Airliners-India.com

sri_bom · Member Joined: 22 Dec 2006 Posts: 2365 Location: Singapore

Boeing working on a new design for 787 windshields after series of incidents with Air India
News
9-Jul-2014 10:18 AM
India's Minister of State for Civil Aviation G M Siddeshwara said Boeing is working on a new design for windshields of the Boeing 787 following a series of incidents of cracks appearing in the aircraft owned by Air India (PTI, 08-Jul-2014). Mr Siddeshwara said, "The ongoing investigation by Boeing indicates that moisture ingress has resulted in an increased rate of occurence. A new window design with improved features is in progress to reduce such incidents". Air India has taken up the issue with Boeing which has informed it that "old windshields shall be replaced by new ones with improved design features". The Minister also said that the "cracking of the outer glass ply does not affect the safety of the airplane due to the windshield's fail safe construction."

747-237 · Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2014 8:03 pm Post subject:

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/transportation/airlines-/-aviation/budget-2014-air-india-to-get-rs-6500-crore-allocation/articleshow/38137590.cms

Budget 2014: Air India to get Rs 6500 crore allocation

10 Jul, 2014

The government has budgeted Rs 6,500 crore for national carrier Air India in the current fiscal year through March 31, as its latest tranche of equity infusion in the loss-making carrier.

The amount is higher than last year's tranche of Rs 6,000, but lower than the over Rs 7,000 support the airline had asked for.

jasepl · Member Joined: 26 Jul 2008 Posts: 4257 Location: bund-bay

747-237 · Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2014 9:51 pm Post subject:

"Air India will formally join the alliance from Thursday midnight. The tickets issuance under the star brand name will also start from the time," a senior airline official told IANS.

http://www.deccanherald.com/content/418957/air-india-set-join-star.html

The_Goat · Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2014 11:07 pm Post subject:

747-237 · Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2014 11:10 pm Post subject:

747-237 · Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2014 12:27 am Post subject:

By the way, I doubt there will be a 787 in Star Alliance colors, in Delhi tomorrow. That being said, VT-ANL is the first operational Air India 787 to receive the Star Alliance logo.

747-237 · Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2014 12:35 am Post subject:

And here is the first Star Alliance logojet for Air India, a double-bogey A320, VT-ESF.

747-237 · Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2014 1:03 am Post subject:

And of course, the print ad.

PlaneLover · Member Joined: 03 Aug 2007 Posts: 275

Even though I have a lot of reservations about Air India I am happy that they finally got inducted into Star Alliance. Hopefully the alliance will be beneficial for them. They do have a fine terminal in New Delhi. If they coordinate the arrival and departure of the domestic AI flights with their alliance partners it will be nice. Let us see if they can do some thing as basic as that well. It will also be interesting to see how seamless baggage transfers are between AI and partners. Ease of Frequent Flyer bookings on each others' flights will also be closely monitored, I am sure, by the members of this forum.

Nimish · Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2014 11:31 am Post subject:

Ugh - pathetic earnings on flying returns when flying *A partner airlines in discounted economy - only with UA do you earn 100% miles on the lowest fares Sad

. 50% miles on mid-level economy fares on LH/ LX, and zero miles on the cheapest 3-4 fares on LH/ LX Sad

. Even worse with SQ - even the famous "N" fare (the lowest to earn miles on SQ) gets zero miles with AI Sad

https://www.flyingreturns.co.in/images/download/ai_all_accrual.pdf

AI seems to be losing the plot!
_________________
We miss you Nalini!

The_Goat · Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2014 1:17 pm Post subject:

747-237 · Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2014 4:41 pm Post subject:

jasepl · Member Joined: 26 Jul 2008 Posts: 4257 Location: bund-bay

Congratulations AI. You took your time, but you got there in the end.

Now hopefully, you won't look at this as having achieved your goal. And also, hopefully, you will die quickly.

747-237 · Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2014 11:43 pm Post subject:

747-237 · Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2014 11:43 pm Post subject:

Air India has launched a network analysis for flights to countries such as Spain, the Netherlands and Denmark.

