its merger into Air India targeted to be completed by the year-end, Air India CEO Campbell Wilson said on Monday

Air India Express cancels some flights due to rostering system issues

Air India Express cancelled some flights on Wednesday as the airline grapples with crew rostering system issues, according to sources. The Tata Group-owned carrier, which generally operates around 380 flights daily, has moved to a new rostering system. Since there are some issues with the system, it is impacting the scheduling for cabin crew and pilots, the sources said. At the Delhi airport, seven Air India Express flights -- four departures and three arrivals -- for the period between 1.50 am and 8 pm have been cancelled for Wednesday, sources said. There were also flight cancellations at a few other airports, the sources added. However, the total number of flight cancellations could not be immediately ascertained. There was no comment from Air India Express. The latest development comes a week after the airline witnessed disruptions due to a section of cabin crew reporting sick to protest against the alleged mismanagement at the carrier. The strike was called off on May 9 and

'A-I Express sees no flight cancellation on Tue, operations near normal'

A week after being hit by disruptions due to a cabin crew strike, officials said the operations of Air India Express have almost normalised and there was no flight cancellation on Tuesday. Protesting against alleged mismanagement at the carrier, a section of the cabin crew had reported sick last week. As a result, the carrier had to cancel hundreds of flights since last Tuesday. An official said that operations have normalised and all the scheduled flights were operated on Tuesday. Another official said the airline operated around 345 flights and no flights were cancelled. This is the first day since last Tuesday when there has been no cancellation and out of the total services today, around 201 were international flights, the official added. The strike by the cabin crew was called last Thursday and the Tata Group-owned carrier also withdrew termination letters issued to 25 cabin crew following a conciliation meeting convened by the chief labour commissioner in the national ...

Merger with Vistara may be completed by December, says Air India CEO

Vistara, a joint venture between Singapore Airlines and Tata Group with a ratio of 51:49, is currently undergoing a merger with Air India to create a unified full-service carrier

AI Express fiasco: Woman couldn't see hospitalised husband before death

In a heartbreaking incident, a woman, whose husband was in a hospital ICU in Oman, was unable to see him one last time before he died there due to the cancellation of her Air India Express flight to that country last week, her family alleged. The woman, Amrita, had booked tickets for May 8 to see her husband in Muscat, but on reaching the airport here, she was told that the flight was cancelled. Her protest at the airport earned her a ticket for the next day on another Air India Express flight, but unfortunately, that too was cancelled and she had to abandon her travel plans altogether. On Monday, news of her husband's death reached her from Oman. "It was so unfair that she could not see him for one last time. We begged the airline to accommodate us on some other flight so that we could see him for one last time. But they did not do anything," Amrita's mother told a TV channel. She also said that Amrita's husband had said that he wanted to see his wife and kids and that is why the

SIAEC to develop Air India's base maintenance facilities in Bengaluru

Air India on Saturday announced it has appointed SIA Engineering Company Limited as its strategic partner for the development of its base maintenance facilities here. As part of the partnership, Air India will work closely with SIA Engineering Company Limited (SIAEC) on the planning, construction, development and operationalisation of its base maintenance facilities here, they said. In a statement, Air India said, "Projected to be ready in 2026, the facilities will comprise both wide-body and narrow-body hangars, including associated repair shops, to support the growing Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) needs of the aircraft fleet in Air India Group." "The collaboration with SIA Engineering Company will not only help Air India become more self-reliant for the maintenance of its own fleet but it also reiterates our commitment to strengthen India's aviation infrastructure by boosting the growth of the country's MRO industry," Campbell Wilson, Chief Executive Officer and Managing

AI Express operations improving; expects normalcy in 2 days, says official

The operations of Air India Express slowly started improving on Friday as more cabin crew members are joining back for duty, after significant flight disruptions caused by cabin crew strike that has been called off. The strike by a section of the cabin crew since Tuesday night that resulted in the cancellation of more than 170 flights was called off on Thursday evening and the airline also withdrew termination letters issued to 25 striking cabin crew. The Tata Group airline, which operates around 380 flights daily, has curtailed operations in the wake of the strike and the official on Friday said, normalcy is expected in the next two days. Cabin crew who were on strike are joining back and the airline is extending support to them in getting the fitness certificate, which is required to resume duty, the official added. The official also said that most international flights are in the evening time and the operations on that front are expected to be better from Friday onwards with the

Air India, Vistara CEOs to address staff about proposed merger on May 13

The chiefs of Air India and Vistara will address staff on May 13 on the proposed merger of the two airlines, according to officials. The merger of Vistara with Air India under a deal, wherein Singapore Airlines will acquire a 25.1 per cent stake in Air India, was announced in November 2022. Vistara is a joint venture between Singapore Airlines and Tata Group. The townhall meeting will be held in the phygital mode and employees from Air India and Vistara will be present. The meeting will be addressed by Air India CEO and MD Campbell Wilson and Vistara CEO Vinod Kannan, one of the officials said on Friday. Kannan is also the Chief Integration Officer for the proposed merger. One of the officials said the meeting is expected to focus on the broad aspects and help provide an overall picture about the merger to the staff. Air India has around 17,000 people and Vistara has about 6,500 employees. "We expect to complete merger in a smooth manner," Kannan told PTI on April 5. The merger

