Airliners-India.com

Jaysit · Member Joined: 19 Dec 2006 Posts: 4346

Why on god's green earth are they still operating those lousy leased A332s when they have 6 777s laying eggs with no takers?

And what about the filthy A310s? Will they fly those until the wings fall off? I'm surprised that anyone even pays to fly AI to HKG on the A310s.

There are several routes that AI can stick the 777s on - BOM/DEL-DXB; MAA-SIN; BOM-DEL-HKG; BOM-DEL-PVG.

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

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

Air India's woes increase, even no takers for its lease plans

MUMBAI: There seem to be no takers for leasing Boeing-777s from Air India, which plans to wet-lease six of them for up to two years owing to a
demand-supply mismatch.

"Inquiries are coming but the rentals they are quoting are much less than our expectations," sources in the airline told PTI here today. This has forced the airline to extend the date for submitting bids for the third time last week to January 29.

The ailing national carrier had invited requests for quote (RFQs) to lease out these wide-body Boeing 777s last November in its bid to mop up some additional funds amidst huge financial losses. The flag carrier is awaiting a government bail out now.

Of the six aircraft, which are 2007 manufactured, three are Boeing 777-200s (long range, LR) and remaining ones are Boeing 777-300s (extended range, ER).

"The airlines the world over have reduced capacity in the wake of huge losses and this has rendered a lot of aircraft becoming surplus. Consequently, the supply is much more than the demand, leading to a sharp decline in lease rentals globally," the sources pointed out.

"Currently, the lease rentals for a new Boeing 777-300 ER or Boeing 777-200 LR aircraft is around USD1.2 million per month in the global market," aircraft leasing agency Flying Machine managing director Sandeep Malkar said.

"In case of a wet-lease, it is around $6,400 per flying hour," he said.

Broadly in a dry-leasing arrangement, the lessee arranges and pays for the crew, fuel, and maintenance, while in wet-lease, the lessor airline provides the plane, its complete crew, pays for its maintenance and insurance to another airline which makes its payment by the number of hours operated.

Air India, which recorded a loss of Rs 5,548 crore in 2008-09 compared to Rs 2,226.16 crore in 2007-08, is focusing on cutting costs by Rs 1,500 crore and increasing revenues by Rs 1,200 crore as per its turnaround plan.

As part of this plan, the national carrier is phasing out its own leased aircraft besides putting its surplus aircraft on lease to cut cost and raise funds.

The turnaround plan has been broadly divided into 0-9 months, 9-18 months and 18-36 months and has been segregated under operational efficiency, product improvement, organisation building and financial restructuring.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/transportation/airlines-/-aviation/Air-Indias-woes-increase-even-no-takers-for-its-lease-plans/articleshow/5430140.cms
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India is one of the richest countries in the world.
The only problem is........all the wealth is distributed in the wrong hands.

karatecatman · Guest

Updates
Air India may be announcing the name of the COO fairly soon. As expected, to be the 'Lufthansa man'. Assunes significance after LH has said that AI's Star Aliiance entry will be further delayed as IT is not the only issue and after Mr. Jadhav has hinted that the Frankfurt hub is not exactly what AI had in mind.

GoM of the Union ministers of civil aviation, finance, home, law, commerce and tourism to examine equity infusion and tax free bonds for AI.

Parliamentary panel on aviation has said Nacil (Air India) and Nacil (IA) should be converted iinto“separate functional units”. Has critiscised th fleet acquistion plan and also the salary cuts. Has also said that the withdrawal of AI from many profitable routes has only helped the private airlines. Has recommended an independent body to look into "this route allocation" to the private airlines.
Panel also looking at the fleet leasing of aircraft that still have life and can be in service with AI. (This means the "phaseout of the jumbos).
May affect the leasing plans for the 777s.

Air India planning a significant ad campaign in late summer.

Air India examining extending the Mumbai-JFK nonstop LR to Boston.

PAL@YWG · Posted: Sun Jan 24, 2010 7:58 pm Post subject:

Hey KCM, missed your posts for a while...glad to see you back!
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Spiderguy252 · Posted: Sun Jan 24, 2010 8:18 pm Post subject:

karatecatman · Guest

Update
Air India Express is to hire qualified flight stewards (738 qualified) to be based in Kozhikode, Chennai, Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram and Mangalore, for six months only. The agency to be identified by AIX will have to supply the crew within a fortnight. AIX will then give the crew more training at Mumbai.

karatecatman · Guest

Update 1
After the observations by the Parliamentary Committee, Air India to slowly work out trying to restore many curtailed services (especially South). If it happens, these will be handed back to the Indian Airlines wing of NACIL.

karatecatman · Guest

FINANCIAL EXPRESS
AI in talks for frequent-flier pact with Continental
Shaheen Mansuri
Jan 05, 2010

Mumbai
Air India (AI) is in talks with US-based Continental Airlines to enter into a frequent-flyer programme (FFP) partnership with the carrier. If the partnership is approved, Flying Returns members of AI will be able to accrue mileage while travelling on Continental Airlines as well as redeem mileage for tickets on Continental and vice-versa.

