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747-237 · Posted: Tue Feb 09, 2016 11:15 am Post subject:

http://www.mumbaimirror.com/mumbai/others/Air-India-gives-up-its-dream-aircraft-repair-facility/articleshow/50909829.cms

Air India gives up its dream aircraft repair facility

Feb 9, 2016

Air India has decided to give up its state of the art aircraft Maintainence, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) facility in Nagpur after it was unable to convince its engineering staff to relocate. On Sunday, the airline invited bids from private players to run the Rs 600 crore facility. Air India first announced plans for the facility a decade ago, but the MRO was delayed because of an incomplete taxi-way. The repair unit was finally declared open by Union Minister Nitin Gadkari in June 2015. The facility has only received two Boeing 777 aircraft—the first in May 2015 and the other last week. An engineer working at the facility confirmed that most facility employees were hired on contract after retiring from Air India. "We are all put up at a hotel next to the facility. Since it was declared open there has not been much work," he said. Air India staff from Mumbai and Delhi have been unwilling to relocate to the facility, which is around 16 kilometres away from Nagpur.

The MRO, spread over 50 acres, was built by Boeing at a cost of US$ 100 million. This was the result of an agreement between Air India and Boeing after the national carrier placed a massive order for dreamliners with Boeing in 2006. Touted as one of the most modern MROs in the subcontinent, the facility will service B-737s, B-777s and dreamliners of both domestic and international carriers. While an Air India spokesperson said that the airline was inviting private player bids for only airframe part of the facility, which works on the body of the aircraft, MRO officials were quick to point out that the airframe facility is the only one that has been built. "A facility that will look at the jet engines of the airplanes is still coming up," an official said. The Air India spokesperson sought time to answer a mail sent by Mumbai Mirror.

The Deputy General Manager (Engineering) and Chief Maintenance Manager (CMM) of the MRO, S S Quazi seemed clueless about the invites to private players. He said, "We will have the entire staff of 61 service engineers, eight tradesmen and 10 aircraft engineers in place for the complete checkup of aircraft. We have already shortlisted 50 service engineers and 12 are already working for us. The aircraft engineers who have just retired from Air India are undergoing a refresher course."

The facility will be able to perform a complete check-up of Boeing 777s from February 15. "The complete check-up lasts for 30 days. Once we do that at the Nagpur facility, we will have regular inflow of planes" Quazi said, adding that a third aircraft will be arriving at the end of February. A complete check-up is mandatory for any aircraft that has operated for about 3000 days, which could mean about nine years of operation. "The MRO facility is currently in its first phase of operation, where it will undertake checks for Boeing 777s. In the second phase, it will do checks for A-320 Airbuses. And in the third phase, it will be able to service foreign aircraft," Quazi added.
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megatop747

An Air India Boeing 787-800, registration VT-ANO performing flight AI-115 from Delhi (India) to London Heathrow,EN (UK) with 90 passengers, was enroute at FL400 about 150nm north of Frankfurt/Main (Germany) when the crew reported they needed to shut an engine (GEnx) down. The aircraft drifted down to FL280 continuing in the general direction of Amsterdam (Netherlands), then turned around and diverted to Frankfurt for a safe landing on runway 25C about 50 minutes after leaving FL400.

The airline confirmed a technical problem as cause for the diversion to Frankfurt.

http://avherald.com/h?article=4939fd29&opt=0

Caliguy

747-237 · Posted: Tue Feb 09, 2016 8:35 pm Post subject:

http://www.ptinews.com/news/7077521_AI-hikes-domestic-ticket-cancellation-charges-.html

AI hikes domestic ticket cancellation charges

Feb 9

Air India has revised upward its domestic flight ticket cancellation charges by Rs 500.

After the proposed revised charges come into effect from coming Monday, the Government-run carrier would deduct as much as Rs 2,000 in case of "no-show" by a passenger at the time of a domestic flight departure, sources said.

The move comes days after budget airline SpiceJet hiking its ticket cancellation charges to Rs 1,899 from Rs 1,800 earlier.