The airline plans to offer return flights on the Delhi-Madrid-Barcelona, and Delhi-Amsterdam-Copenhagen routes.

http://www.livemint.com/Companies/JVnzF5tJMafimUnBHWqJKN/Air-India-to-expand-local-European-network.html

Air India announces Dreamliner exclusivity on long-haul routes

http://atwonline.com/trade-shows-conferences/air-india-announces-dreamliner-exclusivity-long-haul-routes

747-237 · Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2014 11:49 pm Post subject:

ranjanmehta · Member Joined: 29 Jun 2007 Posts: 108 Location: Dilli

Painting an aircraft into Star Alliance colours that they plan to scrap pretty soon! Great job AI!

I thought they would paint one of their 787s into *A livery. This all economy A320 usually flies to destinations like GAU,IMF,MCT,BBI. With a faulty APU and no air-conditioning on ground, what are they planning to show their passengers?

abhijith16 · Posted: Sat Jul 12, 2014 12:26 am Post subject:

The_Goat · Posted: Sat Jul 12, 2014 2:15 am Post subject:

747-237 · Posted: Sat Jul 12, 2014 2:54 am Post subject:

indopaki · Member Joined: 23 Jul 2007 Posts: 479 Location: Pakistan

Why are engine left grey and logo not added next to title?

747-237 · Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2014 7:09 am Post subject:

Air India 77Ws are not having a good time at EWR .

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2690935/Air-India-Boeing-777-313-people-onboard-makes-emergency-landing-bird-strike-Newark.html

An India-bound flight out of New Jersey was forced to return to the airport because of an engine fire sparked by a bird strike.

A spokeswoman for the agency that operates Newark Liberty International Airport says none of the 313 people on board Boeing 777-300 Air India Flight 144 was injured.

Port Authority of New York and New Jersey spokeswoman Erica Dumas says the flight departed for Mumbai around 4:35 p.m. Sunday.

A short time later, the pilot reported a fire in an engine on the plane's left side, and the engine soon shut down.

The plane landed safely around 5:05 p.m., and the passengers were taken off the plane without incident.

Dumas said crews tried to tow the plane away, but were unable to because it had "multiple" blown tires.

An eyewitness told CBS News that the flight took off at around 4.30pm but instead of flying onwards began to circle overhead as it was presumably cleared to land.

The_Goat · Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2014 4:29 pm Post subject:

747-237 · Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2014 4:48 pm Post subject:

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/national_world/2014/07/14/engine-fire-not-birds-forced-jet-to-return.html

An Air India flight with 313 passengers onboard was forced to return to Newark Liberty International Airport yesterday after an engine on the Boeing 777 appeared to overheat and catch fire, according to airport officials.

The officials previously said a bird strike may have caused the fire but later ruled that out after conducting an investigation, said Erica Dumas, a spokeswoman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey

A few minutes after taking off, the pilot of Air India Flight 144 reported flames coming from an engine on the left side of the aircraft, Dumas said. The plane returned to the airport about a half-hour after taking off.

Dumas said the flight bound for Mumbai had multiple blown tires that may have been caused by the brakes overheating.

megatop747 · Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2014 6:11 pm Post subject:

I thought the tires might have blown since the aircraft landed shortly after take-off which meant with full tank of fuel. My assumption was so since there was no mention of jettison anywhere in the news.

Nimish · Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2014 6:11 pm Post subject:

The_Goat · Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2014 6:37 pm Post subject:

747-237 · Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2014 6:39 pm Post subject:

sabya99 · Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2014 8:03 pm Post subject:

How could you have bird strike over EWR ? I watch the EWR airfield every day from my office window. There are not many birds here, JFK has many more sea gulls. I think maintenance team goofed up. That B777 flies over Rt 1 every day when I come home from work. Glad to see no one got hurt!!
_________________
Sabya99

747-237 · Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2014 8:46 pm Post subject:

Incident: Air India B773 at Newark on Jul 13th 2014, bird strike

Monday, Jul 14th 2014

An Air India Boeing 777-300, registration VT-ALR performing flight AI-144 from Newark,NJ (USA) to Mumbai (India) with 292 passengers and 21 crew, was climbing out of Newark's runway 22R when the crew of another aircraft reported seeing flames and smoke out of the #1 engine (GE90, left hand). In the meantime the crew of the Boeing 777, already on departure frequency, stopped the climb at 2000 feet reporting the left hand engine had been shut down and returned to Newark for a safe landing on runway 22R about 22 minutes after departure.