Arvind Jadhav, chairman and managing director, AI, told FE, “We are in talks with Continental Airlines for the FFP, but it will take some time for the agreement to happen because some formalities need to be taken care of.”

Partnering Continental could help the public sector airline since the environment currently is highly competitive. Earning miles on one carrier and burning them on another is a global phenomenon and carriers in Europe, US and even the Gulf region have partnered with international carriers to enhance their FFP portfolio and earn more passengers.

On the international front, AI is pitted against much powerful international airlines such as Emirates, Lufthansa and British Airways, among others.

These airlines offer good connectivity to the US and Europe. Enhancing FFP partnerships with global carriers seems viable for AI wherein it can offer value-added services to its passengers. Currently, no other airline in India is part of any international alliances except AI, which has joined Star Alliance in December 2007 but will officials make an entry into the alliance by mid 2010. AI is already partnering with Lufthansa and Singapore Airlines in its FFP programme. Says Kiran Yadav, aviation analyst and director of Aerobiz International, “AI is at a critical phase. Making the right choice on its business model has lots to do with the carrier’s ability to enhance passenger traffic by offering more value.” He further added that entering into the FFP with a right kind of an airline would help AI enhance its passenger base in the US and back home. Continental can reciprocate its rights and do more business in the FFP by getting passengers for onward travel in India on AI’s wide domestic network. AI has partnered the airline in a bid to cash in on its network.

Continental flies to 200 cities beyond New York and AI passengers can have the advantage for onward travel from New York .

“In 2009, nearly 2 lakh visas were issued for the India-US sector. Also, there are 3.5 million Indians settled in the US, of which a decent percentage flies to India annually,” added Subhash Goyal, chairman, STIC Travel Group. According to other travel agents, AI has an above 50% market share on the India-US sector. AI flies to Chicago , Los Angeles and New York .

Worldwide, there has been a 60% increase in frequent-flyer miles accumulated worldwide in 2009 as compared to 14 trillion miles with a value of $700 billion in 2005, say industry watchers.

The primary method of obtaining points in a frequent flyer program is to fly with the associated airline. Most airlines reward travellers with a specific number of points based on the distance traveled (such as 1 point per mile flown).

AI, which has posted losses of Rs 5,450 crore in FY08-09, is looking at avenues to shore up its revenues and innovate newer business models that can better its load factors. Last year, the carrier announced a revival plan that can help turnaround the carrier in three year’s time.

karatecatman · Guest

Update (Thanks to source)

Air India board to review its consultants. AI currently has Booz Allen Hamilton and Accenture. It pays Rs. 25 lakhs a month to Accenture while its about Rs. 60 lakh for Booz. Both advise it on the merger.

Board will now look at hiring Mckinsey which wants Rs. 14 crore a month. McKinsey will advise it on Star Alliance integration.

AI then has SBI Caps which advises it on financial restructuring for the medium term. This is also to get loans from SBI.

Prime Ministers Office and Ministry of Finance also looking into the affairs of AI.This has led to conflict with the Board for Reconstruction of Public Sector Enterprises which is intent on declaring AI as sick. The BRPSE has asked for certain records from AI which has been turned down. AI's arguement is that BRPSE will have to contact the PMO for this.

***

Air India now plans to appoint another consultant on the long-term feasability of the Frankfurt hub. Buzz is that AI is looking at Brussels.

AI has already paid Rs. 5 million Euros to Star Alliance. It will have to pay a similar amount once it joins.

***

Finally, AI has to 'respect the observations and suggestions of the Parliamentary Committee on Aviation.

Karan69 · Member Joined: 22 Dec 2006 Posts: 1334

karatecatman · Guest

flyjet787 · Member Joined: 26 Jan 2010 Posts: 282

@karatecatman:

Could you please let me know about the current pilot recruitment scene at Air India (NACIL-A). I have heard they have a severe shortage of F/O's especially at AIX. Also I have heard that there was a batch that cleared all the selection rounds in april 2009 but hav'nt been inducted yet. Do you know if that batch is going to be inducted in the near future or are they going to have a fresh round of recruitments again?

Thanks.

karatecatman · Guest

Fly,

That batch had about 60+ and last heard was that they had filed a case in the Delhi HC.

Will recheck on this but when last checked AI said that it's not looking at anymore flight deck recruitments for the moment.

The only induction of crew will be for cabin crew for AIX. It's specifically looking for trained stewards from an agency for about 6 months.

karatecatman · Guest

Ok, got the reports

***

Sent by email

AI calls off pilot recruitment over 'bias' charge
NEW DELHI, Jun 14, 2009

Air India chairman-cum-managing director Arvind Jadhav, 53, has cancelled the recruitment of 40 trainee pilots and ordered the HR department of the airline to start the recruitment process afresh.

The Ministry of Civil Aviation and the Air India board had received several complaints of manipulation and irregularities in the selection of these pilots in April. Some of the selected candidates are said to be close relatives of senior airline officials.

