Airliners-India.com

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

When will they deploy the 77W on the AMD-FRA-EWR sector, they havn't yet...

Phadnis · Posted: Sat Oct 24, 2009 7:11 pm Post subject:

karatecatman · Guest

EXPRESS BUZZ
AI withdraws 'popular' flights
Mamta Todi
26 Oct 2009
CHENNAI: The withdrawal of a few ‘popular’ flights by Air India in its latest winter schedule ‘due to poor load viability’ has stunned the pilots and other employees of the airlines. Among the flights withdrawn as per the schedule that is effective October 25 is IC 997/998 in the Calicut-Doha-Bahrain sector, which the employees point out enjoyed an average occupancy of 80 to 85 per cent.

The factsheet clearly states that during the past six months 80 to 85 per cent of the seats were filled. “Even in the 20-minute journey from Bahrain to Doha, the flight had a 55 per cent occupancy. There is no rationale behind the withdrawal of this flight that was doing so well,” said a senior Air India official.

Industry insiders point out that Air India has withdrawn from sectors that had good patronage in the past, too, letting private airlines capture the business. An year ago, IC-975 operating in the then Coimbatore-Cochin-Sharjah route with an average seat factor of 80 per cent was withdrawn and Air Arabia that came in on that route is now doing roaring business, an official said. “Similarly flights from Chennai to Coimbatore were withdrawn and private carriers have benefited out of that,” an aviation expert said. It is this kind of rescheduling on domestic and international sectors that had brought the airline to the present state, an official told Express.

In the Calicut-Doha-Bahrain flight, for the 1920 seats offered in April, 1,644 were utilised. In May, of the 2005 seats, 1,638 were filled. In June it was 1,499 for 2,013, July 1,377 for 2,181, August 1,749 for 2,161 and September 2,036 for 2,394. The return flight saw 1,566 of the 2,151 seats full in April, 2,023 of 2,348 in May, 1,816 of 2,330 in June, 1,578 of 1,838 in July, 1,808 of 1,846 in August and 1,010 of 2,342 in September.

Many other flights out of Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad had been withdrawn by Air India in the past and private airlines had made use of it, the sources alleged. Some of the flights they pointed out are: Chennai-Coimbatore-Kochi-Sharjah that had 80 per cent occupancy, Chennai –Thiruvananthapuram-Chennai (80%), Chennai- Bengaluru-Mangalore (100%), Chennai –Bengaluru-Pune (80%), Chennai–Bengaluru- Ahemdabad (80%) and Bengaluru-Kochi-Trivandrum-Bengaluru (80%). “The aviation ministry has been doing this deliberately to sabotage the operations of Air India,” Capt V K Bhalla, a senior pilot based in Delhi said.

iah87 · Member Joined: 17 Apr 2007 Posts: 2566

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

I don't think that withdrawl of these flights was due to any political influence, almost each of the mentioned destinations now have a direct flight. AI had a very successful AMD-BOM-CDG-EWR flight, which was also stopped...

karatecatman · Guest

National carrier Air India has shortlisted nine agencies for the final round of its creative pitch. These nine agencies are: Euro RSCG, Crayons, Mudra, DraftFCB+Ulka, Everest Brand Solutions, Dentsu, Lowe Lintas, Saatchi & Saatchi and Grey India. In July 2009 30 agencies were in the fray for the Air India business. It may be recalled that Mudra, RK Swamy BBDO, Prem Associates, and Thompson Connect are among the agencies currently on the Air India roster.

Final rounds of presentations were currently underway and were being held over two days on October 26 and 27, 2009.

***

Rush for Air India’s leave without pay offer
Parul Chhaparia
Oct 26 2009
New Delhi

National carrier Air India’s (AI) voluntary leave without pay (LWP) scheme seems to have become a hit amongst cabin crew. Within two months of the official proposal from the company, over 100-crew member have applied for leave without pay.

However, their applications are pending for approval as the management has decided not to relieve them before the Haj and winter season. “There are around 1,500 crew members in erstwhile AI. Of these, 105 have already applied for leave without pay. Though the management had announced the scheme in June, the official proposal came only two months back. It is a good option for crew members who want to go for a break and pursue other interests,” Jay Dalaya, cabin crew representative (AI), said.

The delay in approval is due to operational reasons. “Winter and Haj seasons are busy time for the airline. It may become difficult to ensure smooth operations in case over 100 members leave at one time,” said an AI official, who did not want to be named.

AI has been struggling hard to sail through its financial woes. It has already charted a turnaround plan under which it is looking at bringing down its wage bill of Rs 3,000 crore per year.

The leave without pay scheme will help the airline to save substantially. “For instance, the salary of the cabin crew varies between Rs 50,000 and Rs 1 lakh per month. If 100 crew members go on leave without pay even for two years, the savings are significant,” Dalaya said. The scheme allows a permanent employee to take leave for up to two years without pay or allowances and return to join at the same level. As per the plan, any employee, opting for leave, could work in another airline or any allied service but would require to get permission from AI management. However, he or she would not be allowed to work in the government or another public sector unit.

The national carrier is estimated to incur a loss of about Rs 5,000 crore in the current fiscal. This is in addition to the Rs 7,200 crore losses that the airline suffered during 2008 and 2009 fiscal years.

***
http://business.rediff.com/report/2009/oct/27/air-india-readies-schedule-to-reduce-fleet.htm
Air India readies schedule to reduce fleet
October 27, 2009

To bring down its aircraft strength of 133 to 95, National Aviation Company Ltd, which runs Air India, has worked out a combination of leasing, selling and phasing out of its existing fleet.

