Airliners-India.com

747-237 · Posted: Tue Feb 17, 2015 12:06 pm Post subject:

Accident: Air India A321 at Mumbai on Feb 15th 2015, tail strike on landing

An Air India Airbus A321-200, registration VT-PPD performing flight AI-680 from Mangalore to Mumbai (India), landed on Mumbai's runway 27 at about 14:40L (09:10Z) but struck its tail onto the runway. The aircraft rolled out without further incident. There were no injuries, the aircraft sustained substantial damage.

Air India reported both pilots were suspended, an investigation has been opened by India's DGCA.

India's DGCA reported the aircraft sustained a tail strike on landing in Mumbai. An investigation has been opened.

VT-PPD remains on the ground for repairs.

avherald.com
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Nimish · Posted: Tue Feb 17, 2015 12:38 pm Post subject:

Probably end up being a cock up from the pilots - sucks for them! I hope the a/c can be repaired and made airworthy quickly.
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747-237 · Posted: Thu Feb 19, 2015 6:35 am Post subject:

http://www.financialexpress.com/article/travel/latest-updates-travel/fiji-airways-explores-opportunity-for-codeshare-with-air-india/44474/

Fiji Airways explores opportunity for codeshare with Air India

February 18, 2015

Fiji Airways, the national carrier of Fiji is exploring opportunities to have codeshare with Air India. Speaking exclusively with Express TravelWorld, Faiyaz Koya, minister for industry, tourism and trade, Government of Fiji said, “Currently, the traffic from India to Fiji is comparatively very small. As of now we do not see a possibility for a direct flight from Fiji to India. But we have had several talks with the Government of India for a codeshare between Fiji Airways and Air India. We want to increase the connectivity between India and Fiji. Singapore Airlines is also one option we are looking at to have a codeshare.”

In 2014, Fiji witnessed an increase of eight per cent in the number of Indian travellers visiting the island nation. Speaking about the footfall, minister Koya said, “We have hit the 3000 mark in 2014 which shows a steady increase of eight per cent compared to 2013. In this year we will like to double the figure as India is an important source market for us. In 2015 we expect a growth rate anywhere between 15 to 20 per cent.”

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747-237 · Posted: Thu Feb 19, 2015 7:31 pm Post subject:

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/transportation/airlines-/-aviation/air-india-to-connect-delhi-to-rajkot-from-february-23/articleshow/46301588.cms

Air India to connect Delhi to Rajkot from February 23

19 Feb, 2015

Air India will connect Delhi to Rajkot from February 23, 2015. The airline plans to deploy its new 70 seater ATR-72-600 on this route. The flight will operate six days a week except on Wednesdays.

With the introduction of this flight, Rajkot will get connected directly to Delhi and Mumbai.

Apart from this, Air India also intends to double the frequency of CRJ jet flights on the Delhi-Surat-Delhi route from three flights a week to six flights a week, thus offering an increased capacity of 840 seats on this sector.
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747-237 · Posted: Sat Feb 21, 2015 6:52 am Post subject:

Air India to hire 100 Airbus co-pilots to reduce delays

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/transportation/airlines-/-aviation/air-india-to-hire-100-airbus-co-pilots-to-reduce-delays/articleshow/46319053.cms
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HAWK21M · Posted: Sat Feb 21, 2015 12:25 pm Post subject:

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

Sumantra some music to your ears:

India’s national carrier, Air India, has launched a new onboard menu on flights between India and Australia in keeping with the spirit of the International Cricket Council (ICC) World Cup.

The menu will be onboard during the period of the tournament. On this menu dishes have been named in honour of famous cricketers, from India's MS Dhoni through to Australia's Steve Smith.

Indian style chicken served with fragrant onion pilaf has been named as Dhoni’s Swashbuckling Super Sixer, a paneer (cottage cheese) dish served with pilaf Jaffrani is called Raina’s Cheesy Pull Shot, fish of the day called Captain Smith’s Catch of the Season, and a traditional rasamalai designated as Sachin’s Sweet Drive.

Passengers traveling Business Class will be treated to South African cricketer JP Duminy's favourite — a non-vegetarian hors d'oeuvre made with Prawn Kolivada accompanied by Chicken Harayali Tikka, served with creamy cheese and vegetables, or Chris Gayle’s Lamb Goulash with potato wedges, carrots and minted green peas.

Business Class menu cards signed by cricketers will be presented as a souvenir of the Air India experience. In addition, Business class passengers will also be given special sleepwear with a bat-wielding Maharajah on the front.

