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747-237 · Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2015 4:16 pm Post subject:

Air India's next A320SL, the future VT-EXB.

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

luvleen · Member Joined: 02 Jul 2012 Posts: 179 Location: Bombay

Air India plane almost crashed on June 28, says flight test engineer

http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/ai-plane-almost-crashed-on-june-28-says-flight-test-engineer/article1-1366572.aspx

Seems a bit unbelievable. Also, why is this coming to light now? I'd imagine that this would have been reported much sooner (if not immediately)

747-237 · Posted: Fri Jul 10, 2015 3:29 pm Post subject:

http://www.travelbizmonitor.com/Top-Stories/air-india-rejects-request-to-launch-latin-america-flights-27858

Air India rejects request to launch Latin America flights

10 July, 2015

As per a Hindustan Times report by Tushar Srivastava, Air India Ltd (AI) has turned down a suggestion from the government to fly to Latin America. Senior airline officials said that operations to Latin America would be unviable, and the airline was instead looking at destinations in west coast of USA such as San Francisco. “New routes on B787 Dreamliner should be examined as there have been repeated requests from the Commerce Ministry to fly to Latin America. These routes should be viable and should be validated by an external agency,” according to the minutes of a review meeting on the performance of AI.

“We will not be starting flights to Latin America. At most, we may do a code-share with an airline to ensure seamless movement for passengers,” an AI spokesperson said. Code-share is a ticket-selling agreement between two airlines, whereby one airline can market and sell the flights of another.

“A market study has revealed that operations won’t be feasible,” an AI official added.
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747-237 · Posted: Fri Jul 10, 2015 3:34 pm Post subject:

HAWK21M · Posted: Fri Jul 10, 2015 5:50 pm Post subject:

Any pics of VT-AIV .....around....esp interiors.
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GF1011 · Member Joined: 02 Jan 2015 Posts: 87

747-237 · Posted: Fri Jul 10, 2015 9:43 pm Post subject:

http://www.livemint.com/Companies/hDKmG7d0u1KCZX3ayEN4zN/Airbus-working-with-Air-India-to-extend-life-of-its-oldest-A.html

Airbus working with Air India to extend life of its oldest A320s

Jul 10 2015

Airbus Group SE said it’s working to extend the life of Air India Ltd.’s narrow-body A320 fleet as the state-owned carrier grapples with competition from low-cost rivals operating much younger aircraft.

Air India, which has 62 A320s, the 17 oldest averaging 18 1/2 years, is tapping an Airbus programme introduced in 2008 that allows airlines to operate the single-aisle jets for an extra 10 or 20 years, according to the European manufacturer.

Airbus will subject sections of the aircraft to fatigue tests to determine how long they can operate, with permitted flight hours or cycles increased accordingly, spokesman Justin Dubon said in an e-mailed response to questions from Bloomberg.

State-owned Air India is seeking to keep its jetliners in service for longer as private carriers led by Indigo pile on new planes to meet the country’s growing appetite for air travel. The move aims to address a short-term fleet requirement and is in no sense an airworthiness issue, Dubon said.

New Delhi-based Air India is also discussing new-plane purchases with manufacturers, though surging demand for the latest models means near-term delivery slots aren’t available.
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747-237 · Posted: Sun Jul 12, 2015 8:16 pm Post subject:

The airline is planning to launch direct flights to Toronto and San Francisco in the winter schedule, besides extending its Delhi-Moscow flight to Copenhagen and Stockholm with a frequency of twice every week. It will shortly seal code-share agreements with LOT Polish Airlines and TAP Portugal to bolster its passenger revenue.

Air India will also shift its operations from London’s Terminal 4 to Terminal 2 to ensure smooth transfer of passengers to Star Alliance member-carriers. Its system compatibility with those of Star Alliance and the Heathrow airport is currently being tested.

“We are studying various routes for operation. We are looking at several long-haul destinations like Toronto, Copenhagen and Stockholm. Several initiatives are in the works. We have finalised code-share agreements with LOT Polish and Air Portugal. It will be signed shortly," a senior Air India official said.