Under the plan, the heavily loss-making airline will sell five aircraft, put on lease another seven and return 16 leased big aircraft and five narrow-body ones, in phases by January 2011. This will bring down the fleet strength to 95.

Confirming the development, a company spokesperson said, "We have not yet calculated how much we will earn or save by this, as all depends on the rates at the time when the quotations will be invited".

Though the number of planes will come down, the capacity won't, he said, as the older planes are being replaced by larger and newer aircraft.

The airline, reeling under a Rs 7,200 crore loss on its books at the end of the last financial year, has asked for a government grant.

A group of Union ministers headed by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee may approve Rs 5,000 crore (Rs 50 billion) -- Rs 2,000 crore (Rs 20 billion) as equity and Rs 3,000 crore (Rs 30 billion) as grant -- for the airline.

Among the seven aircraft the airline will lease, three will be new Boeing 777-200LR and four cargo planes. The airline is also to receive delivery of eight aircraft of the same make.

Of the 16 leased aircraft to be returned, three are Boeing planes used for VIP operations and four are Boeing 777-200ER, to be let go at one each in March, May and August 2010 and in January 2011.

Other Boeing aircraft include four B777-300ER aircraft to go in the second quarter of the next financial year and three Boeing 777-200, the first to be let go in the first quarter in FY10 and two in the second quarter. The list also has two Airbus 310-300, one each to go in March and May 2010 ,and five narrow-body aircraft.

The airline also intends to sell three Boeing 747-400 after the Haj operations in January 2010 and two A310 Cargo planes.

This plan was presented by chairman and managing director Arvind Jadhav to civil aviation minister Praful Patel on October 14.

The total aircraft that Air India ordered in 2004 was 111 -- 68 from Boeing and 43 from Airbus. Of these, the airline has already received deliveries of 60 aircraft.

***

150 applicants for the post of Air India COO. To be shortlisted to 10. Process is underway. candidate will be announced in December 2009-January 2010.

Manish Soni · Member Joined: 09 Sep 2009 Posts: 102 Location: LHR

Kabir-de-saint · Member Joined: 09 Mar 2009 Posts: 73 Location: New Delhi

Aseem · Member Joined: 15 Dec 2006 Posts: 2841 Location: YYZ

seems they won't be left with much wide bodies??/

what are they doing with their staff??

karatecatman · Guest

Air India is now accepting debit cards for online bookings.

List of Debit Cards accepted for payment

Payment of online booking is also accepted by Debit Card. For online bookings made for journeys originating India, Air India accepts Debit Cards issued by the following banks:

Andhra Bank
Axis Bank Limited
Barclays Bank Plc
Canara Bank
City Union Bank Ltd
Corporation Bank
Deutsche Bank AG
GE Money Financial Services Ltd
HDFC Bank Limited
ICICI Bank Ltd
Indian Overseas Bank
Kotak Bank - Virtual card
Standard Chartered Bank
State Bank of India
Syndicate Bank
The Federal Bank Ltd
The Karur Vysya Bank Ltd

For online bookings made when the shopper is using a United Kingdom issued Debit Card, for travel originating in any country excluding India, Air India accepts the following Debit Cards:

Maestro
Solo
Visa Debit
Visa Electron

Debit Card payment is subject to authorization from the card issuing bank. If the card holder is not a member of the travelling party, the travelling member should carry a photo copy of the card used (front and reverse) with the CVV number blocked for security reasons and a signed letter from the credit card holder authorising the payment for the travel, which needs to be presented for verification at the time of check in. Air India reserves the right to deny boarding if the conditions are not met with.

karatecatman · Guest

Air India passengers waited last month as they tried to learn when their flights would take off after pilots called in sick to protest the airline's plans to cut their pay.

www.nytimes.com/2009/10/31/business/global/31airindia.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1
At Air India, Losses, Rats and a Brawl in the Sky
VIKAS BAJAJ and HEATHER TIMMONS
MUMBAI — In what has been a bad year for airlines everywhere, Air India has suffered from a series of particularly painful — and at times embarrassing — misfortunes.

The struggling government-owned carrier’s already uneven reputation has been further tarnished in recent months by rats on a plane, a strike by senior pilots and a midair fistfight between pilots and flight attendants. In September, a flight to Riyadh was grounded after a passenger saw sparks coming from an engine.

The embarrassing chain of events and the airline’s dire financial situation — it is expected to lose more than $1 billion in the current business year, and the government tentatively pledged about $1.1 billion in bailout money to it recently — has prompted many to ask: Why is the Indian government still running an airline?

The question is particularly relevant in a country that has more poor people than any other nation and where just a tiny percentage of the people fly. Frequent domestic and international fliers prefer airlines other than Air India, which has lost significant market share since the country liberalized commercial aviation in the 1990s.

Rajeev Malik, an economist with Macquarie Securities, said Air India’s problems are becoming a metaphor for India’s incomplete economic reforms: policy makers have a long to-do list but they are handling the tasks inadequately or not at all.

“There is little certainty over the final outcome,” he said.

Many analysts say government ownership is a root cause of Air India’s most pressing problems. In 2007, for instance, the government forced the airline into a poorly conceived merger with Indian Airlines, which was also state-owned. Politicians have influenced the company’s dealings with labor unions, leaving the airline with a much bigger and better-paid staff of 31,000 than it can afford.

Sanat Kaul, a former board member of Air India who also was a senior official in the aviation ministry, said policy makers had frequently overruled the airline’s management on major decisions and had been “erratic and irrational” in removing top executives. Since mid-2003, for instance, the airline has had four managing directors, the carrier’s highest-ranking manager.

