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karatecatman · Guest

http://www.7days.ae/2006/12/21/youre-too-cheap.html?comment_add=1
‘You’re too cheap’

Thursday, 21st December, 2006

Passengers on a flight from Sharjah delayed for 16 hours say they were insulted by staff who mocked them for using a budget airline. The All India Airport Users’ Forum (AIAUF), representing the passengers of the Air India Express flight from Sharjah to Calicut, India, claims the passengers were insulted after they demanded an explanation for the 16-hour delay of their flight on Tuesday.

The passengers claim they were told by airline staff they were only “dhs501 passengers” and would not be offered free hotel accommodation. "Due to the irresponsible attitude of Air India Express authorities, 170 passengers, including a pregnant woman and children, were stranded at the Sharjah airport,” said KM Basheer, general secretary of AIAUF.

...
But Air India last night rubbished the claims, and instead accused the passengers of ‘rowdy behaviour’ at the airport. “It was an unexpected problem that occurred after the flight landed here,” said a spokesperson for the airline.

“There was no way to inform the passengers in advance but we did advise all the passengers as soon as we got the information. However, the unruly behaviour of the passengers forced us to apologise to the Sharjah airport staff.” The spokesperson added it is unreasonable to expect hotel accommodation when their tickets were cheap.

AKLDELNonstop · Member Joined: 19 Dec 2006 Posts: 1066 Location: Auckland

Hmm interesting, while the delay may not be the local airline staff's fault. To expect people to wait quietly for 16 hours is impossible, Low cost or not. Low cost fine, can't offer hotel, okay. But in that case refund money immediately.

Cheers
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the_380 · Posted: Fri Dec 22, 2006 2:17 pm Post subject:

Is this some sorta popularity stunts that mostly celebrities do to come up in the media? Rolling Eyes

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Jaysit · Member Joined: 19 Dec 2006 Posts: 4346

If Air India and Indians in the UAE treat their fellow Indians like dirt, why should the UAE Arabs treat them any better?

<http>

This article describes the racial apartheid that exists in Dubai. Its no wonder that Arabs treat Indians like shit, when we can't treat our own kind with any sense of dignity.

In fact, if Emirates and Air India are proxies for national attitudes, it appears that Emirates treats those on its slave flights to the subcontinent with far greater respect than Air India does.

That having been said, I bet if this was Jet Airways or Kingfisher, we wouldn't be seeing this level of callousness. At least I hope not.

the_380 · Posted: Fri Dec 22, 2006 8:45 pm Post subject:

AKLDELNonstop · Member Joined: 19 Dec 2006 Posts: 1066 Location: Auckland

[quote="the_380"]

Aiel · Member Joined: 19 Dec 2006 Posts: 927 Location: Bangalore

Air-India to go in for fog risk cover

National flag carrier Air-India has floated a tender for fog insurance seeking coverage from leading insurance companies which underwrite similar weather-related risks. Sources said, including public sector and private companies, over a dozen insurance majors had submitted their bid to Air-India.
"Generally in India, 18 to 20 days in a year are affected badly by low visibility problems due to fog. January is the most-affected month," Airport Authority of India (AAI) sources said. "The loss for cancelling an Airbus A320 aircraft, that is flying one-hour, is estimated at Rs 75,000 to Rs 80,000. Therefore, a loss for cancelling a two and half hour flight due to fog is at Rs 1.87 lakh to Rs 2 lakh," said an airline executive.
Under the fog insurance cover, Air-India has sought risk coverage of Rs 1 crore to Rs 1.5 crore with average daily losses to the tune of Rs 2 crore.

http://www.business-standard.com/common/storypage.php?autono=269051&leftnm=1&subLeft=0&chkFlg=
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Aseem · Member Joined: 15 Dec 2006 Posts: 2841 Location: YYZ

Besides this, credit card companies should cover for travel delay and luggage loss insurance during the fog season. There has to be something for the passengers.
rgds
VT-ASJ

karatecatman · Guest

http://icbirmingham.icnetwork.co.uk/mail/news/tm_headline=&method=full&objectid=18323596&siteid=50002-name_page.html
Dead man gives airport staff a shock
Dec 24 2006

By Leda Reynolds, Birmingham Mail

A PILOT at Birmingham International Airport was brought down to earth with a bump - after forgetting there was a dead man on board his plane.

Baggage handlers at Birmingham Airport got more than they bargained for when they unloaded suitcases and boxes from the plane - and found the body of an elderly man.

The man died of a suspected heart attack while on a flight from Delhi to Birmingham.

The Air India Boeing 777 made an emergency landing at Bucharest where the man was pronounced dead and, rather than leave him sitting among the hundreds of passengers, the pilot ordered his body be stashed in the hold before the plane took off again.