"The decision was taken by the CMD early this week after the process was found to have been vitiated," said a senior Air India official on condition of anonymity.

Of the 1,400 commercial pilot license (CPL) holders who appeared for the exam on April 12, Air India had finally selected 40 pilots. Soon after this, the list of selected trainee pilots had been forwarded to the then Air India CMD Raghu Menon for approval in the third week of April. Since then, the file had been lying on the CMD's table.

When Jadhav took over as the new CMD over on May 4, he found that the perks and privileges offered to these pilots were higher than those permitted by the rules. Citing these conditions and several other irregularities, he the ordered cancellation of the entire process, the AI official said.

At present, there are over 1,000 foreign pilots working for different airlines in India. Air India, which has about 700 pilots on its rolls, employs about 100 foreign pilots.

The exercise to recruit Indian trainee pilots had started soon after the Directorate General of Civil Aviation issued directions to replace foreign pilots with Indians by July 31, 2010.

***

Air India playing foul'
Surender Sharma
2009-06-22
Delhi

Twenty-four-year-old Navin Singh couldn't believe his luck when in August 2008 he received an interview call from Alliance Air, the low-cost wing of Air India, for the post of trainee pilot. Singh had spent over Rs 20 lakh in obtaining a commercial pilot's licence and was looking forward to a successful career. The interview went off successfully but then came the dark twist in the tale. Air India went absolutely silent, neither confirming the job, nor cancelling the recruitment process.

On June 16, this year, Singh noticed an advertisement issued by Alliance Air in leading national newspapers, inviting fresh applications for type-rated pilots (trained to fly a particular passenger aircraft) urgently. Singh, along with the 67 other qualified pilots who had been invited for the interview last year, are now up in arms against the national carrier, accusing it of foul play.

The alleged fraud

"Till last year, Air India hired trainee pilots and then trained them to fly the particular type of aircraft. But this year, the airline has advertised to directly recruit type-rated pilots. If the airline can't afford to train us, we can do so ourselves," said Singh. Agreed Lokesh, another applicant who had appeared for the interview. "If Air India wanted type-rated pilots, the airline should have told us to undergo the training. We would have done so. If I have spent Rs 20 lakh to get a commercial pilot's licence, can't I afford to spend another Rs 12 to 15 lakh, which is the fee for the special training?" said Lokesh.

The reason

The young pilots allege Air India is resorting to this ploy to fraudulently recruit pilots from certain private airlines.

"In May 2009, these pilots from private airlines were issued recruitment letters. However, the letters were later withdrawn when we approached the vigilance department of the airline and lodged a compliant. To cover-up the fraud, the airline has issued fresh advertisements to somehow pull these pilots abroad," said another applicant.

"Our results were withheld for almost nine months. Air India could have called us and by now we would have completed the special aircraft training," said Lokesh.

Dream gone sour

For most of them, a dream has been shattered. "I took a loan of Rs 20 lakh to fund my training programme from an American institute. I was depending on the Alliance Air job to repay it. I waited for over nine months for the job offer. If they didn't want to take us in, the airline could have intimated us officially," said Arjun, another applicant.

Air India's 'urgency'

Urmila Subbarao, head, vigilance department, Air India, refused to comment on the issue, saying she did not recall receiving any such complaint.

"This year we have advertised for type-rated pilots because we need experienced hands. Earlier, we used to advertise for trainee pilots. The difference in requirement is apparent. While we can understand the views expressed by some pilots who had applied for jobs on a previous occasion, they need to appreciate the urgency of our requirement," said Air India's spokesperson Jitendra Bhargava.

(All names in the story have been changed to protect the identities of the pilots)

Another fraud?
Last week, Air India cancelled the recruitment of 40 trainee pilots.

The advertisement regarding the vacancy was published in leading national dailies in February this year and the written test was held on April 12, 2009. About 1,400 commercial pilot licence holders had applied.

The Ministry of Civil Aviation and Air India had received several complaints of manipulation and irregularities in the selection process of these pilots. It was alleged that some of the selected candidates were related to senior Air India officials. According to sources, the perks and privileges offered to these pilots were better than those permitted by Air India rules.

Curiously, a vigilance inquiry had not found any wrongdoing in the selection process of the pilots.

The job story
In April 2008, Air India had invited applications for trainee pilots in Alliance Air, a wholly owned subsidiary of the National Aviation Company of India Limited. The written test was held on May 25, in which 260 candidates were invited. Out of these, 92 were selected and appeared for an interview held in Delhi between September 2 and 12. Around 68 commercial pilot licence holders appeared for the interview. However, the airline has neither declared the result nor cancelled the interview process.