At well-run government-owned airlines like Singapore Airlines and Emirates Airlines, which is owned by the Dubai government, politicians hire experienced professionals and give them significant authority, analysts say.

Employees, too, say Air India is rudderless.

“We feel like an orphan. Every three years we get a new mother and a new father,” said Capt. Shailendra Singh, president of the Indian Commercial Pilots Association. He said he had repeatedly asked government officials and the newest managing director, Arvind Jadhav, “What is your plan?” So far, Captain Singh said, “They cannot come up with one.”

A spokesman for the airline, Jitendra Bhargava, said the carrier had a three-year turnaround plan. Acknowledging that Air India’s losses were big, he attributed them to high oil prices, intense competition and a sharp drop in demand. He estimated that Indian carriers received only 13 cents of revenue per mile that each passenger was flown, compared with 40 cents in Western countries.

“All airlines worldwide are in a problem. The Indian airlines are in more of a problem,” he said.

Air India lost $1.1 billion on revenue of $3 billion in the most recent fiscal year at current exchange rates, or 37 percent of revenue. The two largest privately owned competitors also lost money: Kingfisher Airlines lost about $350 million on revenue of $1.1 billion, or about 30 percent; Jet Airways lost $209 million on revenue of $2.8 billion, or 7 percent.

Mr. Bhargava said Air India’s performance could not be directly compared with those of other airlines because it did not outsource functions like ground handling and because policy makers required it to fly unprofitable routes to remote areas and to religious pilgrimage destinations.

The government bailout proposal calls on Air India to match $1.1 billion in aid with a similar amount in cost reductions and increased revenue, said Praful Patel, the minister for civil aviation. Air India needs to fly more passengers, lease unused aircraft and defer the delivery of other planes, he said. A committee of senior ministers has to approve the plan.

But Mr. Patel said the government was not interested in privatizing the airline.

“Air India is under a lot of social responsibility,” said Mr. Patel, who has led the ministry since 2004. Without it, “a large part of India would not be well connected in case of an emergency.” Moreover, he said, Air India transported government employees.

Air India was founded in 1932 as Tata Airlines by J. R. D. Tata, a member of the Indian business family, and Nevill Vincent, a former pilot with the Royal Air Force. The government took a minority stake in the airline after independence in 1947 and nationalized it fully in 1953, though Mr. Tata stayed on as chairman of the board.

Several efforts to privatize the airline have faltered because of political opposition. In 2001, the government scrapped a plan to sell a stake in the airline after Singapore Airlines walked away from a proposed deal in which it and the Tata Group would have taken operational control of Air India.

In the last 15 years, both the airline’s reputation and its market share have eroded. While it continued to fly years-old planes, and passengers complained that its staff treated them in the surly manner Indians have come to expect from government employees, more nimble rivals like Jet Airways and Kingfisher flew shiny new planes and built reputations for indulgent service. Air India has recently begun adding dozens of new planes to its fleet.

The series of unfortunate events in the last two months has only heightened the perception that Air India is troubled.

Late last month, a flight to Toronto was delayed 11 hours as employees hunted rats that had scurried onto the plane while it was being cleaned. The airline worried that the rats might chew through wiring.

That same day, senior pilots began calling in sick to protest the airline’s plans to cut their pay as much as 50 percent. The incident disrupted dozens of flights for four days, ending only after senior policy makers promised that pay packages would not be reduced without negotiations with the senior, or executive, pilots, who are not represented by a union.

Earlier this month, pilots and flight attendants brawled in front of passengers on a plane flying to India from the United Arab Emirates. One attendant said a pilot had molested her and shoved her. The pilots said that was not true. One of the pilots told a local reporter that the cockpit had been unmanned for 10 minutes during the fight, a claim that the airline has denied.

The public travails of Air India have been “worse than the drama in a bad Bollywood movie,” said Mr. Malik, the economist, referring to India’s film industry. But, he added, “even the worst Bollywood movie has a happy ending.”

Vikas Bajaj reported from Mumbai and Heather Timmons from New Delhi.

karatecatman · Guest

www.thehindubusinessline.com/businessline/blnus/09021301.htm
Air India, Aerostar to offer engine MRO services

MUMBAI: Air India has entered into an alliance with Sharjah-based Aerostar Asset Management to provide engine repair and management solutions to airline operators across West Asia.

The alliance for engine MRO would work under the brand The A Team. A marketing agreement was recently executed between the two companies and the brand will be formally launched at the Dubai Air show to be held during November 15-19, a company press rele ase said here on Monday.

Aerostar Asset Management is a company promoted by the ETA Star Group which has a strong presence in West Asia. Aerostar has been involved in jet engine management for various customers since 2005.

The A Team will utilise the existing engine overhaul facilities of Air India at Mumbai and the marketing set-up of Aerostar in West Asia, the release said.

The alliance would sell repair services for jet engines such as GE CF6-50 and 80 series, P&W 4000 series, GE-90 series and CFM56-7 series and would also cover CFM56-5 series engine in the near future, the release said. — PTI

***

AI may review ground handling JV if SATS goes for stake sale
Press Trust of India
New Delhi
November 02, 2009

Air India (AI) may review its ground handling joint venture agreement with Singapore Air Terminal Services (SATS) if the latter diluted its stake to another firm in that country, sources said.

In that case, Air India would carry out ground handling activities through its own subsidiary, they said.

Maintaining that SATS was toying with the idea of participating in these activities in India with another Singaporean firm, the sources said Air India officials are understood to have recently informed a parliamentary committee about their stand if SATS decided to dilute its stake.