"Air India currently deducts Rs 1,500 from the ticket cost if passengers decide not to undertake the pre-booked journey. However, it has decided to increase this amount by Rs 500 from February 16," they said.

The airline has already issued the circular with revised charges to travel agents early last week, they said.

Among all the domestic airlines, budget carrier AirAsia India has so far the lowest ticket cancellation charges at Rs 1,502.
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747-237 · Posted: Wed Feb 10, 2016 8:22 am Post subject:

http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/Article.aspx?eid=31804&articlexml=Rare-back-up-plan-for-Boeing-777-to-10022016003028

Rare back-up plan for Boeing-777 to get round runway work

Feb 10 2016

The Mumbai airport shall witness a rare spectacle from later this week: a wide-body aircraft towed to the beginning of the runway so that it takes off using the entire length of the airstrip.

Aircraft are always towed from passenger boarding po nts as they do not have reverse gears, and then these power out on their own to the runway .The Air India Mumbai-Newark flight, operated on a Boe ng 777, the longest non-stop out of the megapolis, faced a problem as repair work at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Interna ional Airport meant that the ntire length of the runway was not available to it if it took the usual access taxiways. Being a long-haul non-stop, the B-777 has to carry fuel for the entire journey of almost 17 hours besides fuel for hovering and diverting to another airport in case Newark (EWR) is not available for any reason.

As the entire runway is not available during the repairs, AI did not get the required length to make the heavy aircraft get airborne. AI told the GVK-backed Mumbai International Airport Pvt Ltd (MIAL) that it would either have to take the 342-seater aircraft half empty -to accommodate required fuel -or take off with less fuel and full passenger load and then take a fuel halt at Ahmedabad, Delhi or Frankfurt. “It has now been decided that from later this week, our EWR-bound B-777 will be towed up to the beginning of the runway from the aerobridge, a distance of about 2 km. The EWR flight's normal take time is 1.30 am but given the flow of traffic at that peak time, towing the aircraft (a much slower option than a plane taxiing on its own) is not possible at that time as MIAL said that would impact movement of other planes. So from a day or two later, the aircraft will begin to be towed at 3.15 am and then get airborne at 4 am,” an AI official said.

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Jeh · Posted: Wed Feb 10, 2016 12:48 pm Post subject:

The_Goat · Posted: Wed Feb 10, 2016 3:57 pm Post subject:

iah87 · Member Joined: 17 Apr 2007 Posts: 2566

Still comes back to the same question, how is UA handling this while AI is struggling with this on the same route.

747-237 · Posted: Wed Feb 10, 2016 8:14 pm Post subject:

Jaysit · Member Joined: 19 Dec 2006 Posts: 4346

747-237 · Posted: Thu Feb 11, 2016 7:46 am Post subject:

http://www.hindustantimes.com/india/air-india-flies-grounded-plane-out-of-sharjah/story-XFLB7Fca2fazsgtP21wZIP.html

Air India flies grounded plane out of Sharjah

Feb 11, 2016

Air India pilots flew back to India a plane grounded by authorities at Sharjah airport, prompting the national carrier to bar a senior captain from operating international flights for violating regulations.

The incident drew a sharp response from UAE’s general civil aviation authority (GCAA), which threatened to ban the aircraft from entering the country’s airspace. The carrier later rushed a senior official to Dubai for damage control, an AI official told HT.

In the latest incident on January 26, AI’s flight 967 (Chennai-Thiruvananthapuram-Sharjah) arrived in Sharjah and was inspected by local authorities who found the plane’s cargo net damaged, a nick in one of the tyres and engine blades.

“While these shortcomings were within the maintenance limit, they weren’t documented properly. The official instructed the AI captain not to depart till formal rectification and proper documentation with referral numbers was made,” the AI official said.

The captain, who had completed his duty hours, left for the hotel without informing the pilots who were to operate the return flight that the plane had been grounded. Oblivious of these facts, the other pilots operated the return flight.