Sri_Bom

sumantra · Member Joined: 28 Oct 2007 Posts: 4685 Location: New Delhi

747-237 · Posted: Mon Feb 23, 2015 7:30 am Post subject:

http://www.mydigitalfc.com/news/ai-mulling-direct-flights-madrid-amsterdam-843

AI mulling direct flights to Madrid, Amsterdam

Buoyed by the success of its flights to Milan and Rome, state-owned Air India is actively considering introducing direct flights to Madrid and Amsterdam from Delhi. The airline will deploy B787 Dreamliner airplanes on the two routes.

“Apart from Madrid and Amsterdam, many other routes are also under evaluation. We are studying the commercial viability of all key routes where we are not flying,” a senior Air India official said.

Air India CMD Rohit Nandan was recently in Madrid to evaluate demand and commercial viability of launching the return flight on the Delhi-Madrid-Barcelona sector. In a move that would give a boost to tourist traffic in the India-Spain sector, the government is also considering a proposal to extend e-visa facility to Spain also.

“Barcelona and Madrid are top global tourist destinations. American carriers operate dozens of flights daily to these cities. Of late, a lot of tourists from India are flying to Spain. It is a very good decision that AI is planning to launch flights to these cities. It is a very good choice,” said Rajan Mehra, MD, Universal Aviation and former India head of Qatar Airways.

Air India has seen flight occupancy on its newly-introduced flights to Rome and Milan improving. Its flight to Melbourne has been registering a load factor of about 75 per cent.

“We will definitely look at expanding our international operation with induction of B787s,” another Air India official, who also did not wish to be named, said.

Air India will add three more B787s to its current fleet of 18 such airplanes by June this year.

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sumantra · Member Joined: 28 Oct 2007 Posts: 4685 Location: New Delhi

While there is quite a bit of traffic to Amsterdam (even as a hub, if not a destination) and Madrid/Barcelona, both these options are also One-World hubs, where the *A presence is not that much. Those in the know: is there enough O&D to justify direct AI flights?
Cheers, Sumantra.

avbuff · Member Joined: 22 Dec 2006 Posts: 5031

If Emirates is operating an A380, there is definitely a case for AI to go there.
And we have recently announced A380 to MAD.

sumantra · Member Joined: 28 Oct 2007 Posts: 4685 Location: New Delhi

justbala · Member Joined: 11 Jan 2007 Posts: 1898 Location: Bangalore

The_Goat · Posted: Mon Feb 23, 2015 1:40 pm Post subject:

Weren't we being told sometime back that all but three of AI's international routes were loss making? How is it that AI is suddenly 'buoyed' by the success of its Rome flights then?

It just seems like just another bad newspaper report to me - clueless and over enthusiastic in equal measure.

These guys can't make LHR work profitably, for God's sake. Fat chance they have with AMS or MAD!
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I don't know which is the more pampered bunch : AI's widebodies (the aunties) or Jet's widebodies (the planes).
-Jasepl

Nimish · Posted: Mon Feb 23, 2015 2:33 pm Post subject:

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

Air India re-hiring retired air hostesses
News
23-Feb-2015 10:49 AM
Air India is reportedly re-hiring its retired air hostesses, aged 58-60, as it seeks to fill a staff shortage (Hindustan Times, 23-Feb-2015). Reports indicate the air hostesses are being rehired on their last drawn salary levels. The carrier said: “This is a short-term measure to overcome crew shortage. We aren’t hiring air hostesses over 60". The retirement age for the carrier is 58 years of age.

avbuff · Member Joined: 22 Dec 2006 Posts: 5031

sumantra · Member Joined: 28 Oct 2007 Posts: 4685 Location: New Delhi

747-237 · Posted: Thu Feb 26, 2015 6:06 am Post subject:

Air India set to implement new pay scale from March 1

http://indianexpress.com/article/business/business-others/air-india-set-to-implement-new-pay-scale-from-march-1/
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747-237 · Posted: Thu Feb 26, 2015 9:36 pm Post subject:

http://www.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/ai-express-to-increase-number-of-flights-in-summer-schedule-115022601259_1.html

AI Express to increase number of flights in summer schedule

February 26, 2015

"In the summer 2015 schedule, Air India Express will operate 173 flights per week as compared to current operation of 165 flights/week. The aircraft utilisation will be 11.3 hours per day," the airline said in a statement.

Summer schedule of the airlines in the country commences from late March and lasts up to October-end every year.

There would be an average of 55 departures per day.

According to the statement, the number of flights on Kochi-Muscat-Kochi, Kozhikode-Salalah-Kozhikode, Kozhikode- Dammam-Kozhikode and Mangalore-Dammam-Mangalore routes would be increased.