Air India-SATS JV firm with 50:50 equity ratio was set up on the basis of an agreement that does not provide for SATS joining hands with another firm, the sources said.

They said since the AI-SATS ground handling company started operations at the new Bangalore and Hyderabad airports, the revenue earned by Air India dipped drastically.

As per official figures, AI's revenue from Bangalore airport through third-party handling rose from Rs 34.90 crore in 2005-06 to Rs 51.99 crore in 2006-07 and Rs 53.69 crore in 2007-08 and then dipped to Rs 25.96 crore in 2008-09 when AI- SATS JV started operating.

Similarly at the new Hyderabad airport, AI revenues rose from Rs 50.91 crore in 2005-06 to Rs 61.19 crore in 2006-07 and then declined to Rs 39.13 crore in 2007-08 and merely Rs 12.45 crore in 2008-09.

karatecatman · Guest

Mumbai, Nov 3 (PTI) Air India pilots today asserted that they would go ahead with their November 24 strike call if their demands were not met within a week, saying the .
"erroneous’’ policies of the management were responsible for the losses of the national carrier.
Warning that they would ‘‘expose’’ the management’s actions through industrial action, the Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA) General Secretary R S Otal said, ‘‘the strike has been called to save Air India. We intend to tell the public and the political leadership what is wrong with Air India.’’
ICPA, the body of non-executive pilots of erswthile Indian Airlines, called for a strike from November 24 ‘‘if issues including that of pending arrears are not addressed by Air India management by November 10.’’
The pilots’ body claimed it was the ‘‘erroneous policies of the management which were responsible for the losses’’ that the national air-carrier had accrued over the years and demanded ‘‘fixing responsibility for the mess‘‘.
Such a move has been ‘‘promised time and again but nothing has been done so far,’’ Otal told reporters, adding that when the magnitude of Air India’s losses have come out in public, people would like to know who should be held accountable for the ‘‘mismanagement’’ of the airline.
‘‘We want some independent agency to investigate the whole issue, including the merger (of Air India and Indian Airlines), which has proved to be a complete failure,’’ Otal said.
Otal alleged that the management had gifted away its passenger load to the Gulf and other destinations from the South to a rival air-carrier by bringing changes in the winter schedule.
‘‘With changes in the winter schedule, Air India has gifted away its passenger load to a rival,’’ he alleged.
ICPA would bring out one scandal/mismanagement instance every week, Otal said, adding, ‘‘the air-carrier leased one aircraft for its Agatti operations, which had almost completed 15 years into operations and has accrued losses to the tune of Rs 3 crore in the last six months.’’
This apart, four of the Air India leased aircraft are grounded for quite some time now-- two in Jordan and two in Mumbai. ‘‘These aircraft are to be returned to the lessor but the management has failed to take a call on the issue.’’
‘‘We have given the management enough time. We had thought wisdom will prevail, but it is not to be. Employees have lost the zeal to work and our patience has run out, ’’ Otal said.

karatecatman · Guest

ZEE NEWS
ICPA demands AI CMD's removal
November 04, 2009

New Delhi: Holding Air India Chairman and Managing Director Arvind Jadhav responsible for the present situation of the national carrier, members pilots' body on Wednesday asked for his immediate removal to save the airline.

The executive committee members of Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA), pilots' body of erstwhile Indian Airlines which has over 600 members, demanded the CMD's removal and a probe into the steps taken by him to resolve the strike by airlines' senior pilots.

"We have also demanded that the government should form an independent body to monitor the developments taking place for the revival of the national carrier," said an ICPA executive committee member, who was present during a two-hour long emergency meeting held at the ICPA office here.

Saying that merger of Air India and Indian Airlines has failed to yield the required results, the pilots have asked the government to demerge the company.

"If they are unable to do that, then they should atleast implement uniform service rules for the employees of both the merged airlines," he said.

The pilots also wanted to know from AI CMD that why their suggestions, regarding the turnaround of the company, were not being accepted by the management.

"It is not only with the pilots' union, they are not paying heed to suggestions of other unions also, they should clarify why they are not accepting our suggestions," he added.

karatecatman · Guest

ECONOMIC TIMES
Boeing may not compensate AI
6 Nov 2009
G Ganapathy Subramaniam & Faizan Khan
ET Bureau

The cash-strapped Air India, looking for funds from the government to revive itself, is unlikely to get any compensation during the current
financial year from US giant Boeing for delay in delivery of B787 Dreamliner aircraft. Air India had ordered 27 B787s and compensation for the delay in delivering the aircraft would have provided some relief of the financial front.

Contrary to popular belief that the Maharajah would be compensated automatically, it transpires that the B787 delay is an extra-ordinary delay and the standard compensation norms included in aircraft purchase agreements cover only delays of up to 90 days. Moreover, AI will get the compensation only at the time of delivery and this could mean a wait of up to early 2011.

According to highly-placed industry sources, the schedule for test flights of B787 is yet to be fixed and the first delivery of the new generation aircraft to Air India is not expected till 2011. Also, the quantum of compensation would have to be negotiated between the airline and Boeing. The national carrier as well as Boeing are tight-lipped about the terms of compensation since it revolves around sensitive commercial agreements.

“We will definitely get compensated, but the details are not known at this point,” said the official spokesperson for Air India. Boeing also struck a cautious note. “All airlines that have ordered B787 will get compensated for the delay. AI will also get compensated and the details will be decided once the test flights are done and delivery schedules are firmed up,” Dr Dinesh Keskar, head of Boeing India, said in response to queries from ET NOW.

