Airliners-India.com

Jaysit · Member Joined: 19 Dec 2006 Posts: 4346

AI's flights to Shanghai, Hong Kong originate from BOM. The reason AI still operate these one-stops is because they can't make nonstops from both BOM and DEL to these destinations work. With HKG, why bother with AI via DEL now especially since CX, Jet and IT have daily nonstops?

Still, for all the talk about DEL being the numero uno airport today, BOM still averages 78 daily international scheduled flights in comparison to DEL's 71.

And when you factor in all NACIL (AIX/IC/AI) operations out of BOM and DEL (including such beauties on AIX as BOM-PNQ-DXB, and DEL-LKO-DXB) you end up with 115 out of BOM and 113 out of DEL. So, they're running about equal right now.

With respect to Jet and IT, Jet has 119 weekly international flights out of BOM and IT have 21. Out of DEL, Jet has 70 weekly flights, and IT, thus far, have none.

Also, DEL really dominates over BOM when it comes to flights to South Asia - 83 flights in contrast with BOM's 23.

747-237 · Posted: Sat Oct 03, 2009 9:14 pm Post subject:

Jaysit · Member Joined: 19 Dec 2006 Posts: 4346

AI's flights to Shanghai, Hong Kong originate from BOM. The reason AI still operate these one-stops is because they can't make nonstops from both BOM and DEL to these destinations work. With HKG, why bother with AI via DEL now especially since CX, Jet and IT have daily nonstops?

Still, for all the talk about DEL being the numero uno airport today, BOM still averages 78 daily international scheduled flights in comparison to DEL's 71.

And when you factor in all NACIL (AIX/IC/AI) operations out of BOM and DEL (including such beauties on AIX as BOM-PNQ-DXB, and DEL-LKO-DXB) you end up with 115 out of BOM and 113 out of DEL. So, they're running about equal right now.

With respect to Jet and IT, Jet has 119 weekly international flights out of BOM and IT have 21. Out of DEL, Jet has 70 weekly flights, and IT, thus far, have none.

Also, DEL really dominates over BOM when it comes to flights to South Asia - 83 flights in contrast with BOM's 23.

747-237 · Posted: Sat Oct 03, 2009 9:35 pm Post subject:

747-237 · Posted: Sun Oct 04, 2009 6:31 am Post subject:

Article in TOI this morning.

Air India leased defective aircraft
TNN 4 October 2009

NEW DELHI: Thanks to Right to Information, shocking instances of mismanagement over the years are now coming to light that show how Air India's Maharaja has now been reduced to a pauper. A query filed by RTI activist S C Agrawal has led to confirmation of what was till now a whisper — expensive aircraft lease (rent) deals being made by the airline with these agreements favouring rental companies and not AI.

The airline has admitted to renting at least two aircraft that did not prove to be airworthy or safe to fly and then losing over $29 million while terminating the lease agreement prematurely.

This particular case dates back to 1996 when AI took two aircraft from West Indian company Caribjet. One of the aircraft, an Airbus A-310, developed technical snags time and again. The situation came such a point that the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had to ask AI to stop using that aircraft. In its reply, AI has given a letter written by DGCA to the airline in September 1996 about the aircraft (VT-LEJ, the A-310) which says: "The aircraft is having repeat nature of defects despite maintenance action... AI should consider not to utilise the said aircraft as (its) airworthiness/safety of operation cannot be ensured (sic)."

This aircraft had a host of problems. On two occasions, it had to return to land soon after taking off. It got delayed at Heathrow for days due to a problem in the cargo door and defects in fuel quantity indicator. After the DGCA warning, AI wrote to Caribjet about early termination of leases of this aircraft and another one hired from the same company (VT-LEK). By doing so, reveals the RTI reply filed by the airline, AI had to pay a whopping $23.6 million to Caribjet and an additional $6 million as interest!