The airport reported the aircraft came to a stop on an adjacent taxiway with multiple tyres blown. There had been no bird strike.

The airline reported the left hand engine was shut down as result of a bird strike, the passengers were taken to hotels and are being rebooked onto other flights.

Nimish · Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2014 9:50 pm Post subject:

Another news source said that engine inspection revealed no signs of a bird strike.
_________________
We miss you Nalini!

747-237 · Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2014 2:07 am Post subject:

An inter-island air service will start its operation in Andaman and Nicobar from 24 July 2014. The proposed commercial air service from Port Blair to Car Nicobar is being launched by the Andaman and Nicobar Administration.

Inter-island air connectivity will start with CRJ-700 model jet aircraft (chartered by Islands Administration) from Alliance Air Limited, a subsidiary of Air India. The weekly services would be operated from both ends on Thursdays.

The first chartered flight with 67 passenger capacity will fly from the Veer Saavarkar International Airport, Port Blair to Car Nicobar.

http://www.jagranjosh.com/current-affairs/interisland-air-service-to-start-in-andaman-nicobar-from-24-july-1405320663-1

747-237 · Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2014 1:28 am Post subject:

http://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/ai-to-avoid-ukraine-airspace-114071701506_1.html

Air India has rerouted its Europe and US-bound flights to avoid the Ukrainian airspace.

Air India's non-stop flights to and from New York, Newark and Chicago fly through the Ukranian airspace and the airline is reworking its flight routes to steer clear of the region. Flights to Europe also use routes passing over Ukraine depending upon wind and climate conditions.

Air India and Jet Airways have already been avoiding airspace around Sevastapol in Crimean region. On Thursday instructions were issued to completely avoid Ukraine.

"We have issued orders that all flights will avoid Ukraine airspace. The safety of the passengers is paramount," Air India chairman Rohit Nandan said in a text message.

http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/air-india-jet-airways-to-avoid-airspace-over-war-torn-eastern-ukraine-560550

The aviation regulator, Director General of Civil Aviation issued instructions to Air India and Jet Airways, the only two Indian carriers that fly to Europe and North America, to avoid Ukrainian airspace while flying to and from destinations in both the continents, official sources said in New Delhi.

An Air India official said they would abide by any international advisory "to avoid airspace over conflict zone like Ukraine".

Airlines have to take a call on there routing to America and European destinations.There are several routes to go to the US and Europe and airlines have to take a call whether to abide by global aviation advisory on the such issues, sources said.

sabya99 · Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2014 6:27 pm Post subject:

Cross posting from Skyscrapercity forum : (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=562470&page=344 )

Big Disaster Averted ________________________________________
On Sunday evening 13th July 2014, the Air India's flight AI-144, a B-777, was ready for a routine flight from Newark to Mumbai with 300 passengers and 15 crew. The weather in New Jersey was heavy passing showers here and there.

It was a routine departure at about 5 pm (local time) for a long 15-16 hrs flight to Bombay nee Mumbai. The aircraft naturally was at its maximum take off weight, as it was fully loaded with the fuel required for this long transcontinental flight.

The take off run was a normal routine one. Immediately on lift off the worst nightmare of a pilot, the loss of an engine at maximum take off weight, happened. The left engine caught fire, and at the same time the cockpit engine fire warnings did not function. The passengers and crew sitting on the left side were horrified to see flames from the left engine. Other airplanes and Air Traffic Control warned the Pilot of the engine being on fire. The Pilots till that time unaware of the engine fire, checked up and carried out the emergency drills as per the required procedures. The B-777 is a 2 engine aircraft, and loosing one engine (50% power) at the maximum a/c weight on take off is a nightmare for the best of Pilots and in the best of circumstances.

In such an emergency, the Pilots will first think of making the aircraft light, which is done by dumping the extra fuel. For this Pilots need to climb up to a designated minimum height and dump the fuel in areas already specified by the local airport authorities. The time to reach the dumping height and area could have taken 15 to 30 minutes, because of heavy weight and loss of an engine. The actual fuel dump can take another 30 to 40 minutes, depending on the amount of fuel to be dumped out. The exercise of dumping fuel to lighten the aircraft would have taken any thing around 60 to 70 minutes, a valuable time they did not have.