The deliveries for Air India were to begin in September 2008. However, in view of the challenges faced in production of the new generation aircraft, which are expected to be far more fuel-efficient than current models in service, no deliveries are expected now. The lunch customer for the Dreamliner, as the new model is called by Boeing, is Al Nippon Airways and the current indication is that the Japanese airline may get to fly the first B787 late 2010.

The 27 B787s ordered by Air India were part of the huge order of 68 aircraft placed by the national carrier before its merger with Indian — earlier known as Indian Airlines. The airline had also ordered 23 B777s and 18 B737-800 aircraft. Boeing has orders for nearly 895 B787 aircraft and delay in production of this aircraft could result in compensation for the carriers, depending on the commercial agreements they have with the US-based aircraft giant.

Rival aircraft manufacturer Airbus of Europe is also facing delays in delivery of the A380 superjumbo. Interestingly, delays in aircraft deliveries had come as a boon to several airlines as traffic slumped due to global slowdown.

karatecatman · Guest

TIMES OF INDIA
Air India to slash routes in bid to cut costs
Saurabh Sinha
TNN
7 November 2009

NEW DELHI: The Air India Maharaja could soon see a significant shrinking of his kingdom. A group of ministers (GoM) headed by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee has categorically told the AI-IA combine to drastically prune all loss-making routes, which could include the airline’s prestigious daily non-stop flights to New York from Delhi and Mumbai.

This directive came after AI’s management told the GoM it loses Rs 3,000 crore annually on just 30-odd routes. AI’s most prestigious flights — daily nonstop to New York from Delhi and Mumbai on the latest Boeing 777-200 (long range) — lose Rs 750 crore annually.

AI’s management had informed FM Pranab Mukherjee-led GoM that it loses Rs 3,000 crore annually on just 30-odd routes. "We have been categorically directed to cut loss-making routes. So, the airline will witness at least 10-20% reduction in flights by 2009-end. The AI-IA combine makes a cash loss of Rs 400 crore every month and this can be halved by axing the bleeding flights," said a top government official on the directive to cut flights on loss-making routes.

Air India has 229 weekly departures. This figure for IA, IA (international) and Alliance Air is 1,369, 568 and 329 respectively. So the combined weekly departure of almost 2,500 could drop to over 2,000 in coming months.

A saving of Rs 113 crore is expected by cutting down AI Express flights to the Gulf by half and stopping IA on that route as the latter’s small planes deployed here like Airbus A-319 often lead to load penalty — means restriction on number of passengers and loss of revenue.

Route cutting is proving to be a double edged sword for the aviation ministry and airline management. "To survive or even defer the demise, routes have to be cut. The moment we do that, there will be charges that this has been done to benefit private airlines and foreign carriers. Pilots will also oppose this move as the incentives linked to number of flying hours will get hit," said a top ministry official. With flights drastically reduced, the fleet size of AI will now be in the range of 80 to 90, all new planes.

Already, one of the senior-most politicians from Kerala and a minister in both UPA-I and II has complained to the PMO on AI’s decision to stop IA from flying to Gulf and deploying only AI Express there. But the savings of Rs 113 crore is learnt to have justified this move.

AI had accumulated loss of about Rs 7,000 crore till March, 2009, and the figure could rise to Rs 12,000 crore by end of 2009-10. The working capital loan alone is close to Rs 16,000 crore. To top that, the ordered 111 new planes are coming at a cost of over Rs 50,000 crore. AI is now seeking a bailout from government in the form of Rs 5,000 crore equity infusion.

In a way, confirms the rumours. Let's hope there is a way out. Employees getting increasingly demoralised.

A certain Minister has also been told to keep off the running of Air India.

Nimish · Posted: Sat Nov 07, 2009 9:26 am Post subject:

^^ In a normal scenario further cutting of routes would be the best way forwards, as it would be matched by a corresponding cut in costs. However in the case of AI, it's almost certain that costs will not be cut (other than the fuel/ landing charges), and hence revenues will disappsear but costs will reduce only marginally. Sounds like the situation will be even worse after these cuts!
_________________
We miss you Nalini!

Manish Soni · Member Joined: 09 Sep 2009 Posts: 102 Location: LHR

karatecatman · Guest

ECONOMIC TIMES
Air India may ground 650 flights per week
7 Nov 2009
Nirbhay Kumar
ET Bureau

NEW DELHI: Air India may ground a quarter of its weekly flights, bring all its services to West Asian labour hubs under its no-frills subsidiary and scrap a celebrated non-stop Mumbai-New York flight, as the cash-starved national carrier looks to tidy up its hangar ahead of an expected bailout package.

The steps could be part of a civil aviation ministry restructuring plan that will be taken up by a Group of Ministers (GoM) next Thursday to decide on Air India’s future course and its immediate demand for a Rs 5,000-crore equity infusion.

A senior official said that the carrier plans to scrap 650 flights that fly on what he described as non-essential routes. Such sectors bleed the company by Rs 2,000 crore per year, he said, requesting anonymity. The carrier is estimated to have accumulated losses of Rs 7,200 crore as on March, 2009, due to low yield, high fuel price and poor demand.

Among the laggards are the non-stop flights it launched to New York from Mumbai and New Delhi, which reportedly incurs a loss of Rs 750 crore per year, more than the amount the airline plans to save by cutting employees’ productivity-linked incentive. Air India executive director Jitendra Bhargava pegged the figure much lower at Rs 450 crore. As part of the new plan, airline will scrap the Mumbai flight. “Airfare on India-US sector is ridiculously low. A person flying to the US via Europe pays higher fare, but pays less when flying directly from India,” Mr Bhargava said.

