Page 44 - Air India

Japan's SMBC lends $120 mn to Air India to buy A350-900 aircraft

Aircraft secured debt facility struck in GIFT City, says lender

Air India borrows $120 million from Japan's SMBC to buy Airbus plane

Japanese lender SMBC on Wednesday said the Tata Group-owned Air India has borrowed USD 120 million from it for purchasing a wide-body aircraft from Airbus. The transaction has partly financed Air India's purchase of an A350-900 aircraft from Airbus, which was delivered in October 2023, according to an official statement. SMBC said this is a secured debt facility through its Singapore branch, while Air India's GIFT City-headquartered arm AI Fleet Services is the borrower. The purchase is part of the mega announcement by the Tatas to buy a total of 470 aircraft from Boeing and Airbus, and AI has also contributed equity. According to some reports, an Airbus A350-900 aircraft is priced above USD 300 million. "SMBC Group is pleased to expand upon its long-established relationship with Tata Group through this deal," the lender's country head for India Hiroyuki Mesaki said. He added that this is the the bank's first-of-its-kind transaction for aircraft finance lease. Nipun Aggarwal, Ai

Air India starts rollout of new brand identity from Delhi, Mumbai airports

The new Air India livery will also feature on the A350 fleet and subsequently on other incoming aircraft

Air India gets DGCA's approval for maintenance of A350, A320 aircraft

Private carrier Air India said on Friday it has received the DGCA approval for engineering line maintenance of A350 and A320 aircraft. The Gurugram-based full-service airline is expecting to induct its first wide-body Airbus 350-900 plane in the fleet by year-end, which will make it the first air services operator in the country to have this type of aircraft. The airline plans to induct a total of six such planes in the first phase. The regulatory approval for engineering line maintenance of A350 is a major step forward in ensuring the smooth operation and maintenance of six A350 aircraft which is set to join the Air India fleet, Air India said in a statement. The first of these six planes is expected to land by the month end, it said. Along with this key approval, Air India engineers also received the DGCA certification for attending to any work related to the maintenance of A350 aircraft, it said. The airline said its engineering team has been gearing up to receive the A350 air

Air India unveils new uniform collection designed by Manish Malhotra

Private carrier Air India on Tuesday unveiled its new collection of uniforms, designed by Manish Malhotra, for its cabin and cockpit crew. The new uniforms will be introduced in a phased manner over the next few months, starting with the entry of service of Air India's first Airbus A350 aircraft, the company said in a statement. "Air India's crew uniforms are amongst the world's most storied in aviation history, and we firmly believe that Manish Malhotra's innovative ensemble will script an exciting new chapter for Air India's future narrative," said Campbell Wilson, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director at Air India. The crew's new uniform perfectly captures the essence of the airline's new identity, among others, he said. The female cabin crew attire features a ready-to-wear ombre saree with intricate patterns reminiscent of Indian heritage architecture (jharokha) and the Vista (new Air India logo icon), paired with a comfortable blouse and blazer, Air India said. "My ai

Air India ordered to pay Rs 2 lakh to passengers for multiple flight delays

The NCDRC said in its order that in the event of flight cancellations or major delays, passengers are entitled to necessary services

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