The Pilots had a serious emergency of an engine having been on fire at hand. This could have caused, secondary as yet unknown failures. They had to take an instant decision, which they rightfully took to land as soon as possible, rather than use up precious time to try and dump fuel.

The immediate landing back, of course had its own problems. The very high landing weight. This in turn will need the aircraft to be landed at a much higher speed. The immediate anxiety of the Pilots in this case would have been three fold. Firstly, will the airplane stop in the available runway length, landing at about 200 Knots (which is 370 kms/hr), the minimum speed required at the weight. Secondly, will the landing gear take the load of landing at such a high speed and weight (85 tonnes more than the maximum design landing weight). Thirdly, they were flying only on one engine, which has its own problems of aircraft handling and control.

The Pilots averted a major emergency into becoming a possible catastrophe by landing the aircraft successfully back. The handling skills and good cool airmanship displayed by the Pilots was the primary reason of this emergency being converted into just an incident, which the Indian media thought was of no consequence of being reported or being commented upon. The visual media (all channels of TV) was only concerned on a non issue of why one 'Ved Pratap Vaidik' met a certain ' Hafiz Saeed' on a visit to Pakistan. The print media was merely interested in printing and commenting some dubious statistics where the ATC Controllers and Pilots have erred. Regrettably the media just shut their eyes to this incidence as it made no juicy news for them. They were not interested in how a major catastrophe was averted and lives of 315 persons were saved by the good professional handling and competent decisions of AIR INDIA PILOTS.

My congratulations to Capt Gautam Verma and his crew (2nd Commander Capt Niranjan Singh & First Officers Capt Pankaj Wadhawan & Capt Shilpika Das) for displaying airmanship and professional competence of the highest order in handling a most difficult situation competently and successfully.

It is disappointing that the PRO of Air India has also failed in bringing the true facts of the incidence to the notice of the visual and print media and getting the competence and proficiency of their employees due national recognition. It should also be a matter of great national concern that the Indian media had nothing to say about the competent handling of this grave in flight situation and preventing it becoming a catastrophe.

Capt GS BAKSHI
The writer is a retired Air India & Indian Air Force Pilot with over 40 years of fight experience.

Friends do share this with others, as the National media has failed to recognize and give due credit to our Indian Pilots, who have done a great and creditable job and not let a grave emergency develop into disaster.
_________________
Sabya99

jasepl · Member Joined: 26 Jul 2008 Posts: 4257 Location: bund-bay

The_Goat · Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2014 9:39 pm Post subject:

747-237 · Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2014 9:42 pm Post subject:

747-237 · Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2014 2:38 am Post subject:

http://www.nagalandpost.com/ChannelNews/Regional/RegionalNews.aspx?news=TkVXUzEwMDA2MzI5Ng%3D%3D

Alliance Air to resume service in Shillong

18 Jul. 2014

Alliance Air will resume its service between Kolkata and Shillong in Meghalaya, Tezpur and Lilabari in Assam from August 1, an official said Friday.
Alliance Air, a subsidiary of national carrier Air India, stopped its services since June 1 due to irregular payment of the viability gap funding by the North Eastern Council (NEC).
“The Alliance Air (officials) have informed us that they will resume its air service between Kolkata with three airports - Shillong, Tezpur and Lilabari - from August 1,” NEC Advisor (Transport &Communication) PHK Singh said.
Singh said Tezpur and Lilabari flight will fly via Guwahati on alternate days while Shillong -Kolkata flight will be a direct one (for six days a week).
“The Alliance Air has notified the resumption of air services on their website and the bookings have commenced,” the NEC official said.

747-237 · Posted: Mon Jul 21, 2014 8:23 pm Post subject:

The airline has been improving performance despite its capacity being much less than what the Turnaround Plan envisaged. This plan presumed 72 narrow body planes but the airline using only 52 now.

http://firstbiz.firstpost.com/corporate/air-india-cmd-rohit-nandan-may-get-a-2-year-extension-91492.html