While AI has owned up to one costly error, questions on its lease policy are still being raised. Three years back, the AI-IA combine placed orders for 111 new aircraft, including the yet-to-fly Boeing Dreamliner 787. The massive shortage of aircraft during the times of the aviation boom — that was busted by last year's global recession and Indian slowdown — led AI to take many aircraft on lease from foreign companies. But since there were no pilots to fly them, the planes remained idle at Indian airports while the Maharaja continued shelling out money to the companies.

Talk about getting facts wrong ! The aircraft in question were V2-LEJ & V2-LEK, both L1011-500s !

Jaysit · Member Joined: 19 Dec 2006 Posts: 4346

Why are they leasing out brand new LRs while continuing to fly those leased UA 777s?

The -300ERs can easily be put on the Saudi and Gulf routes. The LRs can easily be rotated on the Shanghai and HKG routes. At most cut Shanghai from 4 weekly A310s to 3 weekly 777s. As the economy improves, demand increases, and the 787s come on line, the LRs and -ERs can be put back on long range routes. Until then, at least give passengers a reason to fly AI.

No one is going to fly AI's rickety A310s to HKG when Jet, IT and CX operate brand new aircraft.

avbuff · Member Joined: 22 Dec 2006 Posts: 5031

Phadnis · Posted: Sun Oct 04, 2009 8:20 am Post subject:

An excellent article by Vir Sanghvi on Air India, this morning's Hindustan Times.

Privatise Air India before it’s too late

I don’t really blame Air India’s pilots for last week’s strike. I don’t blame the civil aviation ministry. I don’t blame Praful Patel. And I don’t even blame the Air India management which tried to slash the remuneration paid to pilots.

I blame Morarji Desai.

Readers of a certain age will remember the circumstances in which Morarji Desai lit a match to a slow fuse that was certain to destroy Air India. It happened this way:

In 1977, when the Janata government took office after the end of Indira Gandhi’s Emergency, it sought to punish those it regarded as collaborators with the Emergency regime. For reasons that are still not clear, Morarji Desai regarded J.R.D. Tata as one such collaborator.

Being Morarji Desai — by which I mean, a bit of a crank and a nutcase — he chose not just to punish JRD but also to punish Air India. So, he sacked JRD as Chairman of Air India.

By 1977, Air India had already been a public sector undertaking for many years. But it had retained its cachet as one of the world’s best airlines largely because the government had been content to let JRD oversee its operations as non-executive Chairman.

The chairmanship of Air India was a labour of love for JRD. The Tatas stood to gain nothing from Air India’s success (and indeed, many Tata grandees complained that JRD spent too much time on Air India) and JRD himself accepted only Re 1 a year as salary.

But the best kind of management is the kind that emerges out of love and passion. JRD was obsessed with Air India. He regarded it as his own child and in an interview in the early 70s said that of all the many things he had achieved in his life, the one he was proudest of was Air India.

Morarji Desai was more vindictive than he was perceptive. It never occurred to him that while the loss of the Air India chairmanship might break JRD Tata’s heart, it made no difference to the fortunes of the Tatas.

On the other hand, it destroyed Air India.

Once JRD went, the babus moved in. Air India became the plaything of the civil aviation ministry and the handmaiden of the government, used and abused by ministers and bureaucrats.

Even when Indira Gandhi returned to power, in 1980, there was no concerted effort to restore Air India to its old position of functional autonomy. The choice of chairman was left to R.K. Dhawan and he chose Raghu Raj, a former banker who had wanted to be Governor of the Reserve Bank but was given Air India as a consolation prize.

If the Chairman of Air India owes his job to the Prime Minister’s private secretary, then that tells you all you need to know about the equation between the government and the airline. And soon, ministers worked out that Air India could be their personal piggy bank. Every aeroplane purchased yielded a kickback of many crores; every Airbus leased guaranteed some bureaucrat’s fortune; and every general sales agent appointed meant suitcases full of lakhs.

There were some bright spots and some good appointments (Yogi Deveshwar, for instance) but the rules were clear. Whereas once the Chairman of Air India had been the mighty JRD Tata, all future chairmen would report, in effect, to some joint secretary in Delhi. When chief executives tried to assert their independence, the ministry encouraged politics within the airline. And in one scandalous instance, one of Air India’s brightest Managing Directors, Michael Mascarenhas, was victimised and persecuted by the civil aviation minister.