"Thrice-weekly round-robin flights on Mangalore-Abu Dhabi- Muscat-Mangalore route (would be) restructured as Mangalore- Abu Dhabi-Mangalore four flights per week and Mangalore-Muscat -Mangalore three flights per week," it said.
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747-237 · Posted: Fri Feb 27, 2015 1:24 pm Post subject:

Air India Regional's second ATR72-600 has been delivered today, as VT-AIT.
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747-237 · Posted: Sat Feb 28, 2015 5:54 pm Post subject:

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/economy/budget-delivers-a-mixed-bag-for-aviation-air-india-gets-2500-cr/article6945647.ece

Budget delivers a mixed bag for aviation, Air India gets ₹2,500 cr

Feb 28

The Budget has delivered a mixed bag for the Indian aviation sector. Air India has been provided ₹2,500 crore as against its request for ₹ 4,277 crore.

The funds have been provided despite Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announcing in his Budget speech that the Government will look at disinvestment in loss-making units and some strategic disinvestment. The airline’s net loss came down to ₹5,389 crore in the last fiscal, compared with ₹5,490 crore in financial year 2013, and ₹7,559.74 crore in FY12.

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Nimish · Posted: Sun Mar 01, 2015 11:38 pm Post subject:

747-237 · Posted: Mon Mar 02, 2015 7:10 am Post subject:

Air India pilots union oppose hiring of commanders on contract

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/air-india-pilots-union-oppose-hiring-of-commanders-on-contract/531475-3-244.html
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iah87 · Member Joined: 17 Apr 2007 Posts: 2566

http://www.flyertalk.com/story/worst-passenger-of-the-week-rotten-brat-refuses-to-buckle-up-rotten-parents-support-his-rotten-behavior.html

Renuka Chaudhary, Rajya Sabha Congress MP holds the ORD-DEL-HYD Air India flight for 45 minutes as she goes shopping in DEL airport.

747-237 · Posted: Tue Mar 03, 2015 6:48 am Post subject:

Surprise from Air India : 77W in Star Alliance colors.

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sumantra · Member Joined: 28 Oct 2007 Posts: 4685 Location: New Delhi

jbalonso777 · Posted: Tue Mar 03, 2015 6:52 pm Post subject:

That's an awesome picture you took 747-237, thanks for sharing! Smile

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747-237 · Posted: Tue Mar 03, 2015 7:06 pm Post subject:

747-237 · Posted: Wed Mar 04, 2015 7:04 am Post subject:

http://www.dailykashmirimages.com/news-air-india-to-shut-offices-in-cairo-tehran-73748.aspx

Air India to shut offices in Cairo, Tehran

Air India is in the process of closing down its offices in Cairo and Tehran while it has already shut down booking offices in Zurich, Chittagong and Vienna.

Minister of state for civil aviation Mahesh Sharma told the Rajya Sabha that a committee at Air India is in the process of taking action to close down offices in Cairo and Tehran.

Last November, Air India had shuttered its booking offices in Chittagong and Vienna while the office in Zurich was closed down in October 2014. In 2013-14, it had offices at nine foreign locations where it has no flights. They were Washington, Los Angeles, Toronto, Amsterdam, Cairo, Tehran, Zurich, Vienna and Chittagong. The carrier would retain its offices in Washington, Los Angeles and Amsterdam.
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747-237 · Posted: Wed Mar 04, 2015 1:29 pm Post subject:

http://www.financialexpress.com/article/industry/companies/no-suitable-candidate-to-head-air-india-from-august-government/50138/

No ‘suitable’ candidate to head Air India from August: Government

March 4, 2015

Government today failed to find a “suitable” candidate to head the loss-making national carrier Air India, whose chairman and managing director Rohit Nandan is on a 10-months extension, which expires in August this year.

Public Enterprises Selection Board, which conducted interviews for selecting a new CMD for the state-run airline, did not find any candidate “suitable”, and recommended that the Government may choose an “appropriate” course of further action for selection, official sources said here tonight.

The Board had short listed seven candidates, including a senior Andhra Pradesh cadre IAS officer and a director on Air India board, and had called them for an interview today, sources said, adding however only three of them appeared today before the Selection panel.

Earlier, the Civil Aviation Ministry had sought a two years extension for Nandan, who is a 1982 batch UP cadre IAS and joined Air India in August 2011, the Government allowed him to continue in the top job only till August this year and ordered tha the process to chose the new CMD be started immediately.