The airline would extend its Moscow flight to Stockholm and Copenhagen subject to bilateral agreement between India and Russia on the 'sixth freedom' right to operate onward flight.

http://www.mydigitalfc.com/news/despite-losses-ai-fly-more-international-routes-530
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sumantra · Member Joined: 28 Oct 2007 Posts: 4685 Location: New Delhi

AI's Moscow ops, and beyond
Can someone in the know do a better analysis, than from my armchair perch? Ojas, Ameya...

- Bold move to start Moscow, given Aeroflot's traditional colossal presence on this low-medium yield, high passenger route. AI had never tried this out in the past even it the JRD era. The closest was a code-share, which lasted till about 2011. Aeroflot in the 2010+ era, had good aircraft A332, A333) on the route, and attractive ticket pricing.

- AI aimed to get them at the throat with
1. better aircraft (Dream)liner)
2. better service
3. better hub connectivity, good timings
4. interesting choice of airport: DME, as opposed to SVO
5. interesting international connector to GOI on a plane with the right size (A319), at with good timings for the Indian domestic market as well

- Nice plan, but something went wrong along the way (was it internal, a la the Oz ops?). Was it Transaero's predatory pricing, which forced AI to lower its fares, and hence, hit the cost margin tremendously? AI trimmed down the services to twice a week (a good move). For example, a Moscow return trip 22 Jul'15 - 25 Jul'15 is 29.8K on Transaero, 43.7K on Aeroflot, and 32K on Air India. The airlines operate to Vnukovo, Shermetyevo and Domodedovo, respectively. Aeroflot sometimes offer some hugely discounted fares, which hits at AI's margins as well.

- The ARN/CPH market, even twice a week: I remember Ojas saying that CPH perhaps, but the ARN numbers were a bit too sparse. I remember CPH not working that well for SAS in the late 1970s, even as a gateway for US ops.

Cheers, Sumantra.

ameya · Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2015 10:28 am Post subject:

After a long time, a long discussion has shifted from WA group to the forum.

Existing DEL-DME at 1955 dep connects from BOM CCU BLR HYD – all cities which have multiple frequencies and chances of higher connecting pax. DME is not Canada or UK to look for smaller connectivity from ATQ/IXC/LKO/JAI or the typical North Indian belt.

Unfortunately the Russian economic crisis and AI ops started hand in hand. To add to the trouble, Transaero started flights as well. AI tried to rejig DME ops to accommodate SYD/MEL connection and launched a DEL-GOI-DEL connector to get feed.
Now with the history behind us,
The new plan ARN / CPH – I could see two direct flights each way. Both by Aeroflot and both from SVO and not DME. If Russia gives rights, will a DME-ARN/CPH have market, atleast few pax ?
The flight will have to rely on India – ARN/CPH connections + code share with some Russian carrier. Going by location of Moscow, it will be difficult to get traffic from mainland EU to CPH/ARN via DME.
The next biggest factor which I have always said is timing.
Current timings take you to DME at 2320. Consider about an hour for immigration, baggage and customs and you find yourself in the middle of nowhere, about 50 kms away from downtown Moscow without a train connection till 0610 in the morning and expansive taxis without prepaid option and with language barriers. No, people are not going to opt for AI for these timings. On the return, 0100 dep ex DME, still sounds ok since you can come to the airport and wait. But DME is not a great airport, next to nil chairs before security and immigration, which means you will have to make you way by train or taxi a little late in the day.
Now imagine all this with freezing cold and temperatures of around -20/25 degrees in the winter months – you surely have a disaster.
Indians in Russia are spread across Moscow, Petersburg and Kazan – so just to target Indians, one has to have a code share at Moscow end. With an absence of a Star Alliance member in Russia, it could well be Transaero since Aeroflot and S7 are already aligned with some alliance.
Now the India end – 1955 dep and 0855 arrival is giving good connections to BKK outbound but long waits inbound. Will a shift to mid day departure help ?
DEL1315 – 1630DME1730 – 1900ARN
ARN2000 – 2330DME0100 - 0855DEL
OR
DEL0130 – 0500DME0600 – 0730ARN
ARN0830 – 1200DME1300 - 2100DEL