***

Young pilots move court against Air India recruitment process
New Delhi, July 4 (IANS)
Unhappy with the selection process of Air India, 68 young pilots have moved the Delhi High Court against the airline, alleging foul play in its recruitment procedure.
The young pilots, who have spent millions of rupees in obtaining commercial pilot licences, filed a petition in the court Friday.
They have alleged that Alliance Air, the low cost wing of Air India, has withheld the results of the job interview they had taken over 10 months ago. The petition is to be heard Monday.
In their petition, filed through advocate Praneet Ranjan, the pilots alleged that the selection process for trainee pilots is not correct. The pilots had appeared in the airline’s selection test and interview in 2008, but were not informed of the results. Instead, the airline put out another advertisement for the same posts in June this year.
The pilots claim the new advertisement is an eyewash and the airline is trying to make backdoor entries of certain pilots from other airlines.
‘‘They (private airline pilots) do not have the required type-rating of the aircraft for which the airline has advertised. They are being recruited and given an opportunity to obtain type-rating certificate of the advertised aircraft at the cost of the airline,’’ the petition stated.
The pilots say that if Air India had told them earlier that it wanted to hire ‘‘type-rated pilots’’ then they would have readily undergone the required training.
The dispute started in April 2008, when Air India invited applications for trainee pilots in Alliance Air. The written test was held on May 25, for which 260 candidates were invited. Of these, 92 were selected and appeared for an interview held in Delhi between Sep 2 and 12.
The pilots allege that none of the 92 were informed of the test results. After the airline advertised again last month to fill up the vacancies, 68 of the pilots approached the court against the airline.

karatecatman · Guest

Update

Air India Express website has been given cosmetic changes.

http://www.airindiaexpress.in/FreeREZ/ADS_WEB/TA/Home.aspx

flyjet787 · Member Joined: 26 Jan 2010 Posts: 282

@karatecatman,

The 60+ that you are refering to are from Allicance Air recruitment drive that took place some time in 2008. The 60+ passes the written exam but were never called for the interviews.

What I am refering to is a recruitment that was undertaken by Air India (AIC) in April 2009 where all the selection rounds (written, interview & Sim check) were complete. But after that it was put on hold and now nobody has any idea what has been done with that batch of 40 Pilots.

Regarding the news paper articles. Only the first one refers to AIC but none of the facts reported in the new papers were confirmed by the company. Infact there was an article that came in the papers a couple of weeks later were one of the senior executives from the company said that the recruitment was on hold and was not scraped.

It would be of great help of you can find out any information regarding this batch of 40 and any future recruitments at AIC.

Thanks.

karatecatman · Guest

This was to give you an idea of what has happened to the various crew recruitment processes.

Will check anyway about the Group 40!

iflytb20 · Posted: Wed Jan 27, 2010 3:22 am Post subject: Re: @karatecatman

Caliguy · Posted: Wed Jan 27, 2010 7:01 am Post subject:

Air India is looking at Brussels as a euro hub???? I thought they were looking at nonstops. Plus Jet is already there. This is crazy. If you are goig to fly to limited destinations in europe at least fly to a big star aliance hub so your pax can reach almost anywhere in one stop. If Booz Allen came up with this, they should be fired

vivekman · Member Joined: 26 Dec 2006 Posts: 1897 Location: BOM

Finance ministry moves for AI-IA demerger

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/biz/india-business/Finance-ministry-moves-for-AI-IA-demerger/articleshow/5502764.cms

NEW DELHI: If you can't fix it, merge it. And if you still can't fix it, demerge it. This seems to the government's prescription for Air India and

Indian Airlines which were merged in August 2007 despite widespread criticism. Interestingly, the merger has actually not moved much beyond a common billboard and a holding company.

With a rehab plan for Air India proving to be a fraught task, a proposal to undo the decision to forge Air India and Indian Airlines into a single entity has been mooted by the finance ministry. The ministry, which has to foot the bill for any revival package, is understood to be increasingly nervous over the viability of bailout plans for the floundering carrier.

Sources said the proposal has been placed by the expenditure secretary in the finance ministry before the E-GoM on Air India and other ministries are to get back with their comments on February 3 when the group meets again. PMO is understood to agree that the merger has been largely on paper but feels that demerger should be "thought through" just as the merger was not.

The merger was mooted and carried through by civil aviation minister Praful Patel. Asked what he now thought of the demerger move, the minister clearly indicated his disagreement, if not disbelief. "Aisa kuch nahin hai (there is nothing like this)," he told TOI when reached on phone in London. However, sources in the ministry admitted that the domestic and international operations of Air India would continue to function as separate units.

Finmin officials justify the demerger move arguing, "International and domestic aviation markets behave differently. Their problems are specific and have to be different." The parliamentary standing committee on transport, tourism and culture headed by CPM leader Sitaram Yechury had also sharply criticised the merger as a terrible decision that had not worked.

"The manner in which the merger was implemented and the manner in which various issues connected to the merger were tackled has led to an unfortunate situation," the CPM leader had said while releasing the report. Some of the trade unions in Air India have also demanded a demerger, arguing that it will be easier to manage two companies separately.
An official said the high-powered panel also decided on infusion of fresh equity before end of the current fiscal in two instalments. But the final decision will be taken only after clearance from cabinet committee on economic affairs.

