Page 5 - Air India

Air India initiates crew rostering, aircraft readiness for fog season

The northern parts of India, including Air India's primary hub, Delhi, experience low visibility due to dense fog, with the potential to have a cascading impact on flight schedules

Flying in fog season? Air India to offer free reschedules and full refunds

Passengers will have the option to avail complimentary rescheduling on alternative flights or opt for full refunds without penalty through Air India Fog Care

India's six major airlines employ nearly 14,000 pilots: MoS Murlidhar Mohol

Six major domestic airlines have employed 13,989 pilots, with Air India and its low-cost arm, Air India Express, having 6,350 and 1,592 pilots respectively and IndiGo having 5,085 cockpit crew, Parliament was informed on Monday. The number of pilots at Akasa is 466 and at SpiceJet, it is 385, Minister of State for Civil Aviation Murlidhar Mohol said in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha. The government-run Alliance Air has employed 111 pilots, he added. The minister said the rate of employment among qualified pilots is dependent on market forces. He said the rationale behind airlines hiring foreign pilots, inter alia, is the requirement of a specific type-rated pilot in light of fleet expansions and time-bound operational requirements. Mohol also said the flying training organisations (FTOs) are continuously upgrading their aircraft fleet by regularly inducting training aircraft fleets. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has facilitated the induction o

Air India rolls out 'proactive' measures for passengers amid disruptions

To provide greater flexibility, they have introduced a special waiver of change or cancellation fees on eligible domestic bookings

Air India announces waiver on change or cancellation of domestic bookings

Five days after the IndiGo flight disruptions that left thousands of passengers stranded at airports pan-India, Tata Group-owned Air India on Saturday said it has taken several measures to "help" fliers, including introducing a special waiver on change or cancellation fees on eligible domestic bookings. It also said Air India, along with its subsidiary Air India Express, has "proactively" capped economy airfares on non-stop domestic flights from December 4 to prevent the usual demand-supply dynamics applied by automated revenue management systems. It also said both carriers are also in the process of ensuring compliance with the latest directive on airfare caps announced by the Civil Aviation Ministry on Saturday. To provide greater flexibility, Air India and Air India Express have introduced a special waiver on change or cancellation fees on eligible domestic bookings, the airline said. With this, customers who booked their flights with either carrier until December 4 for travel .

Air India, AI Express look to add capacity amid IndiGo flight disruptions

Air India Group is looking to add capacity to help passengers impacted by the IndiGo flight disruptions. "Since 4 December, economy class airfares on non-stop domestic flights have been proactively capped to prevent the usual demand-and-supply mechanism being applied by revenue management systems," a statement said on Saturday. Both Air India and Air India Express have put in place caps on economy class fares. The statement from Air India came hours after the government announced introduction of airfare caps amid IndiGo flight disruptions. Air India also said it is not technically possible to cap fares for all flight permutations. "Air India and Air India Express are seeking to add capacity to help travellers and their baggage reach their destinations as quickly as possible," the statement said.

Anoushka Shankar expresses dismay at Air India's handling of her Sitar

Anoushka, who performs across multiple genres and styles, classical and contemporary, acoustic and electronic, last month picked up multiple Grammy nominations

Air India execs who let plane with expired licence fly de-rostered: DGCA

The airline's 164-seater Airbus A320 aircraft, with an expired airworthiness review certificate (ARC), flew eight times on November 24 and 25

Air India flew 8 times without airworthiness licence: Here's what it means

The incident raised concerns as it came months after the deadly London-bound Dreamliner crash in June that killed 260 civilians

All probable causes of Air India plane crash are being investigated: Govt

The civil aviation ministry on Monday said all probable causes leading to the Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad in June are being investigated and emphasised that the preliminary probe report contains factual information based on the evidence available at that point in time. A total of 260 people, including 241 passengers and crew members, died when a London Gatwick-bound Air India Boeing 787-8 aircraft crashed soon after take off from Ahmedabad on June 12. Only one passenger survived. The plane was operating the flight AI171. The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), which is probing the fatal accident, came out with its preliminary report on July 12. Certain concerns have been raised regarding the probe in certain quarters. The preliminary report contains factual information based on the evidence available at that point in time. The investigation is in progress. All probable causes leading to the accident are being investigated, Minister of State for Civil Aviation ...