The first option connects with BKK and the second with SIN. The first has better bet with domestic connections.
To answer your questions
- Better timings – is not the case, SU has better timings
- GOI – Not sure how many pax are connecting, with just twice a week flight to DME
The current cost at which they are selling is simply crazy!
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sri_bom · Member Joined: 22 Dec 2006 Posts: 2365 Location: Singapore

Biju Patnaik International Airport will operate only feeder flights for international passengers
News
9-Jul-2015 11:00 AM
Air India will reportedly operate a feeder service from Biju Patnaik International Airport to Delhi (Odisha Sun Times, 07-Jul-2015). India's Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister Mahesh Sharma last month said that an international service will be launched from Biju Patnaik International Airport to Abu Dhabi. However, it has now been decided that Air India will ferry international passengers only to/from New Delhi.

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

ameya · Posted: Tue Jul 14, 2015 11:25 am Post subject:

AI155/156 DEL-GOI-DEL even with A319 where the trip cost is lower would struggle stand alone because of 5x by 6E and 2x by I5 along with 2x of SG selling very cheap. Probably at levels which cannot be matched by AI’s cost structure.

Yes Russia – Goa traffic is seasonal, but this season was a washout due to Russian economy which also registered a drop in charters and overall pax, which I think takes us back to this being a bad year and AI starting at bad time

As for timings and connections at Russia end – S7 is not a big player, but S7 has some flights out of DME. The problem is that SU is heavy at SVO, UN at VKO and that leaves us with only S7. If AI is targeting India based O-D traffic then it is better off going with the Indian bank of departures, connecting with the BKK flight or SIN flight, but Indians also don’t just go to Moscow I assume – it would be Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kazan so some sort of connectivity would be required to these places.
Will it make sense to have an upgrade on DEL-HYD to have better utilization ?

AI000 HYD0940 – 1150DEL1400 - 1715DME
AI000 DME2000 – 0400DEL0650 - 0850HYD
Connections at DME on S7
DME-KZN 19:40 dep
DME-LED 10:00 dep
Inbound
KZN-DME 17:00 dep from KZN,1830 arr at DME
LED-DME 1715 dep from LED, 1815 arr at DME
Domestic Connections – major metro
HYD – Same aircraft connection
BOM- AI 634 DEL BOM at 0600, AI 866 BOM-DEL at 0900
CCU – AI 401 DEL CCU at 0700, AI 21 CCU DEL at 1000
MAA – AI 439 DEL MAA at 0655, AI 440 MAA DEL at 0640
BLR – AI 803 DEL BLR 0635, AI 505 BLR-DEL at 1030

DEL-HYD-DEL AI 560/543 is upgraded to 787
Also connects to DEL-PVG-DEL and DEL-BKK-DEL
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sumantra · Member Joined: 28 Oct 2007 Posts: 4685 Location: New Delhi

me111993 · Member Joined: 04 Sep 2009 Posts: 3225 Location: MAA/AMD

My 2 p's on this issue -

Firstly, unless AI gets a significant amount of traffic coming in from Austraila and Goa, there's no earthly reason to fly at the timings that they do.

Secondly, downgrade the flight to an A319 service. Anyone who flies AI arriving into DME at 0100 will continue to fly AI regardless of the 787. A 319 will take a small hit on the payload.

Cut your losses, make sure you're present on the sector, a lot of sarkaari traffic to keep national carriers interested.

I really like the timings Ameya suggested, regardless of ARN/CPH, stick to the European bank you've built over the years.