“It was only after the plane was airborne and entering Muscat airspace that airport authorities realised the ‘grounded’ plane had taken off. Unlike cars, airplanes do not have keys and regulatory authorities expect pilots to be responsible (for their acts),” the official said.

AI management didn’t know about the incident till January 31 when the G CA A sought an explanation from the airline’ s safety department. An AI spokesperson said the inspection and observation of the Sharjah authorities were “routine ”.

“The pilot was advised to ensure observations were attended to before departure. There was a change of crew at Sharjah and all the observations were attended to by the maintenance agency,” the spokesperson said, adding that action against the captain “is an internal administrative matter”.

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The_Goat · Posted: Thu Feb 11, 2016 4:20 pm Post subject:

megatop747 · Posted: Thu Feb 11, 2016 6:36 pm Post subject:

I guess there is a log book for each aircraft to report the issues and endorsing it once it is fixed. Is it not a better idea for the authorities to log it in there instead of relying on the outgoing crew to informing the incoming one??

Even taking custody of something on the aircraft that is mandatory from a regulatory standpoint until the observations are fixed would have been an effective one..

747-237 · Posted: Thu Feb 11, 2016 8:07 pm Post subject:

Air India Express Adds New Ras al Khaimah Service in S16

Air India Express at the launch of summer season launches new service to the United Arab Emirates, as it announced new Kozhikode – Ras al Khaimah route.

Starting 28MAR16, there will be 4 weekly flights operating this route, on board Boeing 737-800 aircraft.

IX335 CCJ1040 – 1305RKT 73H x247
IX332 RKT1520 – 2040CCJ 73H x247

Source: Airlineroute.net
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747-237 · Posted: Fri Feb 12, 2016 7:54 am Post subject:

http://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/air-india-refancies-toronto-flights-116021101282_1.html

Air India refancies Toronto flights

February 11, 2016

Air India is mulling whether to resume non-stop flights between here and Toronto, Canada, a route it shut down in 2012 due to losses.

According to a senior AI official, it is considering the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner for the route.

“We are looking at new routes where Dreamliners can be inducted. Toronto is one destination we are considering seriously,” said the official. “It’s yet to be decided whether we will fly a Boeing 787 or 777-300 ER. Depending upon feasibility study, we will take a final call but with fuel consumption being lower in the Boeing 787 than other aircraft, induction of this on many of our routes has brought economic benefit.”

Air Canada operates four weekly non-stop flights between Delhi and Toronto. “Air Canada is operating a 787-9. So, we see good potential in operating the 787,” the official said.
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The_Goat · Posted: Fri Feb 12, 2016 4:01 pm Post subject:

747-237 · Posted: Mon Feb 15, 2016 12:35 pm Post subject:

Air India Express Adds New Delhi / Mumbai – UAE Service in S16

Air India Express in summer 2016 season is introducing a number of service to the United Arab Emirates, from Delhi and Mumbai. Planned operation as follow.

eff 07APR16 Mumbai – Dubai
IX247 BOM1310 – 1455DXB 73H D
IX248 DXB1710 – 2140BOM 73H D

eff 07APR16 Mumbai – Sharjah
IX251 BOM2340 – 0125+1SHJ 73H D
IX252 SHJ0255 – 0725BOM 73H D (eff 08APR16)

eff 15MAY16 Delhi – Dubai
IX141 DEL0910 – 1120DXB 73H D
IX142 DXB1120 – 1620DEL 73H D

Source: Airlineroute.net
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747-237 · Posted: Mon Feb 15, 2016 12:37 pm Post subject:

http://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/air-india-plans-dreamliners-push-to-regain-supremacy-in-domestic-skies-116021500148_1.html

Air India plans Dreamliners' push to regain supremacy in domestic skies

February 15, 2016

In a bid to regain its status as the king of domestic skies and challenge IndiGo’s monopoly, Air India is planning to raise its capacity on domestic routes by using wide-bodied Boeing 787 Dreamliner planes. The carrier plans to use them in its high-capacity routes.