Almost every thing that has gone wrong with Air India in the last few decades can be traced back to that disastrous act of vindictiveness on Morarji Desai’s part. If you run your country’s flag carrier like a government department, a decline is inevitable.

There are other consequences too. JRD believed — to his cost — that he would run Air India forever. So every decision he took was made on a long-term basis. He cared less for short-term profit (and nothing for kickbacks) and more for building the brand and establishing Air India’s reputation. Ministers, on the other hand, knew that they had the job for two or three years at the most. So, they had no interest in the long term. They just bled the airline dry while they could.

As the rot set in and decline continued, the vast majority of Air India staff decided that they didn’t really care what happened to the airline either. As far as they were concerned, they had done their best and given it everything they had. But still, the airline continued to lose money because of inept management, political interference and plain old corruption. In such a situation, why should they continue to work their butts off when their efforts would come to nothing?

That change in mindset and collapse in morale have ensured that even when a few well-intentioned ministers (including Praful Patel) and chief executives have attempted to turn the airline around, these initiatives have always failed. You cannot run a company in the service sector if your staff no longer believes in service or in the long-term prospects of the airline.

That’s the problem the present management faces. When the new Chairman tells the staff that their airline is bankrupt and that it is up to them to make sacrifices, their response is succinct: Air India is bankrupt because chief executives and politicians have robbed it blind; why should we be the ones to make sacrifices?

It is a question to which no chief executive or minister can give a satisfactory answer. Why should a pilot agree to take half his salary when he knows that the airline’s problems have nothing to do with him? Why should staff give up their perks when they know where the money has gone?

As somebody who loves Air India and who believes that the airline still has a core of dedicated and outstanding (if increasingly disillusioned) professionals, I find the situation deeply tragic.

I wish Praful Patel and the new Chairman luck but the truth is that nothing they do will amount to much more than putting a band-aid on a gaping wound. As long as the government runs Air India, it will continue to strangle it.

So, what’s to be done?

It’s obvious really: privatise Air India.

It should have been done a long time ago. The BJP government was too obsessed with trying to prevent Naresh Goyal from buying it. And then, it refused to sell it to the Tatas who were interested. This government — allegedly a government of reformers — has, to its eternal shame, not made any moves towards privatisation.

So, yes, I blame Morarji Desai. But I blame other Prime Ministers too.

It is almost too late for Air India. Let’s try and save it before it dies. And the only way to save it is for the government to finally let go.
_________________
The way I see it, you can either work for a living or you can fly airplanes. Me, I'd rather fly.

747-237 · Posted: Sun Oct 04, 2009 3:40 pm Post subject:

rhumbline · Member Joined: 28 Sep 2007 Posts: 443

Phadnis · Posted: Sun Oct 04, 2009 5:08 pm Post subject:

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

Those half known so called journos who wrote all bulls*** about the AI fire incident, BA emergency landing should learn a thing or two from this article. Now this is what I call sensational journalism!
_________________
India is one of the richest countries in the world.
The only problem is........all the wealth is distributed in the wrong hands.

HAWK21M · Posted: Mon Oct 05, 2009 2:50 am Post subject:

JRD was a true Leader in Aviation.....His removal compounded with reservations & recruitment of non efficient personnell added to the problem,then case Political Interference & unnecessary staff benefits.

regds
MEL.
_________________
Think of the Brighter side !!!

Jaysit · Member Joined: 19 Dec 2006 Posts: 4346

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

avbuff · Member Joined: 22 Dec 2006 Posts: 5031

Jaysit · Member Joined: 19 Dec 2006 Posts: 4346

How many -300ERs and -200LRs does AI now have in its flee?

karatecatman · Guest

Jaysit · Member Joined: 19 Dec 2006 Posts: 4346

karatecatman · Guest

Shortly after the deal was signed.

rutvij · Posted: Mon Oct 05, 2009 10:29 pm Post subject:

karatecatman · Guest

www.dnaindia.com/money/report_air-india-fast-tracks-flight-into-star_1295415
Air India fast-tracks flight into Star
Ramiya Bhas
DNA
October 6, 2009

Mumbai: National Aviation Company of India Ltd (Nacil), the debt-ridden, state-owned manager of Air India, has fast tracked plans to be a working member of Star Alliance.

