Page 4 - Indian Airlines

Air India, SIA expand codeshare agreement; add 40 int'l, 11 Indian cities

Air India and Singapore Airlines (SIA) have agreed to expand their codeshare agreement, adding 11 Indian cities and another 40 international destinations to their network. This marks the first extensive expansion of codeshare arrangements between the airlines since 2010, offering customers enhanced travel options between Singapore and India, as well as beyond. A codeshare pact allows two airlines to offer their customers services on each other's flights. From October 27 this year, Air India and SIA will codeshare on each other's flights between Singapore and the Indian cities of Bengaluru and Chennai, increasing their total weekly scheduled codeshare services between the countries to 56 from 14. SIA will codeshare on Air India's domestic flights between Delhi and Amritsar, Bengaluru, Coimbatore, Lucknow, and Varanasi, between Mumbai and Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Bengaluru, Coimbatore, Goa, Jaipur, Kolkata, Lucknow, and Thiruvananthapuram, as well as between Kolkata and Guwahati. Air In

US, Europe airlines approach Air India for developing their Gen AI chatbots

Major US and European airlines have approached Air India for developing generative AI chatbots similar to that of the Indian carrier's AI.g, which currently handles around 97 per cent of customer queries it receives without the help of contact centre agents. Besides, the Tata Group-owned Air India has filed for its first patent which is for the upcoming feature 'one click booking' of tickets on its website and mobile app. Air India's Chief Digital & Technology Officer Satya Ramaswamy on Tuesday said a lot of innovations are being done so that AI.g stands apart. "We are sharing the knowledge (about the chatbot) also but nobody has been able to come up with something like this yet," he said. At a select media briefing, Ramaswamy also said some US and European airlines have contacted Air India for help on building generative AI chatbots. "It is about thought leadership... we will help them with development," he said. Without naming the airlines that have approached it, he mentioned

All security protocols followed when flights receive bomb threats: Airlines

Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) is continuously in touch with the Ministry of Home Affairs on the situation of bomb threats to flights

Bomb threats hit Indian flights hard: The real cost of these hoax calls

These false bomb threats have caused significant financial losses for airlines, estimated in crores

Vistara's Delhi-London flight diverted to Frankfurt after bomb threat

A London-bound Vistara flight from Delhi was diverted to Frankfurt on Friday following a bomb threat. In a statement early Saturday morning, an airline spokesperson said the flight landed safely at the Frankfurt airport and mandatory checks are being conducted. The flight will continue to its destination once cleared by the security agencies. "Vistara flight UK17 operating from Delhi to London on October 18, 2024 received a security threat on social media. In line with the protocol, all relevant authorities were immediately informed and as a precautionary measure, the pilots decided to divert the flight to Frankfurt," the spokesperson said. According to an official in the know, the flight had received a bomb threat. Meanwhile, Akasa Air said its flight QP 1366 scheduled to fly from Bengaluru to Mumbai on Friday received a security alert shortly before departure. "Hence as per safety and security procedures, all passengers had to be deplaned as the local authorities followed necess

Bomb threats: Delhi Police writes to social sites to get offenders' details

Intensifying its probe on the hoax bomb threats received by several domestic and international flights, Delhi Police on Thursday wrote to social media platforms seeking details of the accounts that posted threatening messages. Delhi Police on Wednesday registered an FIR in connection with the bomb threat to Bengaluru-bound Akasa Air flight carrying 180 people and also launched a probe in seven other similar cases reported at Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport this month. A senior police officer said a dedicated team has been formed to probe bomb threat cases. A team of cyber cell of Delhi police, Intelligence Fusion & Strategic Operations (IFSO) has also been roped in for the probe. On Wednesday, police approached the social media platforms to suspend the handles that posted threatening messages and remove the posts. "It is suspected that the handler used VPN (Virtual private network) or dark web browser to set up the accounts on X and then posted the messages from more ...