The national flag carrier’s route rationalisation plan includes shifting full-service flights to the airline’s low-cost subsidiary Air India Express on Gulf sectors, a top government official told ET.

The capacity rationalisation on Gulf routes is expected to save the airline Rs 113 crore per year. The official said Air India’s monthly loss stood at Rs 400 crore and this had to be brought down to atleast Rs 100-120 crore.
“This can’t be achieved without reducing fleet size and routes. The airline should look at a fleet size of 90 to 95 aircraft from the current 132,” he said.

“We have effected major changes in the winter schedule. While government help is welcome, the move to prune network is essential for cutting losses. Bulk of the flights are uneconomical due to low fare and high operating costs,” said Mr Bhargava.

The airline had in May approached the government for a bailout package to stay afloat, following which a GoM was formed to finalise a revival plan.

***

AI to have more low-cost flights on Gulf routes
Sindhu Bhattacharya
DNASaturday
November 7, 2009

New Delhi: In a bid to cut costs, Air India has decided to convert some flights of the erstwhile Indian Airlines on Gulf sector routes into low-cost ones through Air India Express.

In its proposal to the government, the airline has said this move -- which will cut down duplication of flights on some routes where both AI and IA continue to fly -- would also result in annual savings of Rs 113 crore. Besides, as many as 664 new seats would be added on the sector because of reconfiguration of aircraft to the low-cost model.

Official sources confirmed this move by the airline, saying this is part of a massive exercise Air India has undertaken to cut costs. It comes just before a November 12 meeting of the Group of Ministers, which will examine AI's request for infusion of Rs 5,000 crore equity in the context of the airline having taken substantial cost-cutting measures.

Meanwhile, a decision to cut employee salaries by about 15% is likely by early next week. "Employees need to face the reality. Yes, the earlier 50% cut which was opposed by employees was unwarranted, but 15% is reasonable. We will not be approaching the unions again on the issue and directly go to the GoM with this measure. A cut in salaries would automatically mean a reduction in performance-linked bonus (PLI) across the
board.

Also, the decision to cut full-service flights on the Gulf routes would further bring down the PLI component," highly placed sources told DNA Money on Friday.

Even some high-profile routes -- including the non-stop Delhi-New York and Mumbai-New York flights -- could be tweaked or even cancelled in the coming days as a part of this cost cutting exercise. These two flights are together running up annual losses of Rs800 crore!

Air India, which is running up losses of Rs400 crore a month, has sought Rs5,000 crore as equity support from the government because its current equity base of Rs145 crore is quite small. The carrier is hoping to be able to raise further loans on the base of the enhanced equity and thus fund an ambitious aircraft purchase programme. Unable to bear continued losses, the airline has already sought Rs3,000 crore as additional working capital loans and Rs500 crore has been sanctioned as a short-term measure.

***
INDIAN EXPRESS
Trimming losses, NACIL to shift lean Gulf routes to AI Express
ENS Economic Bureau
Nov 07, 2009
New Delhi : Loss-making state-owned carrier National Aviation Company of India Limited (NACIL) is planning to shift unprofitable Gulf routes operated by erstwhile Indian Airlines and Air India to international low-cost carrier Air India Express. The move — part of the company’s route rationalisation efforts under its turnaround plan — is expected to result in annual savings of around Rs 113 crore per annum.
In an internal observation, the civil aviation ministry has said that Air India, Indian Airlines and Air India Express were competing not only with other airlines, but also with each other, causing “sub-optimal routes and lower revenues for both brands” on these routes.

The route rationalisation plan, along with other measures taken by the carrier to shore up its revenues and undertake cost-cutting, will come up for review in the next meeting of group of ministers (GoM) on November 12.

After the proposed rationalisation takes effect, the total weekly seating capacity for Air India and Indian Airlines will come down to 13,820 from current levels of 20,301. At the same time, the all-economy weekly seating capacity on Air India Express will increase from 19,702 to 28,503. The move is expected to translate into savings of Rs 47 crore on account of the low-cost model, which is expected to yield better volumes.

Most of the these routes have been incurring losses in the April-august 2009 period. For instance, the Mumbai-Sharjah route, with a 46 per cent load factor, incurred losses of Rs 9 crore — the highest among the Gulf routes. At the same time, flights operated by Air India Express to west Asian destinations, like Dubai and Sharjah, have been profitable with high load factors.

Air India has been struggling to come out of the red — having incurred losses to the tune of Rs 7,200 crore till now — and had knocked on the government’s door for a bailout. The finance ministry has given its assurance of providing around Rs 5,000 crore, but not before the carrier undertakes some drastic measures to cut costs.

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

9w is actually upgrading BOM-BRU-EWR to a B77w but as Manish rightly stated with DL exiting BOM, things will get better for all 3 carriers namely CO/9W/AI.
If AI really want to cut down on these ULH flights (which I think they should), they should either make it 4w out of DEL and 3w out of BOM, or even daily out of DEL with good connections to/from BOM.
I personally believe that they should concentrate on expanding their FRA hub, because adding flights to/from FRA will benifit all AI flights in FRA.
Also isn't AIX the only profitable carrier in NACIL???

karatecatman · Guest

Update
Upto 10 directors may be putting in their papers after salary cuts.

karatecatman · Guest

www.zawya.com/Story.cfm/sidZAWYA20091108071729/Kuwait,%20India%20airlines%20sign%20cooperative%20deal
Kuwait, India airlines sign cooperative deal

07 November 2009
KUWAIT -- Kuwait's national carrier, Kuwait AirwaysKuwait Airways, has signed a commercial cooperation agreement with Indian airline, Air India.