AI Express cabin crew calls off strike; airline assures to look into issues

A section of Air India Express cabin crew has decided to withdraw strike and join back for duty after the airline assured to look into all the issues raised by the cabin crew, sources said on Thursday. Besides, the airline has agreed to withdraw the termination letters issued to 25 cabin crew and the management will review the cases as per service regulations, they added. The Tata Group-owned airline has cancelled more than 170 flights since Tuesday night after the cabin crew started reporting sick to protest against the alleged mismanagement at the airline. The decisions on withdrawing the strike and the termination letters were agreed upon during the conciliation meeting between the cabin crew representatives and the airline representatives at the Office of the Chief Labour Commissioner (Central) in the national capital on Thursday.

Return to work or face termination: Air India Express gives crew ultimatum

Air India Express fired 25 cabin crew members and demanded others to either return to work by 4 pm on Thursday or face termination

Over 100 Air India Express flights cancelled as cabin crew calls in sick

Air India Express has opted to reduce its flight operations until May 13, with a usual schedule of around 360 flights per day, covering both domestic and international routes

Air India Express fires cabin crew members over 'premeditated' sick leave

According to Air India Express CEO Aloke Singh, more than 100 cabin crew members had reported sick just before their rostered flight duty since Tuesday night

Air India Express cancels 91 flights as cabin crew goes on sick leave

After Vistara cancellations, it's the turn of another Tata airline to face crisis

Air India Express cancels several flights due to cabin crew shortage

Air India Express has cancelled "scores of flights" due to a shortage of cabin crew members as a section of them are reporting sick to protest against alleged mismanagement at the Tata Group-owned airline, according to sources. Discontent has been brewing among a section of the cabin crew at the low-cost carrier for some time now, especially after the start of the process of merger of AIX Connect, formerly AirAsia India, with itself. The sources on Wednesday said several cabin crew members started reporting sick since Monday evening and as there are not enough cabin crew members, "scores of flights" have been cancelled at various airports, including Kochi, Calicut and Bangalore. Late last month, a union representing a section of the Air India Express cabin crew alleged that the airline is being mismanaged and there is a lack of equality in the treatment of the staff. Air India Express Employees Union (AIXEU), a registered union, which claims to represent around 300 cabin crew membe

Intervene urgently, resolve AI Express strike: Venugopal writes to Scindia

After Air India Express cancelled several domestic and international flights in the wake of its crew strike, Congress leader K C Venugopal on Wednesday sought immediate intervention of Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia and called for urgent measures to ensure the passengers are not affected. In a letter to Scindia, Venugopal said the flight cancellations are causing agony to fellow citizens, especially those going to the Middle East. He said Air India Express is a low cost airline that is essential to connect our hardworking middle class workers across the world to their homeland. "When 80+ flights are cancelled due to employees' strikes, it causes huge agony to our fellow citizens, especially those in the Middle East. Wrote to the Ministry of Civil Aviation to intervene urgently and resolve the strike and restore regular Air India Express flights at the earliest," Venugopal said in a post on X while sharing his letter. "I am writing to bring to your kind attention the .

Air India Express to curtail flights amid cabin crew shortage: CEO Singh

Air India Express will curtail flights for the next few days to cope with non-availability of crew members, its CEO Aloke Singh said on Wednesday as the airline has been forced to cancel more than 90 flights due to cabin crew members reporting sick. In a message to the airline's staff, Singh said since last evening, more than 100 cabin crew members have reported sick prior to their rostered flight duty, "at the last minute, severely disrupting our operations". More than 90 flights have been disrupted due to the situation, he added. "The disruptions have cascaded across the network, forcing us to curtail the schedules over the next few days. We had to do this to cope with the non-availability of crew and to recover schedules," Singh said. Tata Group-owned Air India Express operates around 360 flights daily in the ongoing summer schedule that started in late March.

Air India Express staff express 'growing discontent' in letter to chairman

The letter from the Air India Express employees union follows a mass sick leave by Air India cabin crew earlier today which left at least 86 flights cancelled

Air India Express says no recognition of workers' union amid crew protest

The statement comes hours after the airline cancelled some 26 flights and delayed 81 due to last-minute sick calls by some cabin crew members

Air India, Lufthansa deepen ties, expand codeshare on India-Australia route

Passengers flying with Lufthansa from Frankfurt and Munich can now seamlessly connect to Sydney and Melbourne via Delhi and Mumbai airports using Air India flights