Simultaneously, the airline will fly the A320s between the Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities, which experts believe has huge potential due to the government’s stress on regional route expansion.

“Immediately, we need to strengthen the domestic market and increase capacity. We will strengthen the existing routes by adding capacity because there is a huge potential in this market,” said a top Air India official.

Currently, the airline uses the narrow body Airbus A320 on high-capacity routes.

“Slowly, we will introduce Dreamliners in metros like Mumbai-New Delhi route. We find it will be feasible to offer a high-end product like the Dreamliner will do well on these routes,” the official added. Air India’s 787s have 256 seats each, 18 of the business class and 238 economy seats.

When asked if the airline will be commercially viable to operate the Dreamliners in the domestic routes, “A passenger we believe will be ready to pay Rs 200 more for amenities a 787 can provide like more legroom space and higher luggage allowance, which a no-frills carrier cannot provide, we can wipe out the competition there,” the official said.

The official also said that Air India will slowly phase out the A320s operating in the neighbouring countries like Gulf and Middle East and deploy it on the regional routes in order to add capacity. “With falling ticket prices, the Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities are generating a lot of traffic. We will be looking at those cities because the 150-160 seater A320s are the right size of aircrafts on such routes.” the official said.

Air India has already tied up for dry leasing 14 new engine technology A320 neo planes which are to be inducted in the financial year 2017, the official said adding the airline plans to dry lease another 30 narrow body aircraft (A320s) in its fleet over a three periods in its bid to augment capacity.
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747-237 · Posted: Tue Feb 16, 2016 5:32 am Post subject:

http://www.financialexpress.com/article/industry/companies/air-india-to-hire-all-pilots-on-contract/211894/

Air India to hire all pilots on contract

February 16, 2016

In a departure from its current practice, state-owned carrier Air India has decided that in the future, it will hire all pilots on contract, thus doing away with the permanent-employee status for them.

Sources said that the airline is set to hire 532 pilots in the future and of these, 200-250 will be recruited in the current year. The practice of hiring pilots on a contractual basis was started last year when Air India recruited 70 pilots who are currently undergoing training. Now, the airline has decided to institutionalise this practice.

The fresh decision comes after the carrier recently rationalised the pay structure of the pilots of Air India (AI) and the erstwhile Indian Airlines. It has laid down certain rules and regulations that pilots have to adhere to in order to be eligible to draw their allowances.

For instance, if pilots refuse to fly at the last moment and therefore have to be replaced by other pilots, the former will stand to lose their flying allowance. In order to avail of full benefits, a pilot needs to complete 40 flying hours per month and should be available for 150 days in six months, and cannot refuse to fly four hours before the take-off.

“We are trying to use our manpower in the most efficient way possible. We have seen instances where pilots have refused to come on board just an hour before the take off. It results in delays and decreases operational efficiency in a highly competitive market,” AI officials said.

Recently, Air India has taken a number of steps to ensure discipline of its employees. For instance, it has increased the bank guarantee and service surety bonds of new pilots to R1 crore from R50 lakh earlier, to discourage pilots from moving out of the organisation after completing their training.

According to officials, it is also trying to fully automate its rosters for duties of pilots, ground staffs and engineers like private airlines.

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

Finally AI Towers leased out, to earn about Rs 100-crore rentals

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/transportation/airlines-/-aviation/finally-ai-towers-leased-out-to-earn-about-rs-100-crore-rentals/articleshow/51027038.cms

Some further respite for AI by way of rental income. Hopefully this is used to retire their debts rather than fill the pockets of influential ppl.

Didnt know they had dlats at Peddar Rd too. Considering the location, they must have been costing AI a huge amount for maintainance

Jeh · Posted: Thu Feb 18, 2016 10:36 am Post subject:

Jaysit · Member Joined: 19 Dec 2006 Posts: 4346

The interiors of the AI building at Nariman Point are hideous, dirty, and look every bit like the GOI enterprise it is.

