Page 42 - Air India

Air India changes aircraft order with Airbus, cites 'business requirements'

Indian carrier had placed order for 250 planes with European manufacturer

Indian carriers' on-time performance plummets in November, shows data

AIX Connect's OTP dropped from 83.33 per cent in October to 73.63 per cent

Air India moves its computational workload to cloud; shuts two data centres

Air India has shut down its two data centres and has moved its computational workload to the cloud, a move that will help the loss-making airline save nearly USD 1 million annually. In a release on Tuesday, the Tata Group-owned airline said it has successfully migrated to a cloud-only IT infrastructure, having closed its historic data centres located in Mumbai and New Delhi. "The closure of the data centres will further result in net savings of nearly a million dollars every year," it said. The entire process of migration to the cloud was managed by Air India's people in Silicon Valley in the US, Gurugram and Kochi in India. The computational workloads were migrated to the cloud from several mainframes, hundreds of servers, a large amount of data, and hundreds of pieces of equipment. According to the release, the now-closed data centres were once used to drive innovations and automations across multiple spheres of the airline's commercial and financial functions. "We have adopted

Air India moves its IT infrastructure to Cloud, shuts down two data centres

Tata Group-owned airline said that the move is expected to help Air India save $1 million annually

Air India targets 5x members for frequent-flyer plan in four years

In August, Air India Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Managing Director (MD) Campbell Wilson announced that a thoroughly revamped loyalty programme is set to launch early next year

Union labour ministry issues show cause notice to Air India Express

The Union labour ministry has issued a show cause notice to Tata Group-owned Air India Express for alleged violation of regulations with respect to certain disputes with the airline's management and cabin crew members, according to sources. Many cabin crew members have raised concerns, including about room sharing during layovers. In this regard, a complaint was filed before the labour department and the matter is under conciliation as per the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947. A query sent to Air India Express seeking comments regarding the show cause notice remained unanswered. The airline, which was taken over by the Tata Group in January last year, implemented certain policies that were under the conciliation process, as per the sources. The show cause notice has been issued alleging that the carrier changed the service conditions of the workmen during the pendency of the conciliation proceedings under the labour law regarding the disputes. The show cause notice has been issued as

Air India pilot unions express concern over flight duty, rest period scheme

Air India pilot unions IPG and ICPA on Saturday expressed "deep concern" over the flight duty and rest period scheme adopted by the Tata Group airline, accusing the carrier of deviating from the DGCA-approved norms. The two unions -- Indian Pilots' Guild (IPG) and Indian Commercial Pilots' Association (ICPA) -- in a joint communication to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation also alleged that the introduction of a side policy, along with the flight duty time limitation (FDTL) scheme, by Air India seems to "undermine the authority and purpose" of the DGCA approval. The pilot unions have also sought a review and assessment of the issue by the DGCA, requesting it to take appropriate measures to address the matter. Pilots and cabin crew's flight duty time limitations are governed by the aviation safety regulator DGCA, which proposed more rest hours for the pilots last month. In recent months, the issue of fatigue has been in focus, especially after the death of an IndiGo pilot, wh

Air India completes title transfer of fourth A350 aircraft, says CEO

Air India has completed the title transfer of its fourth A350 aircraft, and it is scheduled to arrive in February 2024. The Tata Group-owned carrier expects the first A350-900 aircraft to arrive in India this month. "On the aircraft front, we completed the title transfer of our fourth A350 aircraft last week, which is scheduled to arrive in February 2024 after livery changes and modifications. "We also took delivery of another two A320 neos that will commence service in December," Air India CEO and MD Campbell Wilson said in his weekly message to the staff on Friday. He also said a brand new A350 of Air India and B737 Max of Air India Express in their new liveries will be featured at the Wings India conference in Hyderabad in January. The airline has ordered six A350-900 planes and five of them are scheduled for delivery through March 2024. Apart from these, the airline's firm orders for 470 new aircraft include 34 A350-1000s, 20 Boeing 787 Dreamliners, 10 Boeing 777Xs, 140 A320

CEO Wilson explains why competition doesn't faze Air India in new avatar

As the airline prepares for takeoff in a new avatar, Campbell gives Nivedita Mookerji & Deepak Patel a view from the cockpit

Air India passengers onboard flight face water leakage inside cabin

Passengers onboard an Air India flight from Gatwick to Amritsar faced water leakage inside the aircraft last week and the airline has expressed regret over the incident. A short video of water leaking from the overhead area of the Air India aircraft was posted on social media. In a statement on Thursday, an Air India spokesperson said flight AI169 operating from Gatwick to Amritsar on November 24 had developed a rare occurrence of condensation adjustment inside the cabin. Gatwick airport is in the UK. "Some of our guests seated in the affected rows were promptly relocated to other vacant seats and given the circumstances the cabin crew made every effort to make the guests comfortable. Air India is committed to the safety and comfort of guests on board and we regret this unexpected incident," the spokesperson said. Sharing the video on social media platform X, a user said, "fly with us -- it's not a trip -- it's an immersive experience".