Though Air India's affairs are being closely monitored by PMO, there is a growing sense that bailouts will only keep the concern afloat without addressing key cost, employee productivity and business model issues. In October last year, a Rs 2000 crore infusion was considered for the current fiscal. This was whittled to Rs 800 crore but even this had not been transferred.

The airline, that operates under the National Aviation Company of India Ltd, had put up a Rs 20,000 crore bailout plan, including funds for the ongoing fleet expansion and an equity infusion. The transfers being currently considered by the government are essentially limited to running expenses till March as there is no clarity on the long-term restructuring of the airline.

Well-placed sources point out that demerger would mean formally acknowledging the reality -- Air India and Indian Airlines have just not meshed; they do not even have a common webpage so as to make it possible to plan travel from a foreign destination, say Vancouver, to Amritsar through the same web platform. The idea behind the merger was to "leverage" the strengths of AI and IA. AI has signed up with the Star Alliance but this has not been operationalised due to lack of an integrated website.

The salary and promotional structures of the two airlines remain different and reconciling these has not proved easy. They continue to use different codes for their flights and there is no synergy in terms of sharing aircraft and rationalising routes. They continue to operate different offices in the same cities, often duplicating or even triplicating functions. In short the merger has not worked.

Hmmmmm...... Rolling Eyes

_________________
Boeing makes planes. Airbus makes videogames!

karatecatman · Guest

flyjet787 · Member Joined: 26 Jan 2010 Posts: 282

karatecatman,
Thank You for your prompt reply. The information that you passed on was very helpful. Hope things get resolved soon.

Thanks.

karatecatman · Guest

Ministry of Civil Aviation has sent out this at 2 p.m., Jan. 27, 2010 Rolling Eyes

(Sent through Air India)

The merger of Air India (erstwhile) and Indian Airlines was approved by the Government on 1 March, 2007 and a new company vis. National Aviation Company of India Limited (NACIL) was incorporated on 30 March, 2007 with the brand name of ‘Air India’. The merger of two airlines was envisaged to provide following benefits:

• Provide an integrated international/domestic footprint which will significantly enhance customer proposition and allow easy entry into one of the three global airline alliances;

• Enable optimal utilization of existing resources through improvement in load factors and yields on commonly services routes as well as deploy ‘freed up’ aircraft capacity on alternate routes;

• Provide an opportunity to fully leverage strong assets, capabilities and infrastructure;

• Potential to launch high growth & profitability businesses (Ground Handling Services (GHS);

• Maintenance, Repair & Overhaul (MRO) etc;

• Potentially enable merged entity to command better valuation;

• Operate a combined fleet strength which will be largest in India and comparable to other airlines in Asia/Region;

• Provides maximum flexibility to achieve financial and capital restructuring. Above benefits leading to improvement in the prospects of the Company are expected to translate into better prospects for all the employees.

The Ministry of Civil Aviation has no move afoot for the AI-IA demerger. The merger was a carefully thoughtout process and a collective decision of all agencies of the Government of India.

Rolling Eyes

Things change every few hours! Pity the plight of the employees.

karatecatman · Guest

IA Kozhikode-Chennai flights to begin services from Jan 29
Kozhikode, Jan 25 (PTI)
The Indian Airlines has decided to re-start its services in the Kozhikode-Chennai sector from January 29, the Airlines sources here said today.
The service would operate on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, the sources here said.
The flight IC-925 would depart Chennai at 2 pm and reach Kozhikode at 3.10 pm. IC-926 would depart Kozhikode at 3.50 pm and reach Chennai at 5 pm.
The fares for two week advance booking had been fixed at Rs 2,010 and one week before the journey at Rs 2,775, they said.
The Airlines had recently suspended the flights in the sector due to ‘‘operational’’ reasons.

We all know what the "operational reasons" are Wink

Buzz is that more sectors stopped due to "operational reasons" are to be restored to IA soon.

karatecatman · Guest

Thanks to source

Air India registers all round Improvement in performance

An impressive increase of 24.8 per cent in passenger carriage and 14.4 per cent rise in load factor reflects a significant improvement in Air India’s operating performance in the quarter October-December 2009, as compared to the same period last year.

Air India carried 3.17 million passengers in October-December 2009, as against 2.54 million in the same quarter last year. Likewise, load factor rose from 55.3 per cent in October-December 2008 to 69.7 per cent in October-December 2009.

As a consequence of higher passenger carriage and improved load factor, the operating loss showed a significant 25 per cent reduction from Rs 1152.44 crore in October-December 2008 to Rs 864.33 crore in October-December 2009. The net loss also showed a 9.7 per cent decline – from Rs 1632.23 crore to Rs 1473.85 crore.

However, in view of low yields on both the domestic and international routes due to market conditions, the total revenue registered a modest increase of three per cent from Rs 3738.59 crore to Rs 3852.14 crore.