“The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC), approved the extension of Rohit Nandan as the airline’s chairman and managing director till August 21, 2015, or till the appointment of a regular incumbent, whichever is earlier,” an order issued by the Department of Personnel and Training in October last year had said.

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Jeh · Posted: Wed Mar 04, 2015 2:10 pm Post subject:

Why can't the government engage the services of some executive headhunters? Confused

Nimish · Posted: Wed Mar 04, 2015 3:52 pm Post subject:

The_Goat · Posted: Wed Mar 04, 2015 7:08 pm Post subject:

sumantra · Member Joined: 28 Oct 2007 Posts: 4685 Location: New Delhi

747-237 · Posted: Sat Mar 07, 2015 6:50 am Post subject:

http://www.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/air-india-to-hire-pr-firm-for-image-make-over-115030600551_1.html

Air India to hire PR firm for image make-over

March 6, 2015

With frequent delays and cancellations of flights denting its reputation, national carrier Air India has planned to engage an image make-over firm to regain the customers' confidence.

The airline recently floated tenders, inviting technical and commercial bids from interested PR firms. March 30 is the last date for submission of the bids.

"Air India has been under a lots of media exposure in the recent times due to various reasons. It is common amongst the service industry to appoint PR agencies to project the right image to the users of services," an Air India official said.

"The appointment of such an agency is aimed at enhancing public and media perception of Air India as well as manage more effectively our public relation and corporate communications," said the official.

Last year also, the airline had undertaken a similar exercise but it failed to rope in any agency, forcing it to initiate the process again.

Airlines world over have strong PR agencies to project the right image to the travellers and support the company in corporate communications, he said.

"The national carrier has strong brand equity and has been rated better than its competitors in the Indian market by a leading agency recently. Several important features which have an impact on public perception of the airline has to be highlighted in the proper perspective. More often than not these aspects are not highlighted resulting in wrong public perception," the official added.

With AI joining Star Alliance, it was necessary to highlight the broad connectivity and numerous marketing initiatives taken by the carrier recently, he said.

AI operates across 66 domestic and 33 overseas destinations with a fleet of 128 aircraft including that of its international budget arm Air India Express and regional service Alliance Air.

Air India was judged a more trusted brand than private carriers including IndiGo in the 2015 Brand Trust Report, India, released in Mumbai last month. The state-run airline, last month also had bagged the National Quality Excellence Awards for Safety and Environmental Sustainability.

These awards, instituted by the World Quality Congress, aim to encourage quality competition and are given in recognition to the industries for best quality, registering the highest product development, HRD and environmental performances among others.

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747-237 · Posted: Sun Mar 08, 2015 2:37 pm Post subject:

http://www.emirates247.com/news/sharjah-bound-air-india-flight-catches-fire-emergency-landing-2015-03-08-1.583469

Sharjah-bound Air India flight catches fire; emergency landing

March 08, 2015

More than 100 passengers on a Sharjah-bound Air India flight (IA 977) had a narrow escape after the aircraft made emergency landing in Mumbai due to an engine fire.

Passengers said they heard a huge sound and spotted fire emanating from one of the two engines of the aircraft while it was flying over the sea, leading to the immediate diversion of the aircraft to Mumbai, where passengers and crew landed safely
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747-237 · Posted: Mon Mar 09, 2015 6:27 am Post subject:

Incident: India A321 near Mumbai on Mar 6th 2015, engine shut down in flight

An Air India Airbus A321-200, registration VT-PPM performing flight AI-997 from Kozhikode (India) to Sharjah (United Arab Emirates), was enroute at FL320 over the Arabian Sea about 200nm westsouthwest of Mumbai (India) when the left hand engine (CFM56) emitted a loud bang and streaks of flame prompting the crew to shut the engine down, turn around and divert to Mumbai for a safe landing on runway 09 about 40 minutes later.

A replacement A321-200 registration VT-PPO reached Sharjah with a delay of 5:15 hours.

Passengers reported the captain announced there had been an engine fire indication and they were diverting to Mumbai on one engine.

avherald.com
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747-237 · Posted: Mon Mar 09, 2015 2:22 pm Post subject:

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747-237 · Posted: Mon Mar 09, 2015 5:06 pm Post subject:

Air India Moscow Feb – Apr 2015 Service Reductions

Air India has temporary reduced service on Delhi – Moscow Domodedovo route, as the airline halves the operational frequency from 4 to 2 weekly from 23FEB15 to 17APR15. This route is served by Boeing 787-8.

AI155 DEL1955 – 2320DME 788 15
AI156 DME0100 – 0900DEL 788 26

Source: Airlineroute.net
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