A senior official of the airline said the membership will help give AI a boost in business and help increase passenger load factors. "This alliance...allows us to be a part of the top 21 airlines of the world, with 17,000 flights daily flying to and fro from 916 destinations in 160 countries," said the official.

Membership will see AI's passenger load factor rise 7 per cent on an average, as it would include agreements with other airlines to carry their passengers domestically and internationally.

In August, Air India had a passenger load factor of 59.8 per cent and flew close to 6 lakh passengers.

Sources and analysts say that this membership will help the airline to draw more domestic traffic, thanks to the code-sharing agreement between Air India and other airlines that are a part of the alliance.

Kapil Kaul, CEO (Indian subcontinent and Middle East), Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation, an international aviation consultancy, said AI's primary benefit will be in revenue enhancement. "Also, being a part of this will help the airline be a part of a global network, in turn help create a global appeal for the customers," he said.

According to the turnaround plan tabled by the Air India management earlier last month, the airline plans to enhance revenues by 135 crore per month through route rationalisation and various code-shares with Star Alliance members.

Air India was invited to be a part of the Alliance in 2007, and the deal was meant to be finalised by March 2009. However, the delay has been caused due to dual codes that are currently used by Air India (AI) and the erstwhile Indian Airlines (IC) flights.

"We are currently in the process of finalising a common code for all our flights, and within three months after this, our membership will be applicable," said an airline official.

Nimish · Posted: Tue Oct 06, 2009 1:10 pm Post subject:

vikramv2 · Posted: Tue Oct 06, 2009 1:33 pm Post subject:

747-237 · Posted: Wed Oct 07, 2009 5:46 am Post subject:

vt-ala · Member Joined: 08 Apr 2008 Posts: 440

Air India offers seven aircraft for dry lease
By Greg Waldron

http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2009/10/06/333116/air-india-offers-seven-aircraft-for-dry-lease.html

Air India has invited tenders to dry lease out seven of its aircraft, three Boeing 777-200LRs and four Airbus A310 freighters. It hopes to dry lease out the 777s for 24 months or more, and the A310s for 18 months or more, says Air India. Air India would prefer to lease out the 777s starting from the third quarter of 2010, it says.

All three 777s are owned by Golden State Aircraft LLC, according to Flightglobal's ACAS database. The A310s are available immediately and all four are owned by Air India, according to ACAS. On 29 September Air India said it aims to achieve cost savings of 13 billion Indian rupees ($272 million) in the remaining six months of its fiscal year. The ailing carrier is targeting cost savings in a number of areas, it says. From its operational restructuring alone Air India hopes to achieve cost savings of four billion Indian rupees.

Other areas where the carrier hopes to reduce costs in the next six months include aircraft material costs, fuel, the renegotiations of handling contracts with airports, the elimination of wasteful expenditure, rentals and other administrative costs.

Air India made a loss of around 50 billion Indian rupees ($1 billion) for the year to 31 March. It has been losing money for years and has asked the government for an equity infusion of 12.31 billion Indian rupees and a soft loan of 27.5 billion Indian rupees that will be repaid over 15 years.

Phadnis · Posted: Wed Oct 07, 2009 12:01 pm Post subject:

karatecatman · Guest

www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_two-air-india-cabin-crew-grounded_1296674
Two Air India cabin crew grounded
Naveeta Singh
DNAFriday, October 9, 2009

While Air India employees have to travel economy class under the company's austerity drive, relatives of employees are entitled to upgrades.

Two cabin crew members learnt this the hard way when they were grounded on September 19 for sending a passenger back to the economy class after she was upgraded to executive class without their knowledge.