Over 90% of Air India A320 fleet reset, operations continue smoothly

The airline added that its engineering and ground teams worked round the clock to ensure there were no cancellations and minimal impact on flight schedules

Air India a responsibility, not just a business opportunity: Chandrasekaran

Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran on Saturday said Air India, which is undergoing a transformation, is not just a business opportunity but a "responsibility" for the Tata Group. The aviation sector faces continous challenges, he said and added that the global supply chain issues make availability of parts, infrastructure and new fleet pretty unpredictable. "Every plan that you have is becoming difficult because of the situations that you face in this area," he said. Chandrasekaran also mentioned that the aviation is a very capital intensive business and also the margins are thin. At an event in the city to celebrate the 121st birth anniversary of J R D Tata, Chandrasekaran said, "I firmly believe for the Tata Group, Air India is just not a business opportunity. It's a responsibility". Tatas acquired loss-making Air India along with Air India Express in January 2022, and since then, the group has been working on an ambitious five-year transformation plan. However, the progress ha

Airbus software glitch: IndiGo, AI to ground 350 A320 jets for the weekend

Over 350 A320 aircraft of IndiGo and Air India to be grounded for mandatory software upgrade after a JetBlue A320 flight suffered a sudden pitch-down incident on October 30 in US

Flight delays, cancellations likely as over 200 A320 jets face safety fix

IndiGo, Air India and Air India Express flight operations will see disruptions as they work on fixing a potential issue related to flight controls in their A320 family planes and 200-250 aircraft will be impacted in the country, according to sources. Airbus on Friday said intense solar radiation might corrupt data critical to flight controls in a significant number of A320 family aircraft and that the software changes required to fix the issue would lead to operational disruptions. With many of the narrow-body A320 family planes of the domestic carriers set to undergo software changes or in some cases hardware realignment, there will be operational disruptions as the aircraft have to be grounded, the sources said. Indian operators have about 560 A320 family aircraft and 200-250 of them will need software changes or hardware realignment, they added. The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) said Airbus asked airline operators to install a serviceable Elevator Aileron Computer

Ahmedabad-bound Air India flight returns to Delhi after false smoke alert

An Ahmedabad-bound Air India plane returned to the Delhi airport on Thursday evening due to suspected smoke in the cargo hold area, according to sources. After checks, the smoke indication was found to be false, the sources said. The Delhi-Ahmedabad flight AI2939, operated with an Airbus A320 aircraft, had around 170 people onboard, they added. An airline official said the aircraft returned to Delhi shortly after take off due to a smoke indication, which was later found to be false after the aircraft underwent thorough precautionary checks. Following standard operating procedures, the aircraft landed in Delhi and the passengers and crew were disembarked safely, the official said. Passengers were later flown to Ahmedabad in another aircraft.

Ethiopia volcano ash disrupts many flights, govt says no cause for concern

An aviation industry source said Delhi airport saw seven international flight cancellations and twelve delays between 1 am and 6 pm on Tuesday owing to the ash cloud drifting eastward

Air India, Akasa, IndiGo cancel flights after Ethiopia volcano erupts

Air India has cancelled at least 11 flights since Monday and is conducting precautionary inspections on aircraft that flew over areas affected by ash plumes from the volcanic eruption in Ethiopia

Ensuring compensation to crash victims' kin is done fairly: Air India CEO

Net increase in Air India's aircraft fleet will begin from 2027-28 onwards, he added

Air India reinstates codeshare partnership with Air Canada after 5 years

Air India on Saturday announced the reinstatement of its codeshare partnership with Air Canada, which was suspended more than five years ago during the coronavirus pandemic. The codeshare agreement will enable Air India to offer passengers access to six points across Canada beyond its gateways at Vancouver and London (Heathrow). A codeshare partnership allows passengers to travel on a single ticket on different flights. Air India will place its 'AI' designator code on Air Canada-operated flights on these routes -- from Vancouver to: Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Montral and Halifax; and from London Heathrow to Vancouver and Calgary. "Reciprocally, Air Canada customers will benefit from seamless domestic India connectivity to Amritsar, Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Kochi via Delhi, and to Delhi and Mumbai via London (Heathrow)," a release said. For now, it is Air India's only codeshare partnership with a North American carrier. During the pandemic, then government-owned Air Indi

Air India lobbies to use airspace over China's Xinjiang amid financial woes

For Air India, the country's only carrier with a major international network, fuel costs have risen by as much as 29% and journey times by up to three hours on some long-haul routes