Air India
Mumbai/New Delhi
January 27, 2010

karatecatman · Guest

Ministers to meet on Equity Infusion into Air India
PTI
January 27, 2010

A Group of Ministers headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee will discuss the issue of equity infusion into Air India on Feb. 3.
The issue of equity infusion into Air India and a review of its turnaround plans are expected to come up for a discussion by a Group of Ministers headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee early next month.

While the government had earlier decided to grant the ailing carrier Rs. 800 crore this fiscal, another Rs. 1,200 crore was planned for release in 2010-11. This plan is to come up for review at the crucial meeting to be held on February 3, sources said.

The GoM would also examine the implementation of various measures taken by Air India to reduce costs and generate revenue, they said. Besides Mr. Mukherjee, the GoM includes the Ministers of Home, Law and Civil Aviation.

The meeting comes in the backdrop of the recommendations of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture that the National Aviation Company of India Limited (NACIL) be converted into a holding company of Air India and Indian as separate functional units for global and domestic airlines.

Meanwhile, the Civil Aviation Ministry has dismissed as “incorrect and baseless” the reports that government was considering a de-merger of the national carrier.

A spokesperson said the Ministry “has no move afoot for the AI-IA demerger. The merger was a carefully thought out process and a collective decision of all agencies of the Government of India.”

The Prime Minster's Office has refused to comment on the Ministry's statement.

karatecatman · Guest

Update
Thanks to source

By March 2010, remaining three B777-200s, 2 A-310s and 8 A-320s to be returned/retired/sold from the fleet.

A330s to remain. 747-400s also have some more life.

747-237 · Posted: Wed Jan 27, 2010 6:29 pm Post subject:

Nimish · Posted: Wed Jan 27, 2010 10:59 pm Post subject:

maut3000 · Member Joined: 14 Mar 2007 Posts: 160 Location: Mumbai

Nimish · Posted: Thu Jan 28, 2010 10:56 am Post subject:

[quote="maut3000]There are no 777s rotting AFAIK. They are using 18/21 B777's in S10.[/quote]

Weren't they just looking to lease out the 777s? That's where I assumed AI have spare 777 capacity that was "rotting around".
_________________
We miss you Nalini!

karatecatman · Guest

LIVEMINT
Chidambaram wades into Air India’s revamp programme

According to the minutes of the November meeting, Chidambaram wants the airline to put together a proper plan to reform its balance sheet

Sangeeta Singh, Tarun Shukla and P.R. Sanjai

New Delhi/Mumbai: Union home minister P. Chidambaram has criticized the civil aviation ministry’s plan to revamp Air India, saying that a proposed equity infusion into the loss-making and debt-laden flag carrier would not go far enough to ensure its survival.

Chidambaram, a former finance minister, questioned the revamp plan at a November meeting of the group of ministers (GoM) that deals with Air India issues, according to the minutes of the meeting reviewed by Mint.
Critical note: Union home minister P. Chidambaram. Madhu Kapparath / MintThe criticism makes the next meeting of the GoM, to be held on 3 February, crucial for the plan to be carried forward. Allocation of money in the next Budget for Air India’s bailout may also be affected by Chidambaram questioning the viability of the revamp.

The GoM, headed by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, decided in November to infuse capital into the airline in tranches of Rs400 crore, based on monthly reviews of cost-cutting measures by the airline, run by the National Aviation Co. of India Ltd (Nacil). A final clearance from the finance ministry, which had been expected by January-end, is yet to come.
Going by a monthly infusion of Rs400 crore, the state-owned firm was expecting Rs2,000 crore from the government this fiscal, which has been capped at Rs800 crore now.

According to the minutes of the November meeting, Chidambaram wants the airline to put together a proper plan to reform its balance sheet. The home minister said the proposed equity infusion may not be sufficient for the survival of the airline, which he thought might even need to declare a moratorium on debt repayments, according to the minutes.
Chidambaram said that in three years the company will only be Ebitda-positive, and that the statistics provided did not present a “correct picture” and “true state of Nacil as a company”.
Ebitda, or earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, is an approximate measure of a company’s operating cash flow.
“Home minister commented on the slide in the airline finances and desired an extrapolation of the cumulative losses as they would reach in 2012-13,” according to the minutes.

Air India had demanded an equity infusion of Rs5,000 crore. The beleaguered airline has struggled with mounting losses and needs money to pay off loans taken to purchase aircraft. It inducted 29 new planes in 2009, part of a 2005 aircraft order to Boeing Co. and Airbus SAS worth $11 billion (around Rs50,000 crore). In 2010, the carrier plans to add at least half-a-dozen aircraft.
It posted a loss of Rs5,548 crore in 2008-09, has outstanding debt of as much as Rs16,000 crore and runs a monthly cash deficit of Rs400 crore. The airline has an equity base of Rs145 crore and has been seeking a cash infusion since last year.
At the November GoM meeting, the aviation ministry was led by civil aviation minister Praful Patel, aviation secretary Madhavan M. Nambiar and Air India chairman and managing director Arvind Jadhav.
Air India did not offer any comments for this story.