The airline, however, claimed that Anita Shashidhar*, cabin in-charge, and Ramanand Gawand*, a senior purser with 25 years of service, were grounded for rude behaviour.
Air India cabin crew allege that the passenger in question was a relative of one of the executive directors and daughter of a member of the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC).

On September 13, she was upgraded on the Frankfurt-Chicago leg of Air India's Delhi-Frankfurt-Chicago flight AI 127."While going through the passenger manifest, Gawand found an extra passenger in the executive class," said a member of the cabin crew association. Her seat number had been struck off and 'executive seat' written on it.

"Since the numbers in the manifest did not tally, he asked the passenger to go back to economy class." The passenger refused. So Gawand informed Shashidhar, who reported the matter to the pilot. The pilot told Shashidhar to send the passenger back to economy class. On return to India, Gawand and Shashidhar learnt that they had been grounded.

Air India spokesperson Jitendra Bhargava confirmed the grounding of the staff. "The passenger in question was upgraded by the airline," he said."As all seats were full on the Delhi-Frankfurt sector, she travelled economy class to Frankfurt.At Frankfurt, as a seat was available in the business class, her boarding card was amended and she was seated in business class for travel to Chicago. But the crew members did not accept the amended boarding card and sent her back to economy class, embarrassing the organisation."

Asked why employees have to travel economy class while their kin can get upgrades, Bhargava said paying passengers bring in revenue.

*Names changed on request

karatecatman · Guest

www.livemint.com/2009/10/08194215/AI-to-present-turnaround-plan.html
AI to present turnaround plan before Parliamentary panel
lThe government had decided to extend full support to Air India by infusing equity and converting high cost debt to low-cost

PTI New Delhi: Crisis-ridden Air India is expected to present a new turnaround plan to a key Parliamentary Committee going into the issue of how the national carrier has landed deeply in the red.
Chairman-cum-managing director Arvind Jadhav on Thursday made a presentation before the Committee on Public Undertakings headed by senior Congress MP V Kishore Chandra Deo.
Sources said that the presentation led to a number of searching questions to the Air India top brass as to how it could term the current turnaround programme as adequate when a deficit of a whopping Rs5,320 crore would remain even after its implementation.
The airline management has sought more time to answer the queries of members, saying it was busy grappling with the situation caused by recent strike by senior pilots. It said it will come up with a new turnaround plan and present the same before the panel.
The members wanted to know that how the austerity measures and other steps taken by it could minimize the loss which is in the range of around Rs16,000 crore.
The government had decided to extend “fullest support” to Air India by infusing equity and converting high cost debt to low-cost.
Civil aviation minister Praful Patel had said that the government’s desire was to ensure improvement in Air India’s financial health through the turnaround plan and had briefed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and finance minister Pranab Mukherjee on the proposal.

karatecatman · Guest

Sent by eamil
AI’s salary cut talks may fuel expat pilot exodus
All cockpit crew to be Indian by July next year
By Parul Chhaparia
Oct 08 2009 , New Delhi

Air India has begun an exercise to cut salary packages handed to its foreign pilots. It expects a large number of pilots not to accept lower remunerations, and thus leave.
The exercise will help the carrier meet a requirement, imposed by the directorate- general of civil aviation (DGCA) on all domestic airlines, to phase out all foreign pilots by July 31 next year.
“We have to phase out expatriate pilots by next year. The renegotiation will help us follow the DGCA norm and save operational costs as well,” Arvind Jadhav, Air India chairman, told Financial Chronicle.
The negotiations are not directly with the pilots but with 16 recruitment agencies, such as Rishworth and Next Generation, that have placed foreign pilots with the carrier.
Jadhav said he had asked the carrier’s operations director to prepare a formal proposal for renegotiations with the recruitment agencies. “They are working on it and accordingly sending letters to them.” The move, he added, was mainly to prepare the airline for a phase-out of expatriate pilots by the DGCA set deadline.
The foreign pilots, numbering about 250, only operate flights on international routes and those of Alliance Air and Air India Express. They do not handle domestic flights of what was Indian Airlines before it was combined with Air India. They get paid about $13,500 a month, besides perks.
The recruitment agencies admit that the renegotiation will lead to a mass exit of foreign pilots. “The renegotiation means that salaries will come down, which many foreign pilots are not willing to accept,” said one of the recruiters.
All domestic airlines are required to keep DGCA informed of their plans for the phase-out.