However, the Russian pilot forgot about the man and once the passengers had filed off the plane in Birmingham, he and his crew followed, travelling to a nearby hotel.
As passengers waited in the airport's lounge for their luggage, baggage handlers were shocked to see a plastic casket, containing the dead man, who is from Bradford, nestling in the hold together with hundreds of suitcases.

Now the 56-year-old pilot from Moscow has been temporarily grounded after being quizzed by police following the incident on Thursday.

Officers arrived to arrest the pilot on suspicion of causing a public nuisance by forgetting about the body.

A West Midlands Police spokeswoman said the pilot was arrested at around 9.30pm.

"He was arrested and questioned but later released without charge and no further action will be taken," she said.

Kurapati Row, regional manager for Air India, said the dead man was in his 80s.

.....

If true, really terrible story. Rolling Eyes

Another link in a tabloid that has a huge picture of an AI 777! Rolling Eyes

http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2006590639,00.html

karatecatman · Guest

http://www.business-standard.com/common/storypage.php?autono=269087&leftnm=1&subLeft=0&chkFlg=
A-I, IA scout for ground handling ally

P R Sanjai / Mumbai December 25, 2006

The special purpose vehicle (SPV) floated by Air-India and Indian Airlines is in talks with the West Asia’s Dnata and Singapore Airport Terminal Services (SATS) to bid for ground handling operations at GMR group-promoted new Hyderabad International Airport.

Earlier, Air-India and Indian Airlines, which were bidding separtely for the project, had decided to come together for the SPV.
...

A senior Air-India executive said PSU airlines’ combine have sent a proposal regarding this to the ministry of civil aviation (MoCA).

...
At present, Air-India has a market share of 55 per cent in international ground handling and Indian Airlines has 35 per cent in the domestic market.

....
Total revenue from ground handling operations for Air-India is at Rs 550 crore while Indian Airlines is at Rs 380 crore. Trivedi said, “Our ground handling revenue is likely to shoot up by Rs 450 crore.”

karatecatman · Guest

A UNI report (Dec. 26) says Air-India received its second Boeing aircraft for use by Air-India Express (AIE) today. The first Boeing 737-800 was inducted on December 1.
AIE's fleet will now be nine, seven of which are on lease. The B737-800 can seat 162 to 189 passengers. With this new plane, Air India Express can now commence operations between Bahrain, Doha and Mumbai, Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi and Kozhikode from January 2007, says Air-India Charters Ltd Chief Operating Officer P P Singh in a statement. AIE started operations in April last year and presently operates 57 weekly flights from nine Indian cities.
The 737-800s will also be used on certain A310 routes under Air India flight numbers as a full service operation. This is because Air India is facing a shortage of wide-body aircraft.

avbuff · Member Joined: 22 Dec 2006 Posts: 5031

Well indians are treated like shit in the gulf that is true ...... but it is done by fellow indian s than the arabs i remember the ground staff incharge at the doha airport a lady treatd the passengers like a herd of buffaloes .. shouting yelling at the check - in like some old b***h .... but only air india does so the other airlines are far more efficient in dealing with the passengers the emirates and qatar airways staff handle all sorts of passengers in a very refined way and everyone is happy ... but other than the air india staff everyone is prof in the gulf[/quote]

Aiel · Member Joined: 19 Dec 2006 Posts: 927 Location: Bangalore

Air India plans to lease 12 aircraft

Air India has been forced to re-enter the market to lease up to 12 long-and-medium haul aircraft after it was unsuccessful in its earlier attempt to acquire them. Sources indicated that with global demand for aircraft outpacing supply, the global leasing market was firming up there by making it difficult for airlines seeking to acquire aircraft.

http://news.moneycontrol.com/india/news/business/airindiamediumhaulaircraft/airindiaplanstolease12aircraft/market/stocks/article/258215
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the_380 · Posted: Wed Dec 27, 2006 12:09 am Post subject:

B747-400 and B777-200ERs....seems good choices
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HAWK21M · Posted: Wed Dec 27, 2006 8:19 am Post subject: Re: Air India NEWS

[quote]

.

The passengers claim they were told by airline staff they were only “dhs501 passengers” and would not be offered free hotel accommodation. "Due to the irresponsible attitude of Air India Express authorities, 170 passengers, including a pregnant woman and children, were stranded at the Sharjah airport,” said KM Basheer, general secretary of AIAUF.

...
quote]

What does the Fine print say.
regds
MEL
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karatecatman · Guest

Nimish

HAWK21M · Posted: Sun Dec 31, 2006 8:53 pm Post subject:

The Way people drive on the Tarmac these days.I'm not surprised.Make the culprit pay for tha damages.
regds
MEL
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karatecatman · Guest

The 737-800 had slight damage but the van was a wreck.
But AI's fleet has been hit a few times. 2 747-400 had a flap knocked off and a tail dent. "Accidents" in the hangar.