A senior civil aviation ministry official, who did not want to be identified, said Chidambaram had not criticized the revamp plan of Air India, but only sought a clear-cut plan for savings of up to Rs1,800 crore to justify the capital infusion.
“GoM had deliberated various issues and concerns regarding the financial position of not just Air India, but all airlines in the country. GoM members, including Chidambaram, wanted a strong plan of action,” the official said. “Following that, we have made a well-articulated plan for the restructuring (of) Air India. We will be presenting this in the next GoM meeting.”
At the November meeting, finance minister Mukherjee also called for a time-bound action plan for revamping Air India that would be monitored at subsequent meetings of the GoM.

Meanwhile, the civil aviation ministry said in a statement on Wednesday that there was no plan to demerge the two domestic carriers, Air India and Indian Airlines, which were united under Nacil in 2007. The Times of India reported on Wednesday that the finance ministry, nervous over the viability of bailout plans for the flag carrier, is considering such a plan.
“The Ministry of Civil Aviation has no move afoot for the AI-IA demerger,” the civil aviation ministry said in a statement. “The merger was a carefully thought out process and a collective decision of all agencies of the government of India.”
The 2007 union of Air India and Indian Airlines was aimed at achieving benefits through reduced costs and leveraging network strength, which were “expected to translate into better prospects for all the employees”, the statement said.

An Air India official, who asked not to be named, however, said the merger lacked a well-thought-out execution framework. For instance, the merged airline lacks an integrated passenger reservation system, delaying Air India’s entrance into Star Alliance, the global airline network, for which such a system is a prerequisite.
“Why did you give $10 million to Star Alliance (for membership) if you knew that you didn't have a reservation system?” asked the official. “It (merger) happened in the minds of the cabinet and the ministry only.”
Separately, Air India said its operating loss fell 25% in the December quarter to Rs864.33 crore from a year ago and the net loss declined 9.7% to Rs1,473.85 crore as passenger traffic improved. The number of passengers who flew the airline rose 24.8% to 3.17 million in the quarter from a year ago.

karatecatman · Guest

PENINSULAR QATAR
Air India Express to restart Mumbai and Delhi flights
1/28/2010
THE PENINSULA

DOHA: Air India Express will recommence its operations to Mumbai and Delhi from Doha effective February 1, 2010.

Due to operational reasons, Air India Express had suspended only its operations to Mumbai and Delhi for three weeks in January, 2010. However, these flights have been reinstated.

Due to weather conditions in Delhi, the flight will operate as per revised timings from February 1 to February 7, 2010 as Doha Departure 0205hrs, Arrival into Mumbai at 0730hrs and arrival into Delhi at 1035hrs.

The passengers travelling to Delhi will not have to disembark at Mumbai or change aircraft. The same plane will carry them to Delhi.

For the convenience of the travelling public, from February 8, 2010, Air India Express will operate ex Doha at 1715hrs, arrive into Mumbai at 2240hrs and Delhi at 0150+1hrs.

Besides thrice a week to Mumbai and Delhi from Doha, Air India Express also operates daily to Kozhikode and Kochi, twice a week to Thiruvananthapuram on Friday/Monday and thrice weekly to Mangalore on Wednesday/Friday/Sunday.

Both from Mumbai and Delhi, Air India Express provides connections to interior points in India.

karatecatman · Guest

AI demerger: A report, a rip-off and a denial
Shubhrangshu Roy
Jan 28 2010 , New Delhi

The civil aviation ministry on Wednesday came out with a statement that there was
no demerger move afoot to undo the March 2007 marriage of the two erstwhile national carriers – Indian Airlines, that used to run domestic flights, and Air India which operated only on international routes.

Though the statement did not say so, it was obviously in response to two reports in the printed media that the finance ministry had moved a proposal to split the merged entity, National Aviation Company of India, and revive Air India and Indian Airlines as separate carriers. The combined company retained, for its brand, the Air India name.

The news was scooped by Financial Chronicle and carried as the day’s lead story on page one on Monday (January 25, 2009). It was later ripped off, point by point, by Times of India (TOI) and carried as their own bylined story two days later – on Wednesday.

Based on a proposal by expenditure secretary Sushma Nath, the Financial Chronicle report also quoted another finance ministry official who explained the rationale of a demerger.

Here we reproduce the quote as it was published in our paper: “Domestic and international aviation markets behave differently. Their problems are specific and have to be different.”

Oddly -- or perhaps not – the TOI report too quoted “financial ministry officials” as saying: “International and domestic aviation markets behave differently. Their problems are specific and different.”

Sounds familiar? Exactly, except the transposition of a few words.

We did not name the official in our report as he wanted to remain anonymous but he did say a lot more to us. However, after distilling his comments taken on the phone, we retained only two sentences that succinctly summed up his views.

Two days later, TOI extracted much the same two sentences from “officials”! Coincidence? It is for you, dear reader, to judge.

We gave details of a meeting of the empowered group of ministers last week where several other decisions were taken. Is it any surprise that TOI gave the same details – full two days later?