Police arrest teen for bomb threats to airlines, planned to frame friend

The 17-year-old boy created a social media account using the name of a friend he wanted to implicate over financial dispute

Indian Airlines to fly 3% more weekly flights in 2024 winter schedule: DGCA

It has been observed that there are 25,007 departures per week which have been finalized to/from 124 airports as per Winter Schedule 24, DGCA said

Centre to double Air Marshals on 'sensitive flights' as bomb threats rise

Unit of the National Security Guard specialized in anti-terror and anti-hijacking measures is deployed as Air marshals in mainly international routes and a few sensitive domestic routes

10 Indian flights receive bomb threats in 48 hours; security tightened

Singapore scrambled two Singapore Air Force F-15 jets to escort Air India Express flight IX684. The flight landed safely at Changi Airport at 10:04 pm on Tuesday

A regional airline without call centre; FLY91 remains 'digital native'

After taking to the skies nearly seven months ago, FLY91 is on a steady flight path and that too with a difference. The regional carrier does not have a call centre for passengers. Focused on being a "digital native" company, the Goa-based carrier prepared a list of priorities before commencing operations and decided to do away with certain things that are traditionally done by the airlines. "We consciously wanted to go down that path (of not having a call centre)...," FLY91's Chief Technology Officer Prasanna Subramaniam said. There are huge cost savings with not having the call centre and it also gives the advantage as the savings are being used for building new digital applications somewhere else, he told PTI in a recent interview. Currently, FLY91, which commenced flying on March 18, operates two ATR 72-600 aircraft. It has around 16 departures a day. The airline has a fully automated bot that responds to customer queries. In case a customer wants to have a personal talk, then

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

Vistara pilots claim A-I colleagues leapfrogging them in promotion

Dr Vivek Bindra told how Indigo bought 100 aircrafts at once without any money, this new episode of "Tycoons of India" trended on Twitter

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Domestic air traffic rises 5.7% to 13.1 mn in August: Official data

Indian airlines carried 1.31 crore passengers in August, an increase of 5.7 per cent compared to the year-ago period, according to official data released on Friday. In August 2023, carriers had flown 1.24 crore domestic passengers while in July this year, the count stood at 1.29 crore. The report released by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) showed that last month, flight delays impacted 1,79,744 passengers with airlines shelling out around Rs 2.44 crore towards facilitation. As many as 38,599 passengers were affected by flight cancellations and carriers spent about Rs 1.14 crore for compensation and facilities. "The overall cancellation rate of scheduled domestic airlines for the month of August 2024 has been 0.83 per cent," the report said. A total of 728 passengers were denied boarding and the amount spent towards compensation and facilities in this regard was Rs 77.96 lakh. "Passengers carried by domestic airlines during January-August 2024 were 1,054.66 lakh a

Akasa Air plans to go public, aims to be profitable by 2028: CEO Vinay Dube

Akasa Air, founded in 2021, has reported losses mounting to Rs 2,400 crore in its first two years

Boeing partners AI Engineering Services to support Navy's P-8I fleet

These aircraft are integral to the Indian Navy's maritime surveillance missions to pick up enemy submarines in the Indian Ocean

Check-in systems down: IndiGo, SpiceJet, Akasa ops hit by major tech glitch

Microsoft cloud service outage disrupts check-in systems across the country. Airlines are working with Microsoft to resolve the technical issues

Go Air crisis: Central Bank set to auction Wadia's land for Rs 1,965 cr

Over 94 acres of land will be sold under the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest (SARFAESI) Act 2002

Software woes hit Air India Express as flight cancellations resume

According to FlightAware, the airline cancelled a total of 69 flights between Sunday and Wednesday. Additionally, sources reported that approximately 12 flights were cancelled on Thursday

Air India announces salary hike, annual performance bonus for pilots

The new compensation structure, effective April 1, will see first officers and captains receive a monthly salary hike of Rs 5,000, while commanders' pay will be raised by Rs 11,000