A local tie up with S7 isn't all impossible, there have been many instances.
AF-JL had code shares for a long period of time IIRC.
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sumantra · Member Joined: 28 Oct 2007 Posts: 4685 Location: New Delhi

me111993 · Member Joined: 04 Sep 2009 Posts: 3225 Location: MAA/AMD

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

Rishul, good to see you back on the forum.
I do not see a good amount of Oz feed coming in, given AI's disappointing performance on the Oz routes. If AI lower prices, this will hurt the bottom-line even further. I see enough potential for O&D on the Delhi-Moscow route with the Dream)liner's economics. I see a 4 times a week service fair enough. On the Dream)liner, and not something smaller. Cut losses? Team Nandan is trying hard, but the taxpayer isn't grinning.
A possible reason for the current timings could be the lack of good slots offered. (The PVG flight is another case in question. The timings are awful for onward connections in China. And remember how Air China gloated openly on its website, when AI was not admitted to *A? China has a complete monopoly of the India-China traffic, they were the first movers. Quite like SU.)
I see the CPH/ARN as secondary extensions.
I will go more by Ameya's argument of having the Moscow separate from the European bank.
An S7 tie-up will be neat, but I am a bit skeptical, given that Russia will not want the AI flight to do well, for obvious reasons. Aeroflot has traditionally dominated the Russia-India market, and Transaero is offering really low fares to hit AI badly.
Cheers, Sumantra.

747-237 · Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2015 4:35 pm Post subject:

Air India Proposes to Split Italy Operation in S15

In June 2015’s PDF timetable, Air India has filed proposed schedule instead of actual operational schedule for Italy service. The airline proposes to split existing daily triangle service to Rome and Milan, to 3 weekly Delhi – Milan Malpensa and 4 weekly Delhi – Rome terminator flights. Proposed schedule, listed below, also appears on July 2015’s edition of PDF timetable.

AI137 DEL1425 – 1930MXP 787 246
AI138 MXP2100 – 0745+1DEL 787 246

AI123 DEL1425 – 1905FCO 787 x246
AI122 FCO2040 – 0720+1DEL 787 x246

In the GDS, Air India continues to display triangle service for the time being, meaning the Star Alliance member continues to operate following routing and schedule:

AI123 DEL1425 – 1930MXP 788 246
AI122 MXP2100 – 2210FCO2335 – 1015+1DEL 788 246

AI123 DEL1425 – 1905FCO2050 – 2210MXP 788 x246
AI122 MXP2330 – 1015+1DEL 788 x246

Source: Airlineroute.net
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sri_bom · Member Joined: 22 Dec 2006 Posts: 2365 Location: Singapore

Karnataka Silk Industries Corporation supplying sarees to Air India hostesses
News
17-Jul-2015 11:37 AM
Air India said Karnataka Silk Industries Corporation (KSIC) has supplied 6000 sarees to air hostesses working for Air India (Deccan Herald, 16-Jul-2015). Karnataka Silk Industries Corporation Chairman D Basavaraj said: “In all, 6000 sarees in reddish maroon were dispatched to the flight operator. Another 4000 sarees (in blue) will be sent for ground staff of the airlines in the second phase.” Mr Basavaraj said, “The sarees supplied to the flight operator were priced at Rs6450 each, while the market price of the sarees is Rs 12,000. The second batch of sarees were finalised after the authorities concerned approved the design. The silk factory in Mysuru, manufactures sarees with a price tag of Rs 2.65 lakh.”

747-237 · Posted: Fri Jul 17, 2015 10:13 pm Post subject:

http://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/air-india-goair-to-shift-to-mumbai-airport-t2-from-september-115071701141_1.html

Air India, GoAir to shift to Mumbai airport T2 from September

July 17, 2015

GVK group run Mumbai International Airport Limited has asked Air India and GoAir to shift from terminal 1A to its Terminal 2 from September 1. At present amongst the domestic airlines only Vistara operates from T2.

Air India could not be immediately reached for comment.

Mumbai's airport has three domestic terminals 1A, 1B and 1C (which has an access from 1B). While Air India and GoAir operate from terminal 1A, other private airlines – IndiGo, Jet Airways and SpiceJet function from terminal 1B. Jet Airways is expected to move to T2 next year.
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747-237 · Posted: Sat Jul 18, 2015 12:01 am Post subject:

Incident: Air India B788 at Amritsar on Jul 12th 2015, could not retract left main gear

An Air India Boeing 787-800, registration VT-ANV performing flight AI-113 from Amritsar to Delhi (India), was in the climb out of Amritsar's runway 16 when the crew received a gear disagree message after selecting the gear up, the left main gear remained extended. The crew climbed the aircraft to FL270 and continued to Delhi, located 220nm southeast of Amritsar, for a safe landing about 45 minutes later.