karatecatman · Guest

ECONOMIC TIMES
AI to deploy B 777 for its long-haul flights from Oct 25
10 Oct 2009
PTI

MUMBAI: To provide comfort and luxury to the passengers on its long-haul flights, state-run Air India has decided to operate newly-acquired B 777 aircraft on these sectors during its winter schedule starting October 25.

Air India will deploy the B 777 aircraft on all its seven West-bound destinations and one to Tokyo. Presently, the state-of-the-art B777s is available on Air India flights to New York, Chicago, Frankfurt and London from October 25, a statement issued here today said.

The same high-quality product will be now be extended to Newark, Paris, Toronto and Tokyo, thus ensuring a consistent and superior product on long-haul destinations in the US, Europe, Canada and to Tokyo, the statement said.

"With more than half of the fleet now comprising new aircraft, it has given the airline an opportunity to rework its winter schedule in such a manner as to provide passengers with a product that matches the best in the industry, both on international and domestic sectors," the statement said.

Air India, which is in the red, has ordered acquisition of 111 new aircraft, of which it has received and inducted 64 so far. This includes nine B 777-300ER, eight B 777-200LR, 15 each of A 321 and A 319 aircraft, besides 17 B 737-800 aircraft for Air India Express.

The existing Amritsar-London-Toronto flight will now operate with a B 777-300ER, four days a week out of Amritsar. On the remaining three days, the flight will originate from Delhi, thus giving Delhi passengers a direct connection to London-Toronto, it said.

The existing thrice-weekly flight to Paris will now be operated with B 777-200LR instead of A 330. Similarly, the product upgrade has been extended to the four weekly flights to Tokyo, with the deployment of a B 777-200LR instead of A 330, the statement said.

Besides these, additional flights on the Mumbai-Riyadh and Delhi-Riyadh routes will take the total frequencies from India-Riyadh to 11 per week from the existing nine. All the 11 flights will be operated with B 777-200ER aircraft instead of B 747-400. A daily non-stop A 319 flight will be introduced between Chennai and Muscat.

The Air India Express flight on the Kozhikode- Muscat- Kozhikode route will now become a daily flight as against the four times a week. Similarly, the Kozhikode-Doha-Bahrain flight will become a daily flight. Kochi-Muscat-Kochi flight will operate five times a week instead of twice.

AI Express will see an increase in capacity with the introduction of all-economy A 320 aircraft on its services to Dubai, Sharjah, Kuala Lumpur and Colombo, from various cities in India, the statement said.

karatecatman · Guest

AI selects Booz, Rothschild for cost restructuring

STAFF WRITER
Mumbai, Oct 11 (PTI)

Air India has selected global consultancy firms Booz Allen & Company and RothsChild to guide the national airline on its cost rationalisation and debt restructuring strategies.

"We have selected Booz & Allen and Rothschild to devise strategies on cost-rationalisation and debt-restructuring," Air India sources told PTI here.

While Booz Allen is a leading strategy and technology consulting firm, Rothschild provides investment banking, corporate banking and private banking and trust services to governments, corporations and individuals globally.

Air India Chairman and Managing Director, Arvind Jadhav is likley to hold a meeting with the senior management on the issue tomorrow.

The two global firms were selected through a bidding process in which other domestic and overseas firms such as Accenture, Ernst & Young and Ambit Finance Corp participated, the sources said.

karatecatman · Guest

www.dnaindia.com/india/report_air-india-s-haj-service-hits-an-air-pocket_1298301
Air India's Haj service hits an air pocket
Yogesh Kumar
DNA
Tuesday
October 13, 2009

New Delhi: Air India's Haj operation, which takes off from Srinagar airport next month, has run into rough weather. Airline sources say the runway at Srinagar is not wide enough for the A330 aircraft, which has been deployed to ferry Haj pilgrims. The management found this out during an internal audit of the airport last month.