After Air India, IndiGo launches AI-powered chat assistant for customers

While Maharaja is powered by Microsoft's Azure OpenAI service, 6Eskai is powered by Microsoft's GPT-4 technology

Don't see India turning into a duopoly market: Air India CEO & MD Wilson

'With a much enlarged fleet, we are going to have facilities of that scale and quality to support that fleet... '

AI plane returned to Kathmandu after pilots heard noise during take-off

An Air India aircraft that was to fly to Delhi returned to Kathmandu airport on Saturday evening after pilots heard a noise while taking off, according to an airline official. Also, prior to taking off, it was noticed after boarding passengers that a door in the aircraft was unserviceable. The plane was cleared for take-off after following necessary airworthiness protocols. An airline spokesperson on Sunday said the two issues were not related and at no point was safety compromised. While a tail strike was suspected as the plane returned, it was later confirmed that there was no tail strike, the spokesperson said. The official said the pilots had decided to return as they heard a noise during take-off and had suspected a possible tail strike. Further, the official said that after checks, the A321 aircraft operated the flight to Delhi on Sunday morning. "AI 216 from Kathmandu to Delhi on Nov 26 experienced an unserviceable door after boarding was completed. All necessary airworthi

DGCA slaps Rs 10 lakh penalty on Air India for not compensating passengers

According to regulations, if a flight is delayed for 2-6 hours, passengers should receive meals and refreshments

A-I Express cabin crew raise concerns about room sharing during layovers

Scores of cabin crew members of Air India Express have expressed concerns about the decision on room sharing during layovers, claiming that such a move poses various difficulties in getting uninterrupted rest before flight duty while the airline has said that room sharing is consistent with the market practice followed by many other carriers. Besides, cabin crew members have expressed concerns about curtailment of service contracts of some members as well as about assessment process at the airline, according to sources. Earlier, at profit-making Air India Express, which is in the process of merging loss-making AIX Connect (formerly AirAsia India) with itself, a cabin crew was given a room at a five-star or a four-star hotel at outstations. Now, one room is shared by two cabin crew members. Currently, Air India Express and AIX Connect together have more than 5,500 employees and around 1,800 cabin crew members. The sources said that scores of cabin crew members have written to the ..

DGCA slaps Rs 10 lakh penalty on Air India for CAR non-compliance

Aviation watchdog DGCA has imposed a penalty of Rs 10 lakh on Air India for its failure to comply with norms pertaining to facilities that are required to be provided to passengers. After carrying out inspections of airlines at Delhi, Kochi and Bangalore airports, the regulator observed that Air India was not complying with the provisions of the relevant Civil Aviation Requirement (CAR). Later, a show-cause notice was issued to Air India on November 3. In a release on Wednesday, DGCA said that based on Air India's reply to the show-cause notice, it was found that the airline did not comply with the provisions of the CAR. These pertain to "not providing hotel accommodation for passengers affected by delayed flights, non-training of some of their ground personnel as per the stipulations and non-payment of compensation to international business class passengers who were made to travel on unserviceable seats", it said. For these lapses, the regulator has imposed a financial penalty of

Diaspora panel in US seeks to include Pannun and SFJ on no-fly list

A diaspora panel in the US has sought to include designated terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun and his banned organisation Sikhs For Justice (SFJ) on the no-fly list for issuing video messages threatening people flying Air India. Participants of a panel discussion "Indians in Canada under Threat of Terror and Hate Crimes', organised by the Foundation for India and Indian Diaspora Studies (FIIDS), a group of Indian-Americans and Indo-Canadians, asserted that it's time for the governments to take strong action against the separatist Sikh leader from the SFJ. The SFJ is a US-based organisation banned by the Government of India under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) for its anti-India activities. In July 2020, Pannun was also declared an "individual terrorist" under the UAPA for promoting secessionism and allegedly encouraging Punjabi Sikh youth to take up arms. "Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has misrepresented freedom of expression for freedom of terror and his

Would be wonderful to see India lift WC trophy on home soil: Air India CEO

India has marched its way to the finals after beating New Zealand in the semi-final episode of the Cricket World Cup, maintaining its streak of back-to-back victories in this cricket edition

Air India set to receive new aircraft every six days in next 18 months: CEO

Air India has ordered 470 aircraft to serve the Indian economy and is set to receive a new aircraft every six days over the next 18 months, CEO and MD Campbell Wilson said on Friday. He was speaking at the 67th Assembly of Presidents of the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines here. We have new aircraft, we are recruiting many, many new crew and staff, improving the training regime and there is more work to do and we are making good progress, he said. Speaking at a session, Wilson said a vast majority of Air India customers want reliability and punctuality, and the challenge is to satisfy customers' requirements. Moreover, new aircraft are being put on international flights and most of the grounded planes have been restored, Wilson added. Tata-owned Air India has ordered 470 aircraft to serve the Indian economy which is growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8 per cent and it is set to receive a new aircraft every six days over the next 18 months, he said. He also exu

Canada probes possible 'threat' against Air India passengers on Nov 19

Canada has said it takes any "threat" to aviation "extremely seriously" and is investigating online warnings, days after a banned pro-Khalistani group warned Air India passengers against travelling on November 19. Founder of the outlawed Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) Gurpatwant Singh Pannun recently released a video threatening passengers of Air India flights on November 19, the day the ICC World Cup final takes place in Ahmedabad. The Canadian government and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police have confirmed they are investigating a possible terror threat. Federal Transportation Minister Pablo Rodriguez posted on social media Thursday that the government is investigating the alleged threat with its security partners. "Our government takes any threat to aviation extremely seriously. We are investigating recent threats circulating online closely and with our security partners. We will do everything necessary to keep Canadians safe." The RCMP confirmed on Thursday that it is investigating b