Involving the London-New York-London flight, the agreement aims to further promote and consolidate existing cooperation and to provide more facilities between both carriers, Kuwait Airways Planning Section Deputy Chairman Saud al-Mekheizem said in news remarks.

The deal could be expanded to cover other air lines, he said.

Under the agreement, a number of economy, business and first seats will be allocated for Air India passengers, and flight schedules between Kuwait and India will be announced through different booking systems, he added.

The deal is part of the Kuwaiti national airline's plan to broaden the scope of bilateral alliances with other carriers with a view to shoring up the economies of operation and diversifying revenues, he added.

karatecatman · Guest

LIVEMINT
Expat pilots hiring, account for 10% of AI salary bill

As revealed by the airline in response to an Right To Information application, NACIL paid Rs93.29 crore towards salaries and expenses to the agencies which provided expatriate pilots to Air India
PTI
Mumbai/New Delhi:

Cash-strapped Air India has been spending around 10% of the airline’s total salary bill to pay its team of over 160 foreign pilots and hiring firms.
As revealed by the airline in response to an Right To Information application, NACIL paid Rs93.29 crore towards salaries and expenses to the agencies which provided expatriate pilots to Air India and Air India Express last fiscal.
Of this, Air India paid Rs46.63 crore ($93,27,644.23) while its budget arm Air India Express spent Rs46.66 crore ($93,33,732.11) on the expat pilots during the same period.
Unlike several other carriers across the globe, Air India does not recruit pilots on its own but hires them through placement firms like Rishworth Aviation Limited.
“In addition, the company spends up to Rs7,500 per day to accomodate foreign pilots in expensive hotels and provide chauffeur-driven air conditioned cars to them for non-flying duties as well,” a Indian Pilots Guild spokesperson said.
The company has kept these pilots out of its cost- restructuring plan, which include proposals to cut wages, allowances and incentives, the spokesperson said.
There are 163 expatriate pilots in Air India, besides 1,253 Indian pilots and about 200 trainees.
With a total staff strength of 30,505, the airline is targeting lowering total manpower costs from Rs 839 crore in the first two quarters of the current financial year to Rs650 crore in the next two quarters, official figures show.
As per the reply to the RTI application on pilots, a Boeing-737 Commander is paid $10,000, a B-777 commander $12,700 and B-747 and Airbus A-310 commanders $8,750 as salary. They also get a yearly bonus of $12,000, $13,000 and $15,000 on completion of one, two and three/four years in service respectively.
The expats are being paid up to 25% more than Indian pilots and given nine days of fully-paid leave every month, the spokesperson claimed.
These pilots are also provided business class tickets to commute every month to any worldwide destination of their choice while Indian pilots are not even granted 30 days of leave a year and they travel economy class, he said.
“Not only this, when an expat pilot is on leave, his accomodation remains booked in the hotel irrespective of the vacation period,” an Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA) leader alleged.
The pilots unions have been protesting the proposals to slash their salaries and allowances and drawing comparisons with the working conditions of their expatriate counterparts. The executive pilots or commanders had also held a five-day stir in September on the issue.

iah87 · Member Joined: 17 Apr 2007 Posts: 2566

behramjee · Posted: Mon Nov 09, 2009 12:47 am Post subject:

So if BOM JFK BOM gets dropped that means 2 more B 77Ls will be freed.

In that case, I would seriously advise AI management to examine the feasibility of launching a second daily BOM LHR BOM flight with one B 77L and the other B 77L aircraft should be used to launch 3 weekly DEL SYD MEL SYD DEL flights which would connect via DEL to LHR in both directions.
_________________
My website is:
http://airline-news.blogspot.com

Jaysit · Member Joined: 19 Dec 2006 Posts: 4346

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karatecatman · Guest

Spiderguy252 · Posted: Mon Nov 09, 2009 11:36 am Post subject:

karatecatman · Guest

Jaysit · Member Joined: 19 Dec 2006 Posts: 4346

karatecatman · Guest

Update
PMO practically looking after Air India now.
Air India been asked to post a reasonable profit in 18 months. AI management to send progress report to PMO every six months.

Fleet to be reduced. All leased and grounded aircraft to be sold or returned.

All booking offices at offline stations to be shut and most overseas directors to return to India.

Salaries of management to be cut or levelled off.

Has sparked off fears especially after PM says reforms in general will be pushed ahead.

karatecatman · Guest

ECONOMIC TIMES
Air India will try paring top managements’ salary
10 Nov 2009
Nirbhay Kumar, ET Bureau

NEW DELHI: Air India is likely to cut salaries of top management in a bid to rein in costs despite a similar the aborted bid to pare the
remuneration of pilots in late September . An immediate strike by the pilots had crippled the carrier for days together, forcing it to take back the decision.

The airline is likely to take a decision on a cut in performance-linked incentives (PLIs) of functional and executive directors in the board meeting scheduled for Wednesday, sources in Air India said on condition of anonymity.

The board meeting comes ahead of the crucial meeting of group of ministers (GoM) on Thursday to consider the lossmaking airline’s demand for equity infusion of Rs 5,000 crore. The GoM headed by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, in its last meeting, had asked the national carrier to present a firm cost cutting and revenue enhancement plan.

As part of its cost-cutting exercise , Air India had earlier proposed to cut PLIs of its nearly 32,000 employees by up to 50%, but the plan could not be implemented in the face of severe resistance from pilots. Executive pilots protested the management’s move by going on strike for five days which cost the airline over Rs 100 crore due to cancellations.

“A mail has been sent by finance director to executive directors . The director has instructed the salary department to not disburse PLI of executive and functional directors on November 10,” a senior Air India official said.