It's no surprise that the only tenants it got were other GOI enterprises.

abhijith16 · Posted: Fri Feb 19, 2016 7:11 pm Post subject:

Air India announces Vienna from 6th April

AI135 DEL1400 - 1845VIE 788 357

AI136 VIE2245 - 0925+1DEL 788 357
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sumantra · Member Joined: 28 Oct 2007 Posts: 4685 Location: New Delhi

Hmm...interesting tweak. AI has restored the popular Delhi-Coimbatore AI 657/8 same place service via BOM, after some time with the AI 637/638 BOM-CJB-BOM flight. A random search in April gave me this news on the cusp of the change, 19 Feb (Fri) night. The tweak is interesting.
The earlier schedule had the AI 657 timings as DEL-BOM; BOM-CJB
[07:00 am - 09:05 am; 10:00 am - 11:50 am]
with AI 658 being CJB-BOM; BOM-DEL
[03:10 pm - 05:05 pm; 06:00 pm - 08:10 pm].
Now, the Kozhikode leg having been removed from AI 657/8, AI has pushed back the DEL departure by two hours.
[09:00 am - 11:20 am; 12:10 pm - 02:15 pm]
The return AI 658 hasn't been tweaked much:
[02:55 pm - 05:00 pm; 06:00 pm - 08:20 pm]
Kozhikode now gets the BOM link via an international connector. The DEL-CCJ connection is no longer a same-plane service, connected one way by an international connector (the HKG flight). This looks like a good change, since the CCJ-CJB short hop did not see much traffic except some Government traffic, and CCJ-BOM is the main grosser. Indigo currently has the best timings and connectivity for DEL-CCJ and vice versa.
6E 129: [05:55 pm - 10:30 pm]
6E 124: [11:40 am - 04:40 pm]
Cheers, Sumantra.

ameya · Posted: Sun Feb 21, 2016 12:55 pm Post subject:

Air India has restored its third daily DEL PNQ DEL service AI 853/854

There were some silent representations made to Air India by industry and many others to restore this flight to have two way connectivity to US and better connectivity from its hub in DEL

The new flight will be eff. SS16 and operate with A321.

Will give better connectivity from SXR/IXJ/ATQ and US - PNQ connectivity which was missing and currently offered on the 0500 hours flight the next day
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747-237 · Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2016 7:00 am Post subject:

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/AI-to-offer-aircraft-exterior-to-states-for-branding/articleshow/51099788.cms

AI to offer aircraft exterior to states for branding

Feb 23, 2016

Air India will now offer its aircraft exterior for branding and promotion. The cash-strapped airline has decided to steer clear of any controversy and allow Indian states to name aircraft after them and put up their logos or picture of any site that they want to promote.

A leading Indian jeweller had approached AI about two years back to "cling wrap" an aircraft with its logo. However, at that time the airline did not take up that offer as it did not know how much to charge.

The airline, which is expecting a small operating profit this fiscal, has decided that it will not go on an advertising blitzkrieg inside the aircraft. "The interior will be kept very clean and clutter-free. Unlike lowcost carriers that offer their aircraft interiors also for ads, we have decided not to do so. Only the aircraft exterior will be offered for this purpose," said a senior official. AI launches this exercise as it looks at new revenue streams to shore up its finances. The airline is expecting to earn its highest-ever passenger revenue -Rs 17,000 crore -this fiscal, bettering the previous high of Rs 15,500 crore registered in FY 14-15. The airline's total revenue is expected to be Rs 21,500 crore this fiscal.

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megatop747

A drunk passenger on an Air India flight from India to Birmingham was slapped with a hefty 1,000 pound penalty for urinating in the aisle, shocking the crew and sparking angry protests from other passengers.

Jinu Abraham, 39, who was travelling with his 10-year-old son, was handcuffed and restrained with seat belts and arrested when the flight landed in Birmingham on January 19 and later fined 300 pounds by the Birmingham Crown Court.

A resident of Hollow Croft, Northfield, Mr Abraham was also directed to fork out 500 pounds as compensation, and 185 pounds in costs besides a victim surcharge of 30 pounds.