***
Air India signed a LoI (Letter of Intent) to dry lease 3 B747-400s from Montrose Global Capital. The aircraft would join the airline's fleet in Jan, Feb and Mar of 2007.

Air India has a B767-300ER on wet lease from Flyglobespan operating on the Mumbai-Delhi-Bangkok and Mumbai-Delhi-Kuala Lumpur routes.

Air India is also extending the dry lease of 2 A310-300s though Feb07 and Apr07.

PAL@YWG · Posted: Mon Jan 01, 2007 1:41 am Post subject:

karatecatman wrote:

Air India has a B767-300ER on wet lease from Flyglobespan operating on the Mumbai-Delhi-Bangkok and Mumbai-Delhi-Kuala Lumpur routes.

I think B763ER is doing the BOM-LHR-BOM(4x) & AMD-LHR-AMD (1x) route. That has released the 772 (used for the same routes) to do BOM-PAR-EWR-PAR-BOM run.

At least that's what you get from AI's website.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

avbuff · Member Joined: 22 Dec 2006 Posts: 5031

well first of all happy new year to all of you

AI is even deploying the B767-300 on BOM - KWI - BOM leg every sunday

karatecatman · Guest

BBC (jAN. 04) says AI 191 (B777) from Paris to Newark landed with full emergency at Newark after hydraulic fluid dripping from the brakes caught fire. There were 289 pax+crew. Fire was put out by ground crew.

karatecatman · Guest

AI source says that Serbian flag carrier Jat Airways has launched negotiations with Air India to establish links to destinations in Asia and Australia, when the new AI 777 fleet comes in. Jat will transport passengers to Dubai and Mumbai, where they would board Air India flights en route to Singapore, Bangkok, Melbourne, and Sydney (the last two are planned).
Jat has also teamed up with Amadeus to introduce e- tickets in April 2007.
Air India is also exploring the possibility of routing flights through Serbia, enroute to the West. ( Idea

an attempt at butchering 9W?)

Personal reaction is I almost fell out of the chair.
JAT and Air India? Rolling Eyes

Someone at Nariman Point must have had an extra shot of Serbian vodka at Xmas.
More info about Jat here:
http://www.jat.com/active/en/home.html
It's an IOSA airline, and has some kind of an interline with Emirates.
... and try not to laugh when you read the Travel (Before trhe Flight, During the Flight and After the Flight) link.

Air India has also given the go ahead to IA to send a commercial team to Europe to look for destinations for IA's 2 A330s.

Nimish · Posted: Wed Jan 03, 2007 3:53 pm Post subject:

the_380 · Posted: Wed Jan 03, 2007 6:21 pm Post subject:

AKLDELNonstop · Member Joined: 19 Dec 2006 Posts: 1066 Location: Auckland

I was reading the thread on a.net, it seems to be the wierdest thing AI has done so far. I understand that BEG is a cheaper alternative to LHR, CDG or FRA. But who from India flies to BEG, whats the need. As for a cheaper hub I guess BRU or even CPH might be a better alternative. Neither of these are slot restricted I believe.
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PAL@YWG · Posted: Thu Jan 04, 2007 9:02 am Post subject:

Friends!

On a serious note....think about the possibilities..JU is part of LH's Miles & More...that means one day they will be part of Star Alliance (in Regional airline category) like AI. It makes more sense for them than AI to be in a partnership. Thru DXB & BOM, they can cater a niche market to Indians who wants to get the cheapest fare (from point A to point B). They, in fact can cover all major points in India thru DXB!

Turkmenistan & Uzbekistan airways are still flying the same number of flights out of ATQ as they were doing before the competetion (from AI, 9W & Transaero). Mahan Air of Iran flies to Cochin thru Bandar Abbas! There is always a market for such carriers, I guess!

Incidentally, JU was flying to CCU in the early 80's and I remember, Calcuttans had very little choice in those days for Europe & Americas.

But, as everyone said...it makes very little sense for AI to be in it, except routing few flights to the USA, Canada thru BEG. Those flight will do well.

BTW, HY flew TAS-BEG-JFK with full 5th freedom on BEG-JFK sector for one season. But JU kicked them out thinking that they will start that route on their own which I think they could never start. HY managed to get TAS-RIX-JFK routing!!

So, there are some economics there....

Cheers!