Haj flights were started from Srinagar to make the trip easier for Muslims of the area, who would otherwise have to travel to far off places to catch flights. Haj operations are due to begin sometime next month.

"The runway is 44 meters wide and not adequately carpeted to take the load of an A330. The runway is in desperate need of repair," said an airline official, privy to the audit report.

Pilots, naturally, are worried about safety. "Flying A330 in Srinagar airport would be unsafe because LCN of the runway is far too less than required. The LCN is the ability of the runway surface to bear the weight of the aircraft while landing and take-off," said a senior pilot.The runway width is the other worry.

"The plane's turning radius is 44 meters, which is also the width of the runway. In order to land an A330 safely, even an expert pilot needs a three-metre margin, which won't be possible in this airport," said another pilot.

However, the airline management is optimistic about overcoming all problem. "The airport authority has been told to re-carpet the runway especially for the A330," said an executive.

karatecatman · Guest

TIMES OF INDIA
Patel to review Air India's plan on Wednesday
Saurabh Sinha
TNN
13 October 2009

NEW DELHI: With polling in Maharashtra going to be over on Tuesday, aviation minister and senior NCP leader Praful Patel is finally turning his
attention to the issue of Air India's survival. He has called for a review meeting of progress made on AI's cost-cutting plan in Mumbai on Wednesday. Apart from the top brass of AI, Patel will also meet union leaders to come to some agreement on the thorny issue of wage cuts.

Patel will meet the trinity of AI — financial advisor to the ministry Bharat Bhushan, airline CMD Arvind Jadhav and joint secretary Prashant Sukul. After the recent pilot strike, there was a general feeling that nothing should be done till the Maharashtra poll is over as that would mean opening too many fronts at the same time for Patel. So a day after polling, he will meet the top management and unions as the ministry has to prepare a cabinet note for fund infusion into AI at the earliest, said sources.

Sources said this job is easier said than done. The airline management had last month cut salaries of just a section of non-unionised pilots and that led to a five-day long strike. To get the strike called off, the management had to put on hold its decision to cut salaries. "This was a loss of face for the management and has made the tough task of cutting costs, including salaries, even tougher for us," said a person closely involved in AI restructuring.

karatecatman · Guest

Thanks to source

Air India Opens Booking Office in North Block
Air India has set up a booking office in the premises of the Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance, North Block, New Delhi with a view to providing the convenience of reservation facilities to Ministries and government departments at their doorstep.

The fully equipped Implant Office, located in Room 232, North Block has become functional from October 8, 2009 and will provide reservation and ticketing facilities from Monday to Friday (0930 hrs-1730 hrs) for travel on Air India's international and domestic sectors. This office will cater to the requirements of Ministry of Home, Ministry of External Affairs, Ministry of Defence, Department of Personnel and Training, Departments of Revenue and Expenditure and Department of Economic Affairs.

Two more such offices are expected to be set up in Delhi by the end of December 2009. The airline is also exploring the possibility of opening similar offices in other metro cities, to facilitate government departments. Air India at present has Implant Offices operating from Ministry of External Affairs at Akbar Hotel and Parliament House, in Delhi.

Air India
Mumbai/New Delhi
October 12, 2009

rutvij · Posted: Tue Oct 13, 2009 8:17 pm Post subject:

karatecatman · Guest

Update
Mantri met the Air India staff and unions.
Govt. to support Air India. Managers and unions to agree to discuss wage cuts.

Remaining 6 777-300ERs to be delivered after 2 years.

Plan to lease the 777LRs may be scrapped. May go ahead also.

shivendrashukla · Posted: Thu Oct 15, 2009 9:04 am Post subject:

AI delays new Boeing delivery by 2 yrs

By Mail Today Bureau in Mumbai

AIR India plans to defer the delivery of six Boeing 777 aircraft by two years and is likely to retire its large fleet of leased aircraft in the next 12- 24 months as part of its cost cutting exercise, civil aviation minister Praful Patel said on Wednesday.