A replacement Boeing 787-800 registration VT-ANJ performed the onward leg to Birmingham,EN (UK) with a delay of 4 hours.

The airline confirmed the left hand main gear could not be retracted after departure from Amritsar, the crew worked the related checklists and determined the flight could continue to Delhi where the aircraft landed safely. The drag brace actuator needed to be replaced.

Source: avherald.com
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747-237 · Posted: Sat Jul 18, 2015 10:10 pm Post subject:

http://www.ptinews.com/news/6272856_Heavy-winds-damage-two-AI-planes-at-Delhi-airport.html

Heavy winds damage two AI planes at Delhi airport

Jul 18

Two Air India aircraft, including a Boeing-787 Dreamliner, were grounded after their engines were hit by an aerobridge and a container, both pushed by strong winds, at the IGI airport here.

Two planes of Air India -- a Boeing 787 having registration number VT-ANV and Boeing 777 with registration number VT-ALK -- at the Indira Gandhi International Airport here were damaged due to heavy winds at 12:15 hours today.

Engines of the aircraft have been damaged and both have been grounded, they said.

In the case of B-787 Dreamliner, its left hand engine was hit by jetty (aerobridge) and the nose cowl was damaged, while the thrust reverser of the Boeing-777's right hand was damaged after being hit by a container which hit it from behind, the sources said.

The Boeing-787 plane (VT-ANV) was parked at Bay 22 while the second one (B-777 VT-ALK) was at Bay 18.

At the time of the incident, wind speed went up to 48 knots whereas the forecast was of only about 20 knots, DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation) sources said.

At 1109 hours, Delhi airport's AOCC (Airport Operation Control Centre) had put out a weather update saying that thunder storm with rain was likely from 1200 to 1500 hours with wind speed touching about 20 knots, they added.
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747-237 · Posted: Sun Jul 19, 2015 11:58 pm Post subject:

http://www.mydigitalfc.com/news/govt-help-ai-widen-aviation-agreements-862

Govt to help AI widen aviation agreements

Jul 19 2015

The civil aviation ministry has proposed air service agreements (ASAs) with Panama and Columbia to help state-owned Air India enter into marketing alliance with their flag carriers.

Official sources familiar with the development said the ministry had already sent the proposals to the external affairs ministry.

With national carrier planning to have code-share agreement with most Star Alliance members, the aviation ministry has scrambled to facilitate the partnership.

In May, the ministry decided to widen the ambit of aviation agreement with New Zealand and agreed to allow designated carriers from the two sides to operate code-share services without “5th freedom” rights using Singapore, Hong Kong and two other cities in Australia as intermediate points.

“We have proposed ASAs with Panama and Columbia. We are waiting for their response,” said an official, adding a proposal to revise ASA with Ethiopia was also under consideration.

India currently has bilateral air service agreement with 109 countries with over 70 foreign airlines operating to and from various destinations. Air India recently signed a code-share agreement with Air New Zealand. The airline has also finalised similar agreement with Avianca of Columbia and is in the process of concluding a code-share agreement with Copa Airlines of Panama. All these carriers are members of Star Alliance, world’s largest airline grouping spearheaded by Lufthansa, United and Singapore Airlines among others. An Air India official said benefits of being member of Star Alliance had kicked in and revenue from partner airlines had been increasing month-on-month.

“In some cases like our code-share partnership with Air Canada and Ethiopian Airlines the revenue has doubled. We, therefore, want to have more code-share agreements. We operate to Chicago and New York. If we have a code-share agreement with Copa Airlines then we can book passengers on flights to Panama City from there,” the official said wishing not to be named.

Air India joined Star Alliance last July, almost three years after its induction was suspended by the airline grouping for failing to meet the eligibility criteria.
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747-237 · Posted: Wed Jul 22, 2015 5:16 pm Post subject:

At the moment, Air India has 62 narrow body aircraft from the Airbus A-320 family but due to lack of maintenance and spares it is able to utlise only 59 of these aircraft, sources said.