Aiel · Member Joined: 19 Dec 2006 Posts: 927 Location: Bangalore

Now only Air India Express flights from Kerala to Middle East

All Air India flights from Kerala to the Middle East would soon be replaced by Air India Express flights without cargo facilities.

http://planetguru.com/Articles/ArticleDetail.aspx?ChannelId=biz&ArticleId=38003

Wonder what they are gonna do with the A310s?
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avbuff · Member Joined: 22 Dec 2006 Posts: 5031

well personally i feel BURN THOSE F*****G A310's Razz

those A310's are
useless good for nothing seats torn greasy windows eww .. even emirates have A310 but what a difference in those aircrafts

[qoute]Wonder what they are gonna do with the A310s?[/quote]

well the report says theyll be converting theexisting A310 into frieghters most probably

but ok now they are starting LCC service from kerala to middle east about time too their full fledged service is worse than any reputed LCC and i suppose AI is eventually going to phase out the AI to AIX service to all routes whose travel time is upto 4 hrs and have a quick turnaround time
but as a low cost carrier AI will be saving on alcohol and some portion of food because AI itself didnt have any IFE so the AIX will be no different they positive aspect is ppl from the gulf can fly to kerela at lower fares.. good for them

Aiel · Member Joined: 19 Dec 2006 Posts: 927 Location: Bangalore

karatecatman · Guest

karatecatman · Guest

JAT and Air India

http://www.b92.net/eng/news/comments.php?nav_id=38952
A paragraph from this report:

Privatization and strategic partnership will save Jat. The company has already embarked on finding a partner and established co-operation with Air India”, said Starčević (the GM of Jat), adding that Jat Airways and Air India signed a Letter of Intention to establish a joint company seated in Belgrade and finalize the agreement on mixed ownership deal in the next couple of months.

Both companies are state owned and will have to seek consent from their respective governments to validate the agreement.

Rolling Eyes

karatecatman · Guest

karatecatman · Guest

karatecatman · Guest

karatecatman · Guest

Two more items on Air India:

The website to be REDONE. Apart from a host of new (and especially online booking) features and making the interactive process with the passenger more user friendly, content is to be available in a world languages --- German, Japanese, Chinese, a few European (and East European) langauges and African.
This will change as and when AI flies to new markets.

Air India is also planning a 180-page coffee table book that looks at its history. A condensed version may be available in duty free or used in parts in the new IFE programming being planned.

karatecatman · Guest

Bangalore occupies a central place in Air India's plans to start cargo hub.

Air India has also announed that it is to operate exclusive freighters using its own fleet. 2 passenger A310s are being connverted at Dreden. Also under consideration are converting the 2 747-300s. Thulasidas, AI's CEO has said that it will get the 5 737-200s, a reference to the 5 IA 737s being converted as freighters. Thulasi also said AI is considering 2 747-400s on lease for exclusive cargo operations. AI is looking at cargo very seriously.

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

Freight and Logistics

Air India announced plans to form a JV with Singapore Airport Terminal Services to invest USD18 million to establish a cargo handling facility in Bangalore (Reuters, 19-Jan-07). Meanwhile, Air India confirmed plans to launch dedicated cargo operations to Frankfurt, Paris and Shanghai in 2H07 with two A310Fs (Economic Times, 18-Jan-07). The carrier is also considering converting an additional eight A310s and five B737-200s to freight configuration, as well as leasing up to two B747-400Fs.

karatecatman · Guest

More on "Project 787":
Seems to be another AI "con job" of relying on Celebrities.
The 777 seat and amenity selection exercise created protest, so this time AI has to include GoI babus.

http://tinyurl.com/2zmgqs
AI plans to rope in bigwigs as model travellers
Ashwini Phadnis
SEATING COMFORT
New Delhi Jan 21 Noted banker and member of the Air India board, Mr N. Vaghul, the UN Under-Secretary General, Mr Shashi Tharoor, the Indian Envoy in the US, Mr Ronen Sen, some prominent NRIs and a handful of senior Government officials from the Ministry of Civil Aviation could be model travellers for the Maharaja.
Choice of seats
This select group will be in the US towards the end of this year on a mission to check out the seating comforts for Air India passengers when they fly the Boeing 787 popularly known as the `Dreamliner.'

"The choice of seats for the 787 is huge, therefore Boeing has created a gallery in Seattle. The team will try out a variety of seats for comfort, the seat pitch and value added offered. These seats will then be rated and an objective and transparent decision taken," sources said.

....

AKLDELNonstop · Member Joined: 19 Dec 2006 Posts: 1066 Location: Auckland

Instead of doing crap like tht esp surveying people who fly premium class to advise on economy class seats why dont they just take a survey of ppl who travel Y on the premium airlines and ask them what they like. Will do a far more appropriate job i think.

Never once have I seen on AI any pax being asked to fill up a suggestions form.

Cheers
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