He said the airline had drawn up a major restructuring plan to cut costs by Rs 3,000 crore and increase revenue by Rs 2,000 crore every year, which would pave the way for the government to infuse more funds into the airline.

“ One step would be induction of equity and the other restructuring high- cost debt to low- cost debt,” he told reporters here after holding separate meetings with Air India employees unions and the management.

Patel said the government would come to the aid of Air India only if it cut costs drastically and increased revenue. This, he said, would lead Air India to the path of recovery.

The issue of certain newer aircraft being leased out is also being explored by the management, especially a few Boeing 777 ( long range) which are, at the moment, likely to be inducted in the next few months, Patel said.

The airline would go in for sale and leaseback policy, which is being pursued by its private competitors. Patel sought the cooperation of the employees unions, including those of the pilots, to turn around the ailing national carrier, which has piled up losses of over Rs 7,000 crore.

“ A draft note on equity infusion in Air India, prepared by the civil aviation ministry, is being sent to Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs ( CCEA),” Patel said.

Describing his meeting with representatives of 14 Air India staff unions as positive, Patel said the unions were very understanding and aware of the problems.

He said a series of measures to cut costs would include returning leased planes and leasing out some new ones. Air India has undertaken a major revamp plan, of which some have come into effect, Patel said.

Air traffic has improved over the last six months and the overall market scenario has witnessed a slight improvement in the last month or two, he added.

iflytb20 · Posted: Thu Oct 15, 2009 9:36 am Post subject:

karatecatman · Guest

INDIAN EXPRESS
Air India offers day return flights from B'lore
Oct. 15, 2009

BANGALORE: Air India will be providing day return facility and increased capacity for its passengers from Bangalore to Hyderabad, Chennai and Kochi.
It will also be reintroducing its flights on the Bangalore-Pune route in its winter schedule coming into effect from October 25.
The airline will be operating around 130 flights per week ex Bangalore to various destinations in the country and abroad, offering around 17,000 seats weekly in the new winter schedule ex Bangalore.
Bangalore-Hyderabad
The new flight IC 917 in the morning, will leave Bangalore at 8:10 am daily to reach Hyderabad at 9:15 am. The incoming flight IC 915 will arrive in Bangalore daily at 7:30 am.
In the evening, the flight IC 916 will leave Bangalore at 6:50 pm to reach Hyderabad at 7:40 pm daily and the incoming evening flight IC 918 from Hyderabad will arrive in Bangalore at 5:45 pm providing a daily day return connection between the two cities.
In addition the existing thrice a week flight, IC 977 will leave Bangalore at 4:50 pm on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays to reach Hyderabad at 6:10 pm. Air India will be providing 17 flights a week in this sector alone. It is offering an additional capacity of around 2,000 seats weekly ex Bangalore.
Bangalore-Chennai
In this sector, a daily day return connection will be provided. The new flight IC 509 will leave Bangalore at 7:45 am in the morning to reach Chennai at 8:30 am. The incoming flight from Chennai ,IC 909 arrives in Bangalore daily at 9 am.
In the evening, the existing flight IC 911 will leave Bangalore at 4:35 pm to reach Chennai at 5:35 pm and the incoming flight IC 511 from Chennai, will arrive in Bangalore at 5:25 pm.
Bangalore-Kochi
While the morning flight IC 509 to Kochi will operate via Chennai, leaving Bangalore at 7:45 am to reach Kochi at 10: 25 am, the evening flight IC 511 will operate direct, leaving Bangalore at 6:10 pm to reach Kochi at 7:20 pmdaily.
The incoming flights from Kochi will arrive in Bangalore at 7:10 am in the morning and 5:25 pm in the evening daily, providing a day return connection.
Bangalore-Pune
The flight IC 917 from Bangalore to Pune will be reintroduced and will operate via Hyderabad daily, leaving Bangalore at 8:10 am to reach Pune at 11:15 am. The incoming flight from Pune, IC 918 will arrive in Bangalore at 5:45 pm.