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/logistics/air-india-to-get-sovereign-guarantee-for-300-mn-ecb-loan-shortly/article7451798.ece
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The_Goat · Posted: Wed Jul 22, 2015 5:26 pm Post subject:

Manny · Member Joined: 10 Feb 2007 Posts: 292

[quote="747-237"][i]At the moment, Air India has 62 narrow body aircraft from the Airbus A-320 family but due to lack of maintenance and spares it is able to utlise only 59 of these aircraft, sources said. [/i]

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/logistics/air-india-to-get-sovereign-guarantee-for-300-mn-ecb-loan-shortly/article7451798.ece[/quote]

They should privatize this airline already.

747-237 · Posted: Sat Jul 25, 2015 12:40 am Post subject:

http://www.firstpost.com/business/air-india-express-to-hire-trainee-pilots-from-igrua-2361786.html

Air India Express to hire trainee pilots from IGRUA

Jul 24, 2015

Air India Express today said it plans to recruit 40 trainee pilots and majority of them would be from Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Uran Akademi (IGRUA).

Rae Bareli-based IGRUA, which comes under civil aviation ministry, has not seen placement activity since 2012 when some students were hired by Air India.

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abhijith16 · Posted: Sun Jul 26, 2015 3:58 pm Post subject:

dan · Member Joined: 18 Dec 2012 Posts: 61

I am just curious, do the EXA/B sisters have IFE on them?
Talking of the A320s, do any of AIs A320s have IFE on them and are the working on domestic sectors?
Regards
Dan

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

747-237 · Posted: Mon Jul 27, 2015 2:46 am Post subject:

http://www.financialexpress.com/article/industry/companies/10-air-india-planes-always-remain-grounded/108279/

10 Air India planes always remain grounded

July 27, 2015

Around 10 narrow body aircraft of Air India (AI) always remain grounded due to maintenance and aircraft-on-ground (AOG)—problems that are serious enough to prevent an aircraft from flying.

The carrier has a fleet of 62 narrow body aircraft—the backbone of domestic air travel. The officials said that three narrow body aircraft are more than 20 years old, and have reached their maximum age, technically called the design service goals.

The planes that are a part of the Boeing A320 family were expected to fly 60,000 hours. The hours that the Air India planes have flown are estimated to cross one lakh hours. The planes have been given an additional dispensation of two years, which means the aircraft manufacturer will provide extended maintenance for two years.“The maintenance schedule becomes tighter,” said officials.

Including the three planes, one-third of the Air India’s fleet has an average age of 18.5 years, which cause more frequent maintenance, compared to new ones resulting in planes being grounded—at an average of 10 planes every day. If a third of the fleet, which is Air India’s agony is left out, the average age of the fleet comes down to seven years. As reported by FE earlier, Air India is looking at leasing 19 aircraft, which was expected to come by 2016.

However, officials said that the leased aircraft will only start coming in 2017, which means Air India will have to continue to fly with a third of its fleet which will be soon be put to bed.The lessors will have to go through a tendering process to win the bids to supply the planes to Air India. “The tender is in process, with at least three lessors in the fray. Once the tender process is over, lessors said that the planes will be available by 2017,” said the ministry officials.

The lessors are participants from Kuwaiti airlines and Chinese airlines.

The grounded fleet also adds to Air India’s maintenance cost, in turn reducing the airlines’ on-time performance, which is 72.7% compared to the desired above 90%. Air India which has a debt of Rs 50,000 crore and accumulated losses of Rs 30,000 crore has its OTP as one of the lowest in the industry.

The older aircraft are also fuel guzzlers, compared to its newer counterparts. Aviation turbine fuel make for 50% of airlines’ cost in India. The new aircraft will help the debt laden carrier improve its performance, but the planes are two years away.

Meanwhile, Air India is raising $330 million through external commercial borrowing (ECB) for aircraft maintenance.

Air India also needs to change its fleet of smaller aircraft, primarily used for regional connectivity in places like Agartala, Guwahati, Pantnagar and Kulu. The planes are CRG-700, which are already 12.5 years old. “These are being replaced by ATR-72. Two new ATRs have already arrived and two more are awaited,” said the ministry official.