Oh, yes, there was an original point in the TOI report. They managed to reach civil aviation minister Praful Patel, who told them, “Aisa kuch nahin hain,” essentially implying that the news of a demerger move was bunkum.

We admit that we did try to reach him but failed, and this was mentioned in our report. Despite his ministry’s statement denying the demerger proposal, Financial Chronicle stands by its report.

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

Merger-demerger, nice game AI is playing with the Indian Aviation.
Maybe AI has started April fools joke well in advance or maybe AI itself is this years biggest fool.
_________________
India is one of the richest countries in the world.
The only problem is........all the wealth is distributed in the wrong hands.

747-237 · Posted: Thu Jan 28, 2010 5:53 pm Post subject:

Two airframes have joined the fleet on 28 Jan 2010
Airbus A319 VT-SCX
Airbus A321 VT-PPW
_________________
11000 posts (and counting) on Airliners-India.

flyjet787 · Member Joined: 26 Jan 2010 Posts: 282

Air India-Indian merger irrevocable: Ministry

New Delhi: The civil aviation ministry on Wednesday said the merger of Air India and Indian Airlines was irrevocable as this was a collective decision of various government agencies. This is in response to a Parliamentary panel's recommendation that erstwhile Air India and Indian Airlines operate as separate functional units under the holding company NACIL.
“There is no move afoot for the AI-IA (Air India-Indian Airlines) demerger. The merger was a carefully thought-out process and a collective decision of all agencies of the government of India,” the civil aviation ministry said in a statement.
The department-related parliamentary standing committee on transport, tourism and culture, headed by Sitaram Yechury, had recently slammed the government for merging the two national carriers. It said that merger of the two carriers was done in haste without doing adequate homework and consultations. The committee, which submitted its report last week, has suggested that NACIL be converted into holding company with NACIL-A and NACIL-I as separate functional units.
The parliamentary panel questioned the aviation ministry's decision to purchase 111 aircraft worth Rs 50,000 crore knowing the carriers did not have equity base to support the ambitious acquisition plan. The committee demanded probe to fix the responsibility for taking such a move which has resulted in a big financial liability for Air India.
28/01/10 Economic Times

maut3000 · Member Joined: 14 Mar 2007 Posts: 160 Location: Mumbai

karatecatman · Guest

Indian Airlines lets Airbus off Rs 788 crore hook

Tushar Srivastava
Hindustan Times
New Delhi, January 29, 2010

The CBI is investigating how a clause requiring Airbus, a leading manufacturer of airliners, to invest $ 175 million in India was glossed over in an agreement it signed with Indian Airlines to sell it 43 aircraft in 2006.

Airbus was to invest that money (about Rs 788 crore) in creating training and repairs facilities in India, according to that clause as stated by the government in press statements issued then.

This was mandated by an Empowered Group of Ministers (EGOM), which monitored the purchase because of the sheer size of the deal, and it was endorsed by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, according to a statement issued by the civil aviation ministry in September 2005.

Indian Airlines was to buy 43 Airbus aircraft — 20 A319s, four A320s and 19 A321s — for $ 2 billion (Rs 9000 crore).

The delivery has already begun.

But the final agreement signed between the two sides “does not clearly mention the commitment of Airbus”, the CBI has said in a Preliminary Enquiry (PE) filed on January 14, No. DAI 1020-A-001.

“European Aeronautical Defence Systems and Airbus are working closely with Natio-nal Aviation Company of India Limited (name of the company formed by merging Indian Air-lines and Air India) to fulfill our obligation to create an MRO (Maintenance, Repair, Overhaul) in India,” an Airbus spokesperson told HT from France.

The PE has been filed against unnamed officials of the civil aviation ministry and Indian Airlines.

“There appears collusion between certain unscrupulous officials of Ministry of Civil Aviation as well as Indian Airlines, which has resulted in signing of a purchase agreem-ent in clear deviation from the decision of the EGOM,” the PE said.

“We have replied to the CBI and will provide them with whatever help they require,” said a senior civil aviation ministry official when asked for comments. He did not want to be identified.

The agency files PE as soon as it is convinced there is material evidence to investigate a case. This is turned into a Regular Case if the offence is found serious enough to be sent to court.

“A reliable information has been received that EGOM after internal deliberations made with representatives of M/s Airbus Industrie and it was decided that on purchase of 43 aircraft by M/s Indian Airlines, M/s Airbus Industrie, inter alia, would make an investment of $ 175 million,” the PE said.

“It was agreed by M/s Airbus Industrie that they would make an investment of $ 100 million to facilitate creation of, maintenance, repair and overhaul unit in India and another $ 75 million for setting-up a training centre. The minutes of the meeting of EGOM clearly reflecting the commitment of M/s Airbus regarding investment of $ 175 million was sent to Ministry of Civil Aviation.

“However, agreement signed between IA and Airbus for purchase of 43 aircrafts does not clearly mention the commitment of Airbus to invest US $ 175 million." Is there enough here to ground the deal, or merely cause some turbulence?