The move to pare the PLI of these officials, which constitutes nearly 40% of the total salary, has caused resentment among the top executives. “We cannot agree to such decisions. There are hundreds of people whose salaries and perks have so far not been touched because they have bargaining power. We are already getting lower salaries compared to our counterparts in other public sector companies,” said an official wishing not to be identified.

Faced with an accumulated loss of Rs 7,200 crore as on march 2009, the national carrier is on cost-cutting drive which includes slashing employee’s salaries, rationalising capacity, cutting flights and doing away with all non-essential expenses.

***

TIMES OF INDIA
AI to pare down perks of top brass
Saurabh Sinha
TNN
10 November 2009

NEW DELHI: Babus may think twice before accepting top positions like CMD or director in Air India as aviation ministry is finally paring down the
exorbitant perks here to general industry levels. This will mean a hit to both the salary and free travel enjoyed for years by the top management.

The lifetime free travel for CMDs may go. The long list of family members of a serving CEO entitled to free tickets will be pruned from the current joint to a nuclear family. Over the years, this list has been expanded to include daughters and sons-in-law in IA to a no holds barred for AI chief who could have included anyone in that list.

Apart from this, aviation ministry has also asked AI to see if the performance-linked incentive (PLI) that the six functional directors and 30 executive directors get are within government norms. Directors get a monthly PLI of Rs 60,000-85,000. Now, the AI board will meet on Wednesday in Chennai to take up this issue.

‘‘We have told AI that the PLI is within department of public enterprise guidelines. If the guidelines are being followed then there’s no problem, otherwise, the board must get it within the norms,’’ said a top official. AI has an annual wage bill of over Rs 3,300 crore of which nearly Rs 1,500 crore is paid as PLI.

‘‘To be fair, the present CMD — Arvind Jadhav — and his immediate full-time predecessor — Raghu Menon — have battled a crisis a day. But most of the top people before them had a ball at AI’s expense and it is for their mistakes and mismanagement that our salaries are under threat,’’ said an IA old-timer, a witness to the airline’s free fall over they years.

Interestingly, the Chennai meeting is just a day before the Pranab Mukherjee-headed group of ministers (GoM) meets to discuss AI funding where the cash-strapped airline has to show some progress on cost-cutting front to get any money. The GoM has specially frowned on the huge PLI paid as the airline’s performance has only nosedived over the years.

Since no headway has so far been made with pilots on the proposed salary cuts, the airline may either issue an executive order cutting their salaries along with pruning management’s total cost to company.

karatecatman · Guest

LIVEMINT
Air India’s low-cost service yet to take off
The launch of an all-economy domestic service by Nacil had been expected to reduce airfares and help the state-run airline firm compete better with rivals Jet Airways (India) and Kingfisher Airlines
Tarun Shukla New Delhi:
A plan by National Aviation Co. of India Ltd (Nacil) to launch a low-cost affiliate of cash-strapped Air India, the national flag carrier, to compete on domestic routes with private carriers has been tripped up by regulatory and financial hurdles.

The aviation regulator has refused to approve the launch of the low-cost service under the Air India Express brand on Indian routes because the integration of the four state-owned airlines under Nacil hasn’t been completed yet, said two Air India officials familiar with the development.
Nacil also doesn’t have the funds to complete the makeover of old aircraft into an all-economy configuration, said the officials, who spoke separately and didn’t want to be named because they aren’t authorized to speak with the media.

Air India, Indian Airlines, Alliance Air and Air India Express, which flies on some international routes, merged under Nacil in 2007, but they still operate under four different licences and four different firms.

The launch of an all-economy domestic service by Nacil had been expected to reduce airfares and help the state-run airline firm compete better with rivals Jet Airways (India) Ltd and Kingfisher Airlines Ltd that operate low-fare affiliates, besides full-service airlines.
Air India is struggling with losses running up to Rs7,200 crore for fiscal 2009 and debt of Rs16,000 crore.

It has sought about Rs5,000 crore in equity and loans from the government in return for cost-cutting measures. The request is to be taken up by a group of ministers meeting on Thursday.

Nacil had been planning to convert old Airbus SAS-made A320 aircraft belonging to Indian Airlines to an all-economy configuration to fly under the Air India Express brand. However, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation has objected to moving the aircraft because the two airlines operate under separate licences, known as air operator’s permit (AOP), said the Air India official cited above.
Air India said the low-cost domestic service would be launched soon.

“Air India does have a plan for launching low-cost services under the Air India Express brand. This is part of our turnaround strategy,” said an Air India spokesman in response to emailed queries. “The issue of AOP will be resolved by getting an arrangement in place between AI and AI Express.”
Some of the aircraft have already been configured to an all-economy version, said one of the two Air India officials cited earlier. After regulatory permission wasn’t forthcoming, the word Express that had been painted on the aircraft tail was erased. Some aircraft aren’t airworthy for lack of engine spare parts.

“We do not have engine spares as the finance department has not released funds to the vendors, who have stopped supplying spares on credit,” the official said.

A Mumbai-based analyst said this isn’t the right time to start a low-cost carrier and Nacil should first fix Air India’s problems, which include threat of a pilots’ strike from 24 November over pay-related issues.
“The whole issue is more to do with cash in hand. There are lots of problems so the main focus is getting things right within the existing structure rather than starting a new venture right now,” said the analyst.

karatecatman · Guest

Thanks to source
Offices to be shut down and where staff to return

SFO
Oakland
Sydney (decision still to be made)

Ludhiana
Gurgoan
Agra
Dehradun
Mysore
Noida

Aircraft fleet to be shrunk to 95 ftom 134.

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