During the flight, he had become aggressive after drinking alcohol, declining crew's request to get back to his seat. The airline was not available for comments on the incident.

"About 40 minutes prior to landing he removed his trousers and stood in the aisle. He pulled down his boxer shorts and then began urinating on the floor and seat of the aircraft," John Cardiff, the prosecuting lawyer, told the court.

"He was restrained by crew with plastic handcuffs and seat belts for the rest of the flight and was arrested on landing." When questioned, Mr Abraham later said he had drunk two whiskies, that he was on anti-depressants and he could not remember anything about his actions, the Birmingham Mail reported.

Mr Abraham's lawyer Alan Newport said that he a mix up at the airport in India had led to his medication placed in the hold.

"He was without medication and nervous about flying and was concerned about his wife's welfare," he said. It was Mr Abraham's efforts at self-medicating that went wrong, he said.

"He was shocked and surprised about what was said about his behaviour. He accepts it must have been incredibly upsetting for passengers and crew and possibly frightening for those people on board in that confined environment," Mr Newport said.
http://www.ndtv.com/india-news/drunk-air-india-passenger-urinates-in-aisle-fined-1-000-pounds-1280140?pfrom=home-lateststories

747-237 · Posted: Wed Feb 24, 2016 9:22 am Post subject:

http://www.mid-day.com/articles/air-india-aircraft-bangs-into-light-pole-at-mumbai-airport/16983166

Air India aircraft bangs into light pole at Mumbai airport

A Boeing aircraft suffered partial damage while it was moving towards its bay yesterday at the Mumbai airport. The Air India (AI 191) flight had arrived from Ahmedabad with 447 passengers and was about to take off for Newark when it hit a light pole at the perimeter area, damaging its right wing partially.

The airline was in the news recently when an AI technician lost his life allegedly due to miscommunication between the pilots and the ground staff. Officials from the airline claimed that the incident took place as the ATC misguided the pilot by asking him to use a narrow body taxiway, instead of that used for wide body aircrafts. “According to the commanding pilot, the ATC guided him to the wrong taxiway. He was told to use Y taxiway instead of H,” said a senior airline official. The Y taxiway is used for smaller aircrafts whereas the H is used for bigger ones. The aircraft was moved towards the old airport area for repair.

Air India says No delay caused
An Air India spokesperson said, “The aircraft that landed in Mumbai for a layover did not have a follow me jeep toguide it due to some miscommunication from the ATC which led to the incident. However, there wasn’t any delay in departure to Newark due to this incident.”

ATC responds Pilot is wrong
ATC officials completely denied the pilot’s allegations. An ATC official said, “The pilot has given an incorrect statement. There were no such instructions to the pilot that would make him take the wrong taxiway.”

DGCA says Will sort it out
While the blame game is on, the matter has been taken up by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). A DGCA official said, “As both the airline as well as the ATC are insisting that the other party made the mistake, the matter will be sorted out with the help of CVR (Cockpit Voice Recorder).”

Flight details
There were a total of 447 passengers on board, according to airport sources. They were going to be transferred to another aircraft anyway, to take off for Newark at around 2.45 am. But they could take off only at around 3.57 am.
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Jeh · Posted: Wed Feb 24, 2016 10:39 am Post subject:

con spirito · Member Joined: 07 Apr 2007 Posts: 577 Location: Inflight

747-237 · Posted: Thu Feb 25, 2016 7:43 am Post subject:

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Jeh · Posted: Thu Feb 25, 2016 11:06 am Post subject:

Jaysit · Member Joined: 19 Dec 2006 Posts: 4346

That BOM-EWR flight is cursed.

It has to fly with a reduced payload because of a giant hoarding at the end of the runway, 2 trucks have smashed into 77Ws plying that route, and now this.

yashkhullar · Member Joined: 20 Nov 2014 Posts: 44

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

yashkhullar · Member Joined: 20 Nov 2014 Posts: 44

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

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

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

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