The new planes will be critical in Air India’s turnaround plan (TAP), which expects the state-owned carrier to turn profitable by 2022. In the current fiscal, the airlines is expected to post its first year of operation profit, after a decade of losses.

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jbalonso777 · Posted: Mon Jul 27, 2015 8:28 am Post subject:

747-237 · Posted: Mon Jul 27, 2015 4:39 pm Post subject:

http://www.menafn.com/1094291748/UAE--Air-Indias-Kochi-Sharjah-route-to-get-new-aircraft

Air India's Kochi Sharjah route to get new aircraft

27/07/2015

Recurring complaints about technical snags on Air India's Sharjah-Kochi flights are likely to end as the airline has replaced the aged aircraft that used to fly on the route for several years.

"Air India has deployed a brand new A320 aircraft on Sharjah-Kochi route effective July 24" Prem Sagar manager of Air India and Air India Express in Dubai and Sharjah told Khaleej Times on Sunday.

Sagar said the new aircraft has a seating capacity of 180 - an increase of 40 seats. "This aircraft will have better schedule reliability" Sagar said.
"We operate three daily flights from Sharjah. The aircraft for Kochi route has already been replaced. We will also replace the aircraft for the Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode routes shortly."

He indicated that the new aircraft would not suffer from the technical glitches that reportedly affected its schedule on different occasions in the past.

The change in the aircraft has been implemented just over a week after a flight on the route landed in Mumbai following a major technical snag. Passengers aboard the flight reportedly went through a few tense moments on July 17 after the flight was diverted to Mumbai with a request for emergency landing.

The initial estimate was that the flight had developed some sort of hydraulic failure. Reports said the Mumbai airport was placed on full alert as preparations were made for an emergency landing.

However the request for an emergency landing was withdrawn later and the pilot managed to land the Airbus A320 aircraft normally.

In February this year 142 passengers who were to fly from Kochi to Sharjah had to be flown in another aircraft after a tyre of the plane they were to fly in burst after reaching Kochi from Delhi.
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abhijith16 · Posted: Mon Jul 27, 2015 5:56 pm Post subject:

747-237 · Posted: Mon Jul 27, 2015 7:08 pm Post subject:

Air India's next A320SL, the future VT-EXC.

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747-237 · Posted: Thu Jul 30, 2015 12:13 am Post subject:

http://www.ptinews.com/news/6314650_AIE-to-add-Varanasi-to-its-network-.html

AIE to add Varanasi to its network

July 29

Air India Express (AIE) today said it will be adding Varanasi in its route network from next month with a direct flight service to Sharjah to cater to the flyers in and around the temple city.

AIE, which is the international budget arm of the national carrier Air India, would also roll out special discounted fares on the new route, the airline's chief executive officer K Shyam Sunder said in a release today.

The non-stop flight, to be introduced from August 17, would operate three times a week, using a 186-seater Boeing 737-800 aircraft, the release said.

The Kochi-headquartered airline currently operates 175 weekly flights, connecting 11 domestic airports besides 12 destinations across the Middle East and South East Asia.

"The thrice-weekly flights will operate on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays, fulfilling a long-standing need of passengers in and around Varanasi," Shyam Sundar said.

AIE will be offering introductory discounted fares for a limited period, he said, adding, "We are also be offering our passengers already booked on our Dubai-Lucknow and return sector, the facility to rebook on this flight at no extra cost if they so desire," he said.

This facility can be availed even with change of date till September 30, he added.
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abhijith16 · Posted: Thu Jul 30, 2015 8:37 am Post subject:

IX announces VNS-SHJ effective August 17th

IX183 VNS1700 - 1930SHJ 73H 146

IX184 SHJ1050 - 1600VNS 73H 146

Picked up on SG's old experiments...
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ameya · Posted: Thu Jul 30, 2015 9:30 am Post subject:

Apparently between the two, LKO and VNS with which SG alternated the utilization, VNS was doing better. This was also evident since earlier schedule of 4x LKO and 3x VNS was shifted the other way round soon

Lets see how IX does it. I hope it is not a political pressure flight and a genuine one with good market research
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